Joseph Hansen, a mystery novelist known not only for his crisp, lean prose and intricate plots but also for creating one of his genre’s first gay protagonists in the series of Dave Brandstetter novels, died November 24 at his home in Laguna Beach, Calif. He was 81.

He had published five novels and a collection of short stories dealing frankly with homosexual subject matter under the name James Colton when “Fadeout,” the first of his 12 Brandstetter mystery novels, was released in 1970. Its protagonist was a tough, street-smart shamus who was typical of the genre in every way except one.

“My joke,” Hansen told the Orange County Register in 1998, “was to take the true hard-boiled character in American fiction tradition and make him homosexual. He was going to be a nice man, a good man, and he was doing to do his job well.”

He concluded Bradstetter’s adventures in 1991 with “A Country of Old Men.” By then the character, a Los Angeles claims adjuster, had become rich from his father’s inheritance but had also seen his world diminished by AIDS.

San Francisco lawyer Michael Nava, who writes a series of mysteries featuring gay attorney Henry Rios, credited Hansen with all but creating the gay mystery genre.

“Not that he was just a good gay writer,” Nava said, “but he is right up there with Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald in terms of being one of the great California mystery writers.”

In all, Hansen wrote nearly 40 books, including mainstream novels and a series of semi-autobiographical works based on his years as a struggling writer.

Born in Aberdeen, S.D., he had migrated to Minneapolis with his family in 1933 after his father lost his shoe store during the Great Depression. From there the family moved to a 10-acre citrus ranch in Altadena in 1936.

His first success as a writer came in 1952 when The New Yorker magazine began publishing his poems.

He produced the radio show “Homosexuality Today” for KPFK-FM in the late 1960s and helped co-found the first Gay Pride Parade in Hollywood in 1970.

Jane Bancroft, Hansen’s wife of 51 years, died in 1994. He once described their relationship as that of a gay man and woman who happened to love each other.

“Here was this remarkable person who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. We were married 51 years. So something was right about it, however bizarre it may seem to the rest of the world,” he said.

The couple had a daughter who later underwent a sex change operation.