What do you think?
Rate this book
A Dick Hardesty Mystery #3
The Bar Watcher
Third in Dick Hardesty gay mystery series. Gay men are being killed by unknown assailant but all are unsavory characters who have acted out in public. At the same time, Hardesty's brain seems to be controlled by his hormones until he realizes that one of his bedroom friends may be under suspicion.
Paperback
First published July 23, 2011
2 people are currently reading
74 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 23, 2019
This was another solid mystery, as Dick gets pulled into trying to solve what appears to be a solitary murder of a massive douchebag. As more douchebags turn up dead, Dick starts to see a pattern emerge - and it's not one he particularly has an issue with.
The case was interesting and kept my attention, even if the perp was pretty obvious. But like Dick, I didn't want that particular person to be the perp, so I was willing to overlook the clues. There were a couple of potential perps actually, and a conspiracy uncovered to murk things up. Dick even manages to make a couple of allies on the Riverside PD, which surprised him and me both.
It's been awhile since I read the first two books - and those were far apart too - so I forgot these were set in the 1980s until Dick meets a sweet young man with "pneumonia." The saddest thing ever was hearing the young man talk about what he'll do if he "beats this thing." Dick starts off skeptical about the so-called gay plague, but he ends it pretty certain that something needs to be done about it quick. Of course, we all know the history of that. :( I'm hoping he'll keep these concerns in mind and gets in the habit of using protection, or that he gets over his "slut phase" (as he calls it) quickly. I lost track of a couple of the guys Dick was juggling in this one; he had a quite few of them.
The case was interesting and kept my attention, even if the perp was pretty obvious. But like Dick, I didn't want that particular person to be the perp, so I was willing to overlook the clues. There were a couple of potential perps actually, and a conspiracy uncovered to murk things up. Dick even manages to make a couple of allies on the Riverside PD, which surprised him and me both.
It's been awhile since I read the first two books - and those were far apart too - so I forgot these were set in the 1980s until Dick meets a sweet young man with "pneumonia." The saddest thing ever was hearing the young man talk about what he'll do if he "beats this thing." Dick starts off skeptical about the so-called gay plague, but he ends it pretty certain that something needs to be done about it quick. Of course, we all know the history of that. :( I'm hoping he'll keep these concerns in mind and gets in the habit of using protection, or that he gets over his "slut phase" (as he calls it) quickly. I lost track of a couple of the guys Dick was juggling in this one; he had a quite few of them.
July 1, 2016
The Bar Watcher – Audio Version
Written by Dorien Grey – Narration by Jeff Frez-Albrecht
Review by Jon Michaelsen
In the third book in the Dick Hardesty gay P.I. series, we find tough guy, Dick, playing the field much more so than the first couple books, which is interesting in that this novel is set at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic (which actually isn’t mentioned by name since the virus was not yet identified). Rumors abound of otherwise healthy young gay men getting sick and dying, causing Dick to take note. It so happens, Hardesty’s latest case involves investigating the death of one of the partners of “Rage”, a popular, members only gay bathhouse where only the gorgeous need apply.
But while looking into the private club’s managing partner’s murder, Hardesty begins noticing other deaths of suspicious circumstances involving gay men, and with the help of his latest squeeze, Jarod, finds a common thread among all the deaths – including that of Rage’s manager, former porn star Comstock. It’s not long before Dick realizes there is a possible serial killer targeting gay men of the nasty kind.
What I found striking in this novel along with the mystery- which is solid, deftly written, with twists and turns–is Hardesty’s philandering. Wait, did that just age me a bit? Hardesty is a bit of a horn-dog in this novel, which is understanding considering the time the story takes place during the very early stages of the AIDS crisis. I will be so interested to see how Grey deals with the emerging crisis since it was so much a part of the lives of gay men everywhere, especially in large, gay popular cities in the USA.
Again, I must admit that I listened to the unabridged audio book version of The Bar Watcher. Unlike the previous two novels, which I had read both the print and listened to the corresponding audio versions, this one I did not. I still feel I got a great reading experience. I appreciated listening to the same voice of the narrator, Jeff Frez-Albrecht, who narrated the first two Dick Hardesty mysteries. He helps bring Hardesty to life in a deadpan, non-complicated way, yet also helps us to view a glimpse of Dick’s inner thoughts through Dorien Grey’s awesome prose.
I highly recommend The Bar Watcher, and the entire Dick Hardesty P.I series!
Written by Dorien Grey – Narration by Jeff Frez-Albrecht
Review by Jon Michaelsen
In the third book in the Dick Hardesty gay P.I. series, we find tough guy, Dick, playing the field much more so than the first couple books, which is interesting in that this novel is set at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic (which actually isn’t mentioned by name since the virus was not yet identified). Rumors abound of otherwise healthy young gay men getting sick and dying, causing Dick to take note. It so happens, Hardesty’s latest case involves investigating the death of one of the partners of “Rage”, a popular, members only gay bathhouse where only the gorgeous need apply.
But while looking into the private club’s managing partner’s murder, Hardesty begins noticing other deaths of suspicious circumstances involving gay men, and with the help of his latest squeeze, Jarod, finds a common thread among all the deaths – including that of Rage’s manager, former porn star Comstock. It’s not long before Dick realizes there is a possible serial killer targeting gay men of the nasty kind.
What I found striking in this novel along with the mystery- which is solid, deftly written, with twists and turns–is Hardesty’s philandering. Wait, did that just age me a bit? Hardesty is a bit of a horn-dog in this novel, which is understanding considering the time the story takes place during the very early stages of the AIDS crisis. I will be so interested to see how Grey deals with the emerging crisis since it was so much a part of the lives of gay men everywhere, especially in large, gay popular cities in the USA.
Again, I must admit that I listened to the unabridged audio book version of The Bar Watcher. Unlike the previous two novels, which I had read both the print and listened to the corresponding audio versions, this one I did not. I still feel I got a great reading experience. I appreciated listening to the same voice of the narrator, Jeff Frez-Albrecht, who narrated the first two Dick Hardesty mysteries. He helps bring Hardesty to life in a deadpan, non-complicated way, yet also helps us to view a glimpse of Dick’s inner thoughts through Dorien Grey’s awesome prose.
I highly recommend The Bar Watcher, and the entire Dick Hardesty P.I series!
January 29, 2017
The Bar Watcher
(Dick Hardesty Mystery #3)
By Dorien Grey
Untreed Reads Publishing, 2015 (print editions 2001 and 2009)
Cover Design by Ginny Glass
Four stars
Dorien Grey was the nom de plume of Roger Margason, a longtime gay author who died at the age of 82 in 2015. His Dick Hardesty Mystery series, first published in the early 2000s, numbers 14 volumes, and I have just finished the third (having just bought the fourth, “The Hired Man”). His work was widely popular in the gay community, but I only started to read it after his death. I waited to start on the Dick Hardesty books because I knew they were not romances – and I am very into romances.
Grey’s writing is very good. It is not poetic or “literary,” because that is not the point. “The Bar Watcher” seems to be the perfect introduction for his work, however, because it touches on the best aspects of his writing and his narrative goals. Dick Hardesty is a one-time advertising writer, who leaves the homophobic world of business and sets himself up as a private detective for and within the gay community. The timeframe of this series is the early 1980s (exactly paralleling Marshall Thornton’s Chicago in his “Boystown” books – about which I’ve posted).
Dick is still young, maybe early 30s. He’s a year or so out of a five-year relationship that started in college, and he and his ex have managed to become friends (long distance). In “The Bar Watcher,” Dick is, as he makes clear to the reader, “in his slut phase.” He is interested in sex, not romance. He has a wide circle of friends (both new ones and from the previous books). In the course of investigating a series of increasingly disturbing deaths, Dick visits all of the various kinds of bars and gay restaurants in his city (he is very specific about details of this city, but I can’t figure out if it’s a real city or a made-up one). In this moment in gay history, long ago, but well after Stonewall, the police are still quite homophobic and there are no gay cops. Their interest in the deaths of a few gay men is minimal, and thus Dick takes it upon himself, with the support of Glen O’Banyon, a corporate lawyer and leader in the local gay world, to solve the mystery.
Even as Dick investigates the killings, he is becoming increasingly aware of another pattern of death in his town – the death of young gay men from unexplained illnesses, sometimes described as pneumonia. Against the background of his investigation and cruising in gay bars and clubs, we are seeing the emergence of the plague that devastated the gay world in the 1980s. Here again there is a parallel with Marshall Thornton’s books, but Dick is not like Marshall’s Nick Nowak. There is no self-doubt, no shame. Dick doesn’t need to evolve as a person. His personal mission is simply to help his community.
Dick Hardesty is not anti-monogamy; he is simply not at that place in his life at the moment. He is indulging in the freedom and sexual availability of the gay world in which he lives. As did we all, back then. It was increasingly uncomfortable for me to read about Dick’s growing number of one-night stands, knowing that safe sex was not yet a thing, and that awareness of the nature and source of the so-called “gay cancer” and crippling pneumonia was still very much in its infancy. All sex is off the page, by the way, but we know exactly how gorgeous the men Dick picks up are; and we know exactly how Dick feels and reacts to each individual liaison along the way – clearly this is a point being made, a plot arc, if you will, that parallels that of the murders.
The double tension that Grey builds in his narrative is subtle and distinctly his. The book is as much about the way gay men treat each other as it is about gay sexuality and the ways gay men cope in a homophobic world. The interweaving of death by violence and death by disease is unnerving, and very intentionally crafted. We see Dick as a man who has made peace with his own life, just at the moment when his life will be tipped into an international nightmare that will change the course of gay history.
Although Dorien Grey was old enough to be my father, I am old enough to have been a young, active gay man in the early 1980s. These books cut very close to the bone for me, and as I read this one in particular I was able to really ponder the emotional reactions it stirred up in me. These books brought out some very personal stuff with me, but I can vouch for their authenticity, even when packaged with Dick Hardesty’s self-possessed, private-eye cool. It is a series I suspect I will grow to love more and more as I keep reading.
(Dick Hardesty Mystery #3)
By Dorien Grey
Untreed Reads Publishing, 2015 (print editions 2001 and 2009)
Cover Design by Ginny Glass
Four stars
Dorien Grey was the nom de plume of Roger Margason, a longtime gay author who died at the age of 82 in 2015. His Dick Hardesty Mystery series, first published in the early 2000s, numbers 14 volumes, and I have just finished the third (having just bought the fourth, “The Hired Man”). His work was widely popular in the gay community, but I only started to read it after his death. I waited to start on the Dick Hardesty books because I knew they were not romances – and I am very into romances.
Grey’s writing is very good. It is not poetic or “literary,” because that is not the point. “The Bar Watcher” seems to be the perfect introduction for his work, however, because it touches on the best aspects of his writing and his narrative goals. Dick Hardesty is a one-time advertising writer, who leaves the homophobic world of business and sets himself up as a private detective for and within the gay community. The timeframe of this series is the early 1980s (exactly paralleling Marshall Thornton’s Chicago in his “Boystown” books – about which I’ve posted).
Dick is still young, maybe early 30s. He’s a year or so out of a five-year relationship that started in college, and he and his ex have managed to become friends (long distance). In “The Bar Watcher,” Dick is, as he makes clear to the reader, “in his slut phase.” He is interested in sex, not romance. He has a wide circle of friends (both new ones and from the previous books). In the course of investigating a series of increasingly disturbing deaths, Dick visits all of the various kinds of bars and gay restaurants in his city (he is very specific about details of this city, but I can’t figure out if it’s a real city or a made-up one). In this moment in gay history, long ago, but well after Stonewall, the police are still quite homophobic and there are no gay cops. Their interest in the deaths of a few gay men is minimal, and thus Dick takes it upon himself, with the support of Glen O’Banyon, a corporate lawyer and leader in the local gay world, to solve the mystery.
Even as Dick investigates the killings, he is becoming increasingly aware of another pattern of death in his town – the death of young gay men from unexplained illnesses, sometimes described as pneumonia. Against the background of his investigation and cruising in gay bars and clubs, we are seeing the emergence of the plague that devastated the gay world in the 1980s. Here again there is a parallel with Marshall Thornton’s books, but Dick is not like Marshall’s Nick Nowak. There is no self-doubt, no shame. Dick doesn’t need to evolve as a person. His personal mission is simply to help his community.
Dick Hardesty is not anti-monogamy; he is simply not at that place in his life at the moment. He is indulging in the freedom and sexual availability of the gay world in which he lives. As did we all, back then. It was increasingly uncomfortable for me to read about Dick’s growing number of one-night stands, knowing that safe sex was not yet a thing, and that awareness of the nature and source of the so-called “gay cancer” and crippling pneumonia was still very much in its infancy. All sex is off the page, by the way, but we know exactly how gorgeous the men Dick picks up are; and we know exactly how Dick feels and reacts to each individual liaison along the way – clearly this is a point being made, a plot arc, if you will, that parallels that of the murders.
The double tension that Grey builds in his narrative is subtle and distinctly his. The book is as much about the way gay men treat each other as it is about gay sexuality and the ways gay men cope in a homophobic world. The interweaving of death by violence and death by disease is unnerving, and very intentionally crafted. We see Dick as a man who has made peace with his own life, just at the moment when his life will be tipped into an international nightmare that will change the course of gay history.
Although Dorien Grey was old enough to be my father, I am old enough to have been a young, active gay man in the early 1980s. These books cut very close to the bone for me, and as I read this one in particular I was able to really ponder the emotional reactions it stirred up in me. These books brought out some very personal stuff with me, but I can vouch for their authenticity, even when packaged with Dick Hardesty’s self-possessed, private-eye cool. It is a series I suspect I will grow to love more and more as I keep reading.
March 5, 2023
I struggled a bit with this one. It felt a bit long and repetitive in places - one can only read about so many brunches and lunches!
The AIDS crisis is looming so I guess the story is set in the early 1980’s. Dick is in his self described “slut phase” and he sure does get around! It will be interesting to see how (or if) this changes in later books in response to AIDS.
Oddly, there are references to what happened in book 1 but nothing relating to book 2! I guess we are pretending that one didn’t happen?
Along with this feeling a bit long, this is the third time that Dick has been sleeping with the murderer. And the 3rd time those murders have been written to seem “justified”. Hopefully book 4 breaks free from the mould!
The AIDS crisis is looming so I guess the story is set in the early 1980’s. Dick is in his self described “slut phase” and he sure does get around! It will be interesting to see how (or if) this changes in later books in response to AIDS.
Oddly, there are references to what happened in book 1 but nothing relating to book 2! I guess we are pretending that one didn’t happen?
Along with this feeling a bit long, this is the third time that Dick has been sleeping with the murderer. And the 3rd time those murders have been written to seem “justified”. Hopefully book 4 breaks free from the mould!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 29, 2008
This is set right at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. We find Hardesty a bit at loose ends and playing the field. We have a killer knocking off "not nice" people. That's about it for the plot. It's okay in style and action. Better than most gay detective novels.
November 16, 2025
As an independent story this is really great. I was disappointed however that a non-trivial plot device used in the second novel of this series is reused here in the third: .
———
2-stars: Below Average
3-stars: Average
4-stars: Above Average
1-star: I am disgusted (or other strong negative emotion) by the choices the author has made / (or occasionally) exceptionally horrible writing.
5-stars: I felt a strong connection to the story/characters and/or exceptionally good writing.
———
2-stars: Below Average
3-stars: Average
4-stars: Above Average
1-star: I am disgusted (or other strong negative emotion) by the choices the author has made / (or occasionally) exceptionally horrible writing.
5-stars: I felt a strong connection to the story/characters and/or exceptionally good writing.
July 27, 2023
Dark, but well put together….
Several times I felt I didn’t want to know what would happen next. The events unfolding became tool real.
Compelling written to lean on into areas I was frightened to look at again.
Several times I felt I didn’t want to know what would happen next. The events unfolding became tool real.
Compelling written to lean on into areas I was frightened to look at again.
December 10, 2020
Very snappy plot, plus the characters are all hella sexy.
April 25, 2024
Disappointing. I hate it when the killer confesses all and that's the end of the book. 
May 26, 2014
This is the third in the Dick Hardesty mysteries and we find our intrepid hero investigating a series of threatening letters being sent to one of the owners of a bathhouse called Rage.Barry Comstock ex- gay porn star and all around nasty prick has been sent disturbing anonymous letters threatening him, probably based on the policies of membership to the exclusive bathhouse.The policy as Mr.Comstock so nastily relays to Dick " is no one deemed unattractive,fat,or old", which is funny coming from Comstock whose hiding his age with really bad plastic surgery.None the less, Dick decides to let the egotistical owner to decide if he wants to hire him for the job.When Comstock comes into a disagreement with Dick on the terms of his contract, Dick finds himself at the end of a venomous exchange with the vain owner.Dick also finds himself a suspect for a minute of the horrible man's violent demise. Another silent partner soon hires Dick to investigate Comstock's murder and Dick soon discovers a series of murder of gay men who can be described as hateful. Whom is killing these vile and hateful men? Dick discovers that the case ain't easy and while some would applaud the person killing these men who were cruel to others, murder is murder.Also,this book takes place in the 80's so Dick and friends are learning of the so called gay cancer that is killing young men senselessly.This is scary stuff! Sit back and enjoy, this is indeed a good mystery and a good read!
October 12, 2015
A lot of points for this series and it's main character Dick Hardesty. The story is engaging and the mystery kept me guessing but I really enjoy being in the world of this series.
There were a few things I would change for this go around, but nothing that held me back in the long run.
Dick needs a friend or a relative, someone he is close to and can talk with. He doesn't have that right now in the series and it's missing.
There was an element of revisionist history in this book when dealing with the AIDS crisis. Everyone involved recognizes the crisis right away, knows that it's sexually transmitted before it has a name and immediately wants to shut down the baths. That didn't happen. It makes me a little scared about how this will be handled going forward.
Dick has three main guys in this book and the one who ends up winning is the one we know the least about. What does he see in him? We don't know.
Dick goes to the baths and the parks but doesn't cruise. He doesn't say it but it seems like Grey thinks that if Dick goes home with a different guy every night it's okay, but cruising would be dirty. It's more implied than stated so I'll let it pass for now.
The main thing I worry about going forward is AIDS. I believe the best way for gay men in 1982 to get the baths closed was to stop going to the baths, not to rely on straights who up until that point had done nothing to support them to do it for them. This book walked the line well enough and I hope that continues.
There were a few things I would change for this go around, but nothing that held me back in the long run.
Dick needs a friend or a relative, someone he is close to and can talk with. He doesn't have that right now in the series and it's missing.
There was an element of revisionist history in this book when dealing with the AIDS crisis. Everyone involved recognizes the crisis right away, knows that it's sexually transmitted before it has a name and immediately wants to shut down the baths. That didn't happen. It makes me a little scared about how this will be handled going forward.
Dick has three main guys in this book and the one who ends up winning is the one we know the least about. What does he see in him? We don't know.
Dick goes to the baths and the parks but doesn't cruise. He doesn't say it but it seems like Grey thinks that if Dick goes home with a different guy every night it's okay, but cruising would be dirty. It's more implied than stated so I'll let it pass for now.
The main thing I worry about going forward is AIDS. I believe the best way for gay men in 1982 to get the baths closed was to stop going to the baths, not to rely on straights who up until that point had done nothing to support them to do it for them. This book walked the line well enough and I hope that continues.
Read
September 23, 2014The Bar Watcher, by Dorien Grey, b-plus, Narrated by Jeff Frez-Albrecht, Produced by Dorien Grey, Downloaded from audible.com.
This is the third in the Dick Hardesty series. A well-known gay lawyer hires him to investigate the death of the owner of a bath house/bar. This is the late ‘70’s. It seems that the motive for this murder, and the murder of others who subsequently die, is that someone is trying to rid the world of obnoxious gay men-probably another gay man. But who is it, and can Dick investigate these cases without stepping on the toes of police? Also, Grey does a good job of setting the scene for the beginning of the AIDS crisis, when gay men are dying but no one has figured out why yet. They refer to the disease as a “gay cancer.”
This is the third in the Dick Hardesty series. A well-known gay lawyer hires him to investigate the death of the owner of a bath house/bar. This is the late ‘70’s. It seems that the motive for this murder, and the murder of others who subsequently die, is that someone is trying to rid the world of obnoxious gay men-probably another gay man. But who is it, and can Dick investigate these cases without stepping on the toes of police? Also, Grey does a good job of setting the scene for the beginning of the AIDS crisis, when gay men are dying but no one has figured out why yet. They refer to the disease as a “gay cancer.”
February 10, 2015
Oh, Dick. You really should
Dorien Grey once again delivers a story with interesting characters, ambience, murder!, and a glimpse into the life of a single gay man in the early 80s. While there are some rather big clues dropped about the identity of the murder, Grey manages to maintain an air of suspense as Dick works his way to the truth. Throw in the growing spectre of the early AIDS crisis and slowly changing attitudes of the police towards gay people and you have one absorbing read. I can't wait to get my hands on the next one in the series.
Dorien Grey once again delivers a story with interesting characters, ambience, murder!, and a glimpse into the life of a single gay man in the early 80s. While there are some rather big clues dropped about the identity of the murder, Grey manages to maintain an air of suspense as Dick works his way to the truth. Throw in the growing spectre of the early AIDS crisis and slowly changing attitudes of the police towards gay people and you have one absorbing read. I can't wait to get my hands on the next one in the series.
July 29, 2016
It was a little to much like book "the ninth man"
But while the murder wasn't a mystery like book two the back story was worth the effort.
The characters are richly developed and I like that emotional connection.
I know the time period is late 70s but I never was too comfortable with the gay concentration on sex with multiple people. I'd like hardest to get in a loving relationship but as much as I hate that aspect of the gay character it's something that can't be completely avoided and after all it's others lives. I myself would never a relationship with mutual respect and honesty is the only way for me.
But good read I'd read it again
But while the murder wasn't a mystery like book two the back story was worth the effort.
The characters are richly developed and I like that emotional connection.
I know the time period is late 70s but I never was too comfortable with the gay concentration on sex with multiple people. I'd like hardest to get in a loving relationship but as much as I hate that aspect of the gay character it's something that can't be completely avoided and after all it's others lives. I myself would never a relationship with mutual respect and honesty is the only way for me.
But good read I'd read it again
March 8, 2014
Very enjoyable mystery. I really like the main character - PI Dick Hardesty - he's a good guy, smart, compassionate, his inner "little chats" are quite funny, and i'm looking forward to his adventures, both in detecting and in his life.
December 21, 2016
Okay, this one was fun, too, but the pattern is beginning to become predictable.
Read
May 1, 2013dorien has a way of bringing the characters to life in my hands. his books are an inspiration, not onl to the lgbt community but to the straight community. i love all of doriens's books!
July 3, 2014
I love these vintage Dick Hardesty audiobooks. They never disappoint and this one didn't fail to keep me glued to my iPod and surprise me.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews