Greg Honey, Russ Gregory
Rating: 5 Stars
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Genre: Gay Mystery, Humour, Contemporary Romance
Reviewer: Cindi
Purchase At: Bold Strokes Books, amazon.com
What a fun read! I am all about humorous books but to be honest, a majority that are billed as humor simply aren’t to me. Maybe I’m a little too picky but if I can’t laugh out loud at least one time then to me it’s not “humor”. Greg Honey is definitely funny. No, scratch that. Greg Honey is downright hilarious. Filled with an eclectic cast of characters, each important to the story, I started laughing on the very first page and didn’t stop until I got to the end.
Greg Honey comes from a very wealthy Texas family and is reminded of his status every time he has the displeasure of speaking with his mother. Greg may be expected to act a certain way in regards to who he is but he doesn’t benefit himself from the family name. He has to work for a living and can’t even afford a car. Dear old mom doesn’t share the wealth with her only child, ever. What she does, however, is push rich debutantes on him at every turn. He lives in a guest house on the family property and he owns a not-quite-successful detective agency. A detective agency that doesn’t even have a good slogan. A lot of possible slogans are thrown out there throughout the book and with each one I giggled. “Honey Detective Agency, when you need a dick, please rent this one.” That’s only one. Every single one of Greg’s little slogans was hilarious.
Greg is also in love. Not just in love, but his new boyfriend Matt is at least four levels higher up on the gay boy food chain according to others. Matt is an actor at a small theater and he’s perfect. He is also a super guy and I fell in love with him from the moment he was introduced.
Somebody is stalking Greg and someone is causing trouble for Greg’s family estate. To top it off, someone has stolen his best friend Willa’s panties! All of this makes for one hell of a ride including a couple of strange mysteries involving his clients, his strict and unreasonable mother, a debutante with big hair (it is Texas after all), his crazy BFF Willa who is on a mission to destroy a former enemy, drag queens with names like Tequila Mockingbird, Wanda Lollipop, Alexus Sedan, Tess Tosterone and Chlamydia, and many others.
All the characters are entertaining but no one, no one compares to Greg’s grandmother, Lucille. She is one of the funniest characters I have ever seen in a book. Every time she said anything I was laughing. Lucille lives at the massive estate with Livia, Greg’s mother. She censors nothing she says and she has an obsession with sex.
“That Anderson Cooper’s one hot piece of man flesh. I wonder if he’s available, ’cause I could really use a little lovin’ from a stud muffin like that.”
“What? You don’t think he’s sexy? ‘Cause I could ride that baloney pony all night long.”
Silently, I agreed with Grandmother. Anderson was both hot and gay–a winning combination if there ever was one.
Greg’s cases get him in a little trouble and more than one black eye. There is a crazy stalker who Greg simply can’t be bothered with until he has no choice. Willa is driving him insane because she never stops talking or plotting revenge against her long-time enemy Lola. She is also constantly thrusting firearms at him. He accidentally publicly embarrasses his mother in a very big way. There is a bit of mystery that I admit I did not figure out until the end which is extremely rare for me. I figured out the players but not the how and the why. The way everything comes together is pretty amazing.
Overall, an outstanding book full of laughs and a fantastic cast of characters. This is my first by Russ Gregory and if Greg Honey is anything to go by, I promise it will not be my last. A very entertaining read. I highly recommend this for those looking to laugh out loud, who don’t mind off-page sex and who don’t mind a bit of good, southern humor. As a southern girl myself I totally loved it.
This book was provided by Net Galley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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Oooh, this sounds good, Cindi. Love the drag names. And, hmmm, Anderson Cooper? I know someone else that thinks he is a bit of all right 🙂
It is a great book. And yes, of all of Grandmother’s quotes that I could have used (and there were A LOT), you know I had to use the one about Anderson Cooper. I knew you’d get why as I totally love him and we’ve discussed this many times in the past. 😀
Thanks for your kind words. I’m working on the next HONEY AGENCY novel right now. Stay tuned…
You’re very welcome. It was a true treat to read. I will definitely be looking forward to the next one. I hope there’s a lot more of Grandma. 😀
This one sounds like a blast.
It really is, John. I love a book that keeps me laughing.
BIG HAIR AND A LITTLE HONEY, the next Honey Agency Novel – is coming soon. Look for it first at boldstrokesbooks.com.