Strange Blue features lawman John Webb. who wants to apply scientific principles in the pursuit of justice. He arrives in Teller, Colo., eager to work with the legendary marshal, Adz Donelson. When the marshal's chief deputy and a saloon girl are murdered, Webb gets his chance. A few extra attractions: Saloon girls. Hard-rock miners. The Rumsey boys. A septuagenarian photographer who knows his dry plates. Beer in blue bottles. The telegraph woman and the missing madam. Guns and butter. Whiskey and bitters. Faro and Montana Red Dog. Boots and sex, food and sex. John Singleton Copley. Mermaids. The old Hangtown Fry. And an early version of Federal Express. "The atmosphere is a little Altmanesque, and the narrative is straight ahead."