Bill Pronzini

TALES OF DARK SUSPENSE Bill Pronzini invades the Ramble House Sanctuary of Loons with a collection of 22 excursions into the darkest heart of noir. From the perils of familial love in "Dago Red" to the deadly TV sports of "Olaf And the Merchandisers" Pronzini runs you through a wringer of chills and thrills, with a couple of Nameless Detective stories to keep you grounded. But don't expect the suspense to let up, because there are dangers lurking in the twenty stories that lie in between, each more menacing than the last.

BEDROCK FEAR Grady Haas is a woman possessed, driven by panic, numbed by shock. What happened to her? And is this a case for the "Nameless Detective" or a psychiatrist? Reluctantly, "Nameless" answers her father's desperate summons and agrees to find out what she's running from. Grady herself is untouchable, silent as the grave. ALIVE AND RUNNING A skeptical "Nameless" probes the young woman's past, looking for clues to a broken heart. But soon he becomes the quarry as he follows the shocking trail of blood and manipulation... and unwittingly leads a sadistic killer to his prey. Armed with only a few slender clues and his own darkest impulses, "Nameless" must flush out the psychopath before he drives them all to the jagged edge... Praise for The Nameless Detective "ACTION-PACKED, BRISK, EFFICIENT.... NAMELESS MAY LACK A MONIKER BUT HE'S FULL OF CHARACTER." -Publishers Weekly (Quarry) "PRONZINI MANAGES A DIFFICULT FEAT IN QUARRY: MAKING THE TENSION OF A MISSING PERSON CASE WORK WITHOUT THE PERSON ACTUALLY BEING MISSING " -Booklist (Quarry)

In 1895 San Francisco young debutantes don't commit suicide at festive parties, particularly not under the eye of Sabina Carpenter. But Virginia St. Ives evidently did, leaping from a foggy parapet in a shimmer of ghostly light. The seemingly impossible disappearance of her body creates an even more serious problem for the firm of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services. Sabina hadn't wanted to take the assignment, but her partner John Quincannon insisted it would serve as entr e to the city's ultra rich and powerful. That means money, and Quincannon loves the almighty dollar. Which is why he is hunting the bandit who robbed the Wells, Fargo office of $35,000. Working their separate cases (while Sabina holds John off with one light hand), the detectives give readers a tour of The City the way it was. From the infamous Barbary Coast to the expensive Tenderloin gaming houses and brothels frequented by wealthy men, Quincannon follows a danger-laden trail to unmask the murderous perpetrators of the Wells, Fargo robbery. Meanwhile, Sabina works her wiles on friends and relatives of the vanished debutante until the pieces of her puzzle start falling into place. But it's an oddly disguised gent appearing out of nowhere who provides the final clue to both cases--the shrewd "crackbrain" who believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes. Fans of Marcia's Muller's bestselling Sharon McCone novels and Bill Pronzini's Nameless Detective series will applaud The Spook Lights Affair and future exploits from the annals of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services. The Carpenter and Quincannon Mysteries: #1 The Bughouse Affair#2 The Spook Lights Affair#3 The Body Snatchers Affair#4 The Plague of Thieves Affair#5 The Dangerous Ladies Affair#6 The Bags of Tricks Affair

The latest in Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Bill Pronzini's acclaimed Nameless Detective Series -- "Strangers. " Cody Hatcher is the kind of teenager you don't want your kids hanging with. That's the book on him and it's why the citizens of Mineral Springs have no problem at all believing that he's guilty of three rapes. His mother, Cheryl, an old lover of Nameless's, is also being harassed by vindictive townspeople. It's against such odds that he must work to prove Cody innocent. There are few to help him and plenty to get in his way. It's a classic situation for an iconic private investigator.

The world's first two-author, husband-and-wife short story collection. Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini are two of the world's most popular and respected mystery authors. Their new collection demonstrates why this team has so many fans. Here you'll find Muller's famous Sharon McCone searching for the dark truth in "Somewhere in the City." Pronzini's long-heralded private eye Nameless is tracking down a clever killer in "Home is th+235:235e Place Where." McCone and Nameless team up in the wry "Cache and Carry." Fourteen great stories in all. Praise for Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini"Muller remains the best."-San Diego Tribune"(Pronzini's) 'Nameless' has become a national treasure."-Booklist

Bill Pronzini's "Nameless Detective"-the San Francisco-based, Italian-American, slightly overweight, thoroughly charming favorite of mystery aficionados, whose name is never revealed-returns with one of his cleverest, most intense cases. Why would a successful, good-looking young man, who had just won two hundred thousand dollars at a Lake Tahoe casino, kill himself? That's the question Nameless asks himself when he finds a friend's brother dead--an apparent suicide, was more than luck involved in his windfall? Or was his good fortune reason enough for murder? The investigation takes Nameless inside the seamy and dangerous world of high-stakes gambling and mob-run casinos-and into the middle of a complex scam that has left at least one man in his grave, with others, including Nameless, odds-on favorites to follow.

"Pronzini is a pro."-The New York Times When Great Western Insurance hires the Nameless Detective to investigate an accidental death in a small northern California town, it looks like a routine case-one he expects to solve swiftly so he and his lady friend, Kerry Wade, can take a much needed vacation. But no such luck. Nameless lands in the middle of a violent conflict between a group of greedy land developers and the handful of citizens who inhabit an isolated Gold Rush ghost town. The triumverate of successful realtors plan to "renovate" Musket Creek (nee Ragged-Ass Gulch), and bring back its glory days as a Gold Rush boomtown-this time in the guise of a "theme-style" amusement park. The town denizens have different ideas. Stark, desolate, crumbling-this isd ouble-dealing, arson, and murder. It's a classic showdown-with death thrown in as the twist. The twelfth installment in the thrilling Nameless Detective series.