Nightwork

by Joseph Hansen

Book Overview

Dave Brandstetter, a California private investigator specializing in death claims, uncovers a toxic conspiracy while working a case in a neighborhood plagued by violence and inequality. Gifford... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0030036798
• ISBN13: 9780030036798
• Release Date: March 1985
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

No 7 of the Bransetter mysteries

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.

Twenty-one years old and still great!

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?

Nightwork

"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.

Till Dangers Troubled Night Depart

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.