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A Dick Hardesty Mystery #2
The 9th Man
Book by Grey, Dorien
156 pages, Paperback
First published December 31, 2000
4 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Dorien Grey
43 books126 followersIf it is possible to have a split personality without being schizophrenic, Dorien Grey qualifies. When long-time book and magazine editor Roger Margason chose the pseudonym “Dorien Grey” for his first book, it set off a chain of circumstances which has led to the comfortable division of labor and responsibility. Roger has charge of day-to-day existence, freeing Dorien—with the help of Roger’s fingers—to write. It has reached the point where Roger merely sits back and reads the stories Dorien brings forth on the computer screen.
It’s not as though Roger has not had an uninteresting life of his own. Two years into college, he left to join the Naval Aviation Cadet program. Washing out after a year, he spent the rest of his brief military career on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean at the height of the cold war. The journal he kept of his time in the military, in the form of letters home, honed his writing skills and provided him with a wealth of experiences to draw from in his future writing. These letters will be appearing in book form shortly.
Returning to Northern Illinois University after service, he graduated with a B.A. in English, and embarked on a series of jobs which worked him into the editing field. While working for a Los Angeles publishing house, he was instrumental in establishing a division exclusively for the publication of gay paperbacks and magazines, of which he became editor. He moved on to edit a leading L.A. based international gay men's magazine.
Tiring of earthquakes, brush fires, mud slides, and riots, he returned to the Midwest, where Dorien emerged, full-blown, like Venus from the sea. They’ve been inseparable (and interchangeable) ever since.
He . . . and Dorien of course…moved back to Chicago in 2006, where they now devote full time to writing. After having published fourteen books in the popular Dick Hardesty Mystery series, four books in the Elliott Smith (paranormal) Mystery series, and the stand-alone western/romance/adventure novel, Calico, he is busily at work on yet another Dick Hardesty mystery.
But for a greater insight into the "real person" behind Dorien Grey, the curious are invited to check out his website (http://www.doriengrey.com), where you can read the first chapter of any or all of his books for free, and his various blogs: Dorien Grey and Me (http://www.doriengreyandme.com) and A Life in Photos (http://www.doriengreyphotolife.blogsp...) among them.
Dorien passed away on November 1, 2015.
It’s not as though Roger has not had an uninteresting life of his own. Two years into college, he left to join the Naval Aviation Cadet program. Washing out after a year, he spent the rest of his brief military career on an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean at the height of the cold war. The journal he kept of his time in the military, in the form of letters home, honed his writing skills and provided him with a wealth of experiences to draw from in his future writing. These letters will be appearing in book form shortly.
Returning to Northern Illinois University after service, he graduated with a B.A. in English, and embarked on a series of jobs which worked him into the editing field. While working for a Los Angeles publishing house, he was instrumental in establishing a division exclusively for the publication of gay paperbacks and magazines, of which he became editor. He moved on to edit a leading L.A. based international gay men's magazine.
Tiring of earthquakes, brush fires, mud slides, and riots, he returned to the Midwest, where Dorien emerged, full-blown, like Venus from the sea. They’ve been inseparable (and interchangeable) ever since.
He . . . and Dorien of course…moved back to Chicago in 2006, where they now devote full time to writing. After having published fourteen books in the popular Dick Hardesty Mystery series, four books in the Elliott Smith (paranormal) Mystery series, and the stand-alone western/romance/adventure novel, Calico, he is busily at work on yet another Dick Hardesty mystery.
But for a greater insight into the "real person" behind Dorien Grey, the curious are invited to check out his website (http://www.doriengrey.com), where you can read the first chapter of any or all of his books for free, and his various blogs: Dorien Grey and Me (http://www.doriengreyandme.com) and A Life in Photos (http://www.doriengreyphotolife.blogsp...) among them.
Dorien passed away on November 1, 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 26, 2016
The Ninth Man (Dick Hardesty Mystery, #2)
Dorien Grey
Self-published 2015 (print published in 2013)
Cover by Ginny Glass
Four stars
I only started to read Roger Margason’s writing as Dorien Grey after his death in 2015. The second of the Dick Hardesty series shows Dick settled into his life as a private detective specializing in the needs of the gay community.
