Overview
Albany P.I. Donald Strachey and his lover, Timothy Callahan, take a trip to Washington, D.C., to visit Maynard Sudbury, one of Timmy's old friends from his Peace Corps days, and to see the AIDS Memorial Quilt. But their visit to the quilt is marred when Maynard comes across a panel for an ex-lover - a conservative Washington insider named Jim Suter - whom Maynard had seen alive and well two weeks earlier in Mexico. Even odder than the bogus panel is the disguised visitor they spot looking at the panel - conservative ex-Congresswoman Betty Krumfutz, who resigned her seat in disgrace after a fiscal scandal erupted over her election and her husband left her for another woman. But what first seemed odd soon becomes dangerous. Strachey must find the secrets behind Suter's disappearance, the fake panel in the AIDS Memorial Quilt, Betty Krumfutz's mysterious appearance, and, most important, who is willing to kill to protect those secrets.Synopsis
In Washington, D.C., to view the AIDS Memorial Quilt, gay P.I. Donald Strachey, his lover, Timme, and their friend Maynard discover a panel for an ex-lover of Maynard. The trouble is that the ex-lover isn't dead. Shortly thereafter, Maynard is gunned down in his driveway in a seemingly random attack. But the timing of the attack is too perfect for Strachey to believe it is conincidental, and he must find out what secrets lie behind the ex-lovers's disappearance before the unseen attackers turn their attention toward Timmy and Strachey himself.
Library Journal
While viewing the AIDS quilt in Washington, D.C., series private investigator Donald Strachey (e.g., Chain of Fools, St. Martin's, 1996), lover Timothy, and friend Maynard discover a square memorializing someone they know is not even sick. In short order, two people vandalize that square; a letter arrives from the "dead" man in Mexico, warning that his life is in danger; and someone shoots Maynard. As Donald investigates, he runs a standard obstacle course of political scandal and police bigotry. Although suffering from occasionally stiff prose and an overdone character or two, this title should appeal to series fans and others.
Editorials
Library Journal
While viewing the AIDS quilt in Washington, D.C., series private investigator Donald Strachey (e.g., Chain of Fools, St. Martin's, 1996), lover Timothy, and friend Maynard discover a square memorializing someone they know is not even sick. In short order, two people vandalize that square; a letter arrives from the "dead" man in Mexico, warning that his life is in danger; and someone shoots Maynard. As Donald investigates, he runs a standard obstacle course of political scandal and police bigotry. Although suffering from occasionally stiff prose and an overdone character or two, this title should appeal to series fans and others.Kirkus Reviews
No doubt it's an honor to have your square included in the AIDS Memorial Quilt, but one Maynard Sudbury thinks it's a little premature in the case of his long-ago lover Jim Suter ("1956-1996"), who isn't dead yet, or even HIV-positive. And Maynard's friend Donald Strachey (Chain of Fools, 1996, etc.) can't help wondering about the import of one design element in Jim's square—several pages of Jim's old campaign bio of right-wing Pennsylvania Congresswoman Betty Krumfutz, especially when Krumfutz is spotted surreptitiously ripping the pages from the square, and Maynard, a foreign correspondent who's survived Hanoi and Beirut, is shot outside his D.C. apartment later that day. Who could've been in such a hurry to bury Jim Suter? Strachey and his lover Timmy Callahan take a closer look at the background of this marvelously unprincipled writer-for-hire and discover any number of people, sporting a nicely variegated bunch of motives, who'd lift a cheerful glass to his passing. In fact, the main mystery here, given the number of corpses past and future—Stevenson is still spinning out complications as the final curtain's descending—may be why Jim Suter hasn't died yet. Solid, satisfyingly paranoid plotting, marred only by its tendency to save the juiciest secrets for the very last act.From the Publisher
"A gripping, fast-paced mystery." —Booklist on Strachey's Folly"Stevenson takes a familiar whodunit formula and imbues it with new life. The action is lively and the plotting honest and non-explotative." —Chicago Tribune on Third Man Out
"Stevenson makes his way deftly though Chain of Fools, with a strong sense of plot and a good ear for diialogue." —The Boston Globe
"Richard Stevenson's mysteries are among the wittiest and most politically motivated around today." —The Washington Post
"A lively book. Skillful plotting carries the reader straight along. Highly recommended." —The New York Times Book Review on On the Other Hand, Death
"Literate...skillfully plotted...Stevenson keeps the action on an even keel and the characters believable. Throughout it all the author imbues his characters with a keen sense of humor."
—Ft. Lauderdale Sun Sentinel on Chain of Fools