Third Man Out: A Donald Strachey Mystery - Hardcover

Stevenson, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312071108 ISBN 13: 9780312071103

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1992

Synopsis

Despite the fact that he was not fond of Queer Nation activist John Rutka, notorious for his self-righteous "outing" of Albany's closeted gays, gay private eye Don Strachey agrees to help out when Rutka is shot and his house is firebombed

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews

When gay activist John Rutka engineers his own endangerment to generate sympathy and business for his ``outing'' publication, it backfires: Gay p.i. Don Strachey (Ice Blues, etc.) quickly quits bodyguarding him, and one of Rutka's many enemies takes the opportunity to kidnap him and burn him so badly that it takes forensic dentistry to identify the body. Which closet gay wanted to protect his own homosexual exposure? Rutka's files lead to a TV newscaster, a politician's aide, and someone referred to only as ``All-American Asshole Mega-Hypocrite,'' a man Strachey ties in to weekly trysts with the newscaster at a hot-sheets motel. Meanwhile, Strachey and boyfriend Tim make regular hospital visits to a comatose AIDS friend, grapple with the concept of assisted-death, and Strachey finally connects a VIP with Rutka's files--for a too- pat ending involving pedophilia, coincidences par excellence, and impropriety from several clerics. The too-telegraphed plot undercuts some very nice views of Albany and a wry, unconventional shamus-sleuth. Stevenson is adept at handling people and places--now he needs a workable rather than workmanlike plot to put them through their paces. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly

This fourth mystery to feature Donald Strachey, a gay private investigator in Albany, N.Y., is nothing if not au courant. In the first five pages, readers encounter a gay-bashing incident, a patient dying of AIDS and activists wearing Queer Nation T-shirts.But the punch and distinctive voice of the earlier books are diminished here: it's as if Stevenson is overly concerned with political statements. Fearing for his life, writer/activist John Rutka--determinedly engaged in "outing" prominent citizens--retains Strachey when a bullet grazes his foot, but Strachey abandons the case when he suspects that the incident was staged. Soon our hero has a real mystery on his hands: Rutka is found dead, and any number of people might have cheerfully dispatched him. Rutka's files point to a particularly sinister closeted homosexual whom Strachey must unmask. Though the book's final third shifts into gear, it's not high enough; if a polemic was intended, the fuel gauge reads "low." At one point Strachey is "weary of all the secrecy and duplicity and dreary bitchery"--more of those very qualities might have at least jazzed up this rather pallid effort.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0312071108
• ISBN 13: 9780312071103
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216