Customer Reviews

Nightwork (A Dave Brandstetter mystery)

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I'm reading Night Work for the second time and loving it. Hansen's tale reveals a rare and authentic knowledge of Los Angeles and Southern California. He writes well about Dave Brandstetter, a rich, rich gay detective; Cecil Harris, Dave's young African-American lover; and all the aspects of L.A. that I love, including the cars, the rain, the slums, the food, and the people. This story, published in 1984, concerns the coverup of toxic waste dumping in the canyons, which really happened. How could anyone be so vile as to poison our awesome mountains?

In the frame of a murder investigation, Hansen gives life to his characters -- real people, some of which you may recognize in their natural habitat. There are cameo appearances by the suave Jaguar salesman and the sweaty Culver City used-car peddler. Here are some people, too, that I hope you've never met -- the odd ones and the bad guys.

You'll find, too, a few, I don't like this word, but here it is, subplots. A lot's going on and it's all intriguingly tied together. Good people, some almost saintly, live on these pages along with the other kind, who are driven by their fears or their greed. And did I mention the yummy food and the tempting drinks?

Instead of hot babes, this mystery presents us with hot dudes, such as a young Irish ne'er-do-well and a suave, beautiful Latino detective. The only thing I don't like about Brandstetter is that in middle age, he feels old and worn out. What's that about, Joseph? We Californians stay young forever, don't we?

Book seven in the Brandstetter series finds David comfortably settled with a still-fragile Cecil, and looking into the death of a trucker; a trucker who was on the wrong road at the wrong time of night--with a bomb taped to his rig. Hansen writes classic hard-boiled PI novels which start out in prosaic fashion, but weave and wind to brutal and surprising conclusions. The writing is always spare and vivid, with shrewd characterization, snappy dialog, and 'atmosphere' you can smell, touch, and taste. One of the few writers who actually merits comparisons to Chandler and MacDonald, Hansen also set the gold standard for the sub-genre of 'gay mystery.' NIGHTWORK is one of my favorites for the interaction between Dave and Cecil, and the chiaroscuro of Dave's private life and the grim world he works in.

"Nightwork" is the seventh Dave Brandstetter mystery by Joseph Hansen. The series is set in and around Los Angeles. Dave, a death-claims investigator is looking into the death of Paul Meyers, a truck driver. Someone placed a bomb under the truck and it blew up with him one night. Dave learns that Meyers had been doing nightwork to make extra money. Who killed Paul Meyers? Was it Silencio Ruiz, a gang leader who was sent to jail on Paul's testimony, and who vowed to kill him when he got out of prison? Was it Bruce Kilgore, a teacher, with whom Paul's wife Angela was having an affair? Does it have anything to do with Paul's nightwork? The plot and the characters are strong. Hansen is an excellent mystery writer. It's just too bad that there were only 12 of the Dave Brandstetter mysteries written.

With a gift for lean, driven prose, during his lifetime Joseph Hansen (1923-2004) was regarded as one the finest authors working within the classic California private eye genre. His best-known works are a series of twelve novels written between 1970 and 1992 that feature insurance claims investigator Dave Brandstetter, a tough, no-nonsense detective--who also happens to be homosexual and is utterly unconcerned about that fact.

Originally published in 1984, NIGHTWORK finds Brandstetter employed to investigate the death of Paul Meyers, an independent trucker whose firey death was first deemed an accidental crash but now looks very much like murder. Assisted by his lover and sometimes-associate Cecil, who is still recovering from bullet wounds received in the previous GRAVEDIGGER, Brandsetter is quickly involved in an unexpected array of witnesses and suspects: a faithless wife, an eccentric who spends his time watching his neighbors from a Victorian mansion, a black minister whose efforts at reaching out to gang members proves a miss-fire--and most particularly a mysterious woman known only as "Duchess" and a questionable detective named Smithers, who may or may not be involved in illegal toxic waste dumping.

At one time The Los Angels Times described Hasen as "the most exciting and effective writer of the classic California private-eye novel working today"--and NIGHTWORK bears the statement out. Hansen's prose is lean but never sparse, his characters flawlessly created, his plots often a bit too plausible for comfort. He is also noted for his talent in evoking Los Angeles and its surrounding communities, and no where is that gift more beautifully on display than in this particular work. A strong-arm page turner indeed.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

'Nightwork' is yet another Brandstetter mystery by Joseph Hansen. Our favorite insurance investigator, Dave Brandstetter, this time chases down some nasty people involved with illegally hauling dangerous cargo in big rigs in response to the death of one of the truckers. Of course along the way we run into murder, a couple of bizarre characters, and a plot that never quite engaged this reader. The prose is fine but the characterizations have grown too soft as the Brandstetter series progressed. I also find the relationship between the lead character and his gay lover to be too cute, a little to much of forced side show. This sort of books pales compared to anything by the likes of Dennis Lehane or even Harlan Coben.

Bottom line: a very forgettable book. Not recommended.

In the seventh Brandstetter mystery, Nightwork, we find Dave investigating the death of a truck driver who took out life insurance just a couple of weeks before his death. The investigation is fraught with danger from the start as Dave visits the driver's widow who lives in a run down neighbourhood plagued by rival gangs, blacks and Chicanos. As Dave follows his leads he encounters numerous characters from the black pastor struggle to engage with the youth of the area to an aging queen who lives alone in the big house overlooking the district, and some dubious goings on involving chemical waste disposal.

Working full time with Dave now is his young black lover Cecil, not fully recovered from the injuries sustained in the last episode Gravedigger. Their closeness and Dave's concern for his young friend is touching. Nightwork is yet another excellent mystery, full of the usual attention to detail; an imaginative, complex and involved plot full of the unexpected.

In the seventh Brandstetter mystery, Nightwork, we find Dave investigating the death of a truck driver who took out life insurance just a couple of weeks before his death. The investigation is fraught with danger from the start as Dave visits the driver's widow who lives in a run down neighbourhood plagued by rival gangs, blacks and Chicanos. As Dave follows his leads he encounters numerous characters from the black pastor struggle to engage with the youth of the area to an aging queen who lives alone in the big house overlooking the district, and some dubious goings on involving chemical waste disposal.

Working full time with Dave now is his young black lover Cecil, not fully recovered from the injuries sustained in the last episode Gravedigger. Their closeness and Dave's concern for his young friend is touching. Nightwork is yet another excellent mystery, full of the usual attention to detail; an imaginative, complex and involved plot full of the unexpected.