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Donald Strachey #11
Cockeyed
Cockeyed by Stevenson, Richard. Published by MLR Press,2010, Paperback
228 pages, Paperback
Published August 31, 2010
4 people are currently reading
187 people want to read
About the author
Richard Stevenson
81 books142 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Richard Stevenson is the pseudonym of Richard Lipez, the author of nine books, including the Don Strachey private eye series. The Strachey books are being filmed by here!, the first gay television network. Lipez also co-wrote Grand Scam with Peter Stein, and contributed to Crimes of the Scene: A Mystery Novel Guide for the International Traveler. He is a mystery columnist for The Washington Post and a former editorial writer at The Berkshire Eagle. His reporting, reviews and fiction have appeared in The Boston Globe, Newsday, The Progressive, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's and many other publications. He grew up and went to college in Pennsylvania and served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia from 1962-64. Lipez lives in Becket, Massachusetts and is married to sculptor Joe Wheaton.
Richard Stevenson is the pseudonym of Richard Lipez, the author of nine books, including the Don Strachey private eye series. The Strachey books are being filmed by here!, the first gay television network. Lipez also co-wrote Grand Scam with Peter Stein, and contributed to Crimes of the Scene: A Mystery Novel Guide for the International Traveler. He is a mystery columnist for The Washington Post and a former editorial writer at The Berkshire Eagle. His reporting, reviews and fiction have appeared in The Boston Globe, Newsday, The Progressive, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's and many other publications. He grew up and went to college in Pennsylvania and served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia from 1962-64. Lipez lives in Becket, Massachusetts and is married to sculptor Joe Wheaton.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 20, 2020
Hunny Van Horn definitely marches to the beat of a different drummer. In fact, he makes his own drums. He was quite obnoxious, in that way all people way too obsessed with sex and turning everything into a sex joke are, gay or straight. But I still managed to make it through this one with only a minimum of skimming to avoid some of the repetition.
The mystery here doesn't involve a murder, and the case doesn't even start as a mystery. I guess it was nice, in a novel let's-never-repeat-this-again kind of way, to see him working a different kind of case, since most P.I.s aren't running around solving murders. Still, it did make the first half of the book kind of plotless, and Don was really little more than an observer for a large portion of this. At least he and Timmy feel like Don and Timmy again.
And the editing was atrocious. I was forced to get this from Amazon since it's not on Smashwords for some reason, and paid a ridiculous price for it too, and it's riddled with typos. Missing spaces everywhere, and acronyms were not put in caps except one random time near the end. I don't know who did the final approval on this thing, but they should have to pay the publisher back.
The mystery here doesn't involve a murder, and the case doesn't even start as a mystery. I guess it was nice, in a novel let's-never-repeat-this-again kind of way, to see him working a different kind of case, since most P.I.s aren't running around solving murders. Still, it did make the first half of the book kind of plotless, and Don was really little more than an observer for a large portion of this. At least he and Timmy feel like Don and Timmy again.
And the editing was atrocious. I was forced to get this from Amazon since it's not on Smashwords for some reason, and paid a ridiculous price for it too, and it's riddled with typos. Missing spaces everywhere, and acronyms were not put in caps except one random time near the end. I don't know who did the final approval on this thing, but they should have to pay the publisher back.
January 8, 2019
Cockeyed (A Donald Strachey mystery)
By Richard Stevenson
Published by MLR Press, 2010
Four stars
I have seen the four Donald Strachey films, starring gay actor Chad Allen, and I enjoyed them thoroughly. When this 2010 publication popped up in my social media feed, I realized that I hadn’t in fact read any of the more recent books in the extensive Strachey series.
“Cockeyed” is a pretty low-tension mystery, since there are no murders, and not, in fact, all that much mystery. Instead, the book really plays out as a farce, a kind of extended sitcom that is really very funny. If there is anything darker shading the overall light-hearted tone of this book, it is the philosophical issues raised by the author and the main characters about what it really means to be gay in America in the twenty-first century.
