David Dodge wrote a lot of books. Three with international PI Al Colby. This was the third and final of the series. Like Dodge, Colby traveled the world and The Red Tassel takes him to Bolivia in service of Pancha Porter. A beautiful young woman with flaming red hair who inherited a lead mine in the mountains, managed by the man her father hired, Braillard. The mine has suffered numerous thefts and sabotages and there is some reason to suspect Porter will not be welcome by the perpetrator(s). Hence, the need for Colby. Whether he’s there to act as a bodyguard for Porter or as an undercover investigator is between him and his boss.
Colby is no mining expert, but the more he learns, the less impressive Braillard’s management savvy appears. The story and tension build steadily while Dodge immerses readers in the country’s culture and mining operations at high altitudes. Llamas are the only pack animals useful in the thin air. Unlike cattle, they cannot tolerate branding. Instead, they’re marked with tassels, woven from yarn, affixed to their ears. Each herd is marked by a different color and design.
Colby is a plodding investigator, but he’s often the smartest person in the room, and he eventually fits the meager pieces of evidence he uncovers into a plausible theory. The supernatural element in the story is cast by Yatiri the old brujo who seems to control everything that happens in his nearby village and perhaps all the trouble in the mine as well. If only Colby could figure out the connection and the motive.
The Red Tassel is a fine novel by the author of To Catch a Thief. Randel S. Brandt adds a fascinating biographical sketch of Dodge, placing the Tassel in its chronology of the author’s works. It’s a gasp!
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