Tony Fennelly: The Closet Hanging (USA 2000)

From the Publisher:
The gay aristocrat, Matt Sinclair, the scion of an old New Orleans family, is accused of murder. The victim was found hanged in a closet owned by Matt's family. And he can't account for his whereabouts due to temporary amnesia caused by an epileptic seizure.

Tony Fennelly: The Closet Hanging. Backinprint.com, ISBN: 0595142370 (October, 2000), 224 p., $14.95.

Tony Fennelly: The Closet Hanging (USA 1988)

From the Publisher:
THE CLOSET HANGING
"Intriguing... as strong and as good as New Orleans coffee with chicory." - American Library Association
Matt Sinclair is in trouble. A real estate developer has been found dead in a building owned by his family. It appears to be a murder disguised as a suicide. And Matt has become the prime suspect.

"A well crafted mystery." - The Bloomsbury Review
"Another brisk caper set in New Orleans." - Mystery Alley
"Not content to rest on delightfully quirky characterizations, Fennelly pours an acid wit on New Orleans politics, snobism and racism." - Chicago Sunday Times
"Even better than The Glory Hole Murders!" - Coast Book Review Service
"Deliciously witty!" - Smythe Country News

Tony Fennelly: The Closet Hanging. A Matt Sinclair Mystery. Carroll & Graf, ISBN: 0881843938 (May, 1988), 216 p., $3.50.

Tony Fennelly: The Closet Hanging (UK 1987)

From the Publisher:
Tony Fennelly brings back her unwitting gay sleuth Matty Sinclair to solve another gruesome murder mystery. This time the victim is property developer Brad Rutledge and Matty's motivation to assist the investigation is a personal quest to clear his own name. The two men were leading adversaries in New Orleans most controversial topical debate a proposed new casino complex development. Matty was the last person to be seen with Brad and, most incriminating of all, Brad was found hanged in a Sinclair-owned apartment.

Matty really does have to begin at square one as even he cannot account for his movements prior to the murder due to an impromptu epileptic fit resulting in temporary amnesia. As he pieces together the clues to Brad Rutledge's last few hours he swiftly realises that he is not the only interested party and finds his own life under threat on more than one occasion.

With his young lover, Robin, at his side Matty displays courage. resourcefulness and, of course, a ready wit in his handling of the case and at the same time in fighting off the not-entirely unwelcome advances of one Edwina Devon.

Tony Fennelly's first book, The Glory Hole Murders, was nominated by The Mystery Writers of America for 'the best first mystery of the year'. In Britain the critics said:

'Very gory, splendidly bitchy. A bit of a scream really and altogether original.' The Literary Review
'Fennelly is never lost for a slick aside, an incidental detail or bizarre character... she pulls it all together to produce that rare thing, a serious thriller which isn't weighed down by earnestness.' City Limits

Tony Fennelly: The Closet Hanging. Arlington Books, ISBN: 0851407102 (October, 1987), 224 p., £4.95.

Tony Fennelly: The Closet Hanging (USA 1987)

From the Publisher:
If you have not yet read Tony Fennelly's first Matt Sinclair novel The Glory Hole Murders, you are in for a delightful surprise when you open the pages of The Closet Hanging. If you are already one of Ms. Fennelly's growing number of fans, suffice to say that Matt Sinclair is back bringing with him an intricately plotted mystery, a crew of amusing friends, lovers and enemies and of course the sights, sounds and aromas of that most magical of American cities New Orleans.

This time out Matt - former assist-ant D. A., proprietor of the Latin Quarter's most fashionable furniture store, and a proud homosexual -- comes under suspicion when one of the city's most successful young land developers (spoilers?) is found dead at the noose end of a rope in a building owned by Matt's mother. Is it suicide or murder? The latter seems more likely when it is revealed that the ex-Mr. Rutledge was one of a number of people -- among them Las Vegas and Atlantic City Casino operators, rival developers, organized crime Dons, local pols -- vying for waterfront property (owned in part by Matt's family) that would become the prime building site if and when New Orleans legalized gambling. And for these characters, what's a few bodies more or less when millions are to be made?

Matt, whose personal life is in crisis -- what with a barely-of-age live-in-lover competing with a society lady who is determined to "straighten" Matt out -- is drawn deeper into a deadly game in which he has virtually no chance of being a winner. Forced to call on his talents to untangle knots of deception, Matt makes his way through some fascinating New Orleans history (as well as some of his city's more un usual denizens) to arrive at a dénouement that is almost as shocking to Matt as it will be to the reader.

TONY FENNELLY lives and writes in New Orleans where she is currently at work on a new Matt Sinclair mystery.

Tony Fennelly: The Closet Hanging. A Matt Sinclair Mystery. Carroll & Graf, ISBN: 0881843067 (May, 1987), 216 p., $14.95.