Background

Hansen was born in 1923 in Aberdeen, South Dakota, and grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Altadena, California.

Education

Hansen was living in Depression-era South Dakota here until his father lost his shoe store shop and the family moved to California to work a small citrus tree farm. Hansen, who never attended college, was interested in writing early in life but did not find much success until 1952.

Career

Joseph Hansen is known as the author, who created Dave Brandstetter, the first homosexual detective to appear as a hero in American crime fiction. Hansen did not find much success until 1952 when the New Yorker published one of his poems. He continued to write poems and fiction with homosexual themes, often publishing them pseudonymously as James Colton, or, in one book, Coulton. In 1971 he also published a gothic novel under the name Rose Brock called Tarn House. During the 1960s, Hansen, who did not conceal his sexual orientation, worked on the staff of the gay and lesbian magazine One, and in 1965 cofounded another magazine, Tangents, which he worked on until 1970. In another venture, he produced a radio program in Los Angeles called Homosexuality Today in 1969, and in 1970 he was responsible for organizing the first gay pride parade in Hollywood. But his biggest claim to fame came through his "Dave Brandstetter" series. Long a fan of detective fiction, and also upset with the unfair portrayal of homosexual characters in novels, Hansen decided to create a protagonist who happened to be gay but whose sexuality was just one aspect of his complex personality. Hansen finished his debut book, Fadeout, in 1967 but could not find a publisher until 1970. When the novel finally did appear, it received considerable positive fanfare and critical attention. The success of the "Brandstetter" series continued for several more books, including Troublemaker, Gravedigger, Early Graves, and the last in the series, A Country of Old Men. Hansen continued publishing for many years, releasing such books as Living Upstairs, Jack of Hearts, and Bohannon's Women.

Achievements

• Although he published almost forty books in a wide variety of genres, Hansen is best remembered for his groundbreaking series of crime novels with Dave Brandstetter. His first adventure, Fadeout, was published in 1970, and over the next twenty-one years, eleven more entries in the series were written.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Little Dog Laughed

    (When Adam Streeter, a celebrated foreign correspondent, i...)

    1986
  • Jack of Hearts

    (Befriending a colorful group of individuals who run the c...)

    1995
  • Nightwork

    (A widely published travel writer provides a comprehensive...)

    1984
  • Early Graves

    (Dave Brandstetter becomes obsessed with finding out why t...)

    1987
  • A Country of Old Men

    (Investigating the murder of pop guitarist Cricket Shales,...)

    1991
  • Steps Going Down

    (Darryl Cutler meets Chick Pelletier, a handsome beach bum...)

    1985
  • Fadeout

    (Fadeout is the first of Joseph Hansen's twelve classic my...)

    1970
  • Death Claims

    (Death Claims is the second of Joseph Hansen's acclaimed m...)

    1973
  • The Boy Who Was Buried this Morning

    (Insurance claims investigator Dave Brandstetter hunts the...)

    1990
  • Living Upstairs

    (Joseph Hansen has been praised by The New York Times as "...)

    1993
  • Obedience

    (Dave Brandstetter investigates the murder of a wealthy Vi...)

    1988
  • Backtrack

    (Alan Tarr refuses to accept a police explanation of the d...)

    1982
  • Pretty Boy Dead

    (Scorned by his family, defeated by society, Steve was at ...)

    1984
  • A Few Doors West of Hope

    (In 1953, same-sex acts were outlawed in all 48 states. Pu...)

    1998
  • Troublemaker 1975
  • The man everybody was afraid of 1978
  • Skinflick 1979
  • Gravedigger 1982
  • Brandstetter and Other Stories 1984
  • A Smile in His Lifetime 1981
  • Job's Year 1983

Personality

Joseph Hansen was openly gay. Despite this fact, he was married to Jane Bancroft, a lesbian, for 51 years. Hansen described their marriage as "a gay man and a woman who happened to love each other." One of Joseph's friends claimed he also had two long-term relations with men.

Connections

Hansen married Jane Bancroft in 1943. They were married until her death in 1994. The couple had one child, Barbara Hansen.

Wife:

Jane Bancroft

Daughter:

Barbara Hansen

References

• Contemporary Authors vol. 233