A Country of Old Men — Joseph Hansen

Dave Brandstetter's best days are behind him, but for the sake of a frightened child, Dave takes on his very last case.

The wear and tear of a life spent pursuing the truth into harm's way is catching up with Dave. In fact, it has already caught him. The aged death claims investigator is old enough for his body to hurt even without all the compiled injuries he's sustained throughout his career. Yet when presented with a puzzle-like mystery, Dave can't help but be drawn in.

Walking on the beach, a friend finds a bedraggled child who claims he has witnessed a murder. The victim is a drug-addicted pop star, and the obvious suspect is the dead man's ex-girlfriend -- a drug addict whom the child saw standing over the body, gun in hand. In the final installment of Joseph Hansen's groundbreaking series, Dave looks for justice once more, hoping that he will also find a lasting measure of peace.

Over the course of twelve novels spanning four decades of American culture -- from the 1960s to the late 1980s -- Joseph Hansen gave readers one of the truly great heroes of detective fiction.