Pit two unstoppable con men against each other, throw in a heap of dollars and enough political paranoia to send all America looking under their beds for Reds, add the CIA, the KGB, MI6 and the Mafia, all dressed to kill, and salt the mixture with Robinson's trenchant humour. This is the US-of-A, 1953. One of our main men is senator Joe McCarthy, high priest of America's holy war on Red treachery. The other is Luis Cabrillo. Once he made a fortune as a freelance in counter-intelligence. Now he's flat broke. The two men embrace each other like clams. Luis sells Joe a steady stream of bogus Commie treachery. But Luis's dodgy past is catching up with him. Other real characters mischievously coopted by Robinson include Soviet spy Kim Philby, recently tipped to head MI6, and young Bobby Kennedy, who really did serve and admire Joe McCarthy in 1953. Red Rag Blues is a black comedy inspired by the true state of America as the McCarthy witch-hunt reached its climax of ranting and raving, when it was nothing to laugh about.