More on Joseph Hansen

Several folks have sent me some lovely reminscences about the groundbreaking crime writer, and two have consented to let me repost their thoughts here.

From Ed Gorman:

Over the years we (Marty Greenberg & I) bought several Joseph Hansen

stories for our various reprint anthologies.  I think we bought a few

originals, too (all this relies on my fading memory). Hansen usually

dealt with Marty. But Marty was on the road for several days one time so

Hansen called me. I’d never spoken to him but he seemed like a very

decent guy. He said he was getting pretty hard up for work and would be

interested in anything we could send his way. I think it was then I said

let’s do a Five Star collection and I’ll get you into a couple of

anthologies, too. Marty, the kindest person I’ve ever known, ordered a

check sent immediately. We also paid him for some reprints we’d use in

the future. He called again to thank me and said he could still use some

more work if any came my way. So I said why don’t you write some Mystery

Scene pieces. He did, as I recall, one or two long ones but I sent him a

check the same day we talked. (But as you can imagine, Mystery Scene

could buy you a couple bowls of soup and all the crackers you could

steal.)  He was obviously pretty sick but he met every single deadline.

He e-mailed me about a trunk partial (or maybe it was finished) he

wanted to see if Five Star might go for. But it got into areas we just

couldn’t go. He laughed sadly and said that that’s the same thing

something like seventeen other houses had told him. I believe he also

said that it had been bounced by all his regular houses in Europe.

Damned sad to see somebody that good have to scramble so hard at the end

of his life.

And from H.R. Knight, author of WHAT ROUGH BEAST (Dorchester, February 2005):

It’s been about twenty years since I took his mystery writing class in

U.C.L.A.’s extension program. I remember the experience as a more of a

seminar than a structured class. But Joe could clean up your prose faster

than any other writing instructor I ever met. I still use the few rules he

laid down for vivid prose. I’m sure they helped me get my first book

published all these years later.

The writers in his class loved him, simply because he so obviously cared

about helping us get better. He’d do anything to bring you along–chide you,

joke with you, lecture you, take you aside for personal advice, if he

thought you needed it.

His presence and his laugh filled any room he occupied. He was naturally the

center of any crowd he was in. And he loved opera–perfect for such a

larger-than-life personality.

He was a tireless campaigner against elaborate forms of murder in our

stories, had no patience with exotic poisons, and encouraged his students

constantly to unclutter our plots, prose, and character motivations. He also

was a stickler for precise word choice and observed detail.

He encouraged his students to express their opinions in class. I remember

one long, loud several-sided argument about the best way to describe someone

scooting back into his chair. It went on for nearly fifteen minutes.

I guess the thing I remember most about the class is that it seemed like we

were always laughing.

The last time I saw Joe was at a party at his house after the class was

over. I still remember his outrage when one of the guests (thankfully, not

me) picked up a magazine to squash a black widow spider who sat in her web

in the corner of the room. “Don’t you do it!” he roared. “She’s an elegant,

beautiful creature and worthy of our admiration.” Now there’s a guy who was

born to write murder mysteries.

These memories only make me want to read Hansen’s work sooner. So off I go to track his books down…