The Gay Detective

by Lou Rand, Susan Stryker (Foreword)

Set in the fictional Bay City, a thinly disguised San Francisco circa 1960, The Gay Detective is a hardboiled camp novel centering around a baffling blackmail and murder ring. When the latest corpse turns up and police realize they are faced with still another dead end, they contact the Morely Agency, a detective outfit recently bequeathed to the late Mr. Morely's nephew.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Queer, LGBT, Gay, Humor

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1961

About the author

Lou Rand (born 1910; died 1976) was the pen name of a San Francisco chef, Gourmet Magazine columnist and pulp fiction writer.

He earned culinary distinction at the Bohemian Club, the Palace Hotel, and the Mark Hopkins as well as working as the private chef for billionaire industrialist Henry J. Kaiser. Alongside The Gay Detective, he was also author of the cult classic The Gay Cookbook, written in 1965, whose recipes are loaded with double entendres popular during the period. Rand, who also wrote for the Advocate and the Bay Area Reporter, died in 1976.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the surface a feather light fun campy pulp, underneath a glimpse into pre-Stonewall gay nightlife. The informative preface gives it a context in gay lit history and an unlikely but well-earned stature. What I liked about the story is while playing to this world's stereotypical expectations of him, our hero offers evidence that he is much more. He uses these societal preconceptions to his own ends -- inside and out of the gay community such as it was. As a result, he's brave and smart and very much a hero.

[Philip · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this one a 3.5 if I could. It's a pulp novel from 1961. It's got a gay male protagonist as the PI investigating a series of murders. Perhaps re-read those last two sentences: 1961 and a gay male protagonist. It's riddled with stereotypes and the only sex scenes are straight, but it's from 1961! It's funny, cozy, and light years ahead of its time. And the PI is alive at the end of the book. Crumbs today, but a full course meal for 1961. Books like this paved the way for all my favorite gay male mystery writers who publish today. Bravo to Lou Rand.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, not a great book - just a pulp fiction gay book from the early sixties. But read the introduction by Susan Stryker - it explains how much of the characters and locations in the book are based on San Francisco of the time - a fascinating time capsule. Sorry there was never a sequel.

[Jay Barnhart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very easy read! Published in 1961, Rand’s “The Gay Detective” is well before its time with gay literature. The introduction lays a good framework for the different characters and scenes in the book, so I highly encourage perusing it. It will help map the story and make it more relatable.

Two quotes from the book that have me “YAS QUEEN”-ing:
• “It’s so flaming you could roast marshmallows over it.” - Ann Bannon, front cover
• “I always say that anyone knowing that much of the words and music is bound to have done the dance routines too!” - Lou Rand, page 137

[Kay Sachse · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn’t an amazing detective, it hasn’t got any convincing or smashing gay characters in it, but still it is a remarkable read, mainly because it is set in the early 1960s in San Francisco, before any gay-rights-movement had started off.
The flamboyant new-in-town detective Francis is asked to help finding a killer from the dubious scene of male encounters in the shadows. And with the help of his ex-marine assistant he does so quite elegantly. So, don’t try to make up very much of the plot but enjoy the encounter with the time more than 50 years ago.

[Ken Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing look at San Francisco at the advent of its developing into the gay mecca it has become. While the plot is roughly filled out, the local "color" and life of the city seep through, giving an interesting view of that period. I think it ends too quickly - the solution happens too neatly, and the story ends, but I did enjoy the historic perspective.

[Scott Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is hardly a work of great literature but it is highly entertaining. It's also an interesting look at a slice of gay life in pre-Stonewall America.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Mr. Olsen, I’ll make you a proposition.”
Looking Francis directly in the eyes, Tiger smiled wryly, and said, “That, Mr. Morley, is what I am afraid of.” [p. 49]

Recommended by a friend on Dreamwidth, this is a short and entertaining novel which does what it says on the tin: but it did it in 1961, when homosexuality was still illegal throughout the United States, and even in San Francisco -- cunningly disguised in The Gay Detective as 'Bay City' -- attitudes were, shall we say, rather less broad-minded than today's.

Francis Morley, formerly 'in the theatre', has inherited a detective agency in Bay City. His first task is to acquire an assistant, which he does by offering car salesman, retired football professional and war hero Tiger Olsen a job -- and then demonstrating in the boxing ring that he can knock Tiger's misconceptions out of his head. Together the dynamic duo investigate a series of murders: the victims were all gay men, and the chief of police suspects a connection with a vice ring operating in the city's underworld. As they venture deeper into the city's dives -- encountering bright young things, Italian gangsters, voyeurs and exhibitionists -- many tropes ensue.

This was great fun. It's heavy on stereotyped effeminacy, but it's surprisingly unmisogynistic. (There are two significant female characters: the sister of one of the victims, and Morley's middle-aged and unflappable secretary Hattie.) A subplot involves an excellent cat. And the introduction gives a good overview of the author, and of the novel as a coded guide to queer San Francisco. Yes, it's pulp fiction, and the prose is sometimes OTT and sometimes deliberately camp: but the story is solid and the characters likeable.

Puzzled, though, as to why this has been reissued as part of Mills and Boon's 'Spice' imprint: there is very little actual sex, even off-page, and apart from veiled hints it's all het.

