Amazon.com ReviewIf this Corvette-cool, drumskin-taut policier leaves you marveling at its incorporation of a totally rugged, sexy, openly gay sleuth into a style and milieu that reads deliciously like Chandler, Hemingway, and Jacqueline Susann all in bed together, then get this: Hansen wrote it not at the turn of this century--which has gay characters popping up in books and movies and on TV in all sorts of stereotype-busting ways--but, remarkably, in the 70s! Indeed, it was the second in what became Hansen's series of Southern California-set whodunits featuring insurance-claims investigator Dave Brandstetter, who is not without his own lost loves and private demons--and yet never without his cigarette, glass of whiskey (neat, of course), and enough terse, manly stoicism to make Steve McQueen look like Richard Simmons. The Brandstetter series has acquired something of a cult following over the 30 years that Hansen developed it (_Death Claims_ is the second title in its U.S. revival courtesy of Alyson Publications, although many more are currently in print by No Exit Press, available on Amazon's U.K. link) and this slim, no-slack volume, which followed up __, the series debut, makes it delightfully clear why. Everything you could want in a gay-inflected murder mystery set in golden-haired SoCal in the Nixon years is here: A middle-aged rare-books dealer whose doped-up body is found washed up on the coast, his shrewish ex-wife, his lovely young bibliophile girlfriend, and his angelically beautiful and adoring actor son. Don't forget the imperiously queeny head of the local repertory theater; the confirmed-bachelor superstar of a TV western and the blind, Bible-thumping mother who rules his life; a seedy young hospital orderly who smuggles morphine to addicted patients; and a couple of small-time academics obsessed with the lost notebooks of Thomas Wolfe.Then there's Hansen's language, which falls brilliantly somewhere between homage to and spoof of his thriller-penning forebears, right from the first line--"Arena Blanca was right. The sand that bracketed the little bay was so white it hurt the eyes...gulls sheared a sky cheerful as new denim"--to curt, epigrammatic lines--"The dead are terrible. They won't help you at all. No matter how you loved them"--that can only be said with a cigarette propped out of the corner of one's mouth. In fact, the only thing you could call even remotely stereotypically gay about Hansen's prose (or, indeed, Brandstetter's point-of-view) is its obsession with interior design--but even that remains true to genre ("a wastebasket was alone there like a dwarf prince in a dungeon--royal-purple plastic embossed with gold fleur-de-lis..."). True, none of the supporting characters is really developed beyond colorful stock, and not every gear of the story clicks into place with the elegant exactitude and ever-increasing tension and claustrophobia of the technically perfect mystery novel. But who cares? Dave Brandstetter is too cool to be passed up. He's got a steady enough hand to take a drink with even the most sinister of suspects, he hangs out and talks about relationships with his suave Lothario dad, and he can be sensitive and tender with his longtime lesbian friend Madge without lapsing into total schmaltz. Oh, and of course he's haunted by the boy that got away. --Timothy MurphyProduct DescriptionThis second book in Joseph Hansen's groundbreaking, critically acclaimed Dave Brandstetter mystery series find's Dave sifting through the elaborate lies surrounding the murder of John Oats, who's drugged body was found washed up on the beach. Left behind are April Stannard, John's lover, and his son Peter, who was the beneficiary of his life insurance policy. The trouble is, Peter is missing. Joseph Hansen's Dave Brandstetter series of detective novels spanned 21 years and 12 books, earning him the 1992 Lifetime Achievment Award from the Private Eye Writers of America. Review"A superior series." -- Seattle Times "Characters with real stuffing in them." -- Ellery Queen Magazine "Hansen is the most exciting and effective writer of the classic private-eye novel working today." -- Los Angeles Times "Hansen knows how to tell a tough, unsentimental, fast-moving story in an exceptionally urbane style." -- New York TimesProduct DescriptionDeath Claims is the second of Joseph Hansen's acclaimed mysteries featuring ruggedly masculine Dave Brandstetter, a gay insurance investigator. When John Oats's body is found washed up on a beach, his young lover April Stannard is sure it was no accident. Brandstetter agrees: Oats's college-age son, the beneficiary of the life insurance, has gone missing.

Now working freelance, Dave Brandstetter digs into an evangelist’s secret lifeHis father’s death left Dave Brandstetter with a hole in his heart and an inheritance in his bank account. The money allowed him to venture out on his own, launching a freelance insurance investigation agency that specializes in suspicious deaths. His first case is potentially explosive, and if he isn’t careful, it could be his last.Crusading evangelist Gerald Dawson believes that piety and violence go hand-in-hand. To clean up his local skid row, he has taken to vigilante justice, ransacking pornography shops and intimidating their owners. When Gerald is found with his neck snapped, the police finger smut peddler Lon Tooker for the crime, but Dave disagrees. As he digs into the holy man’s nighttime activities, he finds a collection of sins that would make even the devil blush.Skinflick is book five in the Dave Brandstetter Mystery series, which also includes Troublemaker and The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of.

Joseph Hansen's groundbreaking investigator Dave Brandstetter delves into the suspicious death of a gay entrepreneurRick Wendell's ranch is far from town. A remote, dusty hideaway, its only inhabitants are Rick, his aging mother, and her horses. One night, Rick's mother returns from the movies to find Rick lying on the floor, stark naked and with a gaping bullet wound in his chest. Standing over him is his lover, a mustachioed hippie, who swears he did not fire the gun that he's holding. The case seems open-and-shut, but Dave Brandstetter is not satisfied. An insurance investigator with an unusually keen sense of detection, Dave is openly gay and professionally skeptical. Something about the murder causes him to trust the alleged killer—and seriously doubt Rick's mother.  Troublemaker is book three in the Dave Brandstetter Mystery series, which also includes The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of and Skinflick.

In a neighborhood plagued with violence, Dave Brandstetter uncovers a corporate crimeGifford Gardens has gone to hell: Persistent flooding has reduced the neighborhood to a slum, a battleground for rival gangs. Anyone who can afford to leave has already pulled up stakes, and Paul and Angela Myers are among those who are left. To make ends meet, Paul takes on long-haul truck driving, which is as dangerous as it is lucrative, and it's not long before the job gets him killed. One night, Paul's truck flies off a cliff and explodes in midair. Did he fall asleep at the wheel, or was he murdered? Keen-eyed insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter suspects a conspiracy. While digging into Paul's past, Dave will uncover a connection between his untimely death and the happier years of Gifford Gardens. Nightwork is book seven in the Dave Brandstetter Mystery series, which also includes Troublemaker and The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of.

Fadeout is the first of Joseph Hansen's twelve classic mysteries featuring rugged Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator who is contentedly gay. When entertainer Fox Olson's car plunges off a bridge in a storm, a death claim is filed, but where is Olson's body? As Brandstetter questions family, fans, and detractors, he grows certain Olson is still alive and that Dave must find him before the would-be killer does. Suspenseful and wry, shrewd and deeply felt, Fadeout remains as fresh today as when it startled readers more than thirty years ago. **

With retirement just out of reach, Dave Brandstetter investigates the killing of a Vietnamese immigrantAs an insurance investigator, Dave Brandstetter has spent his life unraveling suspicious deaths. Now, well into middle age, he has decided to retire for the sake of Cecil, the young TV reporter who loves and cherishes him, and has too often risked his own life for Dave's work. But retirement does not come easily. An old friend in the public defender's office asks Dave to help Andy Flanagan, a shiftless young man accused of murdering a Vietnamese businessman to defend the Old Fleet—a shantytown of houseboats that has been earmarked for development. Unable to resist the case, Dave heads to the Old Fleet and begins asking questions. Beneath the surface of this oil-slicked slum lurks an international conspiracy so appalling that Dave will regret postponing his retirement. Obedience is book ten in the Dave Brandstetter Mystery series, which also includes Troublemaker and The...

A vicious murderer is targeting gay men in Los Angeles, and it isn't long before Dave Brandstetter finds himself in the killer's pathDave Brandstetter's afternoon does not begin well: His ex-boyfriend picks him up at the airport, and the ride home—in bumper-to-bumper Los Angeles traffic—is one long argument between them. The insurance investigator's day gets worse when he finds a man—bloody, rain-soaked, and ice cold—lying on his porch, killed by a stab wound while Dave was out of town. There is a serial killer loose in Los Angeles, and this man is his sixth victim. Like the others, he had already been marked for death—by the unforgiving plague known as AIDS. Someone is targeting sick men in the city, and Dave's search for the killer leads him into the dark side of gay Los Angeles, where death comes without warning, and life is a fearful dream.  Early Graves is book nine in the Dave Brandstetter Mystery series, which also includes Troublemaker and...

A runaway girl leads Dave Brandstetter to confront a California sex cultSerenity ran away from home when her father was convicted of bribery. For two years, she drifted around the American Southwest, finally finding refuge in the arms of Azrael, a charismatic cult leader whose religion was founded upon blood. Long after Serenity's disappearance, the police find a mass grave containing six dead girls on Azrael's property. Thinking his daughter has been murdered, Serenity's father claims her life insurance, and promptly disappears. Now it's Dave Brandstetter's problem. An insurance investigator with a keen eye and a skeptical mind, Dave is no stranger to savagery. But his trip to the high-priced suburbs of Los Angeles will teach him something new about the depths of human cruelty—and Azrael's mass grave is only the beginning. Gravedigger is book six in the Dave Brandstetter Mystery series, which also includes Troublemaker and The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of.

For the sake of a frightened child, Dave Brandstetter takes on his very last caseIn his decades as an insurance investigator, Dave Brandstetter has never shied away from violence, and he's had more than his share of close calls. Time is catching up with him, his body is slowing down, and his wit is not as sharp as it used to be. But he will forgo retirement once more for the sake of a puzzle no detective could resist. Walking on the beach, a friend finds a bedraggled child who claims he has witnessed a murder. The victim is a drug-addicted pop star, and the obvious suspect is the dead man's ex-girlfriend—a junkie whom the child saw standing over the body, gun in hand. In the final installment of Joseph Hansen's groundbreaking series, Dave looks for justice once more, hoping that he will also find a lasting measure of peace. A Country of Old Men is book twelve in the Dave Brandstetter Mystery series, which also includes Troublemaker and The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of.

**In the small town of La Caleta, Dave Brandstetter investigates the murder of a very unpopular cop ** When Ben Orton’s head is found bludgeoned by a heavy flower pot, the people of La Caleta are stunned—not because their police chief has been murdered, but because no one thought to do it sooner. A bruising, violent man, Ben had a commitment to order that did not always take the law into account. But as insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter is about to find out, the corruption in Ben’s police force did not die with him. By the time Dave arrives in the fading fishing town, a young activist has already been arrested for the murder. Only Dave seems to care that the evidence against the accused is laughably thin. As the people of La Caleta try their best to thwart his investigation, Dave must do whatever it takes to catch Ben’s killer.  *The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of *is book four in the Dave Brandstetter Mystery series, which also includes *Troublemaker *and *Skinflick*.

While investigating a suicide, Dave Brandstetter discovers a dead reporter's final scoopAdam Streeter has covered international crises from Siberia to Cambodia. When disaster strikes, he grabs his battered typewriter and hops on a plane, hurling himself into danger wherever the story demands. He is brave, talented, and internationally renown—so why would he turn a pistol on himself? Insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter has seen enough suicides to know that a journalist this successful would never take his own life. Suspecting treachery, he digs into Adam's last story—an unpublished investigation into the whereabouts of a vanished South American strongman, called El Carnicero,the Butcher—and Adam's death shows every hallmark of his bloody style. To finish Adam's investigation, Dave will have to make like a war correspondent and leap into the line of fire. The Little Dog Laughed is book eight in the Dave Brandstetter Mystery series, which also includes...