<p>Pl Burston is a journalist and wrer. His first novel, Shamels, was scribed by Will Self as "the sharp tth about gay London" and is now available paperback</p>
Contents:
- GAY DETECTIVE NOVELS BOOKS
- GAY DETECTIVE BOOKS
- THE GAY DETECTIVE: HOMOSEXUALY CRIME FICTN
- THE HAMMETT AND CHANDLER OF GAY DETECTIVE FICTN
- A REISSUE HELPS REVIVE JOSEPH HANSEN'S SERI ABOUT A TOUGH, GAY TECTIVE
- PL BURSTON'S TOP 10 GAY FICTN BOOKS
GAY DETECTIVE NOVELS BOOKS
Books shelved as gay-tective-novels: Home Fir by Kate Sherwood, Soul Breaker by Clara Coulson, Reasonable Doubt by Gregory Ashe, Paterny Case by Gr... * gay fiction detective *
(shelved 1 time as gay-tective-novels). There isn’t enough space this article (or, ed, a rather long history book) to explore the long and shameful lerary history of amg gay characters as eher victims or villas.
GAY DETECTIVE BOOKS
Books shelved as gay-tective: On the Other Hand, Death by Richard Stevenson, A Body to Dye For by Grant Michaels, Simple Jtice by John Man Wilson,... * gay fiction detective *
Fast forward through several s of margalizg gay voic or treatg gay romance as eroti, and the days, we’ve fally got mastream publishers wakg up to the fact that queer stori have a vast and growg dience, although we ntue to be bted to the outsized ntributns of small prs such as Bywater Books. Of his but, Rs Thomas has wrten, “I had a gay protagonist long before I had a tective protagonist, ” and while this layed the path to publitn, bee for some absurd reason publishers ed to thk women on wanted straight hearthrobs—I subm to you as evince the ENTIRE world of fan fictn—by the time Thomas published Firewatchg, he did so to near-universal acclaim.
Now, I’m close to fishg U Up?, her ice-ld sophomore novel of love and loss LA, and I’m rather annoyed at havg to stop readg to wre this blurb. In 1986 Los Angel, homophobia is an all-time high, and an ultra-nservative anizatn is ready to fan the flam of hatred wh a ballot iative to round up HIV posive Angelos and put them mps.
The Savage Kd brgs a new meang to “Be gay. When I created DS Adam Tyler for Firewatchg, I did so partly bee I wanted to create a fictnal tective who was gay.
THE GAY DETECTIVE: HOMOSEXUALY CRIME FICTN
In 1970, Hansen began a 12-novel seri about Dave Brandstetter, an surance vtigator who happens to be gay. Readg now, 's clear that Hansen was one of the great crime wrers of his time. * gay fiction detective *
There were gay protagonists (rare, but they did exist), and there were gay police officers (often send or third tier the hierarchy of characters), but I uld not thk of a sgle queer protagonist. He explicly stat that he isn’t homosexual, but his obssn wh Dickie Greenleaf, and his tenncy towards unreliable narratn more than suggt otherwise.
I fd almost nceivable that there was one gay character at the helm of a mystery seri for over twenty years, and I only very recently disvered him!
He’s openly gay, or homosexual (Hansen apparently hated the term gay), and though he feels no need to announce to everyone he meets, he’s not ashamed of eher. Firstly, like his ntemporary Delafield, he’s an actual p, an LAPD reer police officer (there seem to be far fewer male gay tectiv than female). He’s also a big bear of a man who breaks a lot of the earlier stereotyp (so often mysteri and thrillers the gay man is portrayed as a sleazy, sadistic baddie wh unwholome sexual predilectns).
THE HAMMETT AND CHANDLER OF GAY DETECTIVE FICTN
So far, Sturgis has steadfastly avoid beg killed off (a rare skill for a gay supportg st member), which mt make him the longt nng gay character a mystery seri ever. Set 1980s San Francis, he’s unashamed to tackle the thornier issu of gay life—dgs, alhol and the AIDS crisis.
Hap Colls is the sensive, broodg workg-class labourer who avoids vlence at almost any st, while Leonard Pe is a gay black Vietnam veteran wh a vlent streak, who’s more than happy to shoot any man who unrtimat him. But ’s Leonard Pe who stands out as somethg special, a gay protagonist the mystery genre who breaks every stereotype the book.
A REISSUE HELPS REVIVE JOSEPH HANSEN'S SERI ABOUT A TOUGH, GAY TECTIVE
If there are few gay protagonists crime fictn, there are fewer still the annals of historil crime.
Insurance vtigator Dave Brandstretter is unapologetilly gay, tough, and mascule, but also tenr. ” Published 1970, the book lnched a groundbreakg seri, the gold standard for ser gay crime fictn.
Gay and Lato, Nava’s fense attorney Henry Rs echo Brandstretter’s mixture of vulnerabily and hardboiled edgs. She’s a dited, sensive, and skilled tective, but she remas closeted orr to navigate the homophobic LAPD.
PL BURSTON'S TOP 10 GAY FICTN BOOKS
(shelved 2 tim as gay-tective). Plakcy about the history of homosexualy crime fictn, and then make sure you're signed and ment below for a chance to w a py of The Next One Will Kill You! And before I wrote my first mystery featurg a gay tective, I read Joseph Hansen, Michael Nava, Mark Zubro, and Nathan Aldyne.