boobytrap sentinels hardboiled bindlestiff

books:

Savages: A Nameless Detective Novel ("Nameless" Detective Novels)

8 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Forge Books, 2007

Two mysteries in one book
This another installment in Bill Pronzini's Nameless Detective series, called that because the lead detective's name is not divulged. The books typically take place in the San Francisco Bay area, and this one is no exception. In this one, there are actually two main story-lines, with shifting protagonists and points of view. In one, the lead detective is hired by a former client, Celeste ...

Bindlestiff: A "Nameless Detective" Mystery

2 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Thorndike Press, 2003

Blood and rails
There once was a private investigator, whose name I cannot give you, as it is never disclosed. We do know that he was once a police detective, that he is kind of an average guy, and that, while he is not brilliant and exceptionally athletic, he is clever, resilient, and persistent. He is the Nameless Detective. I am reviewing the book "Bindlestiff" by Bill Pronzini. This is a "Nameless ...

Breakdown

2 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Dell, 1991

Nameless Goes Undercover
Breakdown is unique in the Nameless Detective series in that it is the only book in which Nameless and his partner Eberhardt play major roles in the same case. This is the second book following Shackles, in which Nameless's character changes. As in Jackpot, Nameless is impatient and willing to bend the law to pursue justice. Reading the over 25 novels in the Nameless Detective series is like ...

Fever: A Nameless Detective Novel ("Nameless" Detective Novels)

3 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Forge Books, 2008

"Nobody knew anybody, when you got right down to it."
Bill Pronzini's "Fever" is about the compulsions that drive people to the edge--and occasionally straight over. The Nameless Detective (whose first name we now know is Bill) is in his sixties and semi-retired. He runs a San Francisco-based private investigation agency along with his partner, Tamara Corbin. His best investigator is the morose workaholic Jake Runyon, a former cop for the Seattle ...

Boobytrap (Pronzini, Bill)

5 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Carroll & Graf, 1998

Another superb entry in this outstanding series
If you haven't met "Nameless" yet, or encountered the work of Bill Pronzini, you are in for a rare treat. Start 'Boobytrap' and you can begin planning how to spend your reading time over the upcoming holidays--by starting from the beginning of this superb series. Pronzini's books are very well-plotted, contain complex and engaging characters, and are written in a fluid but muscular style ...

Here Comes a Candle
Fredric Brown

Millipede Press, 2006

Here Comes a Candle is Fredric Brown at his most audacious in a novel that was far ahead of its time. It is the story of Joe Bailey, whose young life is at a crossroads. Not only is he involved with a tough Milwaukee racketeer and two completely different women, but he is haunted by childhood trauma. Psychologically complex and told in an array of stylistic variations, it is a tour de force with a savagely ironic ending not to be soon ...

Sentinels: A "Nameless Detective" Novel

4 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Carroll & Graf, 2002

A Good Detective Novel- Somewhat Mean Spirited
The Sentinels was my first exposure to Pronzini's "Nameless detective" novels. "Nameless" narrates the story without revealing his name. His namelessness is neither here nor there unlike Clint Eastwood's "Man with No Name" movies and neither adds nor subtracts from the telling of the story which, in itself, is a fair detective novel. In The Sentinels, the narrator travels to Northern California ...

Mourners: A Nameless Detective Novel ("Nameless" Detective Novels)

8 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Forge Books, 2007

Pronzini is a master author.
The "Nameless" agency team knows about separation and death. "Nameless" friend and partner committed suicide, Jake Runyon's wife died of cancer and Tamara's love has moved to Philadelphia. The agency has been hired, by his wife,to follow James Troxell. Rather than another woman, they find he is attending the funerals of women who have been raped and murdered. At a cemetery, Jake sees a young ...

Double

6 reviews
Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini

Mysterious Press, 1995

Double the Fun
Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller are my 2 favorite mystery writers working today. "Double" offers both Sharon McCone and the Nameless Detective working together. They team up to investigate the murder of Elaine Picard, a former friend of McCone, head of security at the Casa del Ray hotel in San Diego where a private investigator's convention is being held. McCone and Nameless (whom McCone calls ...

Hardboiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories

7 reviews

Oxford University Press, USA, 1997

Top Notch Hard-Boiled Anthology
"Hard Boiled" is an absolutely first rate collection of short stories by some of the best AND least known writers of the genre. One of its two editors, Bill Pronzini, is an avid collector of the old Pulp magazines as well as being one of the best hard-boiled writers working today (he's the author of the excellent "Nameless" detective series). He and co-editor Jack Adrian really know their ...

Locked Room Puzzles (Academy Mystery Novellas, Vol 3)

1 review
Martin Harry Greenberg, Bill Pronzini

Academy Chicago Publishers, 1986

A Fun Collection-- Where Are Volumes One and Two??
Any mystery fan will enjoy these well-selected locked room yarns. It's like a little box of bonbons-- none too long, all amusing and well-plotted, all with a nice twist. I hope to trip over the previous volumes.

Spook: A Nameless Detective Novel

15 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Carroll & Graf, 2002

The Nameless One Is Winding Down?
The Nameless Detective is clearly starting to feel his age in this one. The gritty, rundown parts of the city are starting to depress him. So are the seedy and hopeless people he often has to deal with. This particular case involves the senseless and brutal murder of a homeless man named Spook. But instead of handling the case himself, as he has done for many years, Nameless has now enlisted ...

The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories

5 reviews

Running Press, 2004

Must have anthology
Any book labeled The Mammoth Book of... risks sounding like a fifth grade primer. But if you love the distinctively American tradition of the private eye, this is it -- THE must-have volume. My copy is growing dogeared -- these is truly an amazing collection. My personal favorite is A Reason To Die, a Dan Fortune story so potent and poetic it drove me to write the late Michael Collins, who ...

Quarry

4 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Dell, 1992

What Does Justice Require?
Quarry is a major turning point in the Nameless Detective series. In many of the books beginning with Quarry, women are victimized by men in particularly unpleasant ways. Legal options are probably not going to be adequate to protect the women in the future. Nameless will find himself drawn to wanting to do the right thing, and looking beyond the boundaries of the law to do so. As a result, ...

The Other Side of Silence: A Novel of Suspense
Bill Pronzini

Walker & Company, 2008

A scintillating new thriller by one of the masters of the genre, following his Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. “When Geena finally left him and filed for divorce, Fallon put the Encino house up for sale and took the last two weeks of his vacation from Unidyne. Then he loaded the Jeep Liberty and drove straight to Death Valley. The desert country had a way of simplifying things. It cleansed your mind, allowed you ...

Quicksilver a "Nameless Detective" Mystery
Bill Pronzini

St Martins Pr, 1984

Step to the Graveyard Easy

4 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Walker & Company, 2002

haunting noir
All his life Matthew Cape has been considered a good person, a kind and honest man whom works hard and is faithful to his wife. In the middle of a day, his world is turned upside down when Anna walks into her bedroom and sees Matt with another woman. After Anna confronts him and leaves Matt packs up and leaves home for parts unknown. He travels all over the country seeing new places and ...

Night Freight

9 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Leisure Books, 2000

READ IT AND BE SCARED!
Bill Pronzini is marvellous! All 26 stories in night freight will definetly keep you awake all night.These tales are so naturally written that you would definetly wonder that something similar could might as well happen to you too. This book is a must if you are a lover of intrigue, mystery and suspense....... Go ahead....include this excellent book in your collection! three cheers to Bill ...

Twospot: A Mystery Scene Book (Pronzini, Bill)

3 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Carroll & Graf, 1993

Twice the Fun!
In 1971, author Bill Pronzini was only 27 when he wrote The Snatch, building on a shorter and different version of the story that appeared in the May 1969 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine under the same title. With the publication of this book, one of detective fiction's great characters was born with full fledged power and authenticity. If you have not yet read the Nameless Detective ...

Blue Lonesome

11 reviews
Bill Pronzini

Walker & Company

Underrated Masterpiece
This is a novel with the depth of Horton Footes classic "Tender Mercies," and although noir in tone it is not quite like anything else Pronzini has written. A wonderfully understated novel written by an author at the height of his powers.

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