A strong historical murder mystery with a clear-eyed view of Vietnam in the early days of U.S. involvement. Jurjevics was a good writer and founder of one of my favorite publishers.

Play the Red Queen is a really interesting read for two other reasons.

• First, it's set in Vietnam before the fall of "President" Diem, when the U.S. (and Russia and China and...) was an active present, but had not yet begun to participate in combat. The U.S. offered the South Vietnamese all sorts of "advisers," some who really advised on something, many who were actually CIA-affiliated trying to suss out and manipulate various factions in Diem's government. Many American readers have encountered the later years of this conflict, when the U.S. was engaged in combat, through novels or memoirs. Play the Red Queen lets readers see some of the context leading up to greater U.S. involvement.

• Second, the narrator's voice is distinct—well-informed, cynical, with a knack for turning the unexpected phrase. My personal favorite: "Our top military honchos and the new ambassador were like ants riding down the Saigon River on a turd, each of them convinced he was the commodore."

The central mystery itself involves a female, Vietnamese sharp-shooter who is being driven around Saigon on the back of a Vespa killing American officers. This provides a workable central pillar around which the rest of the novel is arrayed.