Showing results by author "Bill Pronzini" in All Categories

The Nameless Detective is called upon to find out how rare books and maps are being stolen from an antiquarian bookshop with a faultless alarm system. He goes undercover in the store, only to be foiled when a theft occurs right under his nose. Then, as he ponders the case (while on a date with the lovely Kerry), he’s violently struck from behind by a car that seems bent on driving him off the road. Will Nameless survive this attempt on his life and solve the case?

A gritty and thrilling anthology of 28 new short stories in tribute to pulp noir master, Cornell Woolrich, author of 'Rear Window', the inspiration behind Alfred Hitchock's classic film. Featuring Neil Gaiman, Kim Newman, James Sallis, A.K. Benedict, USA Today-bestseller Samantha Lee Howe, Joe R. Lansdale and many more.

In his first chronicled adventure, the Nameless Detective hires on to handle the ransom payoff in a kidnapping case. Financier Louis Martinetti doesn't trust the police to deal with the man who snatched his 9-year-old son from his military prep school, nor is it clear that he trusts the members of his own household. On the appointed evening, Nameless takes a briefcase that contains $300,000 in cash to a secluded location chosen by the kidnapper. Then all hell breaks loose.

Twenty-three of Shamus Award-winning author Bill Pronzini's stories, all of which display his versatility, his clean, crisp narrative style, and his keen awareness of detail. These tales, including three that feature his well-known series chararacter, the "Nameless Detective", run the gamut from psychological suspense ("Strangers in the Fog") to satire ("A Craving for Originality") to Western gothic ("The Hanging Man" and "His Name was Legion").

Few characters have the loyal readership of Bill Pronzini's "Nameless Detective." The 14 stories in this collection span his entire 35-year life on the printed page. They include "It's a Lousy World," where Nameless proves that a friend did not commit the crime he was accused of; "Dead Man's Slough" and "The Ghosts of Ragged-Ass Gulch," which take him out of San Francisco into the hinterlands; and "Souls Burning," where he tries to help an old friend make one last try at setting things right.

The Nameless Detective is hired by a young wife to find out whether her husband has been having an affair. He trails the husband to a motel of cabins in a small village, sees him meet with a bald man, and then return to his cabin. Hours later, Nameless realizes the cabin may have a backdoor; he investigates and finds the husband has been murdered!

This is a collection of fifty short stories by veteran mystery and crime writer Bill Pronzini, best known as the creator of The Nameless Detective series. This collection crosses over a broad range of styles and characters, settings and plots, showing the breadth and depth of Pronzini's prodigious talent. Included are murders, swindles, double-crosses, crazed children, and much, much more.

"Checkmate." That was the last word uttered to Charlie Chan and Prefect of Police Claude DeBevre by a dying reporter. The man had been murdered....stabbed to death and left to die in a vacant hotel room. It is the second murder in 24 hours at the Transcontinental Chess Tournament, and Charlie Chan has been summoned from a peaceful and long-deserved vacation to help solve the crime before international scandal ruins the tournament's good name!

Two novellas and two short stories featuring Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Bill Pronzini's iconic Nameless Detective. Zigzag is an original novella in which a safe and simple accident investigation becomes the unraveling of a twisted murder scheme.

Spadework was published on the 25th anniversary of The Snatch, the first Nameless Detective novel. Spadework collects 15 short stories perfect for those who love the Nameless Detective. Two of the stories appear in print for the first time ("Worried Mother Job" and "Zero Tolerance"). The book has an excellent foreword by Marcia Muller about her take on her husband's work, and an interesting afterword by Mr. Bill Pronzini in which he talks about his dedication to the needs of the story.

When a pleasant afternoon's bicycling through Golden Gate Park with a friend ends with the revelation of threatening letters, followed by a gunshot in a mansion garden, Sabina Carpenter knows this is a case that demands her immediate and undivided attention. The questions her partner John Quincannon has to unravel are not difficult: Wrixton, a wealthy banker, has met his extortionist's first demand, but the order to pay another $5,000 is too much to face. The banker's real problem is something he doesn't want to reveal.

An empty train yard at midnight...a small cabin bathed in the light of a full moon...a seedy Skid Row hotel in San Francisco....These are the places where fear lives, where the chill in the air has nothing to do with the temperature, and where Death can be someone you've already met. Collected here for the first time are twenty-six terrifying stories by Bill Pronzini, a master of dark suspense and horror. These chilling stories span nearly three decades in his award-winning career, and most have never been published in book form.

His name was Roy Sands, and he had everything to look forward to. He was getting out of the service and coming home to marry his beautiful fiancée. He had his debts paid, money in the bank, and a happy new life ahead of him. Then he disappeared.

Intrigue, crime, and murder create suspense in this edge-of-your-seat collection of cat mystery stories whose plots are all centered on a beloved feline, written by some of the finest, best-selling mystery writers of all time.

Big, sort-of-sloppy, brew-loving P.I. opens up his files on some of his most fascinating cases. Here are 10 stories and two novelettes, giving Nameless fans a page-turning potpourri of his toughest and most dangerous adventures. Case File is a 12-pack to be popped open and enjoyed on an off-duty afternoon. So sit back and spend some time with one of America's favorite P.I.'s who has caught more criminals - an imaginations - than any other gumshoe in recent American fiction.

When Nameless is hired by Cory Beckett, a beautiful young woman who claims to be a model, to find her missing brother, Kenneth, it seems to be a routine matter. Kenneth has fled San Francisco in a drug-induced panic to avoid trial on a charge of stealing a valuable necklace from the alcoholic wife of the man for whom he works, wealthy yachtsman Andrew Vorhees.

Carmody, a sometimes detective who also works as a freelance bodyguard and smuggler, operates off the Mediterranean island of Majorca. There he deals with thieves, smugglers, murderers, and other desperate men. By the author of Breakdown.

A collection of short mystery stories by award-winning author Bill Pronzini. In "The Man Who Collected the Shadows", a mild-mannered file clerk with a passion for pulpy detective stories learns that he has supernatural powers. In "Shade Work", a con man picks the wrong marks. Fans of mysteries and detective novels will enjoy listening to these 14 entertaining stories.

For over 30 years, Bill Pronzini has created fictional sleuths. The most famous dubbed the "Nameless Detective" appeared in 25 novels. But there are many others like Fergus O'Hara who, with his wife Hattie, plies his trade at the time of Civil War; John Quincannon and Sabina Carpenter, a mismatched pair who operate a detective agency in 1890s San Francisco; Christopher Steele the magician who specializes in solving impossible crimes; and so many more. Each of these colorful characters is represented in this detectives' round table - a must-listen for mystery lovers.

Bill, the "Nameless Detective," and his wife Kerry were in the Sierra foothills, just outside of Six Pines, falling in love with a cabin. It was all perfect, until Kerry went missing. They'd seen Balfour at breakfast at the diner and Kerry remembered his name - PR people are like that. Which was unfortunate, because when she ran into him along the trail on that sunny afternoon and called him by name, he panicked. And that's when Bill's nightmare began.