The Bar Watcher A Dick Hardesty Mystery Book 3 edition by Dorien Grey Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : The Bar Watcher A Dick Hardesty Mystery Book 3 edition by Dorien Grey Literature Fiction eBooks 
When the obnoxious owner of a gay bathhouse begins receiving threatening messages accusing him of not admitting people inside that he doesn't deem "hot" enough, he enlists the services of private detective Dick Hardesty to find the person behind the notes. When the owner is murdered following a heated argument with Dick, Hardesty becomes a suspect. Following a succession of other seemingly unrelated deaths — all involving individuals noted for their cruelty to other gays — Hardesty begins to suspect the actions are of someone who is looking to “take out the garbage” of the gay community. Can he solve the case and clear his name before the body count rises even further?
The Bar Watcher A Dick Hardesty Mystery Book 3 edition by Dorien Grey Literature Fiction eBooks
Dorien Grey was the nom de plume of Roger Margason, a longtime gay author who died at the age of 82 in 2015. His Dick Hardesty Mystery series, first published in the early 2000s, numbers 14 volumes, and I have just finished the third (having just bought the fourth, “The Hired Man”). His work was widely popular in the gay community, but I only started to read it after his death. I waited to start on the Dick Hardesty books because I knew they were not romances – and I am very into romances.Grey’s writing is very good. It is not poetic or “literary,” because that is not the point. “The Bar Watcher” seems to be the perfect introduction for his work, however, because it touches on the best aspects of his writing and his narrative goals. Dick Hardesty is a one-time advertising writer, who leaves the homophobic world of business and sets himself up as a private detective for and within the gay community. The timeframe of this series is the early 1980s (exactly paralleling Marshall Thornton’s Chicago in his “Boystown” books).
Dick is still young, maybe early 30s. He’s a year or so out of a five-year relationship that started in college, and he and his ex have managed to become friends (long distance). In “The Bar Watcher,” Dick is, as he makes clear to the reader, “in his slut phase.” He is interested in sex, not romance. He has a wide circle of friends (both new ones and from the previous books). In the course of investigating a series of increasingly disturbing deaths, Dick visits all of the various kinds of bars and gay restaurants in his city (he is very specific about details of this city, but I can’t figure out if it’s a real city or a made-up one). In this moment in gay history, long ago, but well after Stonewall, the police are still quite homophobic and there are no gay cops. Their interest in the deaths of a few gay men is minimal, and thus Dick takes it upon himself, with the support of Glen O’Banyon, a corporate lawyer and leader in the local gay world, to solve the mystery.
Even as Dick investigates the killings, he is becoming increasingly aware of another pattern of death in his town – the death of young gay men from unexplained illnesses, sometimes described as pneumonia. Against the background of his investigation and cruising in gay bars and clubs, we are seeing the emergence of the plague that devastated the gay world in the 1980s. Here again there is a parallel with Marshall Thornton’s books, but Dick is not like Marshall’s Nick Nowak. There is no self-doubt, no shame. Dick doesn’t need to evolve as a person. His personal mission is simply to help his community.
Dick Hardesty is not anti-monogamy; he is simply not at that place in his life at the moment. He is indulging in the freedom and sexual availability of the gay world in which he lives. As did we all, back then. It was increasingly uncomfortable for me to read about Dick’s growing number of one-night stands, knowing that safe sex was not yet a thing, and that awareness of the nature and source of the so-called “gay cancer” and crippling pneumonia was still very much in its infancy. All sex is off the page, by the way, but we know exactly how gorgeous the men Dick picks up are; and we know exactly how Dick feels and reacts to each individual liaison along the way – clearly this is a point being made, a plot arc, if you will, that parallels that of the murders.
The double tension that Grey builds in his narrative is subtle and distinctly his. The book is as much about the way gay men treat each other as it is about gay sexuality and the ways gay men cope in a homophobic world. The interweaving of death by violence and death by disease is unnerving, and very intentionally crafted. We see Dick as a man who has made peace with his own life, just at the moment when his life will be tipped into an international nightmare that will change the course of gay history.
Although Dorien Grey was old enough to be my father, I am old enough to have been a young, active gay man in the early 1980s. These books cut very close to the bone for me, and as I read this one in particular I was able to really ponder the emotional reactions it stirred up in me. These books brought out some very personal stuff with me, but I can vouch for their authenticity, even when packaged with Dick Hardesty’s self-possessed, private-eye cool. It is a series I suspect I will grow to love more and more as I keep reading.
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The Bar Watcher A Dick Hardesty Mystery Book 3 edition by Dorien Grey Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
I always love hearing about Dick and his detective work, love his humor and all his funny habit's.Toby was a very sweet sad man and I was happy that in the end he escaped going to jail. Always looking forward to more in this series love it.
All Dorien Grey novels are worth reading. He has great character development and stories and this last novel in the Dick Hardesty keeps up the standard
First two books were ok but this... same twists , same lame story. I skipped over whole pages just to get you the end.
I really liked the story and the characters, especially the main character - PI Dick Hardesty - he's a good guy, smart, compassionate, his inner "little chats" are quite funny, and i'm looking forward to his adventures, both in detecting and in his life. Plot someone is offing mean guys and Hardesty is on the case. Highly recommended!
I like Mr. Grey's writing style. He writes his Dick Hardesty mysteries as if he was sitting across the table from you, like a friend, telling you the tale of his latest adventure. He reels you in with his gift of storytelling without ever being too descriptive, or ever boring. You feel like you are right there with Dick, unraveling the mystery and putting all the pieces together with him. It is hard to put the book down and walk away to do something else because you can't wait to see if your hunches are right or if you've misread a clue along the way. To capture a reader like that is the mark of a good, solid mystery writer.
