Rare stamps, lawyers, collectors, and experts. I thought I might have wandering into a Lawrence Block novel. Block, as we know, is a philatelist as is Keller, one of his characters. Tapply must be, too. I've always liked Tapply's books. They are often intricately plotted and populated with interesting characters. Eventually, I'll read all of them. ( )

Enjoyed the first book in this series, but this one's not my cup of tea. After realizing this, I skipped the middle 85% of the book and jumped to the end to see how it all came out.

The reader embarking on a project of reading a mystery set in every state of the union plus our nation's capital can expect two kinds of experiences. On the one hand, the armchair traveller will visit locations she has never seen in person, using the author's descriptions and her own imagination to inhabit Alaska, Hawaii or Delaware for a few hours. On the other hand, reading a book set in a familiar location, the reader compares her own impressions and memories with those of the author -- did he "get it right?" Such was the case as I was reading [a:William G. Tapply|81265|Philip R. Craig|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66.jpg]'s second Brady Coyne novel, [b:The Dutch Blue Error|2164046|The Dutch Blue Error|William G. Tapply|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|2169573], set in Boston and environs, where I spent my college years. I can report that Tapply "got it right" -- not just the physical geography, but perhaps more importantly, the social geography as well.

I usually like to begin with the first book in a series, but [b:Death at Charity's Point|3870000|Death at Charity's Point|William G. Tapply|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zeo1YP-DL._SL75_.jpg|2432724] was not on the shelf at my library. I was happy to begin with [b:The Dutch Blue Error|2164046|The Dutch Blue Error|William G. Tapply|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|2169573], though, because I have a resident philatelist who often reads the books I bring home. My in-house authority approved Mr. Tapply's writing about stamps, too.

Protagonist Brady Coyne is a successful Boston attorney with a downtown office. He's probably around 40 in 1984, when the book was published, so his law school years were in the late sixties and he had planned to become a crusading civil rights lawyer. Instead, case by case and client by client, he ended up as a personal attorney for a number of very rich people. One of them, Oliver Hazard Perry Weston, calls Brady in to assist in a stamp transaction -- all very hush-hush. Weston had thought he owned the only existing "Dutch Blue Error" stamp (the error? it should have been orange), but now has been given the opportunity to purchase another. But since Weston is confined to a wheelchair, he wants Brady to meet with the seller, have the stamp authenticated and make the exchange of cash for stamp. All seems to be going smoothly until the seller fails to show up for the final transaction. As he had used a false name, it's a few days later when Brady's interim secretary, African-American law school grad Xerxes Garrett, spots the man's photo in the Globe's obituary column. Attending the visitation, Brady learns that the would-be stamp seller was murdered in what police believe was a burglary attempt.

From there on, numerous complications arise. When Brady discovers another murder and is himself attacked, Cambridge police immediately suspect Xerxes, who rightly is offended. Brady is attracted to the first victim's daughter. And who has the stamp now? The plot twists and turns before arriving at a surprising and ironic conclusion.

There were many things I liked about the character of Brady Coyne; not least was that, unlike some fictional attorney-sleuths, he takes his duties as an officer of the court seriously. In this book at least, he seems to live in a man's world -- since his secretary is on maternity leave, the only women in the book are Deborah, the stamp-seller's daughter, and a few waitresses. Otherwise it's all golf, dinners at Jacob Wirth's with an old law-school buddy, brandy and cigars, talk of fly-fishing....I fully intend to read more of Mr. Tapply's work and will be interested to see whether that continues to be the case.

( )

I love Tappley's Brady Coyne series. I'm reading the earlier ones now. This one is about a very valuable stamp and what Brady's client will do to get it. Brady's character is defined quite a bit -- he talks about his ex-wife and has a law clerk, Zerk, substituting for his pregnant secretary. Zerk comes to the rescue and saves Brady's life and then turns down a partnership after passing the bar exam. ( )