Books: Death Claims By Joseph Hansen (1973)

“Since a burning accident that left him painfully disfigured, John Oats, a well-liked collectible book dealer, has been self-isolating at his beach house in Arena Blanca, California. An avid swimmer, John Oats had taken to night swimming to hide his injuries from daytime beachgoers. When his body is found one morning smashed against the rocks at the treacherous point near the house, the authorities rule it “Death by Misadventure.” Insurance companies don’t much care for verdicts like that and therefore Medallion Insurance, the policy holder for Oats’s substantial life insurance policy, sends out its best investigator, Dave Brandstetter, to poke holes in the story. The night Oats died there was a dangerous storm along the coast, and Brandstetter finds it hard to believe that the bookseller, a lifelong swimmer, would have gone out. As his investigation reveals more of John Oats’s sad story Brandstetter learns that the motives for murder are many.”

Death Claims is the second Dave Brandstetter mystery and it’s just as wonderfully dark, noir-ish and ruthless as the first. Hansen’s prose reminds me much of Donald Westlake when he was writing his Parker novels under his Richard Stark pseudonym. It’s precise, sometimes cold, sometimes heartbreaking, but never sentimental and never wasted. Brandstetter remains dedicated to his work and will do and say anything to get his killer.

It’s still remarkable that Hansen’s work remains relatively unknown to modern noir readers (although his work has been reprinted in the last twenty years). In just two books, so far, I’ve found a remarkable writer of old-style detective writing skills who just happens to be gay and who knows that in the dark corners of Los Angeles of the 1970s, murder and love are always intertwined.

While investigating this latest case, we also get continued glimpse into Dave’s personal life, as he’s still mourning the death of his partner, Rod. It was his grief that got him involved with Doug (who appeared in the first book), but he too is grieving from the loss of his long-time love. But the two men must come to a reckoning of where their relationship stands, whether their love is a stand-in for their lost partners or something more.

Death Claims is a clever whodunit and brilliant work of noir fiction.