Over a long and varied career, Major-General William Beatson earned a fine reputation as a leader of irregular cavalry in the nineteenth century. He trained many future commanders of the Victorian army, saw action in Spain and British India, and rode with the Heavy Brigade at the Battle of Balaklava. But tasked with disciplining the Turkish Bashi-Bazouks during the Crimean War, his character flaws led him into conflict with politicians and diplomats running the war, who accused him of inciting mutiny. Parliament, newspapers and the law courts then became his chosen battlefields as he fought to clear his name and return to duty. By bringing Beatson s life and career into sharper focus, Richard Stevenson connects wide-ranging themes in Victorian military and imperial history in a fresh and accessible way."
Richard Stevenson is the pseudonym of Richard Lipez, the author of nine books, including the Don Strachey private eye series. The Strachey books are being filmed by here!, the first gay television network. Lipez also co-wrote Grand Scam with Peter Stein, and contributed to Crimes of the Scene: A Mystery Novel Guide for the International Traveler. He is a mystery columnist for The Washington Post and a former editorial writer at The Berkshire Eagle. His reporting, reviews and fiction have appeared in The Boston Globe, Newsday, The Progressive, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's and many other publications. He grew up and went to college in Pennsylvania and served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia from 1962-64. Lipez lives in Becket, Massachusetts and is married to sculptor Joe Wheaton.