Dave Brandstetter
Created by Joseph Hansen (pseudos include Rose Brock & James Colton; 1923- 2004)

In many ways a conventional P.I. - although he is in fact an insurance claims investigator - DAVE BRANDSTETTER makes for an interesting read partly because he is one of the few convincing (male) gay characters in crime writing. What makes the Brandstetter books very good however, is the way they combine a compelling, well-written 'whodunit' with their evocation of 70's and 80's Southern California, particularly Los Angeles. Listen to this, from Fadeout (1970): "Fog shrouded the canyon, a box canyon above a California town called Pima. It rained. Not hard rain but steady and grey and dismal. Shaggy pines loomed through the mist like threats. Sycamores made white twisted gestures above the arroyo. Down the arroyo water poured, ugly, angry and deep. The road shouldered the arroyo. It was a bad road. The rains had chewed its edges. There were holes. Mud and rock half buried it in places. It was steep and winding and there were no guard rails."

The fact that Joseph Hansen rewrote this passage thirty four times is typical of his writing style. Wonderfully descriptive of its Southern California settings - and in particular L.A.- in a way few before have been. Chandler and Ross McDonald spring to mind. The books also have the kind of effortless dialogue (now 'dialogue' has become noticed with the resurgence of Elmore Leonard) that marks a great writer. Added to this there is the kind of characterisation that makes you want to know more and, well, 'care'. Written without being patronising about everyday 'gay life', the books also recall Armistead Maupin's Tales from the City. No doubt about it, this sort of writing makes for one of the best series in the genre.

Throughout the twelve books Brandstetter grows - quite literally into an old man - as he come to terms with the turmoil of his personal relationships. The emotional sub-text (as it were) of the books intertwines with the plot, the two often being resolved together. And what plots! Death Claims (1973), for example, sees Dave investigating the death of a bookseller who fought to stay alive to be with his lover. Dave's own relationship is seriously foundering with the weight of his emotional baggage - his own unresolved grief for a dead lover - and resolving the 'death claim' is as much about the need to live and move on as anything. A memorable and satisfying book which is well worth re-reading. As is Early Graves (1987). Its subject is AIDS but seen as a metaphor for death, it is given a new significance and twist by Hansen's handling of it.

And kudos should be given to Hansen for his deft handling of Dave's long-term relationship with young, black TV reporter Cecil Harris with honesty and grace. It's a believable and adult relationship, and that's a rare enough thing, gay or straight, in detective fiction.

If one was to criticise the books it would be in the way that Hansen tries too hard to weld worthy themes onto his plots. Sometimes the result can come across as contrived. Obedience (1970), for example, fails for this reason.

However, given the fact the Brandstetter books are amongst the best "series" books you're likely to come across, even if a times they appear to be somewhat neglected, you get an idea why they have built up a loyal following over the years.

The Los Angeles Times once called Hansen "the most exciting and effective writer of the classic private eye novel working today" and in 1992, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America. In 2000, Allyson Publications began an ambitious reprint of the entire series, starting with 1970's Fadeout.

Hansen has also written a fine series of short stories featuring ex-deputy sherriff, and sometime-private eye Hack Bohannon. Under the name of Rose Brockman, he wrote romantic suspense novels.

LETTERS, WE GET LETTERS!

• In November 2000, I received this:
  .
  Dear Mr. Smith,
  
  It's true, I am no youngster, but I am still writing. Since I wound up the Dave Brandstetter series with "A Country of Old Men," I have published two non-mystery novels, "Living Upstairs" and "Jack of Hearts" and a number of short stories (in Ellery Queen's and Alfred Hitchcock's, and Mary Higgins Clark's Mystery Magazines), as well as a brief memoir of my late friend, Don Slater, "A Few Doors West of Hope", and a book of verse, "Ghosts." Six crime stories of mine, including a couple featuring Hack Bohannon, appear this month in the book Blood, Snow, & Classic Cars." And I have just finished a novel "Stubblefields Galore," a sequel to "Living Upstairs."
  
  A friend of mine picked up and forwarded to me your piece on Rara-Avis when it was new, but didn't know how to find it again. Another friend who is nimbler on the computer (and younger) was able to trace it (and your identity) for me yesterday. Hence this letter.
  
  Naturally, I want to thank you for your kind words about my books, but also to correct your impression that I am not gay. A man may think as he pleases, but still must be careful what he says to strangers, in the case of the internet a vast number of strangers. That I am known to be homosexual is important to the viability of what I have spent a lifetime writing about in some 35 books, published all over the world. I do agree with you that it would be not just "interesting," but passing strange if "Brandstetter was created by a straight author."
  
  You might like to correct your misstatement on Rara-Avis. I'd appreciate that. And thanks again for writing so favorably about me and my work.

Joseph Hansen

• And I replied...
  What can I say? In fact, what did I say? At this point, I'm not even sure why -- or even if -- I thought you weren't gay. That original post to Rara Avis was posted over four or five years ago. But I regret the error.

MORE EVIDENCE

• "The trouble with life was, nobody ever got enough rehearsal."
  (Dave speculates, in Skinflick.)

NOVELS

• Fadeout (1970)..Buy this book
• Death Claims (1973) ..Buy this book
• Troublemaker (1975)..Buy this book
• The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of (1978)
• Skinflick (1980)
• Gravedigger (1982)
• Nightwork (1984)
• The Little Dog Laughed (1986)
• Early Graves (1987)
• Obedience (1988)
• The Boy Who Was Buried Yesterday (1990)
• The Country of Old Men (1991)

SHORT STORIES

• "Surf" (January 1976, Playguy)
• "Election Day" (November 1984, EQMM)

COLLECTIONS

• Brandstetter and Others" (1984; includes both Brandstetter stories)

Contributed by Peter Walker. Additional info from Kevin Burton Smith.