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Dave Brandstetter #1
Fadeout
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.
187 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
186 people are currently reading
3149 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Hansen
133 books154 followersJoseph Hansen (1923–2004) was an American author of mysteries. The son of a South Dakota shoemaker, he moved to a California citrus farm with his family in 1936. He began publishing poetry in the New Yorker in the 1950s, and joined the editorial teams of gay magazines ONE and Tangents in the 1960s. Using the pseudonyms Rose Brock and James Colton, Hansen published five novels and a collection of short stories before the appearance of Fadeout (1970), the first novel published under his own name.
The book introduced street-smart insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter, a complex, openly gay hero who grew and changed over the series’s twelve novels. By the time Hansen concluded the series with A Country of Old Men (1990), Brandstetter was older, melancholy, and ready for retirement. The 1992 recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Hansen published several more novels before his death in 2004.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
The book introduced street-smart insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter, a complex, openly gay hero who grew and changed over the series’s twelve novels. By the time Hansen concluded the series with A Country of Old Men (1990), Brandstetter was older, melancholy, and ready for retirement. The 1992 recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Hansen published several more novels before his death in 2004.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 417 reviews
January 21, 2022
This reading experience has left me flabbergasted. (let those jazz hands fly).
I'd like to explain why.
This “Dave Brandstetter Mystery #1” was published in 1970 by an openly gay writer, Joseph Hansen, who created a series about an insurance detective in California who. . . wait for it, wait for it. . . was openly gay.
But, wait. . . not just “openly gay,” but making no apologies for it, in a public relationship with a man, and working as a detective for his father's insurance company. A father-son operation, no less.
And. . . what's even more exciting to me than what I've already mentioned: this detective, Dave Brandstetter, is nobody's victim. He does nothing more than be himself, and then the reader gets to watch while others, who assume that Mr. Brandsetter is a “tough guy,” as straight as the horizon, use rude language around him to describe other gay characters, assuming Dave isn't one of them.
They use words like faggot, fairy and flit and other gems that some people have used to describe a man whose actions they've decided they just don't like.
It's an incredible juxtaposition, to see Mr. Brandstetter doing his job while the homophobic world around him spits out their nonsense.
And it's a good reminder to all of us. . . that another person's nonsense is not about you, it's about them. At the end of the day, all of those ugly little gnats that are flying around that person's head are still in flight, but Mr. Brandstetter manages to casually brush those gnats away from his face and goes home, instead, to a good salad, a nice glass of wine and sometimes a romantic partner.
Oh, yeah. Have I mentioned that there are a couple of subtle scenes of some man-on-man action here? In this novel from 1970? Truly, I've come undone.
I've already ordered the next book in the series.
I'd like to explain why.
This “Dave Brandstetter Mystery #1” was published in 1970 by an openly gay writer, Joseph Hansen, who created a series about an insurance detective in California who. . . wait for it, wait for it. . . was openly gay.
But, wait. . . not just “openly gay,” but making no apologies for it, in a public relationship with a man, and working as a detective for his father's insurance company. A father-son operation, no less.
And. . . what's even more exciting to me than what I've already mentioned: this detective, Dave Brandstetter, is nobody's victim. He does nothing more than be himself, and then the reader gets to watch while others, who assume that Mr. Brandsetter is a “tough guy,” as straight as the horizon, use rude language around him to describe other gay characters, assuming Dave isn't one of them.
They use words like faggot, fairy and flit and other gems that some people have used to describe a man whose actions they've decided they just don't like.
It's an incredible juxtaposition, to see Mr. Brandstetter doing his job while the homophobic world around him spits out their nonsense.
And it's a good reminder to all of us. . . that another person's nonsense is not about you, it's about them. At the end of the day, all of those ugly little gnats that are flying around that person's head are still in flight, but Mr. Brandstetter manages to casually brush those gnats away from his face and goes home, instead, to a good salad, a nice glass of wine and sometimes a romantic partner.
Oh, yeah. Have I mentioned that there are a couple of subtle scenes of some man-on-man action here? In this novel from 1970? Truly, I've come undone.
I've already ordered the next book in the series.
July 7, 2024
Rating: 4* of five
The Publisher Says: 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 forty years ago.
My Review: I've recently completed a re-read of all twelve Brandstetter books. Why the heck not, it beats writing a new ending for my own book, right? Especially a book I thought of as done, but...oh heck, never mind.
My crazy mother bought this book when it came out because she liked mysteries. It was a little too hard-boiled for her, but she got the next three or so because she just loved the writing. When I was about 12, she handed this one to me when I expressed my joy at reading The Maltese Falcon with the offhand remark, "oh well then, this one'll slay ya."
Wow. A gay OLD man! People like me before there was a me!!
That really mattered to me, since there was such a lack of public and accepted gayness in the Austin of 1971. I remember knowing there were gay guys at the University because the sister who went there complained about it. I remember knowing the term "gay" from a friend of that same sister's who used it, and explained it when asked. The sister in question said, "oh geez he means queers, Rich, the faggots who mince around yelling about rights."
My mother is not the only judgmental and nasty woman I grew up with.
Well, that sort of interchange made Brandstetter all the more pleasurable for me to read! I loved him for being himself, despite his own father's disapproval, and for being a widower...a relationship ends before the series begins, and it was a revelation to me that such a relationship was *possible*. What a wonderful man Joseph Hansen must be, I thought, to create this unicorn of a character.
As the mystery unfolds, Dave Brandstetter does too. He learns so much about the victim, and so much of that resonates with him...Dave just can't stop the grieving he's going through for his dead love from connecting him to the people in his life, even as he makes the honorable choice not to take comfort that's offered to him by someone even more vulnerable than he is.
What I know now as someone older than the old man I thought Dave was in the book...Hansen knew what he was talking about when the subject is grief and grieving. Dave's pain made me weep as a kid. It does so much more to the grief-veteran old-man me...makes me sit, shocked, as I'm taken in to this most personal and intimate of places. Sex is less intimate than a person sharing this passage with you. As a re-reader, I had my initial youthful response in mind. Then the reality hit, and the impact was profound.
When there's writing like this, storytelling like this, out there in the world, why are so many people gobbling down so much crap?
The Publisher Says: 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 forty years ago.
My Review: I've recently completed a re-read of all twelve Brandstetter books. Why the heck not, it beats writing a new ending for my own book, right? Especially a book I thought of as done, but...oh heck, never mind.
My crazy mother bought this book when it came out because she liked mysteries. It was a little too hard-boiled for her, but she got the next three or so because she just loved the writing. When I was about 12, she handed this one to me when I expressed my joy at reading The Maltese Falcon with the offhand remark, "oh well then, this one'll slay ya."
Wow. A gay OLD man! People like me before there was a me!!
That really mattered to me, since there was such a lack of public and accepted gayness in the Austin of 1971. I remember knowing there were gay guys at the University because the sister who went there complained about it. I remember knowing the term "gay" from a friend of that same sister's who used it, and explained it when asked. The sister in question said, "oh geez he means queers, Rich, the faggots who mince around yelling about rights."
My mother is not the only judgmental and nasty woman I grew up with.
Well, that sort of interchange made Brandstetter all the more pleasurable for me to read! I loved him for being himself, despite his own father's disapproval, and for being a widower...a relationship ends before the series begins, and it was a revelation to me that such a relationship was *possible*. What a wonderful man Joseph Hansen must be, I thought, to create this unicorn of a character.
As the mystery unfolds, Dave Brandstetter does too. He learns so much about the victim, and so much of that resonates with him...Dave just can't stop the grieving he's going through for his dead love from connecting him to the people in his life, even as he makes the honorable choice not to take comfort that's offered to him by someone even more vulnerable than he is.
What I know now as someone older than the old man I thought Dave was in the book...Hansen knew what he was talking about when the subject is grief and grieving. Dave's pain made me weep as a kid. It does so much more to the grief-veteran old-man me...makes me sit, shocked, as I'm taken in to this most personal and intimate of places. Sex is less intimate than a person sharing this passage with you. As a re-reader, I had my initial youthful response in mind. Then the reality hit, and the impact was profound.
When there's writing like this, storytelling like this, out there in the world, why are so many people gobbling down so much crap?
February 27, 2020
Dave Brandstetter, insurance investigator, is looking into the death of local radio star and mayoral candidate Fox Olson, who crashed his car through a bridge railing on a rainy night. Fox's body has not yet been found, and Brandstetter finds more than one reason to be suspicious.
This is the first book in a series featuring what is to my knowledge the first explicitly homosexual detective--and a very hardboiled detective at that. Brandstetter is sort of a gay Lew Archer--operating out of LA, disillusioned but still compassionate, discovering through the present the hidden secrets of the past.
Don't get me wrong, though: Hansen definitely has his own voice and is much more than a mere imitator. Also, for the first book in a series, this is very good.
December 1, 2021
A Pleasant Treasure!
This is my first book I’ve read, written by Joseph Hansen.
His Dave Brandstetter series was written during the “swinging sixties,” so having a gay man as the hero might have been ably probably published because of the times.
The story touches several times on his personal life, and the life of gay people becomes relevant to the story.
