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Joseph Hansen: 1923-2004
Joseph Hansen was an American mystery writer, who wrote nearly 40 books under a number of pseudonyms and in a variety of genres. He is best known for his Dave Brandstetter mystery novels about a tough but decent insurance investigator who is also unapologetically gay. The first novel in the series, Fadeout, was published in 1970 a year after the Stonewall Inn riots in New York, with the final book A Country of Old Men (1991) appearing 21 years later and winning him a Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men’s Fiction. The books continue to be read and re-published around the world, finding particular popularity in France and the USA.
Initially a published poet, Hansen founded the pioneering homosexual journal Tangents in 1965, briefly sang with a folk music group, and also taught poetry workshops and hosted a radio show called Homosexuality Today. In 1970, he helped to found the first Gay Pride Parade in Hollywood, although Hansen disliked the term “gay” and always described himself as “homosexual”. He won the 1992 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America and continued to write throughout his life, publishing the mystery story collection Bohannon’s Women (2002) and the Nathan Reed novel The Cutbank Path (2002) as his health deteriorated. He had an unconventional but happy home life, living for over fifty years with his wife, the artist Jane Bancroft, and their child, Daniel. Hansen died from heart failure at his California home in 2004. A new Brandstetter omnibus, containing all ten mysteries, was published in 2007.
Recent books:
Dave Brandstetter Omnibus (No Exit: 2007)
Bohannon’s Women (Five Star: 2002)
The Cutbank Path (Xlibris: 2002)
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