"Fadeout" by Joseph Hansen is called the first mystery series to feature a "contentedly gay" protagonist. His name is Dave Brandstetter and he is an insurance investigator who recently lost the love of his life to cancer (written originally in 1970, so it predates the AIDS crisis). He has been called in to investigate the "death" of Fox Olson, a local personality and Garrison Keillor soundalike (again, it predates Garrison, but that's who I kept picturing). Olson's car was found down a river after being washed away, but no body was discovered, so Brandstetter needs to figure out if a death payment is due.

So he does what mystery investigators have done since time immemorial - starts turning over rocks and roiling the waters. Nobody seems too torn up that Fox has disappeared or, if he is in fact is dead. Not his wife, not his boss at the radio station, not the maid, no one. Gradually pieces of Fox's life fall out from the interviews and it becomes clear what may have happened, but there is no proof.

Until a call from another police station brings a few answers but even more questions. So, even though his case is theoretically solved, he keeps probing, but he probably won't like the answers he finds, as he uncovers homophobia, jealousy, hatred and politics. It's all tied up, but in a very messy bundle.

Not too bad in the end I guess. It starts off pretty slowly and confusingly, as, when I talk about Brandstetter interviewing people it really is just that. There is lots of exposition going on in the first half of the book and the characters sort of blur together when there is just talk going on. Hard to draw any mental images to tie the story together. But things pick up speed about the halfway point of this pretty short book and the last bit is pretty satisfying.

Not sure the 'gay' angle had much impact. Sure, like other mystery protagonists, he takes on a lover, who just happens to be a young man. And he probably has a better connection with the solution due to his sexual leanings, but it isn't glamorized or even emphasized, at least vis-a-vis the solution. I will put book 2, [b:Death Claims|920057|Death Claims (Dave Brandstetter #2)|Joseph Hansen|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179457873s/920057.jpg|905094], on my To-Read list, but I won't rush out and order it.