In the story Dave is an insurance investigator, and he is investigating whether a popular radio performer is still alive after surviving a car crash.
This mystery is very enjoyable. It takes you all over the place reaching multiple conclusions and then, at the end explodes with a big surprise.
Will be looking out for the ebook version in the future.
This is my first book I’ve read, written by Joseph Hansen.
His Dave Brandstetter series was written during the “swinging sixties,” so having a gay man as the hero might have been ably probably published because of the times.
The story touches several times on his personal life, and the life of gay people becomes relevant to the story.
In the story Dave is an insurance investigator, and he is investigating whether a popular radio performer is still alive after surviving a car crash.
This mystery is very enjoyable. It takes you all over the place reaching multiple conclusions and then, at the end explodes with a big surprise.
Will be looking out for the ebook version in the future.
September 16, 2019
Cross-posted at Shelf Inflicted and at Outlaw Reviews
It was a real pleasure getting to know Dave Brandstetter. Though this series has been on my radar for a while, knowing this first book was published in 1970 put me off reading. Many of the stories I’ve read from the 70’s and 80’s featuring gay characters have ended tragically or portrayed their lives unfairly.
Dave Brandstetter is an insurance investigator working for his father’s company and investigating the death of entertainer Fox Olson. He’s also grieving the loss of his longtime partner, Rod, who died of cancer.
As the case unfolds, we also get a glimpse of Dave’s life with Rod, his relationship with his father, and his dedication to his job as he attempts to solve a complicated case. Unfortunately, an insurance claim cannot be paid out until a body is found. As Dave spends time interviewing the Olson family members and gathering evidence, he comes to the conclusion that Fox is still alive.
Joseph Hansen’s writing is terse and to the point. Though it’s not a style that will appeal to every reader, it works well with this story, giving it a realistic and unsentimental feel. The short sentences helped move the story along at a brisk pace, yet there was enough substance to make me feel very deeply for the characters. There is an undercurrent of sadness throughout that didn’t move me to tears, but left me with a very heavy, depressed feeling.
Dave Brandstetter is a wonderfully refreshing character. I very much look forward to accompanying him on new cases and hope he finds love again.
“Do you know these lines, Madge? The weight of the world is love. Under the burden of solitude, under the burden of dissatisfaction, the weight, the weight we carry is love…”
It was a real pleasure getting to know Dave Brandstetter. Though this series has been on my radar for a while, knowing this first book was published in 1970 put me off reading. Many of the stories I’ve read from the 70’s and 80’s featuring gay characters have ended tragically or portrayed their lives unfairly.
Dave Brandstetter is an insurance investigator working for his father’s company and investigating the death of entertainer Fox Olson. He’s also grieving the loss of his longtime partner, Rod, who died of cancer.
As the case unfolds, we also get a glimpse of Dave’s life with Rod, his relationship with his father, and his dedication to his job as he attempts to solve a complicated case. Unfortunately, an insurance claim cannot be paid out until a body is found. As Dave spends time interviewing the Olson family members and gathering evidence, he comes to the conclusion that Fox is still alive.
Joseph Hansen’s writing is terse and to the point. Though it’s not a style that will appeal to every reader, it works well with this story, giving it a realistic and unsentimental feel. The short sentences helped move the story along at a brisk pace, yet there was enough substance to make me feel very deeply for the characters. There is an undercurrent of sadness throughout that didn’t move me to tears, but left me with a very heavy, depressed feeling.
“It was only remembering the good times that kept you from taking the knife from the kitchen drawer and, holding it so, tightly in your fist, on the bed, naked to no purpose except that that was how you came into the world and how your best moments in the world had been spent – holding it so, roll onto the blade, slowly, so that it slid like love between your ribs and into that stupidly pumping muscle in your chest that kept you regretting.”
Dave Brandstetter is a wonderfully refreshing character. I very much look forward to accompanying him on new cases and hope he finds love again.
January 25, 2022
Revisiting this read decades later, I am much more impressed with Author Hansen's feat of derring-do in writing the absolutely ordinary Dave as a queer gent of a certain age. These are excellent California Noir novels, as Michael Nava says in his Introduction, and it is homophobia and nothing else that keeps Hansen off the lists of the great practitioners of this art.
I thank you, Soho Syndicate, for republishing the series. Thanks, Edelweiss+, for the DRC. Most of all, and most heartfelt indeed, are the thanks I offer to my forerunner Joseph Hansen for holding the spiky branches back and showing my ever-searching eyes the safest path to being a good man was the honest one.
I thank you, Soho Syndicate, for republishing the series. Thanks, Edelweiss+, for the DRC. Most of all, and most heartfelt indeed, are the thanks I offer to my forerunner Joseph Hansen for holding the spiky branches back and showing my ever-searching eyes the safest path to being a good man was the honest one.
January 22, 2022
Fadeout by Joseph Hansen is a succinct mystery about the disappearance of a guy called Fox Olsen in 1970s (I think) California. This is my first book by the author and I quite enjoyed his writing style, his sentences were almost bullet points at times, but they did the job. He created a vivid picture of Fox, his lifestyle as a gay man, and his friends and family. The interesting thing about Fox's disappearance is, his car was found but not him.
So is he dead or has he gone walkabout?
The distinction matters - well of course it does, because our main character, Dave Brandstetter, is an insurance company investigator. So he needs to find out what happened, because if he's dead his company needs to pay, if he's not dead - happy days! It was a nice twist on a mystery not being solved by a copper, using a insurance investigator is a nice change. It worked.
Oh, by the way Dave is gay too. In fact, there's a lot of gay references in this book, and we get a good perspective of some of the discrimination gay people have to contend with, such as being referred to as 'faggots' and nasty stuff like that.
So we have a chop-suey of likely scenarios, a gaggle of unlikeable characters and a wee dose of political intrigue (just a bit). The final outcome was satisfactory, and kind of made sense but I did have a problem with the ending - not so much the outcome of the mystery, just something involving Dave. It was all a bit too tidy for my untidy mind.
The author can write though and his description of a young lad with cerebral palsy called Buddy was so very well done:
Buddy's head yawed again in an unmeant parody of ecstacy. His mouth worked once more at the smile and the words "If you don't......mind....playing another.....potzer", Hoarse shout of indragged laughter, crooked wave of the hand
So it's really 3.5 from me, graded down because it's not a 4.
Thanks so much to Ebba and Julie for the buddy read :))
3 Stars
So is he dead or has he gone walkabout?
The distinction matters - well of course it does, because our main character, Dave Brandstetter, is an insurance company investigator. So he needs to find out what happened, because if he's dead his company needs to pay, if he's not dead - happy days! It was a nice twist on a mystery not being solved by a copper, using a insurance investigator is a nice change. It worked.
Oh, by the way Dave is gay too. In fact, there's a lot of gay references in this book, and we get a good perspective of some of the discrimination gay people have to contend with, such as being referred to as 'faggots' and nasty stuff like that.
So we have a chop-suey of likely scenarios, a gaggle of unlikeable characters and a wee dose of political intrigue (just a bit). The final outcome was satisfactory, and kind of made sense but I did have a problem with the ending - not so much the outcome of the mystery, just something involving Dave. It was all a bit too tidy for my untidy mind.
The author can write though and his description of a young lad with cerebral palsy called Buddy was so very well done:
Buddy's head yawed again in an unmeant parody of ecstacy. His mouth worked once more at the smile and the words "If you don't......mind....playing another.....potzer", Hoarse shout of indragged laughter, crooked wave of the hand
So it's really 3.5 from me, graded down because it's not a 4.
Thanks so much to Ebba and Julie for the buddy read :))
3 Stars
May 24, 2014
4,5 stars.
Preface:
My first Joseph Hansen book. And this date I should mark in my calender. Because to review a book of Joseph Hansen without mention the person Joseph Hansen itself is IMPOSSIBLE. He is the real pioneer of the gay mystery/thriller genre. Even if you are not a fan of this genre, but consider yourself a passionate MM-reader, then it belongs to your general knowledge to know this name: Joseph Hansen. Born 1923, died 2004(*sob*).
His twelve novels about Dave Brandstetter, an insurance claims investigator had a big influence on the works of the biggest writers of our time in this genre. You just should read the interviews with Josh Lanyon, Marshall Thornton, Michael Nava and a lot of other significant representatives of a gay mystery/thriller genre.
My review:
I have to confess that I was a bit afraid as I started Fadeout. Of course I wanted to like it but I was not sure WHAT to expect from a GAY mystery that takes place at the end of 60s and was FIRST PUBLISHED 1970. I don't belong to the people who regularly watch black and white old movies.
HOW could it be possible to write a GAY MYSTERY with a NOT closet PI in the main role that takes place at the end of 60s?!
Wasn't our society much more prude than now?
The modern LGBT civil rights movement was at the very beginning.
How was it possible at that time to release a novel where the main hero was gay, not to castrate a plot and create such a great character that still inspires the increasingly growing generation of gay fiction writers?
