A Donald Strachey Mystery, Book 5 - Donald Strachey is asked to investigate the suspicious death of Paul Haig by three different people-Haig's homophobic mother, his ex-lover, and the psychiatrist hired to "cure" him of his homosexuality. Just as he gets started, however, all three remove him from the case, leaving Strachey with a brutal murderer that now everyone wants left alone.

Written over a period of three decades, the Donald Strachey series authentically chronicles gay life as it unfolded in upstate New York. Shock to the System was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Mystery. An author's note is included.

"Stevenson's real coup in Shock to the System is his memorably varied cast of suspects." - Kirkus Reviews

"Sassy and sexy ... Don Strachey is a private dick who really earns his title." - Armistead Maupin

"Stevenson writes wittily and knowingly about his subjects, both the gay world and the world of politics, and draws telling portraits of the bitter, clever amusing men who inhabit both." - West Coast Review of Books