The Man Everybody Was Afraid of

Rating:
Summary: Lively and exciting read.
Review: Brandstetter, a gay middle-aged insurance investigator, doesn't believe a gay activist in Southern California killed a "red-neck" sheriff. Turning over stones, he tracks down the real murderer.

Rating:
Summary: I Shot The Sheriff
Review: Once described by the Los Angeles Times as "the most exciting and effective writer of the classic California private-eye novel working today," Joseph Hansen writes smart, smooth PI novels in the hard-boiled tradition--with one difference. Insurance investigator David Brandstetter is homosexual. Not so amazing these days, but something of a shocker in the 1970's when the first Brandstetter novel appeared. In book four of the critically aclaimed series, Brandstetter is investigating the murder of Police Chief Ben Orton, a man who seemed to hate everybody, and whom everybody seemed to hate. Gay activist Cliff Kerlee has been arrested, but Brandstetter isn't so sure, and if he can't be convinced, he may have to be killed...

Rating:
Summary: I Shot The Sheriff
Review: Once described by the Los Angeles Times as "the most exciting and effective writer of the classic California private-eye novel working today," Joseph Hansen writes smart, smooth PI novels in the hard-boiled tradition--with one difference. Insurance investigator David Brandstetter is homosexual. Not so amazing these days, but something of a shocker in the 1970's when the first Brandstetter novel appeared. In book four of the critically aclaimed series, Brandstetter is investigating the murder of Police Chief Ben Orton, a man who seemed to hate everybody, and whom everybody seemed to hate. Gay activist Cliff Kerlee has been arrested, but Brandstetter isn't so sure, and if he can't be convinced, he may have to be killed...

Rating:
Summary: Good, not great, Brandstetter
Review: The fourth entry in Hansen's Brandstetter series finds Dave investigating the murder of a small town sheriff,Ben Orton, hated by many and feared by all. On the face of it, it appears rabid gay activist Cliff Kurlee is responsible for Orton's death, but Brandstetter's continuing probe leads him to other ideas.

This isn't as compelling as the four previous books in the series, but compared to the competition in the gay mystery field, it is pure champagne. All the trademarks are there: scalpel-sharp characterization and dialogue, perfect renderings of place and atmosphere, and Dave Brandstetter himself, of course, a solid character by any standard of detective fiction. This book also introduces Dave's new love interest, Cecil Harris, a young black student and TV newsworker who helps Dave crack the case.

Rating:
Summary: Good, not great, Brandstetter
Review: The fourth entry in Hansen's Brandstetter series finds Dave investigating the murder of a small town sheriff,Ben Orton, hated by many and feared by all. On the face of it, it appears rabid gay activist Cliff Kurlee is responsible for Orton's death, but Brandstetter's continuing probe leads him to other ideas.

This isn't as compelling as the four previous books in the series, but compared to the competition in the gay mystery field, it is pure champagne. All the trademarks are there: scalpel-sharp characterization and dialogue, perfect renderings of place and atmosphere, and Dave Brandstetter himself, of course, a solid character by any standard of detective fiction. This book also introduces Dave's new love interest, Cecil Harris, a young black student and TV newsworker who helps Dave crack the case.