When it comes to contemporary fiction, anonymous vigilantism is one of my least favorite plot devices. In Skinflick, author Joseph Hansen (1923-2004) effectively uses this angle as both a form of condemnation and moralistic social justification in the death of one Gerald Dawson. Dawson’s outspoken views and high-profile activism against pornography end with a shotgun blast to the head on a moonless night outside his comfortable suburban home.

With his status as a born-again Christian intact, Dawson’s reputation is no match for Lon Tooker, proprietor of the local adult book store. When certain unidentified locals seek to rid the community of gay bars and bookstores with their masked and violent “vigilante forays”, Tooker goes from a victim of seemingly-random vandalism to prime murder suspect in a matter of hours.

Since the deceased was covered by a policy underwritten by Sequoia Life Insurance, crack death claims investigator Dave Brandstetter is assigned the case. Dave’s recent departure from Medallion Life was self-orchestrated to avoid the coming gay backlash that would have resulted in the aftermath of his father’s death. Carl Branstetter was both boss and majority stockholder at Medallion, but his widow and a series of ex-wives would cause a redistribution that would tilt the scale in the minority direction; thus rendering Dave’s block of stock ineffective. Politics being what they are (or were in the early 1980s), Dave’s hasty exit would come before “bad employment risk” and “untrustworthy” accusations in whispered tones made life for an openly-gay detective at the company intolerable. By being the best at any job, people make enemies. Homosexuals can make enemies simply by being.

What begins as a routine murder investigation during a prolonged Los Angeles heat wave escalates to include the southern California porn industry, illegal drugs, mistaken identity and kidnaping. As with all twelve entries in the Brandstetter series, Joseph Hansen constructs a tight plot that compares favorably to those penned by the best writers of the L. A. crime genre. His reputation as a master of scene-setting description gives his work an added dimension; though never one that is cryptic, excessively wordy or extraneous.

In contrast to his spare style, Hansen’s characters are consistently off-kilter in sad, scary and humorous ways. Woven throughout the ongoing investigation, Dave buys a new house to replace the one burdened with too many memories of his partner of twenty years who succumbed to cancer. The new place needs a decorator - and who better to hire than his favorite recently-widowed step-mom Amanda (several years his junior), who complicates his life with semi-competent work crews and their seven a.m. starts.

Dave’s love life is a form of purgatory inflicted by Hansen for reasons of contrast. Apparently in his literary world no one skilled enough to be the best in his profession should have an easy go of it in other areas - unless his name happens to be James Bond. Truly the oddest aspect of Skinflick is the character Johnny Delgado, described by Amanda as that “lovely, haggard Mediterranean type with the sultry voice and long, black eyelashes” who appears one night to pick a fight with the man who “stole his job”. Until this time, Dave was unaware of Delgado and his former employment at Sequoia. The scenes where the drunken heterosexual (and former detective) attempts to seduce Dave are sadly bizarre; though not depressing like the nearly-simultaneous dialogue that occurs when Doug drops-in for a late-night rudderless chat. This mismatched pair have been an item from love’s lost and found since Fadeout; the first book of the series.

And let’s face it - as intelligent and well-intentioned as Doug is, he’s become a major drag to the proceedings whose presence is no longer desired by either Dave or the reader. Hansen mercifully dispatches him permanently by the middle of the book. Meanwhile, Dave dries-out Delgado, cleans him up and hires him as a leg-man (southern California being the vast area that it is) but Delgado’s alcoholism and underlying reliability issues keep it strictly professional.

Dave’s stool-pigeon du jour Randy Van is Hansen’s comic relief on this go-round - the transvestite’s penchant for white eyelet dresses contrasts humorously with his dark good looks and perpetual five-o’clock shadow. Randy’s involvement in the shocking conclusion is a nice fit - fictional heroes in basic white usually involve pale hats and horses... and more conventional knights in armor.

If you prefer a surfeit of brutality, murder and mayhem in your detective fiction, Skinflick is your kind of book. By far the bloodiest in the Brandstetter series, Dave’s combined lacerative blood-loss qualifies him as the Energizer Bunny and Clara Barton rolled into one before all is said and done.

And if you like occasional British heavy-metal humor with your blood-letting, Amanda takes Dave car-shopping when former employer Medallion arrives to repossess the company car. Although the color of the Triumph TR7 he buys is never stated, I picture it as a faded robin’s-egg blue with large patches of rust straight from the showroom floor. Isn’t that how they all appeared after a few months of use? Be it the shifter, clutch, handling or brakes, Hansen himself must have hated these cars since he always presents Dave’s encounters with this bleep-box as a battle of man against machine - proving once again the old adage that states there is humor in truth (or perhaps in this case that truth is stranger than fiction?).

Skinflick is not the best book in the Brandstetter series. The subject matter and brutality may limit its audience, but I admire Hansen for his bold approach and change-of-pace in attempt to avoid the pitfalls of series novelization. Where the other books and their settings are more successfully timeless due to the author’s careful omission of items readily dated, this book literally screams the early 1980s.

History may prove this not a totally bad thing, for what would James Cain’s Phyllis Dietrichson or Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe be without the atmospheric backdrop of mid-twentieth century Los Angeles? Like all of us, Hansen and his charge Brandstetter simply played the hand that was dealt in the present. Only the scrutinizing passage of time will yield the value and extent of their vision and innovation.

My original hardcover copy of this book originated at the Tacoma, Washington public library and was purchased at Amazon.com Marketplace as a tribute to both capitalism and recycling. This review therefore qualifies as an entry to the National Library Week Write-Off hosted by laurashrti.

Skinflick (1979)
Joseph Hansen
A Rinehart Suspense Novel
Holt, Rinehart and Winston
383 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10017
ISBN: 0030489318

The Brandstetter Books:

Fadeout
Death Claims
Troublemaker
The Man Everybody Was Afraid Of
Skinflick
Gravedigger
Backtrack
Nightwork
Early Graves
Obedience
The Boy Who Was Buried This Morning
A Country Of Old Men

Recommended: Yes