What do you think?
Rate this book
Dave Brandstetter #10
Obedience
In this tenth novel in Joseph Hansen's acclaimed Dave Brandstetter detective series, Dave ventures into Los Angeles' Vietnamese subculture to prevent an innocent man from taking a murder rap. First-rate.--Time.
209 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 1, 1988
6 people are currently reading
217 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Hansen
104 books157 followersJoseph Hansen (1923–2004) was an American author of mysteries. The son of a South Dakota shoemaker, he moved to a California citrus farm with his family in 1936. He began publishing poetry in the New Yorker in the 1950s, and joined the editorial teams of gay magazines ONE and Tangents in the 1960s. Using the pseudonyms Rose Brock and James Colton, Hansen published five novels and a collection of short stories before the appearance of Fadeout (1970), the first novel published under his own name.
The book introduced street-smart insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter, a complex, openly gay hero who grew and changed over the series’s twelve novels. By the time Hansen concluded the series with A Country of Old Men (1990), Brandstetter was older, melancholy, and ready for retirement. The 1992 recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Hansen published several more novels before his death in 2004.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
The book introduced street-smart insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter, a complex, openly gay hero who grew and changed over the series’s twelve novels. By the time Hansen concluded the series with A Country of Old Men (1990), Brandstetter was older, melancholy, and ready for retirement. The 1992 recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, Hansen published several more novels before his death in 2004.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 9, 2019
This is the third from the last book in the Dave Brandstetter series, featuring America's first openly homosexual private eye. This adventure concerns the murder of a Vietnamese patriarch, and that murder's origin--and repercussions--in a traditional culture which requires "obedience."
When I began reading the books in this series, my favorite things about them--in addition to the fact that they are good mysteries-were Hansen's talent for evoking the L.A. atmosphere and his insights into the transformation of the gay community in the important period of the '70's and '80's. Now, however, as my reading of the Brandstetter books draws to a close, my favorite thing about them is the way Hansen permits his hero to grow old, with all the fears, vulnerabilities and loss of power that this process entails. Hardboiled detectives aren't known for their vulnerability, and this kind of portrait takes courage in a writer of genre fiction. Hansen has this courage, and it is a quality I admire.
September 11, 2015
Obedience should be subtitled "The One Where Dave Retires for 22 Hours."
Dave has just sent off his retirement papers when a young public defender comes by to hire him. Her client, a Vietnam vet and her half-brother, has been arrested for murdering a local important Vietnamese businessman. She insists (and I'm paraphrasing here) that he may be a racist asshole but he's a cowardly racist asshole who wouldn't actually murder anyone. (Seems reasonable.) Dave is intrigued despite himself.
"I should have moved to a remote cottage on the Sussex downs and kept bees," [Dave] said.(No worries, Dave. No one's left Sherlock alone for over a hundred years--why should you be any different?)
She frowned, tilted her head. "What?"
He sighed. "I'll look into it."
(And you know, now that I think about it, it's not that Dave can't resist a pretty face, it's that Dave can't resist a good mystery. So in that he's not any different from any mystery lover. Like moi-self.)
(What the fuck was I talking about?)
Oh yeah, I'm reviewing a book here. Okay, I've been in an impatient [read: shitty, shitty, shitty] mood all week and as a result I kept getting annoyed with the usual large cast of suspects in Obedience.
I mean, if you're going to attempt to murder the detective out to reveal your secrets, if you're going to order people to beat them up, DO IT FUCKING RIGHT. Don't before attempting to kill them. Don't FOLLOW THEM in a FUCKING . Keeee-rist. Have you never seen Magnum, PI?! Columbo??! MCMILLAN & WIFE?!?!?!?!
And then it occurred to me (or rather, Sofia pointed out--she's always my voice of reason :-*****) that people tend not to make good decisions when they're backed into a corner. And it occurred to me that if I ever felt backed into a corner like that and thought yaaaaaassss, murder my sweet--that TOTALLY won't create EVEN MORE PROBLEMS--I wouldn't do it fucking right either. I already feel the need to confess to crimes I'm innocent of--so I'd definitely confess to one I did commit within 23 seconds of the cops showing up.
I would totally suck at murder.
But Joseph Hansen totally doesn't suck at writing books--he couldn't if he tried. Here's another thoughtful, suspenseful mystery that you should read.
***********************************
Sofia and I, ready for more Dave. Only 2 more to go, Sof!
October 3, 2013
Dave Brandstetter, the insurance claims investigator who is the protagonist in Joseph Hansen's excellent series, is feeling his age. He's been threatening to retire for a while now and at the opening of this book, he officially pulls the plug. Dave sends letters to all of the insurance companies for which he has been a claims investigator announcing that he is calling it quits, much to the delight and relief of his lover, Cecil.
Unhappily for Cecil but happily for the reader, Dave's retirement lasts all of about two pages until a sympathetic young public defender comes begging for his help. A prominent Vietnamese businessman has been murdered. The victim owned an aging marina and was in the process of selling it to developers. The marina was basically the last stop for a group of aging boaters who live there on their even more dilapidated boats. Once the marina is sold, they will be kicked out with nowhere to go.
The marina residents have been protesting the sale and the group's spokesman, a particularly unpleasant man, has been arrested and charged with the murder. The young woman representing him believes that he is innocent and lays a guilt trip on Dave, claiming that he is the only one who can save her client.
Dave agrees to look into the case, which takes him into the heart of L.A.'s tightly knit and very secretive Vietnamese community. (The book is set in the late 1980s, when many Vietnamese had just moved to California in the wake of the fall of Saigon.) Dave uncovers a number of secrets that powerful people would like to protect and inevitably puts himself in grave danger.
This is another well-told story with a very engaging and sympathetic protagonist, and it's especially interesting for the glimpse it provides into the world of the Vietnamese who were coming to the U.S. at this time. Although the book is now over a quarter of a century old, it does not feel dated, and the reader is immediately immersed in this very interesting world. Another winner from Joseph Hansen.
Unhappily for Cecil but happily for the reader, Dave's retirement lasts all of about two pages until a sympathetic young public defender comes begging for his help. A prominent Vietnamese businessman has been murdered. The victim owned an aging marina and was in the process of selling it to developers. The marina was basically the last stop for a group of aging boaters who live there on their even more dilapidated boats. Once the marina is sold, they will be kicked out with nowhere to go.
The marina residents have been protesting the sale and the group's spokesman, a particularly unpleasant man, has been arrested and charged with the murder. The young woman representing him believes that he is innocent and lays a guilt trip on Dave, claiming that he is the only one who can save her client.
Dave agrees to look into the case, which takes him into the heart of L.A.'s tightly knit and very secretive Vietnamese community. (The book is set in the late 1980s, when many Vietnamese had just moved to California in the wake of the fall of Saigon.) Dave uncovers a number of secrets that powerful people would like to protect and inevitably puts himself in grave danger.
This is another well-told story with a very engaging and sympathetic protagonist, and it's especially interesting for the glimpse it provides into the world of the Vietnamese who were coming to the U.S. at this time. Although the book is now over a quarter of a century old, it does not feel dated, and the reader is immediately immersed in this very interesting world. Another winner from Joseph Hansen.
September 10, 2015
When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard. ---- Sun Tzu
Yes cornered rats fight back, they have no option. This Hansen studies these breaking points and the gory results. Lots of strewn bodies in this one.
Dave is still playing the want to, don't want to game with his work. The don't want to is fast turning into can't anymore. I think he secretly doubts if a Dave will exist without the work.
Rosa and me
January 10, 2017
One of the most notable things about this series is that, unlike many series MCs, Dave is aging. He's not as fast on his feet, and he tires more easily. He's real and human and he makes mistakes.
His reputation is growing though - in this case he's asked in by the relative of a suspect, to investigate a murder of a Vietnamese businessman. Racism has always been a thread through these stories. In this one Dave takes a few nice jabs at it, although the language of the era sometimes reads a little oddly to the modern ear. Cecil becomes more of a full partner, but Dave is stubborn in his pursuit of the truth, and doesn't always listen to his partner.
His reputation is growing though - in this case he's asked in by the relative of a suspect, to investigate a murder of a Vietnamese businessman. Racism has always been a thread through these stories. In this one Dave takes a few nice jabs at it, although the language of the era sometimes reads a little oddly to the modern ear. Cecil becomes more of a full partner, but Dave is stubborn in his pursuit of the truth, and doesn't always listen to his partner.
February 4, 2024
The cut and dryness of the style surprised me, I was able to keep up just fine for accidentally starting on book 10 of a 13 book series, all and all I enjoyed the premise and perhaps might read another if compelled.
February 12, 2022
Before Joseph Hansen introduced his investigator, Dave Brandstetter, to readers in 1970, writers of hardboiled detective stories seldom made known the inner life of the detective. Hansen, however, over the course of his novels shows readers the life of his detective while at home, with friends, and with his romantic interest.
The series began with the novel, Fadeout, when readers learn that the hard working and effective insurance investigator, Dave Brandstetter, a contentedly gay man, had recently lost his long-time same-sex lover, Rod, to cancer. They had been together for more than twenty years.
Within the first few pages of Fadeout, Hansen changed the detective genre and changed publishing history. His decision to make Brandstetter a gay man opened the door to other writers who wanted to present LGBTQ persons in a positive light.
However, Hansen did not stop with this early positive representation of a gay man. His narrative decision to show readers the private life of his detective and to let them into his inner life was also a dramatic departure from other writers of hardboiled fiction.
Never had hardboiled fiction writers let readers into the private life of the detective nor shown the detective to be so vulnerable. Those authors of characters like Marlowe, Archer, Hammer, and others had created flat characters. Hansen, however, gave readers a round character, a person with depth and complexity. He gave us literary hardboiled mystery novels.
Hansen, quite clearly, was a writer willing to take risks. But he did not stop with these. He also showed readers a gay man in love. Dave had been with his first love, Rod, for twenty-three years. Though readers never meet Rod we hear about him often and understand that Dave experiences grief for many years. It is difficult for readers not to sympathize with this gay man and care about him. This was a groundbreaking picture of gay men in the publishing history of books in the United States.
But Hansen did not stop here, either. Once Brandstetter can once again open his heart to vulnerability and love, he meets and establishes a long-term relationship with a much younger man, Cecil (see The Man Everyone Was Afraid Of). But even then, Hansen did not stop with the risks. Cecil is also a Black man while Brandstetter is white.
That fourth book was published in 1978. In 1977, a Gallup poll found that only 43% of Americans thought gay or lesbian relationships between consenting adults should be legal. Also, a 1978 Gallup poll showed that only 36% of Americans approved of interracial marriage while 54% still disapproved. And here was Hansen giving readers an interracial love relationship between two men with a big age difference between them.
Hansen’s books are powerful examples of writers who take risks and open the door for others.
His tenth Brandstetter novel, Obedience, opens on a melancholy note. “He was quitting.” Brandstetter, using a typewriter rather than a computer, is typing letters to announce his retirement decision to insurance companies with whom he had worked. The decision had not been easy to make but as readers soon see, Brandstetter is no longer as physically strong, nor as mentally quick, as he had once been.
In fact, Hansen makes this point even clearer as he contrasts Dave with his lover, Cecil. While Dave wearily “was still typing away in a lonely little island of lamplight in the looming, raftered room,” Hansen brings in the “tall, lanky young Black” man. The contrast is startling. Dave Brandstetter has grown old.
But then he is given cause to take on another case. Late that evening, Tracy Davis, a Public Defender who used to work for a friend of Brandstetter’s, shows up at the door to ask Dave to help prove that her client, Andy Flanagan, is not a murderer.
Flanagan, a disliked bigot, and bully, stands accused of murdering a wealthy Vietnamese businessman who plans to sell the Old Fleet Marina, a shantytown of rickety houseboats, even though this would make homeless more than ninety poverty-stricken people.
Not looking forward to retirement, and out of loyalty to his friend, Dave agrees to investigate the murder but soon finds himself involved in a complex international crime conspiracy. The investigation puts Brandstetter into so much danger that another friend of his, Detective Ken Barker, tells him, “I wish I didn’t think you were deliberately trying to throw it [his life] away.”
Like other books in the series, Obedience has a tight plot with many twists, and descriptive passages of California that are unsurpassed. But it is the story of an aging man, one without plans at the end of his career, that makes this such a strong book in the series.
The series began with the novel, Fadeout, when readers learn that the hard working and effective insurance investigator, Dave Brandstetter, a contentedly gay man, had recently lost his long-time same-sex lover, Rod, to cancer. They had been together for more than twenty years.
Within the first few pages of Fadeout, Hansen changed the detective genre and changed publishing history. His decision to make Brandstetter a gay man opened the door to other writers who wanted to present LGBTQ persons in a positive light.
However, Hansen did not stop with this early positive representation of a gay man. His narrative decision to show readers the private life of his detective and to let them into his inner life was also a dramatic departure from other writers of hardboiled fiction.
Never had hardboiled fiction writers let readers into the private life of the detective nor shown the detective to be so vulnerable. Those authors of characters like Marlowe, Archer, Hammer, and others had created flat characters. Hansen, however, gave readers a round character, a person with depth and complexity. He gave us literary hardboiled mystery novels.
Hansen, quite clearly, was a writer willing to take risks. But he did not stop with these. He also showed readers a gay man in love. Dave had been with his first love, Rod, for twenty-three years. Though readers never meet Rod we hear about him often and understand that Dave experiences grief for many years. It is difficult for readers not to sympathize with this gay man and care about him. This was a groundbreaking picture of gay men in the publishing history of books in the United States.
But Hansen did not stop here, either. Once Brandstetter can once again open his heart to vulnerability and love, he meets and establishes a long-term relationship with a much younger man, Cecil (see The Man Everyone Was Afraid Of). But even then, Hansen did not stop with the risks. Cecil is also a Black man while Brandstetter is white.
That fourth book was published in 1978. In 1977, a Gallup poll found that only 43% of Americans thought gay or lesbian relationships between consenting adults should be legal. Also, a 1978 Gallup poll showed that only 36% of Americans approved of interracial marriage while 54% still disapproved. And here was Hansen giving readers an interracial love relationship between two men with a big age difference between them.
Hansen’s books are powerful examples of writers who take risks and open the door for others.
His tenth Brandstetter novel, Obedience, opens on a melancholy note. “He was quitting.” Brandstetter, using a typewriter rather than a computer, is typing letters to announce his retirement decision to insurance companies with whom he had worked. The decision had not been easy to make but as readers soon see, Brandstetter is no longer as physically strong, nor as mentally quick, as he had once been.
In fact, Hansen makes this point even clearer as he contrasts Dave with his lover, Cecil. While Dave wearily “was still typing away in a lonely little island of lamplight in the looming, raftered room,” Hansen brings in the “tall, lanky young Black” man. The contrast is startling. Dave Brandstetter has grown old.
But then he is given cause to take on another case. Late that evening, Tracy Davis, a Public Defender who used to work for a friend of Brandstetter’s, shows up at the door to ask Dave to help prove that her client, Andy Flanagan, is not a murderer.
Flanagan, a disliked bigot, and bully, stands accused of murdering a wealthy Vietnamese businessman who plans to sell the Old Fleet Marina, a shantytown of rickety houseboats, even though this would make homeless more than ninety poverty-stricken people.
Not looking forward to retirement, and out of loyalty to his friend, Dave agrees to investigate the murder but soon finds himself involved in a complex international crime conspiracy. The investigation puts Brandstetter into so much danger that another friend of his, Detective Ken Barker, tells him, “I wish I didn’t think you were deliberately trying to throw it [his life] away.”
Like other books in the series, Obedience has a tight plot with many twists, and descriptive passages of California that are unsurpassed. But it is the story of an aging man, one without plans at the end of his career, that makes this such a strong book in the series.
November 11, 2015
4.5 of 5 stars – Hansen/Brandstetter is Back in Top Form.
I love gay mysteries and romances, and this has been one of the best series combining both, and in the process rightfully became for Joseph Hansen a classic in gay literature. After only a slight lull with the last couple books (but still good), this tenth in the series was just as good as the earlier high-quality ones and continued to build the story.
I liked this for the same reasons I liked each in the series. First off, for those interested, it worked well as a standalone, with its own self-contained mystery, while also further developing the character and life of the MC, his boyfriend and other supporting characters, and smoothly providing any explanations needed to bring a first-time reader up on previous happenings.
Also, it was a nice, short, easy read, with a good, well-paced plot and character development. I enjoyed the walk back in time to my earlier years, with moments of what was then current situations and culture vividly described by Hansen in a way that helped me remember those times. And I liked that the main focus was on the mystery, with the gay aspect and any romance as a major subplot. The mystery itself was engaging and suspenseful, with the investigation having realistic twists and turns. It had a refreshing approach of not featuring your typical detective or PI but an insurance investigator pursuing the clues. I liked Hansen again taking us into a subculture of LA, in this case the Vietnamese, doing a credible job of depicting its culture and its mantra of "obedience." The southern California environs are depicted vividly as well. And I certainly enjoyed the build up of tension, from the racism and the marina to the dangers in the Vietnamese hood.
