Books: A Country of Old Men by Joseph Hansen (1991)

“After twenty-one years on the detective beat, aging veteran P.I. Dave Brandstetter is finally going to get some rest--that is, after one last case. Even though he is no longer able to sprint after the bad guys like he used to, Brandstetter is not stopped from investigating this wild tale of kidnapping and murder told by a bruised and grubby little boy found wandering the beach alone. The police don't even believe the kid--just as they don't believe that the drug-related shooting death of a pop guitarist in anything out of the ordinary. So Dave is lured out of retirement to confront street drugs, powerful politicians, sleazy record executives, child abuse.and to unravel as snarled a tangle of carnage and deception as he's ever faced.”

The whodunit aspect of A Country of Old Men is a good one, filled with lots of twists and turns, and was the first where I figured out who the killer was before Dave. As the final book in the series, it also brings up Dave’s health issues, something that has always been there, hanging around the dark corners of the series narrative, and makes it more of a subplot than before. There is also another subplot involving some old school classmates, one who has become a novelist and has supposedly written a semi autobiographical tome, that has another classmate, now a rising conservative politician, all up in arms. I found that aspect less interesting, but that was all part of what is called a red herring in this genre. It serves as a distraction, but it’s more of a plot contrivance.  

Still, it’s an enjoyable book, filled with so many distrustful people, especially those who live between the darkness and the light. And Hansen’s Los Angeles is beautiful –well describe, from the smell, to the trees, to the stained concrete. But it’s certainly a Los Angeles that if it truly existed, has not for decades. But it remains a lonely place.

While there is a short story collection perhaps to acquire, as I neared the end of this book, it became obviously –just like the final Westlake book featuring John Dortmunder- hard to turn those final pages. As formulaic as these books can be, just like Westlake, you still want to savior every last sentence, paragraph, and chapter. These twelve titles, released over a twenty-one year period are just great thrillers with a compassionate, empathic gay hero who, despite his aging body and his family history, could never turn away anyone asking for help.