Pretty Boy Dead: A Novel

by Joseph Hansen

Scorned by his famiy, defeated by society, Steve was at a major crossroads in his life. His marriage had gone sour, his hopes as a playwright dashed. Confused and friendless, Steve turned to pretty boy Coy Randol for love and support. But then Coy was found brutally murdered and there was only one person the police Steve.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Gay, LGBT, Gay Fiction

203 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Joseph 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.

Reviews

[Johanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty Boy Dead was Joseph Hansen's very first mystery novel, first published in 1968 as Known Homosexual written under the name James Colton. Nine years later the book re-surfaced briefly as Stranger to Himself. It's a story about a young black man Steve who's in a major crossroads in his life. He is confused, miserable and really struggling when, to top it all, his lover is murdered and he becomes the main suspect.

After reading Hansen's Dave Brandstetter series I didn't quite know what to expect from a book he wrote earlier in his career. I'm ashamed to say that I at least didn't expect to find anything this mesmerizing, this... POWERFUL. How wrong I was! Pretty Boy Dead is wonderful. Not light-and-romantic-wonderful, but heart-wrenching-and-powerful-wonderful. It's a perfect example of Hansen's masterful writing skills. It has the same honesty, humanity, wit and sharp-eyed description than made me love Hansen's Dave Brandstetter Mysteries.

The structure of the story is excellent and it has so many layers in it that I'll be pondering over this book for a long time. It'll make a great re-read, too. It has lots and lots of brilliantly, vividly drawn characters and I loved the way the mystery started to reveal itself slowly, but mercilessly.

It was extremely painful to read at times, but I couldn't help but to hopelessly fall in love with it nevertheless. (And this is actually very cool, because when you read the book you'll see that many of the characters fall in love or do other, more conscious things even though they should know better. The circumstances just kind of 'force' them to act certain way, the way they are used to act — or at least they think that there is no other way to solve the situation.)

Hansen manages to tell a story that really makes the reader mull over life. He tells about life's tragedies and joys intervened with each other, lives linked to one another and the consequences of it all. I also like the fact that there seemed to be mysteries inside mysteries. I'm not sure if this makes any sense, but I don't want to spoil anything for anyone by telling more about the story. But this I will tell: Pretty Boy Dead made me think of the different paths we choose (or, in some cases, are forced to take) when trying to survive in life. Because, somehow, this story really makes me mull over choosing.

I highly recommend this book. It truly shook me — in a good way.

[W. Stephen Breedlove · Rating 5 out of 5]

“POOR, PRETTY, INNOCENT, CORRUPT LITTLE COY!”

Pretty Boy Dead is unique among Joseph Hansen’s novels in that Steve Archer, the main protagonist, is a young Black man. Steve is the son of a doctor: “Yet if it was easy for a rich professional like his father to move into white sections, it was hard for a nobody kid.” In a conversation with his grandma, Steve rather naively says, “This isn’t 1910, it’s 1966. People don’t believe that race stuff anymore. Not good people.” I wish Joseph Hansen had written more stories about Steve Archer.

In the prologue of the novel, Steve Archer is arrested for the murder of Coy Randol, his white boyfriend. After a long flashback which comprises the bulk of the novel, Steve is released by the police and embarks on a frantic quest to find out who killed Coy. Although Pretty Boy Dead was Joseph Hansen’s first mystery novel, Hansen knows exactly what he is doing as he expertly juggles suspects and red herrings all over the place.

In this early novel, Joseph’s Hansen’s descriptive powers are already amazing. With his clear, concise prose, he meticulously describes geography, interiors, and how people look and dress. His dialogue is spare. The story takes place in Los Angeles in 1966. Hansen gives just enough period detail to enrich the story. At one point, Cory plays a Mantovani record. People use typewriters and carbons.

I love this quote: “But, from the back of the church, anyway, the face looked as if it had been borrowed from Carol Baker for the weekend. The effect was creepy.” It should be Carroll Baker, instead of Carol Baker. If you were around in the 1960s, you’ll understand Hansen’s reference.

The following examples of Hansen’s descriptive talents are superb: “The store fronts looked dismal without their neons, like female impersonators stripped to their jockstraps.” “Now and then gulls uttered high, pained cries, as if the air that was their element was burning them.”

Hansen concludes Pretty Boy Dead with an epilogue. I love epilogues!

Pretty Boy Dead is a great change of pace from Joseph Hansen’s Dave Brandstetter mystery series.

[Nicolas Chinardet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it could be considered a literary murder mystery, Pretty Boy Dead, the third incarnation of this book, is in truth more a coming of age story with a murder story tacked on to the end (and the first chapter).

The read knows from the start that a character has been killed and that Steven, the hero, has been arrested for the murder. Most of the book is however dedicated to telling Steven's recent story as an arty young black gay man coming to term with who he is and the mistakes he makes along the way.

Hansen takes care to present us with an ever-growing list of suspects as the story proceeds but still manages to surprise with his solution.

The writing is very good and the story is at time totally engrossing and always well paced and involving.

[Cole Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was incredibly disappointed with the pacing in this book. The book begins with the main character being charged with murder, but then abruptly switches to reveal backstory for the majority of the novel. It isn't until chapter 23, out of 26 chapters that readers return to Steve's interrogation and the solving of this murder mystery begins. The revelation of each clue by Steve seems random and off balance. His sudden insight into human nature and jealousy in the final chapters seem unbelievable after Hansen spent an entire novel showing how immature Steve is when it comes to interacting with other people.

Despite the pacing and personal concerns I have about the portrayal of the African American characters and interracial relationships in the novel, I do think it is worth reading this book. It was an interesting story with a lot of potentialdepth in its character portrayals and relationships that could have been written more skillfully. That said, the book is an important contribution to the hard-boiled detective genre.

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very early work by Hansen, writer of the David Brandstetter mystery series, originally published in 1968 under another title. Steve is a bisexual black man whose father is a prominent doctor who decides to run for office. Steve initially gets a young white girl pregnant, causing his family to shun him. He then writes a play that exposes some family secrets, causing his father to bring the law into their relationship. Then he falls in love with and moves in with a young white boy who is also an evangelist. Confused? Don't be, it all comes together in the end. The first third is rather disjointed but the second part of the book is much better.

[Cat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in 1968 as Known Homosexual, and in 1977 as Stranger to Himself; both probably under the pen name "James Colton"