Donald Strachey is called in to advise, and possibly to protect, an outrageous older queen named Huntington Van Horn, who has won a billion-dollar lottery (yes, that’s a ‘b’). Hunny Van Horn is the black sheep of a proper Methodist family, and he and his longtime companion, Art, have spent their very gay lives living up (or down) to every possible gay stereotype. With a noble history in gay activism, Hunny and Art have also been both flamboyant and promiscuous throughout their long love-filled time with each other. From the moment Hunny allows himself to be interviewed by the local media after winning the huge jackpot, all manner of unpleasant things begin to happen to him.
Strachey is alerted to Hunny’s troubles by his nephew, Nelson Van Horn, who lives in proper (and, in its own way, stereotypical) upscale rectitude with his investor partner Lawn (really? Lawn?). Indeed, Nelson’s life offers the same sort of contrast to Hunny’s as does Donald’s quiet, comfortable life with his partner Timmy, a government functionary in Albany.
Thus, the real point of this book is not about the threats and distractions that Hunny’s public and private indiscretions unleash on his disorderly household, but about the idea of what a “good” gay person is supposed to be. In a time where assimilation has become the chief tool in defusing social and religious prejudice against LGBT folks, what place does an “unassimilated gay man” have in this brave new world? The whole plot arc includes an extended conversation about the radical versus the conservative approach to being gay. If Hunny and Art refuse to acknowledge that their notion of sexual freedom doesn’t appeal to everyone, then Nelson and Lawn refuse to acknowledge that their own choices are a form of capitulation to the dominant culture in order to be acceptable and thus safer in a society that is still often hostile to LGBT people.
There are several sub-themes that play into the plot as well – raising issues of moral responsibility that are not as black-and-white as we tend to think of them. Are supposed Christians who try to extort money out of supposed sinners anything other than hypocrites? Are bankers who act irresponsibly with their clients’ money any better than thieves (remember, this was on the heels of the bank-induced collapse of the U.S. economy in 2008)?
There are no answers offered by this conversation, which is why the book is so wise and thought-provoking, aside from being hilarious at times. Ultimately, it is a plea to those of us who chose to integrate ourselves into “boring” mainstream culture not to forget our brothers and sisters who chose not to. Gay history is neither monochromatic nor monolithic; we are possibly the most diverse cultural subgroup in humankind. Perhaps we need to be proud of all of our heritage, lest we forget those who made our choices possible.
By Richard Stevenson
Published by MLR Press, 2010
Four stars
I have seen the four Donald Strachey films, starring gay actor Chad Allen, and I enjoyed them thoroughly. When this 2010 publication popped up in my social media feed, I realized that I hadn’t in fact read any of the more recent books in the extensive Strachey series.
“Cockeyed” is a pretty low-tension mystery, since there are no murders, and not, in fact, all that much mystery. Instead, the book really plays out as a farce, a kind of extended sitcom that is really very funny. If there is anything darker shading the overall light-hearted tone of this book, it is the philosophical issues raised by the author and the main characters about what it really means to be gay in America in the twenty-first century.
Donald Strachey is called in to advise, and possibly to protect, an outrageous older queen named Huntington Van Horn, who has won a billion-dollar lottery (yes, that’s a ‘b’). Hunny Van Horn is the black sheep of a proper Methodist family, and he and his longtime companion, Art, have spent their very gay lives living up (or down) to every possible gay stereotype. With a noble history in gay activism, Hunny and Art have also been both flamboyant and promiscuous throughout their long love-filled time with each other. From the moment Hunny allows himself to be interviewed by the local media after winning the huge jackpot, all manner of unpleasant things begin to happen to him.
Strachey is alerted to Hunny’s troubles by his nephew, Nelson Van Horn, who lives in proper (and, in its own way, stereotypical) upscale rectitude with his investor partner Lawn (really? Lawn?). Indeed, Nelson’s life offers the same sort of contrast to Hunny’s as does Donald’s quiet, comfortable life with his partner Timmy, a government functionary in Albany.
Thus, the real point of this book is not about the threats and distractions that Hunny’s public and private indiscretions unleash on his disorderly household, but about the idea of what a “good” gay person is supposed to be. In a time where assimilation has become the chief tool in defusing social and religious prejudice against LGBT folks, what place does an “unassimilated gay man” have in this brave new world? The whole plot arc includes an extended conversation about the radical versus the conservative approach to being gay. If Hunny and Art refuse to acknowledge that their notion of sexual freedom doesn’t appeal to everyone, then Nelson and Lawn refuse to acknowledge that their own choices are a form of capitulation to the dominant culture in order to be acceptable and thus safer in a society that is still often hostile to LGBT people.
There are several sub-themes that play into the plot as well – raising issues of moral responsibility that are not as black-and-white as we tend to think of them. Are supposed Christians who try to extort money out of supposed sinners anything other than hypocrites? Are bankers who act irresponsibly with their clients’ money any better than thieves (remember, this was on the heels of the bank-induced collapse of the U.S. economy in 2008)?
There are no answers offered by this conversation, which is why the book is so wise and thought-provoking, aside from being hilarious at times. Ultimately, it is a plea to those of us who chose to integrate ourselves into “boring” mainstream culture not to forget our brothers and sisters who chose not to. Gay history is neither monochromatic nor monolithic; we are possibly the most diverse cultural subgroup in humankind. Perhaps we need to be proud of all of our heritage, lest we forget those who made our choices possible.
January 26, 2015
Highly enjoyable and very funny. Huntingdon "Hunny" Van Horn and his family are a fun, if crude, bunch to encounter. Hunny and his honey, Art, are a fun loving and living couple who win a billion dollars in a lottery drawing and immediately become beset by people, problems, old grudges and blackmail coming out of the woodwork. Desperate for help, Hunny calls on Donald Stratchey for help with the attempts at blackmail and the action just gets more outrageous, and funny, from there.
I was particularly amused by the thinly disguised 'Bill O'Malley' and 'Focks News'. Stevenson got the snide-ness, baiting, mocking, "moral" outrage and you-name-it down to a "t".
I was particularly amused by the thinly disguised 'Bill O'Malley' and 'Focks News'. Stevenson got the snide-ness, baiting, mocking, "moral" outrage and you-name-it down to a "t".
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 26, 2016
Our 11th meeting with Donald Strachey is different this time. There is no dead body around, no exciting action scenes - it almost looks like Donald is having some time off. There is not much sleuthing going on, Strachey is mostly witnessing what is happening.
Although it sounds like a disappointment, it isn't. I found it actually quite refreshing and entertaining. All the characters parading around under Donald's/Richard's inquisitive gaze are pictured in a way it's enough to carry the whole book.
Cockeyed maybe doesn't bring us an exciting mystery but it offers answers to questions somebody asks seldom, if ever: "What happened to all the Stonewall guys? How a "militant", angry man fighting for his rights feels now? What are they like?" You never read about guys like this. Until now. And for that, I am grateful.
Although it sounds like a disappointment, it isn't. I found it actually quite refreshing and entertaining. All the characters parading around under Donald's/Richard's inquisitive gaze are pictured in a way it's enough to carry the whole book.
Cockeyed maybe doesn't bring us an exciting mystery but it offers answers to questions somebody asks seldom, if ever: "What happened to all the Stonewall guys? How a "militant", angry man fighting for his rights feels now? What are they like?" You never read about guys like this. Until now. And for that, I am grateful.
May 29, 2016
Okay, way wacky turn here (and for a change, no one gets murdered). What would happen if a very outrageous middle-aged gay man won $1,000,000,000 (that's billion, not million) in a state lottery? Well, he'd need to hire a detective to deal with all the even wackier people who would come out of the woodwork for a piece of that prize. Lots of fun to read. So happy Stevenson continues to write these.
July 20, 2025
About the best I can say is it was a big improvement over The 38 Million Dollar Smile, the Strachey before this one, which is certainly damning with faint praise.
As other reviewers noted, this is not really a mystery at all-more a poor attempt at slapstick comedy. A flamboyant, sex obsessed gay man wins a billion dollars in the lottery and chaos and wacky hijinks ensue. There's a missing old lady, several creepy people trying to get a piece of the money through blackmail and death threats, and a LOT of drinking, bad sex jokes, and Timmy being even more a tut tutting Mary Sue than normal. But there's no mystery, and Donald is really just telling the story and acting as a glorified bodyguard than actually "investigating" anything.
The whole thing feels very dated. There are thinly disguised reference to Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, the tea party, Obama with lots of those "cute" names just close enough to the real life person you know Stevenson means while allowing him not to get sued. This was written before gay marriage, published in 2010. If you remember that time, when gay marriage was finally seeming like something that might actually happen, there was a big divide in gay culture, where a lot of gays were feeling pressured to be as "normal" (Read: straight acting) as possible in order to appeal to the mainstream. This book is obviously Strachey's commentary on that time and that mentality. He unfortunately failed to really deliver a compelling story with the political agenda, though. Mostly it's just forgettable.
As other reviewers noted, this is not really a mystery at all-more a poor attempt at slapstick comedy. A flamboyant, sex obsessed gay man wins a billion dollars in the lottery and chaos and wacky hijinks ensue. There's a missing old lady, several creepy people trying to get a piece of the money through blackmail and death threats, and a LOT of drinking, bad sex jokes, and Timmy being even more a tut tutting Mary Sue than normal. But there's no mystery, and Donald is really just telling the story and acting as a glorified bodyguard than actually "investigating" anything.
The whole thing feels very dated. There are thinly disguised reference to Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, the tea party, Obama with lots of those "cute" names just close enough to the real life person you know Stevenson means while allowing him not to get sued. This was written before gay marriage, published in 2010. If you remember that time, when gay marriage was finally seeming like something that might actually happen, there was a big divide in gay culture, where a lot of gays were feeling pressured to be as "normal" (Read: straight acting) as possible in order to appeal to the mainstream. This book is obviously Strachey's commentary on that time and that mentality. He unfortunately failed to really deliver a compelling story with the political agenda, though. Mostly it's just forgettable.
July 4, 2021
I loved Cockeyed (Donald Strachey, #11) since it covers an area that is where we are heading in our world today.
July 28, 2011
I can't believe this is billed as a "Donald Strachey Mystery." There was no mystery! The story centered around Hunny, a flamboyant gay man who won the New York lottery for $1 billion. Strachey is brought in to confront a series of low-lifes who make some sort of claim on Hunny's money, and ostensibly to locate Hunny's mom, who has vanished from an old folks home.
There was no foul play involved in Hunny's mom's disappearance, and none of the bad guys were particularly bad. I plowed through, though, in hopes Stevenson's trademark sense of humor would provide at least some redeeming value - it didn't.
So, the last couple of Strachey novels have been a bust for me. (:-[
There was no foul play involved in Hunny's mom's disappearance, and none of the bad guys were particularly bad. I plowed through, though, in hopes Stevenson's trademark sense of humor would provide at least some redeeming value - it didn't.
So, the last couple of Strachey novels have been a bust for me. (:-[
November 29, 2012
Great characterizations and asks a very serious question at its core. I did find myself skipping some pages though in areas where I kinda knew what was going to happen before it did. But Stevenson is a writer I continue to appreciate a great deal. Its a very entertaining series overall.
February 7, 2016
A bit out of place in the series, a kind of ''mystery-light'' or in fact a kind of comedy. I loved Donald's ambivalence concerning the flaming Hunny, and his sympathy for him. I liked the various references to old movies and to real life (Focks News!).
March 4, 2014
Cockeyed is Stevenson in 2009 waving fond farewell to Noel Coward in a rickety rear-view mirror. It doesn't make for much of a Don Strachey detective mystery though.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews