Happy New Year! Joseph Hansen

Thought I would start 2006 by re-reading a couple of past favorites. As I was finally finishing the cataloging of my personal library (1689 total books) I kept pulling out a book here and there with the intent of rereading it. Now I have 5 books on my bedside stand waiting patiently to be read. To start the new year, I decided to begin with one of my favorite gay detectives, Joseph Hansen's Dave Brandstetter.

A Country of Old Men, ironically is the "final" Dave Brandstetter mystery. Joseph Hansen brought him out of semi-retirement in order to solve the inevitable murder in the novel, but I believe also to bring closure to the Brandstetter series, once and for all.

As you begin reading the book, it becomes painfully clear that our hero will not survive the final denouement. Dave is feeling tired and run down. He meets "old" friends who are also slowly suffering the pains of aging. He is constantly reminding himself of his father's death of a heart attack and reminisces about his past lovers and friends who have died of either old age or AIDS. Hansen slowly but methodically and without mistake is preparing his readers for Dave's inevitable death.

Some reviewers have decided that Hansen should not have written the final episode of the Brandstetter series, but personally, I'm glad he did. Dave Brandstetter deserved to end his career not as an old man who could no longer do his job; someone who had to stay home and be taken care of, even if his caretaker was his lover. Brandstetter was an active, complex character who was proud of his life and his profession. He was a man who seldmon needed help but took it grudgingly when necessary. To die invalid and dependent was not the way he would have wanted it nor would his fans. I was saddened by his death on the last page of the book, but also pleased that he went with dignity and doing what he had loved to do.

I hope anyone who is a true mystery fan will read Hansen's Dave Brandstetter series. They will be pleased by the plots, the characters and the readability of the stories.