Skinflick

by Joseph Hansen

Published 1 October 1980

'After forty years, Hammett has a worthy successor' The Times

Dave Brandstetter stands alongside Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade and Lew Archer as one of the best fictional PIs in the business. Like them, he was tough, determined, and ruthless when the case demanded it. Unlike them, he was gay.

Joseph Hansen's groundbreaking novels follow Brandstetter as he investigates cases in which motives are murky, passions run high, and nothing is ever as simple as it looks. Set in 1970s and 80s California, the series is a fascinating portrait of a time and a place, with mysteries to match Chandler and MacDonald.

Gerald Dawson was an angry man, a fundamentalist who wanted to rid the world of everything he feared and hated. So when he is found murdered, there are plenty of suspects: most obviously the owner of the pornshop he had repeatedly attacked. But Dave knows something doesn't add up, and as he travels from church to X-rated film set, from teenage prostitutes to upstanding preachers, he finds the trail leading somewhere altogether unexpected.


Police Chief Ben Orton had a gift for making enemies. When his body was found, head smashed in, the people of his seaside domain were shocked--less because of the gruesome murder than because someone had finally dared to cross Ben Orton.

Nightwork

by Joseph Hansen

Published 1 July 1984

'After forty years, Hammett has a worthy successor' The Times

Dave Brandstetter stands alongside Philip Marlow, Sam Spade and Lew Archer as one of the best fictional PIs in the business. Like them, he was tough, determined, and ruthless when the case demanded it. Unlike them, he was gay.

Joseph Hansen's groundbreaking novels follow Brandstetter as he investigates cases in which motives are murky, passions run high, and nothing is ever as simple as it looks. Set in 1970s and 80s California, the series is a fascinating portrait of a time and a place, with mysteries to match Chandler and Macdonald.

When Paul Myers' truck goes off the road in flames, Dave is called in to investigate. It's no accident - someone stuck a bomb beneath the vehicle. But it seems like no one knows what Paul was hauling, or who he was working for, and the case will pit Dave against companies willing to kill to keep their dirty secrets.