The investigation into a journalist's suicide leads insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter to uncover a dangerous story involving a missing South American strongman, El Carnicero. Renowned for his fearless reporting, Adam Streeter's death seems suspicious to Dave, who suspects foul play rather than suicide. As he delves deeper, he faces threats from powerful individuals wanting to silence the truth. Balancing his pursuit of justice with the concerns of his lover, Cecil, Dave's quest reveals the high stakes of uncovering dark secrets that some are willing to kill for.
In a poignant final case, a weary detective is drawn back into action to protect a scared child. As he navigates the complexities of this investigation, he confronts his own past while seeking justice and safety for the vulnerable. This story explores themes of redemption, sacrifice, and the enduring impact of one's choices.
Freelance insurance investigator Dave Brandstetter embarks on a dangerous case involving the suspicious death of evangelist Gerald Dawson, who believed in a violent form of piety. After Dawson is found dead, the police target a local smut peddler as the prime suspect, but Brandstetter suspects a deeper, darker truth behind the evangelist's life. As he uncovers Dawson's hidden sins and nighttime activities, Brandstetter risks his own safety in pursuit of justice, revealing a world of moral contradictions and hidden secrets.
A cult leader named Azrael perpetrates a brutal mass murder and afterwards a slimy lawyer is trying to claim the life insurance policy for his missing daughter; it's the early '80s in Los Angeles and private investigator Dave Brandstetter has a new love in his life as exciting as this case is dreadful. Two years ago Charles Westover disgraced himself and his family when he was disbarred for bribery. Westover's daughter Serenity, disgusted with her once beloved father, ran away to a cult founded by a mesmerizingly handsome young man, a self-appointed messiah going by the grimly grandiose name of Azrael. The whereabouts of Serenity pass unknown for years until the police raid Azrael's compound and discover that the cult leader lived up to his ghastly Angel of Death moniker. Thinking his daughter has been murdered, Charles Westover claims her life insurance, and then he too vanishes. Insurance companies don't like to cut a check without a body and especially don't like cutting a check to someone who is also missing. Hired as a private investigator for Banner Insurance, David Brandstetter quickly finds himself in a complicated maze of lies and hidden histories
Love and money are the easy motives in the death of a California beachfront nightclub owner, but death claims investigator Dave Brandstetter is certain of one thing: the case is going to be far from easy and the police have it all wrong. Rick Wendell wouldn’t hurt a flea. The big, jovial owner of the Hang Ten, a surfing-themed gay bay on the boardwalk, was loved by regulars and new arrivals alike. But Rick was found naked and dead, with a local hustler named Larry Johns standing over him, smoking gun in hand. Wendell’s death is ruled as a homicide and Johns is arrested. Everyone thinks it’s a simple open-and-shut case. Everyone except the death claims investigator, Dave Brandstetter. Brandstetter, a homosexual himself, doesn’t make the same assumptions about the crime scene and easy story it tells. Larry Johns had enough time to escape had he wanted to. Not to mention Johns lacked any discernable motive, especially since the $200 in Wendell’s wallet was left untouched. In an investigation that takes him from sun-scorched hillside ranches to seedy boardwalk bars, Brandstetter gets to the bottom of a twisty mystery in this hardboiled and entertaining portrait of the ’70s gay culture by groundbreaking poet and award-winning crime writer Joseph Hansen.
Der Versicherungsdetektiv Brandstetter muss in seinem sechsten Fall ein komplexes Rätsel um die angeblich ermordete Tochter des ausgeschlossenen Anwalts Charles Westover lösen. Während er von der Pazifikküste bis in die Wüste Südkaliforniens ermittelt, entdeckt er dunkle Geheimnisse, enttäuschte Liebe und zerrissene Familienbande.
Gerald Dawson, Moralist und christlich-fundamentalistischer Prediger, ist ermordet worden. Dave Brandstetter muss für die Medallion Lebensversicherung den Anspruch der Hinterbliebenen überprüfen. Verdächtigt wird Lon Tooker, Besitzer der "Schlüsselloch-Buchhandlung", denn der Tote galt als begeisterter Verfechter der direkten Aktion gegen Pornografie. Daher macht es Dave Brandstetter auf Anhieb stutzig, als er Dawsons Sohn beim Verbrennen von Stößen pädophiler Pornos antrifft ...§
The shocking murder of Police Chief Ben Orton, found with a brutal head injury, stirs the seaside community, revealing the deep-seated animosities he cultivated during his tenure. As the investigation unfolds, the townspeople grapple with the implications of his death and the potential motives behind it, exposing a web of secrets and rivalries that challenge their perceptions of justice and morality. The story delves into themes of power, retribution, and the hidden darkness within a seemingly peaceful town.
Als Heather Wendell nach Hause kommt, bietet sich ihr ein Bild dar, das keinen Zweifel zulässt: Ein nackter junger Mann steht über die Leiche ihres Sohnes Rick gebeugt und wischt die Waffe mit einem Papiertuch ab. Rick Wendell war Mitbesitzer einer Schwulenkneipe in L.A. und brachte ab und an einen jungen Mann mit nach Hause - ein Lebensstil, den seine Mutter nicht billigte, aber hinnahm. Nun ist ihm offensichtlich eine dieser Affären zum Verhängnis geworden...§Die Polizei nimmt den mutmaßlichen Mörder fest und das Verbrechen scheint aufgeklärt. Nur Dave Brandstetter findet den Fall viel zu eindeutig. Im Auftrag der Versicherung beginnt er zu ermitteln. Er findet etliche Anhaltspunkte, nur eines nicht: ein Motiv, das ausgereicht hätte, Rick Wendell ins Jenseits zu befördern...