Dorien Grey’s writing is professional and literate – not something that can be taken for granted in this era of self-publishing. Grey was good, echoing the style and intelligence of the best of classic detective fiction. In “The Ninth Man,” Hardesty finds himself dragged reluctantly into a death that, while proclaimed a suicide by the police, is apparently a murder. Through his sometime bed partner at the Coroner’s office, Hardesty discovers that this mysterious death is just one of six, all of which have been set aside by the police because they don’t really care about gay folks dying.
Once more, Hardesty works to bring justice to the lives of gay people in a world (the 1970s) that is still highly homophobic, especially when government officials of any level are part of the picture. What is striking is that Grey is writing of a world he knew directly (a world that I, a generation younger than Roger Margason, was just coming out into). His narrative has an authenticity that is owed to his first-hand experience of the world that Hardesty inhabits.
A couple of other things struck me about this book, however. In this second Hardesty novel, there is no circle of supportive friends, other than the morgue assistant, Tim. Hardesty is portrayed as very much alone, other than his interactions with the various gay men he interviews in the course of his investigation. Also, and somewhat disturbingly for me, there is a great deal of internalized homophobia in “The Ninth Man” that seems to parallel the official homophobia of the police department. The client who first hires Hardesty is depicted as flamboyantly queeny, and is derided for that both by Hardesty and by other gay men of his acquaintance during the course of the story. Throughout the narrative, the police disparage gay men for their sexual promiscuity; while at the same time, Hardesty talks to gay men whose lovers all have cheated on them, and himself enjoys several opportunistic liaisons that emerge in the course of his investigation. Not a single healthy gay relationship appears in this book, and Hardesty, in the end, is alone and disillusioned.
This is a pretty great, well-written murder mystery; but I kept asking myself whether Dorien Grey was intentionally filling his story with internalized homophobia to make a point to his latter-day readers, or if was he simply expressing his own attitudes about being gay. Ultimately, “The Ninth Man” presents a pretty bleak picture of life in gay America in the 1970s – a picture at odds with my own experience. It is such a change from the Dick Hardesty shown in the first book, I think I’ll have to buy the third one to see how it plays out.
Dorien Grey
Self-published 2015 (print published in 2013)
Cover by Ginny Glass
Four stars
I only started to read Roger Margason’s writing as Dorien Grey after his death in 2015. The second of the Dick Hardesty series shows Dick settled into his life as a private detective specializing in the needs of the gay community.
Dorien Grey’s writing is professional and literate – not something that can be taken for granted in this era of self-publishing. Grey was good, echoing the style and intelligence of the best of classic detective fiction. In “The Ninth Man,” Hardesty finds himself dragged reluctantly into a death that, while proclaimed a suicide by the police, is apparently a murder. Through his sometime bed partner at the Coroner’s office, Hardesty discovers that this mysterious death is just one of six, all of which have been set aside by the police because they don’t really care about gay folks dying.
Once more, Hardesty works to bring justice to the lives of gay people in a world (the 1970s) that is still highly homophobic, especially when government officials of any level are part of the picture. What is striking is that Grey is writing of a world he knew directly (a world that I, a generation younger than Roger Margason, was just coming out into). His narrative has an authenticity that is owed to his first-hand experience of the world that Hardesty inhabits.
A couple of other things struck me about this book, however. In this second Hardesty novel, there is no circle of supportive friends, other than the morgue assistant, Tim. Hardesty is portrayed as very much alone, other than his interactions with the various gay men he interviews in the course of his investigation. Also, and somewhat disturbingly for me, there is a great deal of internalized homophobia in “The Ninth Man” that seems to parallel the official homophobia of the police department. The client who first hires Hardesty is depicted as flamboyantly queeny, and is derided for that both by Hardesty and by other gay men of his acquaintance during the course of the story. Throughout the narrative, the police disparage gay men for their sexual promiscuity; while at the same time, Hardesty talks to gay men whose lovers all have cheated on them, and himself enjoys several opportunistic liaisons that emerge in the course of his investigation. Not a single healthy gay relationship appears in this book, and Hardesty, in the end, is alone and disillusioned.
This is a pretty great, well-written murder mystery; but I kept asking myself whether Dorien Grey was intentionally filling his story with internalized homophobia to make a point to his latter-day readers, or if was he simply expressing his own attitudes about being gay. Ultimately, “The Ninth Man” presents a pretty bleak picture of life in gay America in the 1970s – a picture at odds with my own experience. It is such a change from the Dick Hardesty shown in the first book, I think I’ll have to buy the third one to see how it plays out.
July 31, 2018
3.5 stars
I had mixed feelings about the first book in this series, The Butcher's Son, and some doubts that Hardesty had what it took to be a detective. This was a tighter story, and it shows that Hardesty really is a dog with a bone when he gets a mystery to figure out. The whodunit was pretty obvious from the start It looks like he put the years between the first book and this one learning his craft pretty well. He can be awkward at the interviews at times, which is a nice personality quirk for a P.I. since you expect them to be smooth all the time.
The reason behind the murders is a bit on the far-fetched side. I think it would've been better if there had been less people involved, just for believability.
I was uncomfortable about Dick's and Tim's casual bigotry against femme gays. It happens, I know, but I'm hoping there's a character in later books who'll make him reconsider that stance.
I had mixed feelings about the first book in this series, The Butcher's Son, and some doubts that Hardesty had what it took to be a detective. This was a tighter story, and it shows that Hardesty really is a dog with a bone when he gets a mystery to figure out. The whodunit was pretty obvious from the start It looks like he put the years between the first book and this one learning his craft pretty well. He can be awkward at the interviews at times, which is a nice personality quirk for a P.I. since you expect them to be smooth all the time.
The reason behind the murders is a bit on the far-fetched side. I think it would've been better if there had been less people involved, just for believability.
I was uncomfortable about Dick's and Tim's casual bigotry against femme gays. It happens, I know, but I'm hoping there's a character in later books who'll make him reconsider that stance.
May 19, 2020
I didn't feel like this was as strong as the first book and I can't help but feel like I don't really know who Dick is; a few glimpses of personality come out, but overall, I don't feel like he's been fleshed out.
Read
September 23, 2014The Ninth Man, by Dorien Grey, b-plus, Narrated by Jeff Frez-Albrecht, Produced by Dorien Grey, Downloaded from audible.com.
This is the second in the Dick Hardesty series and involves his first case ass a private eye. A new client informs him that his lover was killed, and that the police insist it’s a suicide. He claims it’s murder and that the police are ignoring the issue and writing it off as a suicide because the man was gay. Dick approaches his good friend, Tim, who works in the coroner’s office. He finds out that several gay men have turned up dead. The police are not considering them as suicides. They all seem to have been killed by inhaling cyanide-something no one would probably do who was trying to commit suicide. Dick doesn’t agree with the police that this is a serial killer. Instead, he becomes convinced that the deaths are not random and that there’s something connecting all of these men together, and he finally proves it. These books are interesting to read although rather formulaic. We have a nice gay private eye. He thinks with his crotch more than his head, which means that he ends up having sex with almost everyone he’s attracted to during the course of an investigation. That gets a little tiresome. But the books are basically a relaxing read. The narrator does a good job of creating the characters and he resists the temptation others might have to use any stereotypic gay caricature voices.
This is the second in the Dick Hardesty series and involves his first case ass a private eye. A new client informs him that his lover was killed, and that the police insist it’s a suicide. He claims it’s murder and that the police are ignoring the issue and writing it off as a suicide because the man was gay. Dick approaches his good friend, Tim, who works in the coroner’s office. He finds out that several gay men have turned up dead. The police are not considering them as suicides. They all seem to have been killed by inhaling cyanide-something no one would probably do who was trying to commit suicide. Dick doesn’t agree with the police that this is a serial killer. Instead, he becomes convinced that the deaths are not random and that there’s something connecting all of these men together, and he finally proves it. These books are interesting to read although rather formulaic. We have a nice gay private eye. He thinks with his crotch more than his head, which means that he ends up having sex with almost everyone he’s attracted to during the course of an investigation. That gets a little tiresome. But the books are basically a relaxing read. The narrator does a good job of creating the characters and he resists the temptation others might have to use any stereotypic gay caricature voices.
May 21, 2014
This is the second book in the Dick Hardesty murder mysteries and another intriguing mystery for our favorite Dick.In this mystery,Dick is hired to investigate the sudden death of his client's boyfriend.The boyfriend is described as handsome, fit twenty seven year old who is also highly promiscuous,who dies suddenly from what we learn is cyanide poisoning.The culprit of the poisoning seems to be poppers which the victim inhaled.In Dick' s further investigation.he learns from a friend/bedmate that there have been several other sudden deaths of young gay men whose cause is eerily similar.Sick begins to wonder if their a serial killer on the loose.On a personal note,Dick seems to be enjoying his freedom as a single man.He isn't lonesome for compaionship.He meets two handsome men while investigating the case.The one man,Ed Grayley,is a man Dick is attracted to and has similar interests.Is Ed too good to be true? Will Sick solve the mysteries? This is a short read.but a good read none the less.Enjoy! =
April 17, 2024
Still listenable but not as good as the first murder mystery-wise and Dick's character development. As to the murderer's rationale for the killings, it would have been more believable if the number of victims was less.
Dick is now a PI but how successful we do not know. Can't be if he was in a rush to pocket the cash his client is offering. He is still unattached, grabbing whatever hookup comes his way, if he's attracted to the guy, of course. I prefer that he had a circle of good friends, even just one or two, and not necessarily have slept with them, or want to. I'm sure gay men in the 70s have platonic relationships!
Not all the books are available at Audible but I'm hoping those missing ones will be soon. Meanwhile, I've bought the 8 available and since each case is a standalone they will last me until the missing titles are out in audio.
Dick is now a PI but how successful we do not know. Can't be if he was in a rush to pocket the cash his client is offering. He is still unattached, grabbing whatever hookup comes his way, if he's attracted to the guy, of course. I prefer that he had a circle of good friends, even just one or two, and not necessarily have slept with them, or want to. I'm sure gay men in the 70s have platonic relationships!
Not all the books are available at Audible but I'm hoping those missing ones will be soon. Meanwhile, I've bought the 8 available and since each case is a standalone they will last me until the missing titles are out in audio.
February 21, 2023
I enjoyed this but have a hard time saying why! You have to be willing to overlook quite a lot. Based on book 1 the story happens in the early 70’s but quite a few references make it seem more like early 80’s (answering machines and microwaves).
In this outing Dick has his PI license and stumbles into a string of murders involving gay men. The mystery is done fairly well but again the reader has a pretty good idea of the killer. I just really like the writing style! So a solid 3.5 star
In this outing Dick has his PI license and stumbles into a string of murders involving gay men. The mystery is done fairly well but again the reader has a pretty good idea of the killer. I just really like the writing style! So a solid 3.5 star
August 3, 2025
When the cast of characters is simply the detective, his contact at the morgue, the victims, the victims lovers, and one other guy, there is no question as to who did it. In many ways the murder mystery is in fact incidental to the more interesting aspect of the novel: 1970s gay culture/reality.
Not what I was expecting after the first book in the series, but author Roger Margason/Dorien Grey is a refreshing competent writer and I will definitely be reading book 3.
Not what I was expecting after the first book in the series, but author Roger Margason/Dorien Grey is a refreshing competent writer and I will definitely be reading book 3.
August 18, 2018
A good mystery, interesting and intriguing.
Read
August 9, 2008GLB Publishers have The Worst Covers Ever. They make mainstream bodice ripper covers look tasteful, stylish, nay - classy in comparison. At least six different (but basic) fonts used on the cover alone, the awful layout then photoshopped and printed so badly that the images are cut off in parts, and the images *shudder* ... anyway. I had read Grey first when he published Butcher's Son and while I hated some other gay crime writers and despite remembering being neither emotionally nor intellectually impressed, I certainly didn't hate it and finally read my second of his novels.
Since it seemed to take place long after events of the next book, I checked Grey's website again for illumanition ... *sigh* it's certainly bright, and rivals the covers in sheer awfulness. What's worse though is that it lacks a bibliography, there's not even a simple chronology, and even the otherwise surprisingly informed fantasticfiction page doesn't have it - but wiki and amazon confirm that THIS book is the first, even if the second in the series will take place a decade or more earlier. Why do I ramble about this? Because after finishing I had to go check Hardesty's living situation in the next installment, only to find it couldn't be found. It is important, because for once the hero has to make a decision that has none of the pretend-hardness one finds from Whimsey to Justice, but feels awful because emotions and intellect agree on one solution when only duty points to the other, because even ethics and morals aren't quite sure.
Apart from that though the novel is very straightforward, short like all the Grey novels, typical mature gay promiscuity, although very little explicitness, not even that much of a mystery - IIRC The Butcher's Son also had it all sort of resolve itself around Hardesty - or so it seems. Because of the painful decision, that is only so because one does feel with Hardesty, and because of a few witty textual observations, one somehow gets attached to what seems just a string of well-hung muscled gay studs.
Since it seemed to take place long after events of the next book, I checked Grey's website again for illumanition ... *sigh* it's certainly bright, and rivals the covers in sheer awfulness. What's worse though is that it lacks a bibliography, there's not even a simple chronology, and even the otherwise surprisingly informed fantasticfiction page doesn't have it - but wiki and amazon confirm that THIS book is the first, even if the second in the series will take place a decade or more earlier. Why do I ramble about this? Because after finishing I had to go check Hardesty's living situation in the next installment, only to find it couldn't be found. It is important, because for once the hero has to make a decision that has none of the pretend-hardness one finds from Whimsey to Justice, but feels awful because emotions and intellect agree on one solution when only duty points to the other, because even ethics and morals aren't quite sure.
Apart from that though the novel is very straightforward, short like all the Grey novels, typical mature gay promiscuity, although very little explicitness, not even that much of a mystery - IIRC The Butcher's Son also had it all sort of resolve itself around Hardesty - or so it seems. Because of the painful decision, that is only so because one does feel with Hardesty, and because of a few witty textual observations, one somehow gets attached to what seems just a string of well-hung muscled gay studs.
October 8, 2014
I generally dislike reading a series out of order because I like to see the development of the character(s), however subtle, progress (or not, as the case may be). Mistakenly, I read this, the second book, first. And while I did sense that there was a story that I was missing, it didn't negatively impact this story for me in any way. After reading some of the reviews for this book I'm glad to know that switching the first and second books around shouldn't impact the first book for me in any way as there isn't much of a carry-over.
This story didn't disappoint. It's a short book so the pacing is pretty quick. Grey's language is wonderful: the subtle humour that at times can be a bit biting but nevertheless funny, the expressions of sadness and grief by the surviving lovers of the murdered men, even the frustrations and anger felt at the police for not caring about the deaths because of their "they are gay men and who cares about them?" attitude.
The ending! Yet, I have to read the first book before I can go on to the third one!
This story didn't disappoint. It's a short book so the pacing is pretty quick. Grey's language is wonderful: the subtle humour that at times can be a bit biting but nevertheless funny, the expressions of sadness and grief by the surviving lovers of the murdered men, even the frustrations and anger felt at the police for not caring about the deaths because of their "they are gay men and who cares about them?" attitude.
The ending! Yet, I have to read the first book before I can go on to the third one!
November 21, 2015
I enjoyed the murder mystery element of the story. Finding out along with Dick what is happening and eventually getting to the why.
I was worried for him when it becomes more obvious who the cukprit should be, even though we dont get the confirmation until right at the end.
It is quite disquieting reading books set in this era (and I was just starting going to discos and pubs then so it feels odd referring to it like ancient history!) with the knowledge we have now - all the casual bed hopping, moving quickly between partners, no mobiles. But it was like that, even in my sheltered part of the world so I do find it interesting to look back and I guess the author is basing some of the scene setting on experience.
Will continue to work my way through the series
I was worried for him when it becomes more obvious who the cukprit should be, even though we dont get the confirmation until right at the end.
It is quite disquieting reading books set in this era (and I was just starting going to discos and pubs then so it feels odd referring to it like ancient history!) with the knowledge we have now - all the casual bed hopping, moving quickly between partners, no mobiles. But it was like that, even in my sheltered part of the world so I do find it interesting to look back and I guess the author is basing some of the scene setting on experience.
Will continue to work my way through the series
September 10, 2012
Once again Dorien Grey held me spellbound as I devoured The 9th Man and with each of his mysteries, be it Elliot Smith or Dick Hardesty, I find myself even more anxious to get to the next book.
In this, the second Dick Hardesty mystery, Grey kept me hooked right up to the end. I may have grasped the murderer's reason, or at least most of it, but I was by no means bored. No, as always I couldn't wait to get to the end.
The only trouble I've discovered with Dorien Grey's Dick Hardesty mysteries is that quite of few of them have been nigh on impossible to find. But I will not give up!! These stories are too good, too interesting, to deter me from acquiring all of them.
In this, the second Dick Hardesty mystery, Grey kept me hooked right up to the end. I may have grasped the murderer's reason, or at least most of it, but I was by no means bored. No, as always I couldn't wait to get to the end.
The only trouble I've discovered with Dorien Grey's Dick Hardesty mysteries is that quite of few of them have been nigh on impossible to find. But I will not give up!! These stories are too good, too interesting, to deter me from acquiring all of them.
July 15, 2016
Not bad
It was obvious who the killer was
at first I was disappointed but the mystery was very deep , engaging.
The writer has a real feel on characters crafting an intricate plot so despite myself in found I liked the book very much.
This is second book in the series and the plot is at least as good.
I read a few Christopher Rice books and this book was as full of rich characters but I always found Rice story a little dark. This story should be dark yet it l left me feeling hopeful about the ability to have strong gay relationships of the type that are healthy. Not seedy or depressing. Very well worth A read in fact I'd be very happy to read it again someday.
It was obvious who the killer was
at first I was disappointed but the mystery was very deep , engaging.
The writer has a real feel on characters crafting an intricate plot so despite myself in found I liked the book very much.
This is second book in the series and the plot is at least as good.
I read a few Christopher Rice books and this book was as full of rich characters but I always found Rice story a little dark. This story should be dark yet it l left me feeling hopeful about the ability to have strong gay relationships of the type that are healthy. Not seedy or depressing. Very well worth A read in fact I'd be very happy to read it again someday.
June 7, 2007
Interesting but less of a surprise than the first novel in this gay detective series. It could have been read before "The Butcher's Son" since the plot of the first novel had no impact on this one. Still, the mystery is complex and solid. I saw the clues and the red herrings and knew the end before I got there but the journey to the last chapter wasn't boring. Hardesty is still amusing and fun. He's like an old fashioned detective that happens to be gay so he flirts and hits on guys instead of girls.`*g* I'll read the next one just to see how he resolves the moral dilemma from this novel.
October 4, 2015
A worthy sequel to the first in the series, though someone else mentioned that this was written first, which would make sense. None of the characters from the first book come back and Dick says at one point he hasn't seen a dead body in years, but this is set after the first book.
A good mystery, though is the man in the title always going to be the killer?
No one as original as in the first book as far as side characters but a likable plot that skips along to a sudden conclusion. Will be looking for the next!
A good mystery, though is the man in the title always going to be the killer?
No one as original as in the first book as far as side characters but a likable plot that skips along to a sudden conclusion. Will be looking for the next!
March 5, 2014
This is the second Dick Hardesty mystery and it is awesome! Dorien Grey writes so well, with humour and heart, the mystery is very good and surprisingly different and that's because of both the story and the characters.
The characters feel real and have depth and one cannot help but love them. Even though at some point i started suspecting who the bad guy was, the ending still took me by surprise - emotional and powerful. I highly recommend this series.
The characters feel real and have depth and one cannot help but love them. Even though at some point i started suspecting who the bad guy was, the ending still took me by surprise - emotional and powerful. I highly recommend this series.
July 13, 2013
3.75 stars
July 1, 2016
Review coming soon!
March 16, 2015
Enjoyed
I ready e.joy the way detective hardest goes about getting his cases solved good plots just enough twist to keep you thinking
I ready e.joy the way detective hardest goes about getting his cases solved good plots just enough twist to keep you thinking
July 12, 2015
Ya can't stop with just one.
Read
August 4, 2017Enjoyed it a little less then first but still good
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews