Joseph Hansen Trilogy: Skinflick;Gravedigger;Nightwork

Three of the excellent Dave Brandstetter insurance death claims investigator mysteries: Skinflick, the fifth of the complete Dave Brandstetter mysteries, involves the murder of Gerald Dawson, a church goer with a reputation for zero tolerance of all that he believes wrong. Imprisoned is the accused, the affable owner of a pornshop recently ransacked by Dawson and his cronies. However Dave thinks that the victim's family maybe involved. The cast of characters includes Dawson's business partner who has a penchant for young boys and girls; a maker of films of dubious reputation who has a liking for boys as girls; and a young TV who takes a liking to Dave. Dave's private life moves forward as events on that front develop interestingly. The finale climaxes with an even greater life and death situation than perhaps the previous stories, but the rest is filled with the detailed observation with which we are familiar. Gravedigger, the sixth Dave Brandstetter mystery, has our likeable insurance claims investigator looking into the murder of a young girl, believed to be the victim of a serial murderer with a cult following. However the body has not been found, and when Dave starts his investigation neither can the girl's father who lodged the insurance claim. Dave sets out to find the father and along the way unearths a few surprises related to the claimant's family. This is a particularly appealing episode in the Brandstetter mysteries, and what makes it so are developments in Dave's private life, and in Gravedigger they occupy a larger part of the story than is usually the case. With the unexpected reappearance of a brief lover from the past Dave's life takes a turn for the better. There are developments too in his widowed step-mother's life which also affect Dave in a surprising way. The events in his private life are particularly heart-warming and are heightened with the greater than usual dangers of his professional life. In the seventh Brandstetter mystery, Nightwork, we find Dave investigating the death of a truck driver who took out life insurance just a couple of weeks before his death. The investigation is fraught with danger from the start as Dave visits the driver's widow who lives in a run down neighbourhood plagued by rival gangs, blacks and Chicanos. As Dave follows his leads he encounters numerous characters from the black pastor struggle to engage with the youth of the area to an aging queen who lives alone in the big house overlooking the district, and some dubious goings on involving chemical waste disposal. Nightwork is yet another excellent mystery, full of the usual attention to detail; an imaginative, complex and involved plot full of the unexpected.