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theotterknitter's review
1.0
I get that this was written decades ago, before Stonewall. But that doesn't make the slams against gays any easier to take - and there are a LOT of them in this book. Having a main character who appears to be hetero-flexible but is perhaps not doesn't help.
A quick read, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
A quick read, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.
scottlukaswilliams's review
3.0
This is hardly a work of great literature but it is highly entertaining. It's also an interesting look at a slice of gay life in pre-Stonewall America.
tamarant4's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
“Mr. Olsen, I’ll make you a proposition.”
Looking Francis directly in the eyes, Tiger smiled wryly, and said, “That, Mr. Morley, is what I am afraid of.” [p. 49]
Recommended by a friend on Dreamwidth, this is a short and entertaining novel which does what it says on the tin: but it did it in 1961, when homosexuality was still illegal throughout the United States, and even in San Francisco -- cunningly disguised in The Gay Detective as 'Bay City' -- attitudes were, shall we say, rather less broad-minded than today's.
Francis Morley, formerly 'in the theatre', has inherited a detective agency in Bay City. His first task is to acquire an assistant, which he does by offering car salesman, retired football professional and war hero Tiger Olsen a job -- and then demonstrating in the boxing ring that he can knock Tiger's misconceptions out of his head. Together the dynamic duo investigate a series of murders: the victims were all gay men, and the chief of police suspects a connection with a vice ring operating in the city's underworld. As they venture deeper into the city's dives -- encountering bright young things, Italian gangsters, voyeurs and exhibitionists -- many tropes ensue.
This was great fun. It's heavy on stereotyped effeminacy, but it's surprisingly unmisogynistic. (There are two significant female characters: the sister of one of the victims, and Morley's middle-aged and unflappable secretary Hattie.) A subplot involves an excellent cat. And the introduction gives a good overview of the author, and of the novel as a coded guide to queer San Francisco. Yes, it's pulp fiction, and the prose is sometimes OTT and sometimes deliberately camp: but the story is solid and the characters likeable.
Puzzled, though, as to why this has been reissued as part of Mills and Boon's 'Spice' imprint: there is very little actual sex, even off-page, and apart from veiled hints it's all het.
“Just for the record, Mr. Olsen, let me do the camping in this act. I’ll make with the gay talk. You just be big and beasty. Okay?” [p. 161]
dunnadam's review
4.0
A fun, camp sixties gay romp.
It's rare to find gay themed books with the hip lingo of the time, calling the older gay men aunties and the boys all swishing and calling everyone dearie (“the Queen’s Vernacular”). Post-Stonewall this kind of effeminate homosexual was seen as stereotypical and derogatory but I think quite often they were just having fun. And it is fun to hear them crack the quips in this light pulp story.
This to me is what The Man From C.A.M.P. should have been. A lisping private eye blows into town, hires a hunky side-kick and the two go all over gay L.A. trying to solve a crime. Similar to many books of the period, this book offers a guided tour hidden in the story, advising what to expect at a gay bar and at the baths, how to get a room, where to put your key, how to get "special massages" and more.
Lou Rand was obviously flaming and happy with it. He wrote this and one other book, The Gay Cookbook, also filled with camp and innuendos.
I enjoyed this story very much, by giving the tour to the sixties audience of what to expect in a gay bar, the author also reveals what such clubs were like at the time to us. It's a funny book with a great picture of gay life at the time and more sex and sin than was customary for books written in 1961.
It's a detective themed story and my complaint would be the characters seemed one dimensional. For example I didn't really get a sense of what the main character looked like. Was he an attractive hunk, being asked to pose nude in one scene, or a gumshoe, as the book cover suggests, with a bottle of hooch in his drawer? Also I feel the hero looked down on the other gays, using them for his own devices and even shutting down the gay clubs at the end without a thought to his community. But these are relatively minor complaints.
I'd love to read more by Rand or know more about him, apparently though he died at sea without a will.
It's rare to find gay themed books with the hip lingo of the time, calling the older gay men aunties and the boys all swishing and calling everyone dearie (“the Queen’s Vernacular”). Post-Stonewall this kind of effeminate homosexual was seen as stereotypical and derogatory but I think quite often they were just having fun. And it is fun to hear them crack the quips in this light pulp story.
This to me is what The Man From C.A.M.P. should have been. A lisping private eye blows into town, hires a hunky side-kick and the two go all over gay L.A. trying to solve a crime. Similar to many books of the period, this book offers a guided tour hidden in the story, advising what to expect at a gay bar and at the baths, how to get a room, where to put your key, how to get "special massages" and more.
Lou Rand was obviously flaming and happy with it. He wrote this and one other book, The Gay Cookbook, also filled with camp and innuendos.
I enjoyed this story very much, by giving the tour to the sixties audience of what to expect in a gay bar, the author also reveals what such clubs were like at the time to us. It's a funny book with a great picture of gay life at the time and more sex and sin than was customary for books written in 1961.
It's a detective themed story and my complaint would be the characters seemed one dimensional. For example I didn't really get a sense of what the main character looked like. Was he an attractive hunk, being asked to pose nude in one scene, or a gumshoe, as the book cover suggests, with a bottle of hooch in his drawer? Also I feel the hero looked down on the other gays, using them for his own devices and even shutting down the gay clubs at the end without a thought to his community. But these are relatively minor complaints.
I'd love to read more by Rand or know more about him, apparently though he died at sea without a will.
sireno8's review
3.0
On the surface a feather light fun campy pulp, underneath a glimpse into pre-Stonewall gay nightlife. The informative preface gives it a context in gay lit history and an unlikely but well-earned stature. What I liked about the story is while playing to this world's stereotypical expectations of him, our hero offers evidence that he is much more. He uses these societal preconceptions to his own ends -- inside and out of the gay community such as it was. As a result, he's brave and smart and very much a hero.