Dave Brandstetter #2
Death Claims is Dave Brandstetter’s investigation into another tricky case, with unreliable witnesses, personal upheavals, and miles of pavement pounded. Set in the 1950s, Dave has to show up on doorsteps, spend a nickel at payphones, and chase people down to advance his case. So many of the characters are unlikeable but not criminal, and Dave is definitely up to figuring out who the bad guy is.
Keith Szarabajka does an amazing job of narrating the audiobook. Dave’s voice is husky and wry, and the inflections match the character. Hansen wrote Death Claims in the 70s, and it leans hard on racial and gender stereotypes. The narration follows suit. Doug sounds effeminate and high-maintenance, April sounds young and naive, and Dave sounds like a hard-boiled noir detective.
Every character lights a cigarette in the office, car, or a stranger’s house. While talking to John Oats’ physician, Dave notes that only a non-smoker would use the ashtray the doctor provides for Dave’s use in his home study. It blows my mind that non-smokers were fine with people lighting up in their homes. If Death Claims had been written in the last ten years and still set in the 1950s, the amount of smoking would be significantly reduced, if mentioned at all. I’m considering why Hansen brings it up so often, but it does set the atmosphere for a noir novel. Smokey rooms, suspects looking for something to fidget with, someone down on their luck making another bad decision. Other aspects of this book are tremendously dated, including language around same-sex relationships and racial stereotypes. In the context of when this book was written and set, it’s not unexpected to find off-putting language and ideas. I still found it jarring.
With 25 minutes remaining, I still had no idea who had actually committed the crime or if a crime had even been committed. Dave Brandstetter is a plodder, pounding the pavement to get at all the details. His relationships are a little two-dimensional, particularly his interactions with Doug. I did find the number of locations in this book a bit hard to keep track of. Dave never seems to sleep or go home; he’s always crossing back and forth across LA and its suburbs, entirely focused on his case.
Death Claims is a great noir mystery. Dave’s wry humour, black-and-white outlook and knack for ferreting out information really pleased me. I hope to continue the series on audio, but I’ll still hear Dave’s raspy voice in my head if I’m reading with my eyes.
Publisher Information
Publisher: Soho Syndicate
First Published: January 1 1973
Audiobook Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Audiobook Narrator: Keith Szarabajka
Format: Audiobook
Source: KoboPlus