“Just for the record, Mr. Olsen, let me do the camping in this act. I’ll make with the gay talk. You just be big and beasty. Okay?” [p. 161]

[S. Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cited by many as featuring the first openly gay detective and beginning of the "Gay Detective" genre, The Gay Detective (renamed in later reprints as Rough Trade) was one of the early entries into the of the cycle of gay and lesbian pulp novels of the sixties. Author Lou Rand was the writing name of Lou Hogan, a Gourmet Magazine columnist who was also known for publishing The Gay Cookbook.

The Gay Detective is an uncomplicated crime noir following the titular gay detective Francis Morley and his ex-football champion Tiger Olsen as they help a reluctant Bay City police chief solve a series of murders tied to a drug and blackmail ring. Rand's detective story takes the reader on a sightseeing tour of the not-so-underground "gay scene" of San Francisco, along with examples of the sociopolitical status of the gay community in the early sixties, while keeping it light with plenty of humor and hijinx.

Not as graphic as some of the sexploitation pulp of the era - in fact, only a couple of straight sexual encounters are described in any great detail, with any same-sex action being merely alluded to in coy fashion. The author's goal is obviously not to titillate or shock, but rather to entertain, and the result is a quick and fun read.

[James Garman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is probably closer to be a novella at 18 chapters, really rather short chapters. The introduction explains that it is the work of Lou Rand who was probably actually Lou Rand Hogan, a chef who did some writing under that name.

It is a story about "the boys", as Gay men were called in some circles before the Gay Liberation movement came along. It is obviously quite dated by today's standards but reflects the realities of life for gay men during the 1950s and 1960s in a large city like San Francisco.

The story itself, which involves three murders that are unsolved, brings the main character, Frances Morley is consulted by the police force as having a "way in". But once again, the introduction is really more germane as it addresses the social climate with the various corrupt parts of the city, with the Italian Mafia and the crooked Irish cops.

It is a very short read, and opens up a world that no longer exists but comprises an important part of history. I recommend it on that basis.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of historians found an old copy and arranged a re-printing of this work. In the new printing, the historians’ discussion of the book’s pretty accurate portrayal of 50s San Francisco is excellent – but only read the first half of that discussion before you read the tale. The tale’s more fun without the plot spoilers.

Though the time of its writing makes for some odd choices in the narrative, the tale is mostly fun. I really enjoyed the Emir’s subplot. And the historian’s discussion of police/mafia in San Francisco are an interesting counterpoint to the way that history played out in New York.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, fun read with a simple plot and one-dimensional characters, but that should go without saying for just about any vintage pulp from the same era. This exists mostly as an window into how outsiders might have viewed early 60s gay subculture at the time. To keep it safe, most of the risque moments in the story are strictly of a hetero variety. Kudos to the author for inventing several dozen unique ways to use the word "gay" as a descriptor throughout the book.

[Brad Shreve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing is mediocre and the characters have little development, but it's still a fun ride to read a 1961 pulp novel about an openly gay detective. I probably would have given it 3 stars, but the historical value alone is worthy of a star on its own.

[Jayde · Rating 3 out of 5]

The three stars is for the way that the author stuck to the generic outline for a P. I. story but damn! that was really offensive.

[John Fitz · Rating 1 out of 5]

homophobic drivel

I couldn’t believe what I was reading, so read on. Waste of time, totally inane resolution. Was this actually considered a gay mystery.

[Adam Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, camp sixties gay romp.

It's rare to find gay themed books with the hip lingo of the time, calling the older gay men aunties and the boys all swishing and calling everyone dearie (“the Queen’s Vernacular”). Post-Stonewall this kind of effeminate homosexual was seen as stereotypical and derogatory but I think quite often they were just having fun. And it is fun to hear them crack the quips in this light pulp story.

This to me is what The Man From C.A.M.P. should have been. A lisping private eye blows into town, hires a hunky side-kick and the two go all over gay L.A. trying to solve a crime. Similar to many books of the period, this book offers a guided tour hidden in the story, advising what to expect at a gay bar and at the baths, how to get a room, where to put your key, how to get "special massages" and more.

Lou Rand was obviously flaming and happy with it. He wrote this and one other book, The Gay Cookbook, also filled with camp and innuendos.

I enjoyed this story very much, by giving the tour to the sixties audience of what to expect in a gay bar, the author also reveals what such clubs were like at the time to us. It's a funny book with a great picture of gay life at the time and more sex and sin than was customary for books written in 1961.

It's a detective themed story and my complaint would be the characters seemed one dimensional. For example I didn't really get a sense of what the main character looked like. Was he an attractive hunk, being asked to pose nude in one scene, or a gumshoe, as the book cover suggests, with a bottle of hooch in his drawer? Also I feel the hero looked down on the other gays, using them for his own devices and even shutting down the gay clubs at the end without a thought to his community. But these are relatively minor complaints.

I'd love to read more by Rand or know more about him, apparently though he died at sea without a will.

[Jason · Rating 1 out of 5]

I get that this was written decades ago, before Stonewall. But that doesn't make the slams against gays any easier to take - and there are a LOT of them in this book. Having a main character who appears to be hetero-flexible but is perhaps not doesn't help.

A quick read, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

[Zweegas · Rating 3 out of 5]

oh dear