On the Other Hand, Death

here!TV, the gay premium cable channel, has been bringing author Richard Stevenson's mystery novels, centering on gay detective Donald Strachey, to television. On the Other Hand, Death is the latest, with Strachey (Chad Allen) caught up in a tangled web when his mystery client hires him to surveil a woman who turns out to be an undercover cop. In the mean time, a small-town lesbian couple (Margot Kidder and Gabrielle Rose) are facing homophobic vandalism, escalating to violent threats, plus angry parents upset that Kidder, a high-school guidance counselor, is telling her students about the Trevor Project, a crisis hotline for queer and questioning youth (1-866-4-U-TREVOR = 1-866-488-7386). Of course, there turns out to be a connection between the two threads, which Strachey uncovers — but not before a dead body turns up in Kidder and Rose's barn. It's an entertaining and engaging mystery story, in the tradition of Barnaby Jones or Columbo, but with a bit more of a noir aesthetic and a definite gay twist. Highly recommended

On the Other Hand, Death: A Donald Strachey Mystery, dir. Ron Oliver, 2008 USA 86 min.

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