Hansen also developed nicely the whole set of characters. Of course there was more on the MC, with Hansen really getting into the life and mindset of a hard-boiled, matter-of-fact, honorable, self-accepting, sometimes melancholy gay man who I grew to like for all his skills, heart and humanness. As for the supporting cast, I also got a good feel for who they were, with some new ones to keep things fresh. For those who read the previous books, it was nice that some characters returned; but don't worry first-time readers, they were introduced and described just as if it’s a standalone. A nice bonus has been the MC’s gay life and relationships, and I continued to appreciate the interracial, intergenerational diversity as yet another nice Hansen touch. In this one, I also liked that now sharing center stage with the relationships is the realistic and sympathetic view of someone aging in his life and profession.
I continue to be impressed with the level of quality that Hansen maintains in this series, and I look forward to the next one.
I love gay mysteries and romances, and this has been one of the best series combining both, and in the process rightfully became for Joseph Hansen a classic in gay literature. After only a slight lull with the last couple books (but still good), this tenth in the series was just as good as the earlier high-quality ones and continued to build the story.
I liked this for the same reasons I liked each in the series. First off, for those interested, it worked well as a standalone, with its own self-contained mystery, while also further developing the character and life of the MC, his boyfriend and other supporting characters, and smoothly providing any explanations needed to bring a first-time reader up on previous happenings.
Also, it was a nice, short, easy read, with a good, well-paced plot and character development. I enjoyed the walk back in time to my earlier years, with moments of what was then current situations and culture vividly described by Hansen in a way that helped me remember those times. And I liked that the main focus was on the mystery, with the gay aspect and any romance as a major subplot. The mystery itself was engaging and suspenseful, with the investigation having realistic twists and turns. It had a refreshing approach of not featuring your typical detective or PI but an insurance investigator pursuing the clues. I liked Hansen again taking us into a subculture of LA, in this case the Vietnamese, doing a credible job of depicting its culture and its mantra of "obedience." The southern California environs are depicted vividly as well. And I certainly enjoyed the build up of tension, from the racism and the marina to the dangers in the Vietnamese hood.
Hansen also developed nicely the whole set of characters. Of course there was more on the MC, with Hansen really getting into the life and mindset of a hard-boiled, matter-of-fact, honorable, self-accepting, sometimes melancholy gay man who I grew to like for all his skills, heart and humanness. As for the supporting cast, I also got a good feel for who they were, with some new ones to keep things fresh. For those who read the previous books, it was nice that some characters returned; but don't worry first-time readers, they were introduced and described just as if it’s a standalone. A nice bonus has been the MC’s gay life and relationships, and I continued to appreciate the interracial, intergenerational diversity as yet another nice Hansen touch. In this one, I also liked that now sharing center stage with the relationships is the realistic and sympathetic view of someone aging in his life and profession.
I continue to be impressed with the level of quality that Hansen maintains in this series, and I look forward to the next one.
March 8, 2013
Obedience is probably my favorite of the first ten books of the Brandstetter series. In addition to the usual cast of interesting and well drawn characters, the completely apposite and convincing evocation of the southern California terrain and the well designed plot which keeps the reader guessing, the fact that Brandstetter is aging has added an additional element of absorbing interest for me. In Early Graves and this book Brandstetter has acted foolishly, indeed, suicidally. At the end of this book he was made aware that he might be deliberately trying to end his life to avoid facing the question of what he will do with himself when he retires (besides build some book cases and hang some paintings...). I hope that in the last two volumes of the series Brandstetter will completely realize how lucky he really is and will act to preserve his blessed life, even if his sense of duty and obligation forces him to agree to further investigations.
October 21, 2013
An interesting if not somewhat melancholy work from Hansen. Dave retires but only for a few hours. Not an insurance case. A distraught sister & public defender gets Dave to help her prove her brother did not commit murder. No one likes her brother, a Vietnam vet. Everyone respects the murder victim, Mr. Le, an honorable Vietnam businessman respected by the community. As with most Brandstetter stories, all is not what it seems on the surface. A very realistic and sympathetic peek into that era of Vietnamese society. I did have one big, glaring mis-step. One character states he was in the first wave of advisors sent into Vietnam and that he had been sent by Jack Kennedy. The first wave of advisors into Vietnam were sent by Dwight Eisenhower not Kennedy. I am of that era. I had one friend who served three tours of duty as an advisor to the Montagnards and returned home to the States before Kennedy was sworn in as President. Truth not fiction.
I would have loved more Cecil. Dave needs him around more. Dave is admitting his aging in this book. He is realizing he cannot do what he used to do. He shut Cecil out in parts of this book because he did not want to put Cecil in peril.
A good story well written as usual. It had an overlay of melancholy that made me worry for Dave. I will read the rest of the series but I am not sure I will like the ending.
