Archive - September 1, 2011

Red White Black and Blue (A Donald Strachey Mystery) by Richard Stevenson (i.e. Richard Lipez (Ethiopia 1962–64) Albion, NY: MLR Press $14.99 (paperback) 236 pages June 2011 Reviewed by  Don Messerschmidt (Nepal 1963–65) CREATE A PLOT focused around an upcoming state election, party politics and brinksmanship including some convoluted candidate-must-win-at-all-costs skullduggery, toss in a highly motivated gay P.I. who is not averse to taking risks to life and limb, place it all in the hands of a skilled novelist, and what you get is very readable, fast paced detective story with overtones of social consciousness and contemporary political gamesmanship complete with Tea Party operatives and a lot of New York state politics (some of it invented, with apologies from the author). Donald Strachey is a private investigator in the employ of a Democratic operative bent on getting the goods on his Tea-Party-supported Republican opponent. The choice of Strachey for the job . . .