To say that the first book of the Dave Brandstetter Mystery is well-written is an understatement. It is BRILLIANT. And it proves WHY Joseph Hansen and his protagonist Dave Brandstetter belong to the best what this genre can provide. I couldn't believe that it was written at at the end of the 60s! It is sooo refreshing, it is sooooo REAL, absolutely UP TO DATE!
One of my concerns were SEX SCENES.
Yes, we're a modern generation of MM readers, we need them, period. But will be there any at all? And if yes, how could the author find a balance between the genre and the acceptance of the society at THAT time, remaining credible and authentic. He did it very good. I can assure you. You won't be drown in a sea out of lubricant and cums, you won't be practically knocked unconscious by the weigh of many hard cocks. But there is SEX in the book. And it is quite provoking for THAT time.
Less is more.
His 12 Dave Brandstetter's novels were published between the early 70s and the middle of the 90s and I'm sure now that it will be also more sex, more feelings and more emotions in the next instalments. But it is NOT ROMANCE, in the first place it's an excellent mystery that presents realistic people with real feelings MORE THAN 40 YEARS AGO! I can hardly believe it! I had to remind myself during reading- it is the 60s, it is the 60s! Because you don't have this imagination at all!
The story:
We meet Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator and contentedly gay, in the difficult time of his life - his life partner died of cancer and the decision to return to work is his way to combat his own unresolved grief for a dead lover. And it is his first case in the series: The car of Fox Olson, an entertainer, happy husband and farther, was found in a storm, but without his body. Was it a suicide or did he just disappear and fake his death. And why? 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.
Sounds interesting? It is. I spent all my day reading. Because I couldn't put it down! Not for a minute! I'm so excited to have yet 11 books of this series. I want to know more of Dave Brandstetter.
He is one of the best characters of a gay fiction genre - so loyal sharp-witted, courageous, amazing and soooo REAL.
So...Don't wait. Read it now. Better yesterday.
Highly highly recommended.
P.S I warned you already, it is a MUST READ for all MM-reader. But if you read preferably ONLY MM-romance books, if you don't like mystery, you should better skip this one.
Preface:
My first Joseph Hansen book. And this date I should mark in my calender. Because to review a book of Joseph Hansen without mention the person Joseph Hansen itself is IMPOSSIBLE. He is the real pioneer of the gay mystery/thriller genre. Even if you are not a fan of this genre, but consider yourself a passionate MM-reader, then it belongs to your general knowledge to know this name: Joseph Hansen. Born 1923, died 2004(*sob*).
His twelve novels about Dave Brandstetter, an insurance claims investigator had a big influence on the works of the biggest writers of our time in this genre. You just should read the interviews with Josh Lanyon, Marshall Thornton, Michael Nava and a lot of other significant representatives of a gay mystery/thriller genre.
My review:
I have to confess that I was a bit afraid as I started Fadeout. Of course I wanted to like it but I was not sure WHAT to expect from a GAY mystery that takes place at the end of 60s and was FIRST PUBLISHED 1970. I don't belong to the people who regularly watch black and white old movies.
HOW could it be possible to write a GAY MYSTERY with a NOT closet PI in the main role that takes place at the end of 60s?!
Wasn't our society much more prude than now?
The modern LGBT civil rights movement was at the very beginning.
How was it possible at that time to release a novel where the main hero was gay, not to castrate a plot and create such a great character that still inspires the increasingly growing generation of gay fiction writers?
To say that the first book of the Dave Brandstetter Mystery is well-written is an understatement. It is BRILLIANT. And it proves WHY Joseph Hansen and his protagonist Dave Brandstetter belong to the best what this genre can provide. I couldn't believe that it was written at at the end of the 60s! It is sooo refreshing, it is sooooo REAL, absolutely UP TO DATE!
One of my concerns were SEX SCENES.
Yes, we're a modern generation of MM readers, we need them, period. But will be there any at all? And if yes, how could the author find a balance between the genre and the acceptance of the society at THAT time, remaining credible and authentic. He did it very good. I can assure you. You won't be drown in a sea out of lubricant and cums, you won't be practically knocked unconscious by the weigh of many hard cocks. But there is SEX in the book. And it is quite provoking for THAT time.
Less is more.
His 12 Dave Brandstetter's novels were published between the early 70s and the middle of the 90s and I'm sure now that it will be also more sex, more feelings and more emotions in the next instalments. But it is NOT ROMANCE, in the first place it's an excellent mystery that presents realistic people with real feelings MORE THAN 40 YEARS AGO! I can hardly believe it! I had to remind myself during reading- it is the 60s, it is the 60s! Because you don't have this imagination at all!
The story:
We meet Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator and contentedly gay, in the difficult time of his life - his life partner died of cancer and the decision to return to work is his way to combat his own unresolved grief for a dead lover. And it is his first case in the series: The car of Fox Olson, an entertainer, happy husband and farther, was found in a storm, but without his body. Was it a suicide or did he just disappear and fake his death. And why? 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.
Sounds interesting? It is. I spent all my day reading. Because I couldn't put it down! Not for a minute! I'm so excited to have yet 11 books of this series. I want to know more of Dave Brandstetter.
He is one of the best characters of a gay fiction genre - so loyal sharp-witted, courageous, amazing and soooo REAL.
So...Don't wait. Read it now. Better yesterday.
Highly highly recommended.
P.S I warned you already, it is a MUST READ for all MM-reader. But if you read preferably ONLY MM-romance books, if you don't like mystery, you should better skip this one.
January 30, 2008
First gay mystery I ever read; Hansen became the writer I compare all other GLBT mystery writers to (usually unfavorably).
February 1, 2023
welcome to 202-Queer 🌈✨, the year where i only read queer books and finally have fun 🌈✨
50 books in February: 2/50
here's the thing. i hate movies (i know this is a book but this will be relevant). good luck finding one i actually want to watch. and better luck making me sit through it from start to finish.
so a couple of months ago - as a major suprise to everyone who knows me - i watched both Knives Out movies back to back. and while i mostly think they were just alright story wise, i am OBSESSED with Benoit Blanc.
what an ICON!!! he's so QUEER ™. have you seen his silly little outfits???? and he's such a cutie and Daniel Craig's accent is so stupid!!!! i love everything about him.
i've been looking for a while to recreate the Knives Out feeling but in book form and this book is definitely it.
the murder mystery is pretty mid. it's lowkey boring but who cares.
the writing style also feels weird to me and i both dislike and enjoy it immensely.
but. BUT. my man Dave Brandstetter!!!!! He's just like Benoit for real!!!
Such a soft and nice and cute man. Everytime he talked about his deceased partner i had tears streaming down my face. i love him so much, he's my babygirl, I'd do anything for him.
which includes reading this entire series even though i'm sure the stories will continue boring me to death - the things i do for those little queers i swear.
50 books in February: 2/50
here's the thing. i hate movies (i know this is a book but this will be relevant). good luck finding one i actually want to watch. and better luck making me sit through it from start to finish.
so a couple of months ago - as a major suprise to everyone who knows me - i watched both Knives Out movies back to back. and while i mostly think they were just alright story wise, i am OBSESSED with Benoit Blanc.
what an ICON!!! he's so QUEER ™. have you seen his silly little outfits???? and he's such a cutie and Daniel Craig's accent is so stupid!!!! i love everything about him.
i've been looking for a while to recreate the Knives Out feeling but in book form and this book is definitely it.
the murder mystery is pretty mid. it's lowkey boring but who cares.
the writing style also feels weird to me and i both dislike and enjoy it immensely.
but. BUT. my man Dave Brandstetter!!!!! He's just like Benoit for real!!!
Such a soft and nice and cute man. Everytime he talked about his deceased partner i had tears streaming down my face. i love him so much, he's my babygirl, I'd do anything for him.
which includes reading this entire series even though i'm sure the stories will continue boring me to death - the things i do for those little queers i swear.
February 4, 2015
This book.
Fadeout.
I’ve been masticating over this book for a week. Yes, like a cow.
Result: I don’t know what to say about it.
Every time I sit down to write this review I stare at the white page on my laptop until my mind has blanked itself into some sort of Zen state and drool threatens to drip down my chin. So I wipe my mouth and go to bed. Doing absolutely nothing can be so exhausting.
I really only have one main point to make:
If you’re a reader you should read Fadeout. If you’re a writer you should read Fadeout. Anyone should read Fadeout. Everyone should read Fadeout.
(In case you missed it the title of the book is Fadeout. Just to clear that up.)
I’m willing to whine if that’s what it takes; I just want people to read it.
Fadeout is a classic of the genre we so love. It started it all. And unless the world turns in one of those futuristic movies where everyone wears matching spandex outfits, Hansen’s Fadeout will remain a classic.
So I’m asking you to read it.
But.
But I don’t want to sound like I’m giving you a homework assignment. I don’t want to sound like your high school English teacher who forces you to read The Iliad, then adds insult to injury by making you read sections – invariably embarrassing - out loud in class. Then the English teacher (who wanted to write the next American classic but is stuck instead in the home town she dreamed of escaping, attempting to teach classics to teenage shitheads) follows up on this assignment by taking one of the idiots in class seriously when they ask if Achilles was, ya know, totally gay cause he, like, totally got upset when his friend died, ya know? I mean, that’s totally gay, yeah? And you just wanna yell at that asshole that “gay” wasn’t exactly a term they would’ve recognized three fucking thousand years ago. That's a CONTEMPORARY term. And why is that guy so obsessed with what's "gay" or not? That says more about him than the book. So then you refuse to read any book the English teacher has recommend EVER, EVER. Until several years later you will read those books and love them. Or at least like them. Or at least think they're okay. But not because that English teacher who let morons talk in class recommended it. No, never that.
