Led by circumstances to accept the kind of case he dislikes—a "worried mother job"—"Nameless" reluctantly agrees to investigate the strange disappearance of college student Allison McDowell and her mysterious new boyfriend while on a driving strip from Oregon to San Francisco. The young couple vanished suddenly and without a trace after their car broke down and they were forced to spend a night in the tiny village of Creekside, in the remote Northwestern corner of California.When "Nameless" travels to Creekside and begins to question the locals, he encounters apparent apathy, hostility, and mounting evidence that suggests the couple may have met with foul play. Is one or more of the inhabitants of Creekside responsible? Is it Allison's boyfriend, whose identity is unknown even to her mother? Or is it forces of a far more sinister nature? "Nameless's" search takes him to Eugene, Oregon and then back to the Northern California wilderness. And it leads him from what seems to be a simple disappearance to a complex conspiracy of evil, one which reaches far beyond this remote backwater and threatens to destroy him as well before he can expose the truth.

For nearly thirty years, Bill Pronzini has been writing Western stories and novels, yet this is the first time fourteen of his finest short stories are being brought together in book form. Pronzini offers rich variety in every element of his writing. Joining the familiar figures of lawmen, cowhands, and the like, are some seldom featured characters such as bartenders, saddle makers, traveling dentists and tramp printers. His settings run the gamut from a small, mythical town in Montana to the very real Death Valley, and his stories show a similar range: from grim character studies to action, mystery, and farcical humors.

    Firewind is a harrowing tale of bravery and honor in the face of deadly treachery. When three outlaws try to steal a cache of illegal guns and ammunition from lumber baron Austin Trace, they bungle the job, setting fire to the town instead. Most of the weapons and explosives, assembled by the fanatical Trace for his "army of vengeance", have been loaded into two sealed freight cars - cars that are part of the train that represents the only way out of the blazing valley. Led by rancher Matt Kincaid, the townspeople embark on a desperate race against time and the flames, pulled by a failing locomotive, and unaware of their deadly cargo.      ***          From Publishers Weekly     Three outlaws arrive in the country town of Big Tree, Calif., on a blazing hot day of a long dry summer, in this well-crafted western by veteran Pronzini (The Last Days of Horse-Shy Halloran). A huge shipment of munitions is a-sittin' in Big Tree just a-waitin' to be stole-and they're a-goin' to do it. But the burglary gets bungled, an explosion sets the town on fire and there is only one way out of the parched valley for the townsfolk-by train. That way lies peril, however, for not only is the only locomotive in some disrepair, but the munitions are on board, and the fire is spreading fast-as fast as the train is racing. Pronzini, a pulp aficionado, adds to the race-against-time tension of his homespun stage with sideline subplots: a guilt-ridden love-triangle, an outlaw's hysterical memories of his father's death in a fire, a one-legged man's bitterness and misguided heroism-building to an acceptable, if rather bland, ending. While not attempting to transcend the genre, the author has added to it with his usual professionalism.

The Flim-Flam Affair is the latest charming historical mystery in Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Bill Pronzini's detective series.Carpenter and Quincannon Professional Detective Services is now a fixture in San Francisco at the dawn of a new century. Sabina and John will protect their clients, doing what is necessary to run the dregs of society into the arms of the law. Sometimes that involves brute force. And then there are cases where a more subtle touch is needed.Professor A. Vargas, medium extraordinaire, and his partner Annabelle don't use picks to open locked doors, and most certainly don't use violence to get what they want. Instead they prey upon hopes and fears to swindle bereaved patrons.And so John and Sabina find themselves in a dusky room, preparing to take the lying duo down.It is then that a knife flashes...and our detectives must discover who is conning whom. Before they themselves are dispatched.The...

30 CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES GOOD TO THE LAST LINEThe McGuffin has long been a staple tool in any crime and mystery writer's arsenal. A perfectly placed last line of a short story can pull together subtle plot threads into a devastating dénouement or give everything that came before it a brand-new meaning, sometimes even reshaping the story entirely for the reader. Joe Gores and Bill Pronzini, two of the most talented mystery writers of the 20th century, joined forces to assemble the very best McGuffin stories by such celebrated authors as Anthony Boucher, Harlan Ellison, Joe L. Hensley, Edward D. Hoch, John Lutz, John D. MacDonald, and Donald E. Westlake. They, along with 24 more authors, have created some of the very best mystery stories that often save their best twists for the very last line... 

Bill Pronzini's "Nameless" private eye and Collin Wilcox's Lieutenant Frank Hastings join forces to solve a grizzly case of murder and to crack a bizarre conspiracy surrounding an old California winemaking family.When "Nameless" is hired by Alex Cappellani, whose family owns the Cappellani Winery in the Napa Valley, it seems at first to be a routine investigation. But then the case veers in a deadly direction: there's a brutal murder in San Francisco. And Lieutenant Hastings is called in to investigate.As "Nameless" and Hastings delve deeper into the web of violence and mystery, the truth begins to unfold. A truth that will shock you. You're sure to enjoy this harrowing ride through the hills of San Francisco.