The Bar Watcher is the 3rd book in the Dick Hardesty series and is guaranteed to be an enjoyable read. I highly recommend it. It will not disappoint.
I also listened to it as an Audible book during my long commute to work and can tell you, with certainty, read aloud, it is very entertaining.
But while the murder wasn't a mystery like book two the back story was worth the effort.
The characters are richly developed and I like that emotional connection.
I know the time period is late 70s but I never was too comfortable with the gay concentration on sex with multiple people. I'd like hardest to get in a loving relationship but as much as I hate that aspect of the gay character it's something that can't be completely avoided and after all it's others lives. I myself would never a relationship with mutual respect and honesty is the only way for me.
But good read I'd read it again
I was lucky enough to win an audible copy of the Bar Watcher by Dorien Grey and I've now discovered the pleasures of driving while listening to a book.
I'm a Dorien Grey fan from way back and I have all of his books - both in book form and e-book form where available. I can't recommend the Dick Hardesty series strongly enough. I've read and reread the books and I know that I will be listening to The Bar Watcher again. I'm also eagerly waiting for more of the books in the series to be produced.
I love Mr Grey's writing style and I also enjoy the mysteries that he presents. I'm never sure about whodunit before the end of the book.
I really enjoyed the voice which narrated this book. It was easy to listen to and I tried to imagine the face which goes with this voice. In the Dick Hardesty series we are never told what Dick looks like so I guess that most of his readers play guessing games. I imagine Dick to be tall, well built and definitely good looking. He has no trouble attracting men and when we see the type of men that he attracts we can guess that Dick would have to be similar in appearance. When Dick is made welcome at a bath house which only permits the best looking guys to use the facilities we can guess that Dick has to be hot.
I have to recommend this audiobook and I strongly urge audible to release the rest of the series as soon as possible. I, for one, will be buying them.
Dorien Grey was the nom de plume of Roger Margason, a longtime gay author who died at the age of 82 in 2015. His Dick Hardesty Mystery series, first published in the early 2000s, numbers 14 volumes, and I have just finished the third (having just bought the fourth, “The Hired Man”). His work was widely popular in the gay community, but I only started to read it after his death. I waited to start on the Dick Hardesty books because I knew they were not romances – and I am very into romances.
Grey’s writing is very good. It is not poetic or “literary,” because that is not the point. “The Bar Watcher” seems to be the perfect introduction for his work, however, because it touches on the best aspects of his writing and his narrative goals. Dick Hardesty is a one-time advertising writer, who leaves the homophobic world of business and sets himself up as a private detective for and within the gay community. The timeframe of this series is the early 1980s (exactly paralleling Marshall Thornton’s Chicago in his “Boystown” books).
Dick is still young, maybe early 30s. He’s a year or so out of a five-year relationship that started in college, and he and his ex have managed to become friends (long distance). In “The Bar Watcher,” Dick is, as he makes clear to the reader, “in his slut phase.” He is interested in sex, not romance. He has a wide circle of friends (both new ones and from the previous books). In the course of investigating a series of increasingly disturbing deaths, Dick visits all of the various kinds of bars and gay restaurants in his city (he is very specific about details of this city, but I can’t figure out if it’s a real city or a made-up one). In this moment in gay history, long ago, but well after Stonewall, the police are still quite homophobic and there are no gay cops. Their interest in the deaths of a few gay men is minimal, and thus Dick takes it upon himself, with the support of Glen O’Banyon, a corporate lawyer and leader in the local gay world, to solve the mystery.
Even as Dick investigates the killings, he is becoming increasingly aware of another pattern of death in his town – the death of young gay men from unexplained illnesses, sometimes described as pneumonia. Against the background of his investigation and cruising in gay bars and clubs, we are seeing the emergence of the plague that devastated the gay world in the 1980s. Here again there is a parallel with Marshall Thornton’s books, but Dick is not like Marshall’s Nick Nowak. There is no self-doubt, no shame. Dick doesn’t need to evolve as a person. His personal mission is simply to help his community.
Dick Hardesty is not anti-monogamy; he is simply not at that place in his life at the moment. He is indulging in the freedom and sexual availability of the gay world in which he lives. As did we all, back then. It was increasingly uncomfortable for me to read about Dick’s growing number of one-night stands, knowing that safe sex was not yet a thing, and that awareness of the nature and source of the so-called “gay cancer” and crippling pneumonia was still very much in its infancy. All sex is off the page, by the way, but we know exactly how gorgeous the men Dick picks up are; and we know exactly how Dick feels and reacts to each individual liaison along the way – clearly this is a point being made, a plot arc, if you will, that parallels that of the murders.
The double tension that Grey builds in his narrative is subtle and distinctly his. The book is as much about the way gay men treat each other as it is about gay sexuality and the ways gay men cope in a homophobic world. The interweaving of death by violence and death by disease is unnerving, and very intentionally crafted. We see Dick as a man who has made peace with his own life, just at the moment when his life will be tipped into an international nightmare that will change the course of gay history.
Although Dorien Grey was old enough to be my father, I am old enough to have been a young, active gay man in the early 1980s. These books cut very close to the bone for me, and as I read this one in particular I was able to really ponder the emotional reactions it stirred up in me. These books brought out some very personal stuff with me, but I can vouch for their authenticity, even when packaged with Dick Hardesty’s self-possessed, private-eye cool. It is a series I suspect I will grow to love more and more as I keep reading.
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