I don’t want to be that English teacher.
At the same time I want to throw this book at you and say “Read it, you shitheads!”
Which will most likely result in you never reading it. Violence is wrong. So let’s just avoid that, shall we?
Here are a couple of reasons you may want to read Fadeout.
Assumptions & preconceived notions . Every reader and author approaches a book with their unconscious opinions. Maybe you hate smoking. You find yourself disliking, or not trusting, certain characters, but it would never occur to you that it’s your opinion of smoking that’s coloring your attitude. The opposite is true as well. Maybe you love flamboyant men and a character in a book clearly does not. Well, you’d probably think that guy was an asshole, wouldn’t you? And no matter how nice a guy he is, that one character flaw colors the entire book for you. There’s nothing really wrong with these opinions, but isn’t it fantastic when reading one book causes you to uncover assumptions you make about the world that you never even realized? Everything looks a little different to you. You can’t help but wonder what other subconscious assumptions you’re making about your own life. God, I love it when that happens!
Books that evolve as we do . I have read Pride & Prejudice 631 times and every time I do it’s different. When I was 17 all I saw was the romance between Elizabeth Bennett & Mr. Darcy. At 37, while I still love the romance, I’m more attracted to Jane Austen’s wicked humor. Hansen’s book is like that. The first time you read it, you may just pay attention to the mystery. At a later date you may find what it has to say about grief more compelling. Or love. Or betrayal. Or living truthfully. Or honesty in art. Neither of these books have changed, but my perception of them has. Instead of loving them less, I love them even more. Wherever I am in my life, these books meet me there. That’s what makes them classics.
That’s right. I just compared Joseph Hansen to the woman I’d most like to be when I grow up, Jane Austen. And I refuse to take it back. They both capture the time periods in which they were written so perfectly and yet they're timeless. And that’s what makes them classics as well.
Ok, so. You the read book. I’ll be happy. Regard the lip that trembles, the eyes that beg:
That’s right. I even have Tom Hiddleston on my side.
March 26, 2024
Originally published in 1970, this was the first book in Joseph Hansen's series featuring private eye Dave Brandstetter. The series would ultimately run for twelve books, through A Country of Old Men, which appeared in 1991. Dave Brandstetter was an insurance company investigator, but, inevitably, he wound up investigating a murder or two in each of the books in the series. What set this series apart was the fact that Brandstetter was, if not the first, then certainly one of the first openly gay detectives to populate the world of the private eye novel. At a time when the genre was still populated by macho, tough guy and often homophobic detectives like Mike Hammer, Brandstetter stood apart as a tough, smart private dick whose love life was a major theme of the series.
Entertainer Fox Olson had just achieved his life-long dream of success with a successful radio program and a certain best-selling book in the offing when his car plunged off a bridge during a violent storm. The car is found under the bridge, but Olson's body is not. Olson's widow insists that the body has simply washed down the river and will be discovered in due course. She adamantly insists that Dave Brandstetter's company should pay the insurance benefit. Virtually everyone agrees with the grieving widow, but Dave is reluctant to pay a claim when there is no body. Brandstetter ultimately comes to believe that Olson is still alive and that his death was faked. And in spite of the obstacles that virtually everyone places in his wake, he is determined to find the truth at the bottom of Fox Olson's disappearance.
At the same time, Dave is grieving the death of Rod, his long-time lover, who has recently succumbed to cancer. The question becomes whether Dave can fight through the pain and heartache that threatens to immoblilize him to follow the threads of a complicated case. This is a book that should appeal to anyone who enjoys private-eye novels and who is looking for a well-written and unique approach to the genre.
Entertainer Fox Olson had just achieved his life-long dream of success with a successful radio program and a certain best-selling book in the offing when his car plunged off a bridge during a violent storm. The car is found under the bridge, but Olson's body is not. Olson's widow insists that the body has simply washed down the river and will be discovered in due course. She adamantly insists that Dave Brandstetter's company should pay the insurance benefit. Virtually everyone agrees with the grieving widow, but Dave is reluctant to pay a claim when there is no body. Brandstetter ultimately comes to believe that Olson is still alive and that his death was faked. And in spite of the obstacles that virtually everyone places in his wake, he is determined to find the truth at the bottom of Fox Olson's disappearance.
At the same time, Dave is grieving the death of Rod, his long-time lover, who has recently succumbed to cancer. The question becomes whether Dave can fight through the pain and heartache that threatens to immoblilize him to follow the threads of a complicated case. This is a book that should appeal to anyone who enjoys private-eye novels and who is looking for a well-written and unique approach to the genre.
March 12, 2013
"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.
He drove it with sweating hands. Why? His smile was sour. Why so careful? Wasn't death all he'd wanted for the past six weeks? His mouth tightened. That was finished. He'd made up his mind to live now. Hadn't he? Live and forget – at least until he could remember without pain. And that would happen someday. Sure it would. All the books said so. The sum of human wisdom. Meantime, he was working again.
And here was the bridge. It was wooden, maybe thirty feet in span, ten feet wide. Heavy beams, thick planks, big iron bolts. Simple and strong.The right kind of bridge for this place."
That is how Joseph Hansen introduces you to his long term series character Dave Brandstetter. I challenge you not to be excited over the content of this series after reading that. Hansen knew how to write this genre at the highest standard from the very beginning.
Fadeout concerns singer, radio personality, writer, artist, Fox Olsen, who finds success late in life and is missing presumed dead after his car is found in a swollen river during heavy storms. Dave Brandstetter is the insurance agent sent to find a way not to pay out on the claim and in the course of his investigation unravels the mystery of the missing man by delving through layers of small town California society, layers of identity and layers of his own grief. The usual intrigue involving friends and family of the missing man can be found throughout but are presented in interesting and new ways and despite a final twenty pages or so as convoluted as they come Fadeout is a highly entertaining hardboiled whodunnit.
As Alan Chin points out in his review Brandstetter was not the first gay sleuth, but he was the first healthy, gay detective that was utterly comfortable with his sexuality. He is as real a person as a crime fiction detective can be and this is what made the series standout at the time, almost as if Hansen/Brandstetter was making the point that "we're normal people, we can do anything a heterosexual male can do, even if that means being Philip Marlowe." Which of course is absolutely true and it would be easy to say forty years in to the future but America in the 70s was a time of turmoil and massive change, a theme I discuss in my recent overview of American hardboiled crime fiction of the period at blahblahblahgay and it must have caused a real uproar in the typical readers of the genre.
Published six years after Isherwood's A Single Man Hansen managed to write both a fantastic, traditional hardboiled crime novel but also a masterly portrayal of loneliness and sexual obsession. The link to Isherwood is much more than they are both written by openly gay men about openly gay men; Brandstetter is essentially George, he is coming to terms with the death of his long term lover, he has a possibly insufferable single female friend who has made it her duty to protect him whilst leaning on him for her own support and a job which provides him with the occasional simple pleasure. The exploration of the depths of the human soul and its ability to triumph over loneliness, alienation and loss are all contained in Hansen's sharp and economical writing only without the same depth applied by the genius of Isherwood. But afterall this is a murder mystery and Hansen has an eye for the exactly relevant detail to include to remain faithful to his literary side without alienating the genre reader.
Great reference is made to Ross MacDonald by people reviewing or discussing this book and I can certainly see where they are coming from in terms of plot and even spare, fast paced writing style. Hansen's first Brandstetter novel is however a much more unique and pleasurable reading experience, than the early Lew Archer novels at least. Of course by the time of this debut outing for Brandstetter Ross MacDonald had given us fifteen Archer novels and so the comparison is admittedly a little weak or naive. What is certain however is that Hansen deserves more recognition from hardboiled fans, not because he broke down walls in the perception of gay society but because he was a damned fine writer of the genre.
He drove it with sweating hands. Why? His smile was sour. Why so careful? Wasn't death all he'd wanted for the past six weeks? His mouth tightened. That was finished. He'd made up his mind to live now. Hadn't he? Live and forget – at least until he could remember without pain. And that would happen someday. Sure it would. All the books said so. The sum of human wisdom. Meantime, he was working again.
And here was the bridge. It was wooden, maybe thirty feet in span, ten feet wide. Heavy beams, thick planks, big iron bolts. Simple and strong.The right kind of bridge for this place."
That is how Joseph Hansen introduces you to his long term series character Dave Brandstetter. I challenge you not to be excited over the content of this series after reading that. Hansen knew how to write this genre at the highest standard from the very beginning.
