The 38 Million Dollar Smile

Donald Strachey #10

by Richard Stevenson

Gary Griswold, cheerily dim gadfly scion of Albany old money, late of the Key West artists colony, goes missing, and his ex-wife wants to know what's happened to him - not to mention his 38 million dollars in cash. Turns out that religious dilettante Gary and his money have disappeared into Thailand, where corruption has its own etiquette. Soon, Albany's only gay PI, Don Strachey, is out of his element, and his lover Timmy is way out of his comfort zone as they comb the Land of Smiles for a man with an unerring weakness for the poorest choice possible and a daft plan to buy 38 million dollars worth of good karma. #10 in the award-winning Donald Strachey Mystery Series

Genres: Mystery, M M Romance, Gay, LGBT, Detective, Mystery Thriller, Gay Fiction

284 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian 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.

Reviews

[Linda ~ they got the mustard out! ~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, there's bound to be a dud in any series that goes on this long. Hopefully, this is the only one for this series and the rest will go back to being fun and zany.

The first half wasn't too bad, but after Timmy is saved from the bad guys I quickly lost interest in the "mystery" (that was by and large solved at around the same point, which means the rest of the story was just action movie filler). I didn't care about the clients, I didn't care about their troubles, and I didn't care how it would all shake out. Even Don and Timmy felt distant and impersonal here.

As for the setting in Thailand, holy fetishization and Orientalism, Batman. What the hell was that? It started feeling uncomfortable early on and just got worse and worse as the story progressed. It reached a point where I couldn't take it anymore. You finally get some POC in your story, and this is how you choose to portray them? Really, dude?

On top of all that, I had to get this one from Amazon since this and the next one for some reason aren't on Smashwords. The Amazon file was a mess. Formatting issues everywhere, and a couple of misspelled and misused names.

I finally did just skip over the last handful of chapters and skimmed the epilogue. Now I will forget this experience and go read something (hopefully) better.

[Eunice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish Stevenson had focused more on the Thai men; they were far more interesting than the actual mystery (including the whole Griswold family, I so wanted Strachey to have punched Gary in the face). Especially Rufus. At the same time his 'approach' to Thailand was borderline Orientalist. Way to fetishize an entire country! Also, the emotion between Tim and Don seemed completely nonexistent in this novel. Having only 2 more books to go in the series, I've always appreciated Stevenson's more witty and minimalist (though has grown more descriptive in the recent books) prose, but I was in complete disbelief at how Don reacted to Tim being kidnapped and threatened with defenestration. Don was like some kind of placid emotionless cyborg with the occasional dropping of 'I was scared to death' 'I just wanted him back' as if they were afterthoughts - oh yeah my partner of 20 years might DIE in the next 48 hours, here's my obligatory flashes of panic.

The Strachey of the 80s and 90s was far more realistic and believable, and I hope Stevenson hasn't abandoned him entirely.

[Neet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 10th book in the Don Strachey mysteries we find our intrepid PI being hired to find a client's wayward ex-husband.The client was married to the man (who discovered after their divorce he's gay) and now married to the ex's older brother.The missing man is named Gary Grisswold,and he has moved to Thailand with his share of a family owned company which was 38 mil.Gary has disappeared completely,and his family is worried that something nefarious has happened.Gary had e-mail his sister-in-law about his new found peace and serenity in the land of smiles.Gary has become a Buddhist and believes in astrology among other things.Don was in Thailand back in the 70's and has good memories.He decides to take the case and wants Tim to accompany him.Tim is hesitant,he reads of the drive by shootings,and the corrupt officials and wants to stay home.After thinking about it,Tim decides to go with Don.Don decides to get help from a local PI when he reaches Thailand.We are introduced to a wonderful and interesting character named Ralph Pugh.Pugh turns out to be Thai,with a name which I won't write here.The more Don investigates into Gary's disappearance,the stranger and more dangerous it becomes.Also,I'll just say Tim had good reason to want to stay home.This book has twists and turns and is a wonderful read.