    In his 24th and most intriguing appearance, the "Nameless Detective" finds himself involved in two intricate and emotional investigations. The first is intensely personal: the unexpected death of his estranged friend and former partner, Eberhardt. Although there seems to be no question that Eberhardt committed suicide, "Nameless" becomes obsessed with the reasons behind the act. "A man doesn't just all of a sudden trade living for dying. Something prods him across the line between thinking about it and actually doing it. Every suicide, every homicide has its trigger. What was Eberhardt's?"     Meanwhile, he is hired by a Santa Fe businessman to find his ex-wife, who disappeared three years earlier. Locating the woman turns out to be fairly simple; she is living and working in the northern California wine country. But just when the case seems finished, it takes on bizarre dimensions-a fatal shooting that may or may not be accidental, hidden motives, and a web of lies and deception. "Nameless" is compelled to continue his investigation when it becomes clear he is partly, if inadvertently, responsible for the victim's death.     The keys to both cases lie in illusions-those people create about themselves and those they perceive in others. Additional similarities also emerge, leading "Nameless" to a series of startling revelations and ultimately to the two most difficult decisions of his career.     Both a fair-play detective story and a novel of psychological and moral complexity, Illusions is another triumph for the sleuth praised by the Chicago Sun-Times as "the thinking person's detective." It is also further proof that Bill Pronzini is "an exceptionally skilled writer working at the top of his ability" (Denver Post) and an innovator in the field of crime fiction.      ***          From Booklist     Santa Fe businessman Ira Erskine hires San Francisco private eye Nameless to find his missing ex-wife, Janice, who may have relocated to the Bay Area. Erskine wants to offer Janice one last chance to see her only child, who is dying of leukemia. Nameless accepts the case, partially to get his mind off the suicide of his ex-partner and ex-best friend, Eberhardt. Within days after Nameless finds the missing woman, Erskine is found dead in a hotel room near his ex-wife's new home. While that nightmare is unfolding, Nameless tries to understand why Eb took his own life. Perhaps it wasn't suicide after all. As the cases progress, they parallel one another with an eerie similarity that forces Nameless to reexamine his previously unshakable moral certitude and self-proclaimed position as a sentinel of black-and-white justice. The Nameless series is 26 entries and almost 30 years old, and Nameless himself is edging toward 60. The sheer duration of the series, as well as its increasing depth and the steady maturation of Nameless-both chronologically and emotionally-represent a stunning and unique achievement in crime fiction. The series, the character, and this book are not to be missed. Nameless has become an American treasure.      ***          From Kirkus Reviews     Think the death of the Nameless Detective's (Sentinels, 1996, etc.) embittered ex-partner Eberhardt will finally close the book on the bad blood between the two? You don't know brooding Nameless, who, seeing Eberhardt's pathological moodiness as the mirror of his own, won't rest till he knows exactly what happened to make Eberhardt shoot himself in the chest. But soon his sorrowing investigation into Eberhardt's last assignment, a series of inside-job thefts from a pair of loutish liquor distributors, gets interrupted by a new assignment of his own: finding the ex-wife of Santa Fe financial consultant Ira Erskine, armed only with a postcard to a female friend saying that she's in the Bay Area and desperate to find the woman who left him and their hometown four years ago before their son dies of leukemia. So Nameless, continuing his exhaustive tour of northern California, heads out to the wine country in Alexander Valley and finds Janice Erskine just in time for his client to get shot as dead as his ex-partner. You can't help thinking the two cases will have something to do with each other, and so they do, but not at all in the way you expect. Characteristically overblown but solid midgrade work from Nameless, even if the old guy (now pushing 60) is awfully full of illusions for a veteran of 23 earlier cases.      ***          "The 'Nameless' novels are exciting, mysterious, beautifully rendered, and filled with humor about the vagaries of life in California. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that all first-rate writers are moralists. Pronzini aims to tell us about himself and his times, and thus 'Nameless' is a bit of a secular priest."     -Ed Gorman          "Pronzini makes people and events so real that you're living those explosive days of terror."     -Robert Ludlum          "The 'Nameless Detective' is a classic private-eye hero."     -Chicago Sun-Times          "Once in a crocodile's age you come across a writer whose work you instinctively like. I've found one-Bill Pronzini."     -Los Angeles Times          "One of the best in the mystery-suspense field is Bill Pronzini."     -Washington Post          "An exceptionally skilled writer working at the top of his ability."     -Denver Post

Set in San Francisco and environs during the Civil War, it introduces Fergus O'Hara, the most roguish new detective in years, and his equally-engaging wife Hattie. Their first case is a complicated and wacky one. Among other people, places and things, it involves a corpulent financial speculator named Horace T. Goatleg, an insane parrot, a one-eyed man addicted to hoarhound drops, a suave gambler addicted to women, a boisterous Irish militia company known as the Mulrooney Guards, the San Francisco Volunteer Fire Department, a keg of beer, a careless footpad, the crew of the riverboat Freebooty, the Freebooty herself, two murders, a gold robbery, several assorted chases, what may literally be termed a bang-up finale on St. Patrick's Day morning, and, for good measure, a couple of bonus surprises.

It's a lazy mid-August Sunday afternoon. The "Nameless Detective" and his old friend Lieutenant Eberhardt are relaxing on the patio, drinking beer and shooting the breeze, when the doorbell rings. As Eberhardt answers the door, Nameless hears two sharp echoing reports—gunshots; they could only be gunshots. Rushing into the house, Nameless glimpses the bloody body of his friend sprawled on the floor—just before he feels a bullet strike his own chest. While Eberhardt lies in a coma, Nameless is released from the hospital and hits the San Francisco streets, determined to track down the gunman. Facing the toughest case of his career, Nameless doggedly pursues the secret behind his friend's shooting—only to find himself plunged into an action-packed intrigue involving murder, bribery, violence, and the forces of organized crime in San Francisco's Chinatown. The inimitable Nameless Detective, an overweight private eye of Italian descent with a penchant for pulp magazines, is in top form in this gripping, fast-paced tale. "Pronzini is a pro." —The New York Times**

Bill Pronzini's riveting western mystery, The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave, takes on the modern world with old-fashioned violence—and his Peaceful Valley is anything but... Nothing much happens in Peaceful Valley, Montana. And that's just how Sheriff Lucas Monk likes it.Aside from the occasional drunken brawl or minor disturbance out on the reservation, he hasn't had to resort to his fists or sidearm in years.That is, until mid-October, 1914, when the theft of a wooden cigar store Indian sets off a crime wave like nothing Lucas has ever seen. Teenager Charity Axthelm goes missing, Reba Purvis's housekeeper is poisoned with cyanide Reba is sure was meant for her, and Lucas's gut tells him that this is only the beginning.It's not long before the first corpse shows up, bringing the peace in the valley to a thundering end.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM)...

A happy newlywed at last, the "Nameless Detective" returns from his honeymoon with the idea that he'll finally take it easy. And when the young, beautiful, and wealthy Melanie Ann Aldrich walks into his office, everything seems perfect. After rummaging through some old papers belonging to her dead parents, she's discovered that she's adopted. Now she wants to know who her real parents are and why no one ever told her the truth. Nameless could do this in his sleep, this case is so easy. But is it? Nameless delves easily enough into the past but no one there is talking... at first. As he starts to sort out the truth behind Melanie's mysterious history, he wonders how much his client will really want to know. Her real mother was an emotionally disturbed young woman, now deceased. Her real father was a teenage delinquent named Stephen Chehalis, who was chased out of town by his own father shortly after Melanie was born. But that's only the beginning. Now Melanie wants to meet her father and asks Nameless to arrange it. Easy enough, but after the arrangement is made, Nameless uncovers some disturbing information about the man—information Chehalis would kill to keep secret. Suddenly a routine case turns into a hardcase, and Nameless must risk his own life to protect a daughter from a vicious father with a deadly secret. 

A simple case of blackmail gets lethally complicated when "Nameless," exposes a nasty scam that involves junior accounts executive Jay Cohalan, his unhappy wife, and a mistress with a serious drug problem. It's the kind of case "Nameless" likes, because bleeders—the blackmailers, extortionists, small-time grifters, and other opportunists who prey on the weak and gullible—sit near the top of his most-worthless-human-beings list. So he contemplates with pleasure the prospect of putting another one or two of these parasites out of commission, and then returning the $75,000 in cash to its rightful owner. "Nameless" discovers, though, that he is not going to be able so easily to close his Cohalan file—not when he finds his client face down in the middle of a four-poster bed with a bloody, powder-scorched hole behind the right ear. And only by a hair's breadth does "Nameless" himself escape a similar fate. Aggrieved, cut to the psychological quick by his close brush with death, "Nameless" embarks on a relentless hunt for his unknown assailant in San Francisco's shadowy underworld. There he encounters bleeders of every ilk—like the loan shark Nick Kinsella, drug dealer Jackie Spoons, punch-drunk boxer Zeke Mayjack, and crankhead Charlie Bright—before he tracks down his quarry. At a deserted backcountry road stop "Nameless," packing his long-unused .38, attends to the last of a bad business and, in a climax as powerful as it is unexpected, finally confronts his own demons. He maybe even conquers them. 

For more than three decades, award-winning author Bill Pronzini has been creating some of the finest writing of the West. Collected here, for the first time in paperback, are eight stories featuring one of his most interesting characters—John Frederick Quincannon, a U.S. Secret Service agent turned private detective. Quincannon's cases take him from the Mojave Desert to San Francisco's unsavory Barbary Coast. With the help of innumerable disguises—and his beautiful and clever partner, Sabina Carpenter—Quincannon takes on ruthless counterfeiters, legendary gamblers and notorious assassins. But with enemies at every turn, even the best sleuth may find himself in a deadly trap. **

Epub (my conversion)Thirteen tales of murder and intrigue by authors such as Isaac Asimov, Ed McBain, Simon Brett, Sara Paretsky, and Jonathan Gash

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 apointed evening, NAMELESS takes a briefcase that contains $300,000 in cash to a secluded loaction chosen by the kidnapper. Then all hell breaks loose.**