Fadeout concerns singer, radio personality, writer, artist, Fox Olsen, who finds success late in life and is missing presumed dead after his car is found in a swollen river during heavy storms. Dave Brandstetter is the insurance agent sent to find a way not to pay out on the claim and in the course of his investigation unravels the mystery of the missing man by delving through layers of small town California society, layers of identity and layers of his own grief. The usual intrigue involving friends and family of the missing man can be found throughout but are presented in interesting and new ways and despite a final twenty pages or so as convoluted as they come Fadeout is a highly entertaining hardboiled whodunnit.
As Alan Chin points out in his review Brandstetter was not the first gay sleuth, but he was the first healthy, gay detective that was utterly comfortable with his sexuality. He is as real a person as a crime fiction detective can be and this is what made the series standout at the time, almost as if Hansen/Brandstetter was making the point that "we're normal people, we can do anything a heterosexual male can do, even if that means being Philip Marlowe." Which of course is absolutely true and it would be easy to say forty years in to the future but America in the 70s was a time of turmoil and massive change, a theme I discuss in my recent overview of American hardboiled crime fiction of the period at blahblahblahgay and it must have caused a real uproar in the typical readers of the genre.
Published six years after Isherwood's A Single Man Hansen managed to write both a fantastic, traditional hardboiled crime novel but also a masterly portrayal of loneliness and sexual obsession. The link to Isherwood is much more than they are both written by openly gay men about openly gay men; Brandstetter is essentially George, he is coming to terms with the death of his long term lover, he has a possibly insufferable single female friend who has made it her duty to protect him whilst leaning on him for her own support and a job which provides him with the occasional simple pleasure. The exploration of the depths of the human soul and its ability to triumph over loneliness, alienation and loss are all contained in Hansen's sharp and economical writing only without the same depth applied by the genius of Isherwood. But afterall this is a murder mystery and Hansen has an eye for the exactly relevant detail to include to remain faithful to his literary side without alienating the genre reader.
"In twenty years you could say and do a lot you wish you hadn't. In twenty years you could store up a lot of regrets. And then, when it was too late, when there was no one left to say "I'm sorry" to, "I didn't mean it" to, you could stop sleeping for regret, stop eating, talking, working, for regret. You could stop wanting to live. You could want to die for regret.
It was only remembering the good times that kept you from taking the knife from the kitchen drawer and, holding it so, tightly in your fist, on the bed, naked to no purpose except that that was how you came into the world and how your best moments in the world had been spent--holding it so, roll onto the blade, slowly so that it slid like love between your ribs and into that stupidly pumping muscle in your chest that kept you regretting."
Great reference is made to Ross MacDonald by people reviewing or discussing this book and I can certainly see where they are coming from in terms of plot and even spare, fast paced writing style. Hansen's first Brandstetter novel is however a much more unique and pleasurable reading experience, than the early Lew Archer novels at least. Of course by the time of this debut outing for Brandstetter Ross MacDonald had given us fifteen Archer novels and so the comparison is admittedly a little weak or naive. What is certain however is that Hansen deserves more recognition from hardboiled fans, not because he broke down walls in the perception of gay society but because he was a damned fine writer of the genre.
January 12, 2022
Hansen introduced insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter in 1970 with this offering. All twelve books in the series are being reissued in 2022 so that more readers will enjoy the clever ‘death investigator’ exposing the details of questionable deaths designed to illegally obtain life insurance proceeds.
Brandstetter is gay and his partner of twenty years has recently passed away. This kind of homosexual love turned preconceptions upside down when the books first came out. Over fifty years have passed since the first publication of Fadeout and there is more acceptance of novels with gay main characters. But the appeal of the series is the intelligence and doggedness of Hansen’s Brandstetter character in discovering the truth in a twisty plot. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.
Brandstetter is gay and his partner of twenty years has recently passed away. This kind of homosexual love turned preconceptions upside down when the books first came out. Over fifty years have passed since the first publication of Fadeout and there is more acceptance of novels with gay main characters. But the appeal of the series is the intelligence and doggedness of Hansen’s Brandstetter character in discovering the truth in a twisty plot. I will definitely be reading the next book in the series.
March 11, 2015
This, this kind of writing is the reason I read and the reason I continue to sift through the chaff to find the little hidden gems.
Spare, very spare language. Pictures are drawn with a few dark brushstrokes but the resulting pictures are full of our world, our lives. Hansen creates a world wrapped in sadness and mourning with never-ending rain, human weakness, sadness, greed, kindness, love, hope, all wrapped up in one little book.
He draws up each and every character in his book with meticulous care. He looks deep and delivers little bittersweet portraits of us, with our weaknesses, strengths, beauty and ugliness. And this touched me because it made me feel for the characters but most of all it made me feel that if Hansen had met me, he would have seen me. He would be one of those precious people who see. And in a world where most of the people you try to interact with skim right over you as if you do not exist, that is bloody important.
The book left me feeling a little sad, very moved and glad that I have found Hansen.
August 28, 2011
This book is short in my standard, since I read other mystery novels that are twice long. However, even short, it packs a punch. The writing is profound. Using short sentences, I find it to be lyrical. For example, when Dave describes his memory of Rod, it is melancholic without being sappy.
The mystery is good -- I enjoy the investigation and the issue of homosexuality that surrounds the mystery. I admire Mr. Hansen since this book is written in the 1970's and his character, Dave Brandstetter, is an openly gay detective. A well-written one too.
The mystery is good -- I enjoy the investigation and the issue of homosexuality that surrounds the mystery. I admire Mr. Hansen since this book is written in the 1970's and his character, Dave Brandstetter, is an openly gay detective. A well-written one too.
August 26, 2011
Fadeout -- Hansen
Let's face it, we never really grade on an absolute scale around here. For that matter, I'm not sure that's even possible anymore. Shakespeare would be around 20, and a few people would be between 1-5, and the rest would start under -30, tailing into the -70 range. We'd get lost in the infinite space between two rational numbers somewhere there, have to use a logarithmic scale, and I'm sure we'd have to divide by the square root of minus 1 to make it all come out even. I'm telling ya, the math would get hard.
But this is not my usual grading on a curve for the genre/sub-genre, either.
So on the current NS scale, i.e. the wednesday after the late tuesday night of reading scale, when I can't remember anything else scale, the completely overridden by emotion scale, Fadeout might just be the best MM book I've read. It is a remarkably lovely book on the absolute scale, too, the one where you put His Holy Shakespearan Highness up front, and feel depressed because they're all mostly dead, and will never write again, the good guys on this scale.
Exhibit A:
There is no sex scene in this book. There is barely the start of an incipient sparkle of romance in his eye as a figure comes over the horizon, unexpectedly, into the life of our insurance investigator protagonist.
What there is, however--a superbly etched out murder mystery--is all grace, quiet charm and elegance. Old school. So very the epitome of mid-twentieth century detective fiction (albeit written in 1970), so very much a window into the heart of Americana. You know that shelf upon which history keeps Jazz and baseball? Yes, that's where this belongs.
Let's face it, we never really grade on an absolute scale around here. For that matter, I'm not sure that's even possible anymore. Shakespeare would be around 20, and a few people would be between 1-5, and the rest would start under -30, tailing into the -70 range. We'd get lost in the infinite space between two rational numbers somewhere there, have to use a logarithmic scale, and I'm sure we'd have to divide by the square root of minus 1 to make it all come out even. I'm telling ya, the math would get hard.
But this is not my usual grading on a curve for the genre/sub-genre, either.
So on the current NS scale, i.e. the wednesday after the late tuesday night of reading scale, when I can't remember anything else scale, the completely overridden by emotion scale, Fadeout might just be the best MM book I've read. It is a remarkably lovely book on the absolute scale, too, the one where you put His Holy Shakespearan Highness up front, and feel depressed because they're all mostly dead, and will never write again, the good guys on this scale.
Exhibit A:
"In twenty years you could say and do a lot you wish you hadn't. In twenty years you could store up a lot of regrets. And then, when it was too late, when there was no one left to say "I'm sorry" to, "I didn't mean it" to, you could stop sleeping for regret, stop eating, talking, working, for regret. You could stop wanting to live. You could want to die for regret.
It was only remembering the good times that kept you from taking the knife from the kitchen drawer and, holding it so, tightly in your fist, on the bed, naked to no purpose except that that was how you came into the world and how your best moments in the world had been spent--holding it so, roll onto the blade, slowly so that it slid like love between your ribs and into that stupidly pumping muscle in your chest that kept you regretting."
There is no sex scene in this book. There is barely the start of an incipient sparkle of romance in his eye as a figure comes over the horizon, unexpectedly, into the life of our insurance investigator protagonist.
What there is, however--a superbly etched out murder mystery--is all grace, quiet charm and elegance. Old school. So very the epitome of mid-twentieth century detective fiction (albeit written in 1970), so very much a window into the heart of Americana. You know that shelf upon which history keeps Jazz and baseball? Yes, that's where this belongs.
September 18, 2014
What a fantastic book. I can't remember when I've read a book as gripping as Fadeout — I literally couldn't put it down. Hansen's brilliant voice mesmerized me completely.
This was my first Joseph Hansen book and I was totally blown away by his writing: The way he uses his words so economically and the smart, dry humor of his. He makes all his characters so unique, so alive and human, and creates the wonderful sense of place throughout the book. I enjoyed enormously the heart-wrenching, mature tone of this story and the elegant, sharp way the mystery was laid out.