[Richard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not one of the stronger entries in the series. Calling it a mystery is kind of a misnomer-it's more of a thriller/action piece, and as usual when mystery writers try this kind of thing (hi, Agatha Christie!), it doesn't come off very well.

A rich dilletante has disappeared mysteriously in Thailand. His brother and his brother's wife (who also happens to be his ex-wife, not that that detail really adds much to the plot) hire Strachey to find him. What exactly happened to the guy, ostensibly the mystery of this book, is resolved about halfway through, and the remainder involves a lot of back and forth increasingly tedious chase scenes and action sequences. It doesn't help that "the victim"-the disappearing guy is found fairly early and proceeds to be one of the most annoying characters in the entire series thus far. And Donald doesn't even really do that much detecting, instead he finds a local Thai person to do 90% of the work, making him an omniscent, absent narrator in his own story.

Add in an anticlimatic finale, a whole lot of Mary Sueing from Timmy, and that the novel is at least 50 pages longer than it needs to be, and I'd rank this one of the worst outings of the series. Read only if you have to read the complete series.

[Robert Fontenot · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve been steadily working my way through this series for a while now but this may be the one that stops me cold. Structurally the story just doesn’t work with the main character playing tourist not just in Thailand but in the story itself, mostly riding shotgun while a local Thai detective takes the lead. More importantly though, the books somewhat loving description of the Thai sex tourism industry was just plain gross.

[Larry Sampson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As with ll of Richard Stevenson's Donald Strachey Mysteries this one was a fun and light reading. A great summer escape. And the fact that I have been to Bangkok where the book is set made it all the more fun.

[Antonella · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5
A fast paced mystery with quite a few twists, some of them maybe slightly too twisted (=non 100% believable or logical).

The setting in Thailand is unusual for this series. It allows one to learn lots of interesting tidbits about Thai culture and society, and they are well integrated in the story and not just a kind travelogue. I’ve read some books set in different countries than US or UK which resented from the effort made by the author to mention places of interest and to give the general idea he/she has done the homework or has spent time in the country. Stevenson did this, but he manages effortlessly to insert his knowledge and to give the general atmosphere of the country and of Bangkok in particular.

Foreigners in Thailand are depicted with well deserved irony or even sarcasm, but now and then I asked myself if the depiction of the country and its inhabitants is not a bit stereotypical. Anyway the books is witty and well written as usual.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gay mystery moves along at a fast clip. There is a lot of background and insight into Thai culture, which I appreciated as much as the plot itself.

The actual mystery doesn't have quite as many twists and surprises as I like, but then again I've been spoiled for life by Agatha Christie. For a lighthearted detective novel, this book works just fine.

A fun, quick read - I'd be interested in more in this series.

[Georgina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haven't read one of these for years and I wonder why not. Likable characters running amuck in Thailand. Giving a look at Buddhism as practiced by a society that grows up with it rather than individuals that convert to it. A gay PI and his partner in Bangkok and we don't have any orgies are we sure that they are not really lesbians in disguise? Its worth reading another one.

[Gilliam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the author's most elaborate effort thus far. A tangled plot brimming with incident in a foreign locale populated by colourful local characters, Strachey is provided limitless opportunity in The 38 Million Dollar Smile to dish out his usual trenchant observation and wit.

[QOTU33 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story was good, like all the others before it. But the formatting of the Ebook wasn't great in several places. Not enough to make it difficult to read, but enough to look very unprofessionally put together.

[Joe Scholes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the Thailand location and the low key eccentric characters, but the story was slow and unengaging. I'm moving right on to Cockeyed and hope it is a better read.

[Elisa Rolle · Rating 5 out of 5]

2009 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)

[Tom Ratliff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Don Strachey fun read.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this one - it was like reading a John Burdett novel - in fact, sometimes, I forgot that I wasn't.