California teenager Alan Tarr, extraordinarily bright, has faced challenges in his short life: his father Eric, to whom he bears a striking resemblance ("small, and fair haired, and on the pretty side of handsome"), chose a career as a movie actor, rarely rising beyond bit parts. He lived a somewhat sordid life which ended suddenly when he fell off a balcony. Though his father was charismatic, he made a lot of enemies. One of his friends states: "Eric was a disease you don't recover from." Alan was raised by his mother, ...
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California teenager Alan Tarr, extraordinarily bright, has faced challenges in his short life: his father Eric, to whom he bears a striking resemblance ("small, and fair haired, and on the pretty side of handsome"), chose a career as a movie actor, rarely rising beyond bit parts. He lived a somewhat sordid life which ended suddenly when he fell off a balcony. Though his father was charismatic, he made a lot of enemies. One of his friends states: "Eric was a disease you don't recover from." Alan was raised by his mother, Babe, a scraping-by-at-best piano bar entertainer; Eric had abandoned the family when Alan was just six months old; the boy only knew his father from late movie reruns. Trying to connect, Alan heads to LA for the funeral, hitchhiking his only means, and falls in with a pack of hippie musicians; he's befriended by a young woman and her jealous boyfriend. Late for the funeral, he encounters the first of several in the LA agent/actor circle who knew his father intimately. And so begins a journey to learn about himself, his father, and uncover if the death was accident, suicide ... or murder. Much of the story is told in flashback: Alan begins his narration with two broken legs in heavy casts lying in a bed in a ramshackle beach house. He's a sitting duck if there is a murderer out there waiting to finish him off. Hansen produced nearly 40 books including mainstream novels, including Backtrack, A Smile in His Lifetime , and Job's Year from the early 1980s reissued in 2025 by ReQueered Tales. His best known work, the Dave Brandstetter series of mystery novels, pioneered the genre for the LGBT community. "Joseph Hansen has written a brilliant piece. His characters are splendidly fleshed out." - The New York Times Book Review "In the tradition of Chandler and Hammett, Joseph Hansen writes with gritty fluency of the sordid side of West Coast life." - Washington Post Books "Hansen's prose is lean: the dialogue relentlessly moves the story along and the novel teems with colorful characters." - Stephen W. Breedlove "Backtrack is beautifully written with fully-realized (memorable) characters, exquisitely evoked mood, and biting humor." - Drew Brainard
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Add this copy of Backtrack to cart. $6.64, very good condition, Sold by Greener Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from London, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1987 by Gay Mens Press.
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Very good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! Greener Books.
Add this copy of Backtrack to cart. $6.72, good condition, Sold by Greener Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from London, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1987 by Gay Mens Press.
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Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! Greener Books.
Add this copy of Backtrack (Penguin Crime Fiction) to cart. $10.99, very good condition, Sold by EstateBooks rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Leander, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1983 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of Backtrack (Penguin Crime Fiction) to cart. $11.99, very good condition, Sold by Housing Works Online Bookstore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from New York, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1983 by Penguin Group.
Add this copy of Backtrack to cart. $20.99, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2025 by Requeered Tales.
Add this copy of Backtrack a Suspense Novel to cart. $25.20, very good condition, Sold by Bolerium Books Inc. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from San Francisco, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1987 by GMP.
Add this copy of Backtrack: a Suspense Novel to cart. $28.50, fair condition, Sold by Bolerium Books Inc. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from San Francisco, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1983 by Penguin.
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167p., very good first mass-market paperback edition in pictorial wraps. Reading copy. California student Alan Tarr who does not identify as gay but has two gay lovers seeks the truth of his father's death. Gunn page 244, Other Fictional Investigators of Interest.
Add this copy of Backtrack to cart. $34.50, like new condition, Sold by George Houle rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Palm Springs, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1982 by The Countryman Press.
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Fine in Fine jacket. First edition (so stated). Octavo. Dust jacket designed by Wladislaw Finne (unclipped). Fine. 167 pages. No signatures or bookplates.
Add this copy of Backtrack (Penguin Crime Fiction) to cart. $119.68, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from San Diego, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1983 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of Backtrack (Penguin Crime Fiction) to cart. $10.00, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1983 by Penguin Books.