And who wouldn't fall for the investigator Dave Brandstetter himself? A man whose last name almost no one remembers, who has been around the block a few times, who is struggling in the middle of his own personal tragedy, but who is still able to feel compassion towards others.
I loved it all. Every well-chosen word, every exquisite line. And the best part is that I still have 11 Dave Brandstetter books to read.
This was my first Joseph Hansen book and I was totally blown away by his writing: The way he uses his words so economically and the smart, dry humor of his. He makes all his characters so unique, so alive and human, and creates the wonderful sense of place throughout the book. I enjoyed enormously the heart-wrenching, mature tone of this story and the elegant, sharp way the mystery was laid out.
And who wouldn't fall for the investigator Dave Brandstetter himself? A man whose last name almost no one remembers, who has been around the block a few times, who is struggling in the middle of his own personal tragedy, but who is still able to feel compassion towards others.
I loved it all. Every well-chosen word, every exquisite line. And the best part is that I still have 11 Dave Brandstetter books to read.
July 28, 2024
I learned of this 12-part series some years back and stuck it in my mind to give it a shot 'one of these days'. I guess this is one of these days.
It's probably now most notable for its historical value. The author tells us in the (fascinating in itself) intro to this 2004 edition that, over the years, the series found:
Clearly Dave's sexuality has nothing to do with the actual storyline. It's only explored (minimally) in the few instances where he's not on the job. In his private life, he's as low-key and pragmatic as when he's on a case. But, of course, his lover has recently been murdered and that has stayed with him.
We don't get much by way of details of that murder - but that's largely what makes a midway chapter so poignant: By happenstance, Dave meets up with his good friend Madge (like him, in her 40s). The two commiserate about the nature of same-sex relationships; the precariousness of dealing with other humans in general. (We're on the brink of the '70s here but there's a '50s residue that hangs over liberation's period of adjustment. Things haven't yet reached more of a balance in terms of society's openness.)
The murder case being investigated plays out like a standard procedural. Author Hansen checks the boxes for the usual suspects, neatly handling the covert gay activity which still keeps the investigator's own sexuality off the table.
The writing is at times suitably noir:
This isn't among my favorite types of storytelling; it's like doing a crossword puzzle - but, for what it is, and as a piece of gay history, it's effective.
It's probably now most notable for its historical value. The author tells us in the (fascinating in itself) intro to this 2004 edition that, over the years, the series found:
... no title slipping out of print. Not only did this mean new readers every day were turning my pages to find out whodunit, but that along the way they were getting my message that homosexuals were pretty much like everyone else in the world, living as best they could, with their share of joy and sorrow, success and failure, love and loss. It doesn't sound like a startling message, does it? Yet no other mystery writer had passed it along before me. Gradually times changed. At my back, a line began to form of new writers with gay detectives, male and female.Viewed now, the fact that insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter is gay is what gives this first entry its significance.
Clearly Dave's sexuality has nothing to do with the actual storyline. It's only explored (minimally) in the few instances where he's not on the job. In his private life, he's as low-key and pragmatic as when he's on a case. But, of course, his lover has recently been murdered and that has stayed with him.
We don't get much by way of details of that murder - but that's largely what makes a midway chapter so poignant: By happenstance, Dave meets up with his good friend Madge (like him, in her 40s). The two commiserate about the nature of same-sex relationships; the precariousness of dealing with other humans in general. (We're on the brink of the '70s here but there's a '50s residue that hangs over liberation's period of adjustment. Things haven't yet reached more of a balance in terms of society's openness.)
The murder case being investigated plays out like a standard procedural. Author Hansen checks the boxes for the usual suspects, neatly handling the covert gay activity which still keeps the investigator's own sexuality off the table.
The writing is at times suitably noir:
Reflecting neon signs, the puddles he stepped through were like paintings drowning in ink.And Brandstetter can occasionally sound Marlowe-esque:
"Twenty-two years." Dave drowned the cubes in the glasses, handed one to his father. "I've learned driving is so dangerous I haven't got the guts to do it sober." He grinned and lifted his glass.Chapters are short, in a 'just the facts, ma'am' way and - with its visual flair - the book reads like a film script. You can almost picture the laconic Paul Newman in his two films as P.I. Lew Harper... only gay.
This isn't among my favorite types of storytelling; it's like doing a crossword puzzle - but, for what it is, and as a piece of gay history, it's effective.
April 27, 2020
So, I'm giving this 5 stars because...well, color me more than just a little impressed with how damn progressive this book was for having been written in Nineteen freaking Seventy!
No internalized homophobia, no angsting...hell, Dave's dad even knew he was gay and other than giving a half-hearted attempt at talking Dave into getting married (to give him grandchildren) it was just no big deal. No hate, no anger. Dave even worked for his dad and both were really happy with that.
When the story took a turn, I had no idea who could be the culprit, or why (SO. MANY. Possibilities!)...and though I'm a little disappointed with who it turned out to be, I'm kinda glad that left a certain potential love interest for Dave. DEFINITELY going to read the next one. Well, maybe not soon because I don't have a lot of books on my shelf that were published in the 70s and want to hold on to them for future challenges.
No, it's wasn't graphic, and it didn't need to be because this was first and foremost a mystery. But Dave's sexuality played a heavy part (especially when reminiscing about Rod, and then that little interlude with Anselmo), plus there was his lesbian best friend - and I can't even imagine how much this book must have meant to the queer community in the 1970s. That right there is why this one gets 5 stars.
(It's the earliest book I've read that had a gay protagonist; considering the plot, I'm now wondering though when the "bury your gays" trope caught fire.)
No internalized homophobia, no angsting...hell, Dave's dad even knew he was gay and other than giving a half-hearted attempt at talking Dave into getting married (to give him grandchildren) it was just no big deal. No hate, no anger. Dave even worked for his dad and both were really happy with that.
When the story took a turn, I had no idea who could be the culprit, or why (SO. MANY. Possibilities!)...and though I'm a little disappointed with who it turned out to be, I'm kinda glad that left a certain potential love interest for Dave. DEFINITELY going to read the next one. Well, maybe not soon because I don't have a lot of books on my shelf that were published in the 70s and want to hold on to them for future challenges.
No, it's wasn't graphic, and it didn't need to be because this was first and foremost a mystery. But Dave's sexuality played a heavy part (especially when reminiscing about Rod, and then that little interlude with Anselmo), plus there was his lesbian best friend - and I can't even imagine how much this book must have meant to the queer community in the 1970s. That right there is why this one gets 5 stars.
(It's the earliest book I've read that had a gay protagonist; considering the plot, I'm now wondering though when the "bury your gays" trope caught fire.)
July 3, 2021
I really enjoyed this book! The authors writing style was straight from a noir thriller from the 30's or 40's yet it had the wonderful 70's nods to culture.
I wish I'd read this growing up as the main character Dave would have been my hero, not for his job, his guts or his dogged determination but because he was a gay man who did a job, had friends (well 2) and was just everyday.
A cracking mystery plot, great detective as the main character! I've ordered book 2 in the series already.
Not quite 5 stars but a FULL 4 stars 👍
I wish I'd read this growing up as the main character Dave would have been my hero, not for his job, his guts or his dogged determination but because he was a gay man who did a job, had friends (well 2) and was just everyday.
A cracking mystery plot, great detective as the main character! I've ordered book 2 in the series already.
Not quite 5 stars but a FULL 4 stars 👍
August 5, 2021
Not very good.
August 19, 2013
Dave Brandstetter is an insurance investigator who is hired to investigate a death claim of a local celebrity, whose car plunged off a bridge in a storm. In the absence of a body the insurance company needs to send their own investigator before handing over $150,000 (works out to be about $900,000 by today’s standards). As the investigation continues Brandstetter is convinced that Fox Olson is still alive and he must find him before the would-be killer does.
Dave Brandstetter embodies the tough, no-nonsense persona of most classic Hard-boiled detectives with one major difference; he’s openly gay. As most people know, I have a love for the hard-boiled detective and I’m always looking for new and interesting takes on this genre. I’ve found that in Joseph Hansen’s Fadeout. There are a few reasons why I plan to continue the series and I thought rather than talk about the book, it would be nice to mention what will make me continue with the other eleven novels.
First of all, I’ve never read a pulp novel like this before; a homosexual protagonist would have been controversial in 1970. This would have been near the beginning of the gay pride movement and Hansen must have gone through a lot of hardship with writing this character and being a homosexual as well. With all the stigma and prejudices towards homosexuality back then (and let’s face it, it’s still around today) it was refreshing to see a protagonist who is proud and comfortable with his sexuality (I get sick of seeing homosexuals in literature being portrayed as unstable or disturbed) .
From the very first page of Fadeout, we find out that Dave Brandstetter has just lost a long term partner to cancer, so now we have this fresh new angle as well. Joseph Hansen has been quoted in saying the following about this topic;
“There was room in the form to say important things about men and women and how they cope with life.”
So we have this protagonist that is both tough as nails and maybe cynical of life after this tragic loss but we also get to watch him deal with his grief. Throughout Fadeout you witness Dave Brandstetter struggle with loneliness, sexual desire and even alienation and you really get an idea of just how hard it must be for him. It’s something I don’t think I’ve seen in a hard-boiled novel before and it seems to work really well, I feel for Brandstetter and have a better understanding of just what makes this man tick and that connection makes me want to continue the series.
Lastly, something I didn’t see too much of in Fadeout but I feel like this would be an element that Joseph Hansen would work into the series; I can see it coming. Dave Brandstetter is an insurance investigator, in most hard-boiled novels you have the detective hired by someone close to the victim to solve the puzzle. In this series you have the investigator working against the people; working for the insurance company. Mix that with people’s prejudices and you have a protagonist that will have to struggle to solve any mystery because people will close up and refuse to talk to the man. I like the whole idea; sort of like an anti-hero, he wants to solve the crime or mystery but he has the best interest of the insurance company in mind and not the people. If Hansen uses this throughout the rest of the series, it could really open it up to some interesting and new situations.
Judging by the difficulty of getting a hold of this book, I’m inclined to think this series is cult classic but then you look at the blurbs on the book and think this is a series I should have known about and really is a classic in its own right. I’m sure it will be difficult to get a hold of the other eleven books but I think it will be worth the effort. I want to see if my predictions are correct and also see what Joseph Hansen does with the series. Highly recommend Fadeout; it has the makings of a classic hard-boiled novel but then you have added elements to make it stand out.
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/...
Dave Brandstetter embodies the tough, no-nonsense persona of most classic Hard-boiled detectives with one major difference; he’s openly gay. As most people know, I have a love for the hard-boiled detective and I’m always looking for new and interesting takes on this genre. I’ve found that in Joseph Hansen’s Fadeout. There are a few reasons why I plan to continue the series and I thought rather than talk about the book, it would be nice to mention what will make me continue with the other eleven novels.
First of all, I’ve never read a pulp novel like this before; a homosexual protagonist would have been controversial in 1970. This would have been near the beginning of the gay pride movement and Hansen must have gone through a lot of hardship with writing this character and being a homosexual as well. With all the stigma and prejudices towards homosexuality back then (and let’s face it, it’s still around today) it was refreshing to see a protagonist who is proud and comfortable with his sexuality (I get sick of seeing homosexuals in literature being portrayed as unstable or disturbed) .
From the very first page of Fadeout, we find out that Dave Brandstetter has just lost a long term partner to cancer, so now we have this fresh new angle as well. Joseph Hansen has been quoted in saying the following about this topic;
“There was room in the form to say important things about men and women and how they cope with life.”
So we have this protagonist that is both tough as nails and maybe cynical of life after this tragic loss but we also get to watch him deal with his grief. Throughout Fadeout you witness Dave Brandstetter struggle with loneliness, sexual desire and even alienation and you really get an idea of just how hard it must be for him. It’s something I don’t think I’ve seen in a hard-boiled novel before and it seems to work really well, I feel for Brandstetter and have a better understanding of just what makes this man tick and that connection makes me want to continue the series.
Lastly, something I didn’t see too much of in Fadeout but I feel like this would be an element that Joseph Hansen would work into the series; I can see it coming. Dave Brandstetter is an insurance investigator, in most hard-boiled novels you have the detective hired by someone close to the victim to solve the puzzle. In this series you have the investigator working against the people; working for the insurance company. Mix that with people’s prejudices and you have a protagonist that will have to struggle to solve any mystery because people will close up and refuse to talk to the man. I like the whole idea; sort of like an anti-hero, he wants to solve the crime or mystery but he has the best interest of the insurance company in mind and not the people. If Hansen uses this throughout the rest of the series, it could really open it up to some interesting and new situations.
Judging by the difficulty of getting a hold of this book, I’m inclined to think this series is cult classic but then you look at the blurbs on the book and think this is a series I should have known about and really is a classic in its own right. I’m sure it will be difficult to get a hold of the other eleven books but I think it will be worth the effort. I want to see if my predictions are correct and also see what Joseph Hansen does with the series. Highly recommend Fadeout; it has the makings of a classic hard-boiled novel but then you have added elements to make it stand out.
This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/...
June 28, 2014
I've always loved libraries. Even after discovering and converting to the e-books, I have a special place in my heart for a paperback. There's just something therapeutic and comforting about physically holding a book in your hands and turning its pages. So I try to preserve and expand my library, mainly by collecting paperbacks of the e-books that impressed me the most, my keepers.
Fadeout is definitely a book I'd like to add to my collection. And I have a feeling all Joseph Hansen's works will end up on my shelves, too. Because he is an exceptional writer, the kind you want to recommend to everyone around you.
Reading J. Hansen felt like listening to music. It starts gentle and subtle, then climbs up and down, culminates and recedes in waves, crashing you with its honesty, tugging at you with its sadness and loss as if it were your own. Soulful and lyrical, it touches the furthest corners of your heart.
“Maybe now I regret that. I'm not sure I could have done any differently if I'd tried. But I'm sorry. Because I'm beginning to get the picture. One lifetime's not enough. A man wants another chance. And he's not going to get it. Unless he has children. And grandchildren. They're his second chance.”
(Note here, Dave didn't have children..)
Have you ever noticed that if the music alone is so good, it raises goosebumps on your skin, you sometimes don't even listen to the words? I think, I wouldn't have even cared about the story much, as long as I had Hansen's writing. And I don't ever remember feeling this way about any other book before. Honest truth.
So it was a great bonus to have it all. The mystery is flawless, if a little bit sad, the characters are very well-drawn out, the world they live in, is beautifully described. I really felt being a part of it. But most of all, I admired Dave. His wisdom, kindness and humanity won me over from the first pages.
“Do you know these lines, Madge? 'The weight of the world is love. Under the burden of solitude, under the burden of dissatisfaction, the weight, the weight we carry is love. . . .'”
I'm so happy to have discovered this author and the series. It truly is a MUST READ. And I'm glad it's just the beginning of a journey for me. I know I'll devour it all and advice everyone who would listen to do the same!
November 1, 2016
It’s been a while since I read these, and when I noticed they’re now available for Kindle, I kind of fell upon them. Hansen’s writing is really readable: something like the economy of Chandler, and the turn of phrase, but somehow more streamlined and quick to read. And somewhat less problematic in terms of the representation, since we have a gay detective and generally more up to date models of how people interact and what women are capable of, etc. I can’t recall any exact examples where I wasn’t comfortable, though I think the handling of the Japanese pool boy incident felt a bit off, and maybe some other references to racial issues.
The main character — Dave — is completely unstereotyped. He misses his partner, whom he loved, and he’s not ashamed of that fact — and okay, his partner was a bit of a cliché and rather camp, but the point is that there are a lot of gay people in these books, and they’re all different. They have different interests and different ideas about how to live their lives. Dave is comfortable with himself, and not compensating either — he doesn’t mind people knowing he’s gay, he doesn’t overcompensate, etc. He’s just himself and lets people take him as they find him — and finding a character like that in a mystery novel that otherwise feels pretty hardboiled is a lovely thing.
The plot itself is convoluted, of course, and it’s amazing how Dave’s cases always manage to be about gay people. If you’re straight, apparently you don’t get life insurance from Dave’s dad’s company? Or if you do, your death isn’t investigated by Dave? Of course, all the cases where Dave signs off on it without lengthy investigation aren’t mentioned either, so… Perhaps it’s just that Hansen was interested in how a gay detective made his way in that societal climate, and how being gay affected how people treated you, and how gay people interacted.
I love the series, personally; it’s really easy to read, but there’s depth here (like Dave’s grief for Rod, and in later books, his relationships with other men) and I have no doubt I’ll come back to Dave again in the future. (As I type this, I’ve already gone on to reread the second and third books, as well.) If there is a flaw, it’s perhaps that (at least at this point), I’m more focused on Dave and the whole fact of gay representation in hardboiled crime fiction, and much less on the actual mystery. On the other hand, I focus more on Chandler’s prose than his plot, too, so there’s that.
Originally posted here.
The main character — Dave — is completely unstereotyped. He misses his partner, whom he loved, and he’s not ashamed of that fact — and okay, his partner was a bit of a cliché and rather camp, but the point is that there are a lot of gay people in these books, and they’re all different. They have different interests and different ideas about how to live their lives. Dave is comfortable with himself, and not compensating either — he doesn’t mind people knowing he’s gay, he doesn’t overcompensate, etc. He’s just himself and lets people take him as they find him — and finding a character like that in a mystery novel that otherwise feels pretty hardboiled is a lovely thing.
The plot itself is convoluted, of course, and it’s amazing how Dave’s cases always manage to be about gay people. If you’re straight, apparently you don’t get life insurance from Dave’s dad’s company? Or if you do, your death isn’t investigated by Dave? Of course, all the cases where Dave signs off on it without lengthy investigation aren’t mentioned either, so… Perhaps it’s just that Hansen was interested in how a gay detective made his way in that societal climate, and how being gay affected how people treated you, and how gay people interacted.
I love the series, personally; it’s really easy to read, but there’s depth here (like Dave’s grief for Rod, and in later books, his relationships with other men) and I have no doubt I’ll come back to Dave again in the future. (As I type this, I’ve already gone on to reread the second and third books, as well.) If there is a flaw, it’s perhaps that (at least at this point), I’m more focused on Dave and the whole fact of gay representation in hardboiled crime fiction, and much less on the actual mystery. On the other hand, I focus more on Chandler’s prose than his plot, too, so there’s that.
Originally posted here.
February 16, 2021
3.5 stars
I decided to listen to this one as a reread since the audio is on Audible Plus. The narrator did a very good job and has a gritty voice that works for an old style gumshoe, I'm just not sure if he quite fits Dave. I guess all I can say is that he doesn't not fit Dave. And some of the female characters sound like they smoked six packs a day, which given this is set in 1966, I guess that's a possibility, lol.
As for the mystery, I thought I remembered how it was resolved, but I only remembered one small part of it and even that I had wrong in context, so it really was like reading it for the first time. There was only one scene I remembered when I got to it, and then I didn't remember which book it happened in, lol.
Hansen's writing is very stark and matter of fact. He doesn't delve too much into Dave's psyche, so Dave, our intrepid MC, remains the biggest mystery in the first few books of this series. We learn just enough about his current situation to know what's going on in his life, but not much else. What we learn about his thoughts and feelings have to be gleaned from his actions and how he interacts with the other characters. As such, the series has a slow-feeling at the start, but if you can get through the first few books, it does pick up as you get to understand Dave better.
I decided to listen to this one as a reread since the audio is on Audible Plus. The narrator did a very good job and has a gritty voice that works for an old style gumshoe, I'm just not sure if he quite fits Dave. I guess all I can say is that he doesn't not fit Dave. And some of the female characters sound like they smoked six packs a day, which given this is set in 1966, I guess that's a possibility, lol.
As for the mystery, I thought I remembered how it was resolved, but I only remembered one small part of it and even that I had wrong in context, so it really was like reading it for the first time. There was only one scene I remembered when I got to it, and then I didn't remember which book it happened in, lol.
Hansen's writing is very stark and matter of fact. He doesn't delve too much into Dave's psyche, so Dave, our intrepid MC, remains the biggest mystery in the first few books of this series. We learn just enough about his current situation to know what's going on in his life, but not much else. What we learn about his thoughts and feelings have to be gleaned from his actions and how he interacts with the other characters. As such, the series has a slow-feeling at the start, but if you can get through the first few books, it does pick up as you get to understand Dave better.
September 13, 2016
Veoma dobar krimi roman iz 1970. godine sa naglašenim gej podtekstom. Izdavačka kuća Studio Leo, do sada prepoznatljiva po objavljivanju romana Stivena Fraja, proširila je delokrug borbe i objavila detektivski roman Fejdaut (Fadeout), prvobitno publikovan 1970. godine. Fejdaut Džozefa Hansena (1923-2004) prvi je roman iz serijala o Dejvu Brendsteteru. Već posle prvih nekoliko stranica postaje očigledno da je Hansen izdanak škole „tvrdog“ krimića, te da se nadovezuje na zaostavštinu Hemete, Čendlera i Spilejna. Fejdaut, doduše, nudi zanimljivu varijaciju. Naime, glavni lik, odvažni istražitelj Brendsteter je gej. Ovo čitavoj postavci daje dodatnu dimenziju i Fejdaut izdvaja iz mnoštva slično koncipiranih romana. Hansen homoseksualno opredeljenje svog junaka koristi kako bi uverljivo osenčio lik, stvarajući izuzetno uspešan prikaz muškarca koji je sve samo ne stereotip. Još uvek očajan zbog smrti svog dugogodišnjeg partnera, Brendsteter počinje da istražuje nestanak i moguće ubistvo Foksa Olsena, darovitog pisca i lokalne radio-zvezde koji je, ispostaviće se, vodio dvostruki život. Imajte u vidu da je Fejdaut naglašeno melanholičan krimić, fino „začinjen“ humorom i cinizmom. Hansen je od 1970. do 1991. godine napisao dvanaest romana o Brendsteteru, tako da postoji šansa da, ako Fejdaut dobro prođe, na srpskom bude objavljeno još Hansenovih misterija. Roman je prevela uvek pouzdana Branislava Erak.
September 6, 2011
I feared that this book would be terribly outdated. Also, I am always a bit wary of books deemed "classics" especially when they are less than half a century old. But, it was unnecessary.
Both the mystery and the writing are tight - there is no redundant words here - although Hansen's style takes some time to get used to. But, the real strength of the novel is Dave. He is written in a matter-of-fact way which little authors can manage - even today. He is shown through actions and interactions with other people, with very little inner musings. And, yet, his character, strength, compassion shine through perfectly clear. It seems to me that is one skill the contemporary writers have somewhat forgotten. Great little book, indeed.
Both the mystery and the writing are tight - there is no redundant words here - although Hansen's style takes some time to get used to. But, the real strength of the novel is Dave. He is written in a matter-of-fact way which little authors can manage - even today. He is shown through actions and interactions with other people, with very little inner musings. And, yet, his character, strength, compassion shine through perfectly clear. It seems to me that is one skill the contemporary writers have somewhat forgotten. Great little book, indeed.
July 7, 2013
4.5 stars, review contains spoilers
Hansen is an author I’d not been aware of, but then until recently I’ve really only read the big names in crime fiction, and only some of those - Conan Doyle, Hammett, Chandler, Elmore Leonard - and some of the current writers such as Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre and Dennis Lehane. Thanks to couple of groups on GoodReads (especially the Pulp Fiction group) I’ve been discovering some very fine crime writers and, if Fadeout is anything to go by, Joseph Hansen is certainly one of them.
Published in 1970 it is the first of a series featuring Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator in California. Branstetter arrives at a small town to investigate the apparent death of a local celebrity before the insurance company will pay out $150, 000 on the life insurance. Much of what follows is what you would expect from a (superior) detective novel; Hansen writes in tight, expressive prose, exposing the buried secrets of the various members of the family and the local community, their relationships and jealousies and prejudices. The prejudice is especially apparent when it turns out that the missing man is gay and has left his wife of many years for an old lover. This is particularly poignant as Brandstetter is himself openly and contentedly gay, and has recently lost his own long-term partner. That’s right, check the beginning of this paragraph again. This must have been groundbreaking, indeed shocking, not only when it was first published but for many years afterward. What works particularly well is that the protagonist’s life with his partner - his memories of their being together and his description of the pain of his loss to cancer - are written in precisely the terms that a heterosexual relationship would be, and I can think of no reason it should be otherwise. There is no campness, no undue drama, and this is also true of a later encounter he has, which reads precisely like any other flirtation from another hard-boiled detective book. Even in our more enlightened age it would be rare to come across this being handled so well.
This also holds for Hansen’s description of Buddy, a young man with cerebral palsy, who we see through the detective’s compassionate eyes as determined and intelligent and funny, and absolutely not a caricature to be pitied or patronised. The characterisation throughout is superb, but it is especially with Buddy that Hansen shows his power as a writer.
Hansen is an author I’d not been aware of, but then until recently I’ve really only read the big names in crime fiction, and only some of those - Conan Doyle, Hammett, Chandler, Elmore Leonard - and some of the current writers such as Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre and Dennis Lehane. Thanks to couple of groups on GoodReads (especially the Pulp Fiction group) I’ve been discovering some very fine crime writers and, if Fadeout is anything to go by, Joseph Hansen is certainly one of them.
Published in 1970 it is the first of a series featuring Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator in California. Branstetter arrives at a small town to investigate the apparent death of a local celebrity before the insurance company will pay out $150, 000 on the life insurance. Much of what follows is what you would expect from a (superior) detective novel; Hansen writes in tight, expressive prose, exposing the buried secrets of the various members of the family and the local community, their relationships and jealousies and prejudices. The prejudice is especially apparent when it turns out that the missing man is gay and has left his wife of many years for an old lover. This is particularly poignant as Brandstetter is himself openly and contentedly gay, and has recently lost his own long-term partner. That’s right, check the beginning of this paragraph again. This must have been groundbreaking, indeed shocking, not only when it was first published but for many years afterward. What works particularly well is that the protagonist’s life with his partner - his memories of their being together and his description of the pain of his loss to cancer - are written in precisely the terms that a heterosexual relationship would be, and I can think of no reason it should be otherwise. There is no campness, no undue drama, and this is also true of a later encounter he has, which reads precisely like any other flirtation from another hard-boiled detective book. Even in our more enlightened age it would be rare to come across this being handled so well.
This also holds for Hansen’s description of Buddy, a young man with cerebral palsy, who we see through the detective’s compassionate eyes as determined and intelligent and funny, and absolutely not a caricature to be pitied or patronised. The characterisation throughout is superb, but it is especially with Buddy that Hansen shows his power as a writer.
January 13, 2023
Actual rating: 2.5. I liked it. The mystery was interesting and the writing engaging. The characters were relatively fleshed out for such a short read. The thing that really ruined it for me was
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