However, Hansen manages to keep the books from becoming dated. Fadeout begins with a preface by Hansen (written a few months before his death at age 81), which succinctly traces the origin of the pioneering detective series set in Southern California, featuring, according to Hansen's obituary in the Los Angeles Times, "the first major gay protagonist in the mystery genre."Īlthough quite enjoyable, the books are a product of their time, and the reader is transported to the early 1970's with references to hippies, love-ins, the fuzz (the police), phonograph records, bellbottom dungarees, young people whose motto was "never trust anybody over thirty," and electric typewriters. The University of Wisconsin Press has reissued the recently deceased Hansen's first two novels in the 12-volume series: Fadeout (1970) and Death Claims (1973). 1 His father owned a shoe store in Aberdeen, but it closed during the Great Depression. Life and works edit Hansen was born on July 19, 1923, in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Zimmerman's Todd Mills, or Mark Richard Zubro's Paul Turner, there was Joseph Hansen's Dave Brandstetter, the very masculine, self-assured, openly gay, highly cultured (he likes classical music and avant-garde films) middle-aged claims investigator for the Medallion Life Insurance Company. Joseph Hansen (J November 24, 2004) was an American crime writer and poet, best known for a series of novels featuring private eye Dave Brandstetter. 166 pages, $15.95 (paper)īEFORE THERE WAS John Morgan Wilson's Benjamin Justice or Lev Raphael's Nick Hoffman, before Mary Wings' Emma Victor, R.
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