Books: Obedience By Joseph Hansen (1988)

“Well into middle age, Dave has decided to retire for the sake of Cecil, the young TV reporter who loves and cherishes him, and has too often risked his own life for Dave’s work. But retirement does not come easily. Dave never did it for the money. He always had that. Nor did he tirelessly work cases in hopes of chasing renown. It was always the pursuit of the truth that drove Dave. He enjoyed the truth’s habit of coming into direct conflict with bigotry, allowing him to surprise the small-minded along the way. It doesn’t take much arm twisting, then, to get Dave back in the saddle when an old friend in the public defender’s office asks him to help Andy Flanagan, a shiftless young man accused of murdering a Vietnamese businessman to defend the Old Fleet — a shantytown of houseboats that has been earmarked for development. Beneath the surface of this oil-slicked slum lurks an international conspiracy so appalling that Dave will regret postponing his retirement.”

As one review put it, "The One Where Dave Retires for 22 Hours." There are some interesting aspects to this tenth mystery featuring Dave Brandstetter. I’m not sure if it was the point, though. But there is a lot of bait and switching going on here, as well as some-clumsy-and-obvious-who’s-doing it attacks on Dave. The large cast of character also hinder Dave, as he tries to figure out the connections between a hit at a restaurant –possibly done by the gang Lord Don Pham- the murder of Le Van Minh –who could connected to the said crime lord- and what all of this has to do with the Old Fleet and the man arrested for the murder of Le. But in the end, I think Hansen is not interested in complicated plot, with rings with-in rings. It’s more about what people do when they’re stuck like a rat in the corner.

Hansen, as usual in his books, wonderfully describes the weather, the geography, exteriors and interiors, with just the right few words. The dialogue easily moves the story along. The other nice thing here, as I noted last book, is how Hansen is allowing Dave to age. This was something Westlake sort of avoided with his Dortmunder titles, even as he added more modern technology (at the time the book was written) to be folded into the books.