I would have loved more Cecil. Dave needs him around more. Dave is admitting his aging in this book. He is realizing he cannot do what he used to do. He shut Cecil out in parts of this book because he did not want to put Cecil in peril.
A good story well written as usual. It had an overlay of melancholy that made me worry for Dave. I will read the rest of the series but I am not sure I will like the ending.
August 3, 2016
Great, gripping story. As usual Hansen is economic with words, but achieves a better result that with many descriptions/explanations.
Dave notices that he is getting older, and that's not typical for the MC of a detective story. I'm glad Barker at the end of the book makes Dave think about the risks he has been taking lately, there is a moment when Dave stops and realises that probably it was really like he was trying to throw away his life.
But he is always very aware of danger as far as Cecil is concerned, and he is shielding him from it. We get lovely glimpses of his relationship with him, I love the banter between the two of them.
There are lots of great little details and considerations: the jab at xenophobia when the security firm director complains in racist terms about the Vietnamese immigrants (''No morals at all'') and when he comments that the name of a suspect doesn't sound Vietnamese, Dave answers ''No morals, though. No morals at all''. Or the old lady saying: ''It takes a special kind of person to be able to kill in cold blood'' and Dave answering:'' A kind we'd better off without''.
Dave notices that he is getting older, and that's not typical for the MC of a detective story. I'm glad Barker at the end of the book makes Dave think about the risks he has been taking lately, there is a moment when Dave stops and realises that probably it was really like he was trying to throw away his life.
But he is always very aware of danger as far as Cecil is concerned, and he is shielding him from it. We get lovely glimpses of his relationship with him, I love the banter between the two of them.
There are lots of great little details and considerations: the jab at xenophobia when the security firm director complains in racist terms about the Vietnamese immigrants (''No morals at all'') and when he comments that the name of a suspect doesn't sound Vietnamese, Dave answers ''No morals, though. No morals at all''. Or the old lady saying: ''It takes a special kind of person to be able to kill in cold blood'' and Dave answering:'' A kind we'd better off without''.
January 13, 2014
This is the 10th of the Dave Brandstetter"s mysteries and not the strongest in the series. In this mystery, Dave decides to retire for about 2 minutes until a young lawyer from the DA office ask him to investigate a murder. The young lawyer, we discover bigoted step-brother has been arrested for the murder of a Vietnamese businessman who he asked to meet who has a boat that he and others are living on the businessman's dock. The businessman is found shot and the man is arrested.Dave soon finds himself investigating Vietnamese gangsters, old traditions, and family secrets.Dave keeps complaining that he feels old and his instincts and reflexes aren't as fast as they were 40 years ago and he's just tired, but that doesn't stop him from investigating. Even Cecil, his partner who is 30+ years younger begs Dave to retire. This book in the series seems to drag on,but a I would reccommend it because I like the series.
November 19, 2010
Oh, Dave, I knew it wouldn't be so easy for you to retire. In this book, he more openly takes up the investigation of a murder, not for an insurance company, but for the public defender of a man accused of murder. The man himself seems less and less important the further and faster the plot moves, honestly: Dave gets himself entangled in a world of Vietnamese businessmen and crooks.
Like Cecil, I find myself wishing that Dave would quit smoking. I do enjoy, though, that for Dave it's a real concern, as it wouldn't be for his other hard-boiled counterparts. I love that he is really getting old and slower and having to worry about it. It makes him so much more real than Marlowe, no matter how slick Raymond Chandler's writing was.
I'm still enjoying the books, but I think I'd almost enjoy them more if we did get to see Dave retiring, settling down, for real.
Like Cecil, I find myself wishing that Dave would quit smoking. I do enjoy, though, that for Dave it's a real concern, as it wouldn't be for his other hard-boiled counterparts. I love that he is really getting old and slower and having to worry about it. It makes him so much more real than Marlowe, no matter how slick Raymond Chandler's writing was.
I'm still enjoying the books, but I think I'd almost enjoy them more if we did get to see Dave retiring, settling down, for real.
September 2, 2018
Poor Dave. He just wants to retire. Or does he? ;) He certainly gave up those plans awfully quick when Tracy Davis, public defender in San Pedro County, comes to him asking him to help her brother, who's accused of murder. Everything that happens on the case reminds him why he made those plans in the first place. The thing I love about these mysteries is that they're very multi-layered. It's never just a simple case of who killed who. And you get to learn things along the way because this is an author who did his research. I don't think there's another mystery series quite like this, or I haven't found it yet.
February 19, 2014
After last book's move back to engaging with gay themes (AIDS), here we again have a mystery that only has one closeted gay character lurking in the background. And I know the books are trying to do well engaging with race, but they don't. Mystery was... odd.
August 24, 2010
Obedience: A Dave Brandstetter Mystery by Joseph Hansen (1988)
August 24, 2010
Gravedigger: A Dave Brandstetter mystery by Joseph Hansen (1982)
March 18, 2021
In this book, Dave retires... for about 20 hours. That must have set a record :P
But, when a young public defender comes to him, wanting to hire him to clear her half-brother from the accusation of murdering a local and well-liked Vietnamese businessman, he can't resist the mystery.
So, he accepts the case (there is also a lovely reference to Sherlock Holmes!) and we find ourselves immersed in a tale in which family secrets, Vietnamese traditional culture, and organized crime all have a place and complicated the investigation.
We see here a Dave who is very aware of getting old, and the way in which this affects his abilities and mental process. He gets tired, he makes mistakes, he is more vulnerable than he used to be. He knows that retirement is the option he must take, but, at the end of the book, it very explicitly told that he is afraid of taking it.
At least, his relationship with Cecil seems to be going wonderfully :D
Let's see what is waiting for us in the last two books...
But, when a young public defender comes to him, wanting to hire him to clear her half-brother from the accusation of murdering a local and well-liked Vietnamese businessman, he can't resist the mystery.
(...) "Andy is all mouth. He wouldn’t kill anybody. At bottom he’s a coward.”
So, he accepts the case (there is also a lovely reference to Sherlock Holmes!) and we find ourselves immersed in a tale in which family secrets, Vietnamese traditional culture, and organized crime all have a place and complicated the investigation.
We see here a Dave who is very aware of getting old, and the way in which this affects his abilities and mental process. He gets tired, he makes mistakes, he is more vulnerable than he used to be. He knows that retirement is the option he must take, but, at the end of the book, it very explicitly told that he is afraid of taking it.
(...)...“And thanks for saving my life.”
Barker stood on the uneven, leaf-strewn bricks, looking up at the big, old spreading oak, the sky growing light beyond it, and breathing in the fresh morning air. He didn’t turn to Dave to say it, but he said, “I wish I didn’t think you were deliberately trying to throw it away.”
“Am I?” Dave frowned to himself. “Jesus, maybe I am.
At least, his relationship with Cecil seems to be going wonderfully :D
Let's see what is waiting for us in the last two books...
August 19, 2025
I've loved this series about gay insurance detective Dave Brandstetter. Southern California is his beat, and the series chronicles the many changes there from the time Brandstetter returns from WWII through decades that see him aging and in some ways losing his edge. His partner, Cecil, a television reporter, keeps begging him to retire for good. But then someone brings a challenge that intrigues him, and he can't resist figuring it out.
In *Obedience,* public defense attorney Tracie Davis asks Brandstetter to find out what really happened when Li, a pillar of the Vietnamese community, was shot down at decrepit docks scheduled for redevelopment. The murder weapon is a measly 22, and Brandstetter is surprised it could kill anyone. Davis is sure it was not used by her brother, an angry army veteran most of his fellow harbor squatters dislike, but one who had threatened the owner of the docks and is now in custody.
Brandstetter's renowned insight is still working fine, but his energy has declined and he forgets important safety steps, which gets him in trouble with a big Vietnamese drug dealer, not to mention enemies he hardly knows he has.
I love that all his quirky cronies play a role in this episode, and I continue to be in awe of his detailed cinema-like descriptions. This novel is near the end of the series. I never want it to be over.
In *Obedience,* public defense attorney Tracie Davis asks Brandstetter to find out what really happened when Li, a pillar of the Vietnamese community, was shot down at decrepit docks scheduled for redevelopment. The murder weapon is a measly 22, and Brandstetter is surprised it could kill anyone. Davis is sure it was not used by her brother, an angry army veteran most of his fellow harbor squatters dislike, but one who had threatened the owner of the docks and is now in custody.
Brandstetter's renowned insight is still working fine, but his energy has declined and he forgets important safety steps, which gets him in trouble with a big Vietnamese drug dealer, not to mention enemies he hardly knows he has.
I love that all his quirky cronies play a role in this episode, and I continue to be in awe of his detailed cinema-like descriptions. This novel is near the end of the series. I never want it to be over.
November 22, 2017
murder mystery set among Vietnamese immigrants in California in the 1980s. War issues are still raw, in additional to usual hostility to immigrants among some people. this is the 10th book in a series featuring insurance investigator Dave Brandsetter. Dave is trying to retire. He's getting too old for this shit. His life partner, Cecil, is tired of the late nights and frequent hospitalizations for work-related injuries. But, just when Dave thought he was out, they pulled him back in. The investigation moves at a good clip, bringing in red herrings and interesting characters from the past. Such a fast pace that an important suspect is never properly introduced to the reader. Dave sees the guy for the first time on a stake out, and a few pages later knows his name, family situation, and has copies of his banking records. Moments of, "did I fall asleep? " really pull me out of the narrative. I felt the killer's motive a bit thin, but overall an enjoyable who done it. In Dave's personal life, the overall arc of the series, I'm not seeing a lot of growth. Frustrating, but also shows how real the stories make these characters.
December 23, 2023
*Warning, there will be mild spoilers*
Hansen does it again! I really enjoyed Obedience's scope and how it effectively balanced Dave's reluctance to continue to pursue crime with the hostile atmosphere of a portion of the Californian Vietnamese community. Obedience marks the first time Dave admits to fumbling on the job. I was surprised to see this vulnerability to him given his confidence in the rest of the series. That said, he was too stubborn to drop it, and it led to a satisfying ending where everything got answered. I figured once Don Pham was introduced, he wasn't going to walk away clean-handed. The title is also beautifully dropped.
The only downside to this book was the lack of page time spent on Dave's relationship with Cecil. Despite seeming on the up and up, there's still tension brewing because of Dave getting back in the saddle after planning to start his retirement. Like in Book 4 (where Cecil got introduced), the case is fascinating enough, and Dave has reasons to keep Cecil out of harm's way. That said, much of their content together was repetitive and didn't do much to move the plot along.
Hansen does it again! I really enjoyed Obedience's scope and how it effectively balanced Dave's reluctance to continue to pursue crime with the hostile atmosphere of a portion of the Californian Vietnamese community. Obedience marks the first time Dave admits to fumbling on the job. I was surprised to see this vulnerability to him given his confidence in the rest of the series. That said, he was too stubborn to drop it, and it led to a satisfying ending where everything got answered. I figured once Don Pham was introduced, he wasn't going to walk away clean-handed. The title is also beautifully dropped.
The only downside to this book was the lack of page time spent on Dave's relationship with Cecil. Despite seeming on the up and up, there's still tension brewing because of Dave getting back in the saddle after planning to start his retirement. Like in Book 4 (where Cecil got introduced), the case is fascinating enough, and Dave has reasons to keep Cecil out of harm's way. That said, much of their content together was repetitive and didn't do much to move the plot along.
August 12, 2019
My main problem with the book is my doubt that Hansen really understood the Vietnamese community enough to characterize it like he does in this book; I don't feel that we get the same 3-dimensions with the Vietnamese characters as we do with all of the other characters. Still, given that, it's an exciting book about not going gently into retirement. Hoping Dave cuts down on the cigarettes and Glenlivet so that he can live happily ever after with Cecil. Some hope.
December 8, 2025
The detective story in this one was, I thought, particularly weak. Or, it was about the same as in the other ones but there was slightly less other stuff: Bandstetter’s personal life, slices of Southern California. Still, what there was was great. As the books move into the late 80’s there’s more suburban sprawl and more grit at the margins.
June 18, 2025
i've loved all the books in this series, but this one is exceptionally good. lots of twists and turns and the old lion, Dave Brandstetter, is feeling his age. the hard drinking, smoking, and living will do that to a person, don't cha know.
June 21, 2025
Like all the previous books in this series, this was a joy to read. It's a little bitter sweet that we're coming to the end, and we're always reminded that Dave Brandstetter is getting older and slower, and that eventually it's all going to catch up with him.
March 23, 2021
I found the book average at best.
February 7, 2022
It's been a long ride but I'm finally done with this series. Brandstetter is tired, the author is tired, and I'm exhausted.
June 13, 2025
Quick fun read.
June 8, 2024
This one brought in some of the tensions that still existed in California between Asian Americans and people in positions of power after the internment camps in WW2. Was a really fascinating discussion (?) of filial duty and piety and also some of the underground Drug trade of the 60s and 70s. I liked this one a lot, and thought some of the methods the main character used to get info were interesting, as well as how he balanced people’s distrust to still find out what he needed to know
Read
April 29, 2016DNF.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews