These two books (the second and seventh) in the Brandstetter series are excellent examples of the way Hansen combines characterization and social commentary in the mystery novel. Both novels focus on a group of characters whose patterns of dependency on sex, money, drugs, or religion are disrupted by the death of a single individual. In Death Claims, Hansen's detective, Brandstetter, is investigating the drowning death of John Oats. Oats, a rare book dealer, turns out to have a hold over a group of characters who are suspects in his death. As Brandstetter tears away at the layers of illusion surrounding Oats and his death, the book dealer is found to deal in drugs; a habit he sustains through various forms of emotional and financial blackmail. In Nightwork, the death of a truck driver, Paul Meyer, whose.....
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