A varied collection of stories by Shamus Award-winner Bill Pronzini.

Rich in character, incident, and exceptional storytelling, this collection of Oddments is the best evidence of why the Private Eye Writers of America honored Bill Pronzini with their Lifetime Achievement Award. The fourteen selections include “The Highbinders,” where 1890’s detectives Quincannon and Carpenter venture deep into Chinatown’s opium dens to solve the murder of a client. And a man gets involved in the “Wishful Thinking” of his neighbor, who has a habit of confessing to killing his wife.

Trailing suspense from the depths of the ocean to the planet Venus and on to Death Row. Pronzini rounds out the collection with a trio of twisty tales: A penchant for a harmless bar game called “Liar’s Dice” leads to danger for the narrator: an incorrigible prankster plays the ultimate joke in “The Dispatching of George Ferris,” only to find the joke is on him: and the Nameless Detective manages to turn the tables on a blackmailer in “The Big Bite.”

Jack Lennox is broke and fleeing both himself and the wrath of his ex-wife. He is traveling on an interstate bus, and when the driver finds that he is riding on an expired ticket, he is put off at Del’s Oasis, a way stop in the middle of a great southwestern desert area, Lennox has had nothing to eat in two days, so the offer of odd-job work by Al Perrins, the owner of the Oasis, is a godsend. He accepts it.

Next morning he witnesses the cold blooded murder by contract of Perrins by two well-dressed men.

Lennox manages to escape into the surrounding desert, but is seen by the assassins.

In the midst of his flight, Lennox stumbles upon Jana Hennessey, a writer of children’s books. Jana has made a mistake in her life which has destroyed all her inner peace, and she has come to the desert ostensibly to research her latest book. Lennox convinces her to give him a lift to the small nearby town of Cuenca Seco. He doesn’t know that it has become an ambush arranged by Harry Vollyer, the coldly methodical and deadly leader of the assassin team.

Lennox and Jana barely manage to survive as they run still deeper into the desert. Dehydrating heat, desolate terrain, lack of food and water — and the relentless pursuit of Vollyer and his partner — combine to make escape seem impossible. And yet, unknown to the runners, there is in Cuenca Seco a deputy sheriff, Andy Brackeen, whose former big-city training refuses to allow him to ignore various clues and hunches connected with the murder of the Oasis owner.

The novel moves inevitably toward the confrontation among the five principals in Panic! The climax is brutal, in keeping with the harsh natural elements in which it takes place. And yet it forces Jana and Lennox and Brackeen to come to terms with their own weaknesses and fears. Panic! is a story of survival, terror and individual revelation. It will be a completely satisfactory reading experience for all Pronzini fans.

One of the most acclaimed suspense writers of our time in a brand new collection.

In a career that has spanned three decades, and won critical attention and respect, Bill Pronzini has created the “Nameless Detective” novels, which Booklist has called “an American treasure.”

But Pronzini created a number of other characters as well, particularly back when he was still writing a great deal for crime and suspense magazines.

Sleuths collects the best of these stories and characters — from the noirish adventurers of Dan Connell and Carmody; to the western-era detectives Fergus O’Hara and Carpenter; to four “Nameless” stories.

Readers and collectors alike will want this book for their keeper shelves. This is prime Pronzini.

A new collection of seven short stories and an original introduction by one of the genre’s most prolific writers and editors. Includes stories about the Nameless Detective.

A conman always has a bag of tricks, ready to fool the unsuspecting, and almost everyone is unsuspecting until they get taken. When that happens, they turn to Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services, to recover their money and what’s left of their dignity, and perhaps even to save their lives.

When one such case leaves Sabina Carpenter the only witness to a murder, the family of the culprit vows to stop at nothing to keep her silent. The threat leaves John Quincannon deeply concerned for Sabina’s safety, but there’s no rest for the wicked and so the crime-solving duo must split up to tackle two separate con games, run by two villains with deadly bags of tricks at hand.

And when Sabina’s life is put in danger, John must rush to save her while grappling with the terrifying realization of exactly how much she means to him.

The best-selling mystery writer Lawrence Block proves his point with the twenty outstanding stories he has chosen for this volume. For fans of the traditional mystery, there’s T. Jefferson Parker’s “Easy Street,” in which a brother’s visit uncovers family secrets. In Jeremiah Healy’s “A Book of Kells,” a detective draws on his Irish heritage to solve a crime. And in Clark Howard’s “Under Suspicion,” a detective’s investigation of the murder of his best friend’s daughter hits too close to home.

However, many of the stories are concerned more with the personalities and motives surrounding the crime than with the crime itself. In Joyce Carol Oates’s “The Girl with the Blackened Eye,” we see a crime from the young victim’s point of view. Jennifer Anderson’s “Things That Make Your Heart Beat Faster” examines the hardships one rookie cop endures while solving her first crime. And in Thomas Lynch’s “Blood Sport,” a young mortician faces the gruesome job of preparing a murdered friend for her funeral.

As Block says: “Three things struck me about the stories in this year’s collection — their range, their variety, and their exceptionally high quality. Crime fiction has always been a broad and inclusive field, but these stories epitomize its breadth, running from the literary to the retro-pulp. The field has always showcased new talent, and a full two thirds of this year’s winners are by writers previously unknown to me. I’ve been reading short crime for half a century, and writing it for almost that long, and I’m still blown away by how very fine these stories are.”

In this first of a new series of spirited historical mysteries set in 1890s San Francisco, former Pinkerton operative Sabina Carpenter and her partner, ex-Secret Service agent John Quincannon, undertake two apparently unrelated investigations.

Sabina's case involves the hunt for a ruthless pickpocket who uses fiendish means to relieve her victims of their valuables. She strikes most often at an amusement park, in a torchlit pitchman’s bazaar, and among the crowds along the evening Cocktail Route.

Quincannon is after a slippery housebreaker who targets the homes of the city’s wealthy residents. Following the trail leads Quincannon to the infamous Barbary Coast, an oyster pirate’s lair, and a Tenderloin house of joy.

The cast of characters also includes a pair of receivers of stolen merchandise, a retired lady “dip,” an alcoholic lawyer and his wife, a mysterious carriage driver — and a man claiming to be Sherlock Holmes.

The two cases eventually connect in surprising fashion, but not before matters are complicated by two murders, assorted felonies, and the constant interference of the bughouse Sherlock — a shrewd “crackbrain” who hinders, exasperates, and nearly outshines both Sabina and Quincannon with clever detective work of his own.

Bill Pronzini, famed for his “Nameless” detective series, displays his darker side, along with his remarkable breadth, in this stunning collection of 19 stories.

We meet an array of characters fit for nightmares.

A hapless store clerk who only wants to “look” at a beautiful, naked young neighbor...

A woman trapped with a killer who just happened to wash ashore...

A good Samaritan who gives a lift to a madman...

A tormented husband who dreams of a little room of his own...

Stretching across five decades, here is a collection that demonstrates again Bill Pronzini’s mastery of popular fiction.

Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services is a fixture in San Francisco at the dawn of a new century. While the future is unclear, Sabina and John know one thing for certain; they will protect their clients from flimflammers, thieves, and murderers, and do whatever it takes to run these dregs of society into the arms of the law.

Sometimes, that requires a subtle touch. Professor A. Vargas, self-styled medium extraordinaire, and his partner Annabelle, use guile and trickery to swindle bereaved men and women eager to contact the spirits of deceased loved ones. John and Sabina must not only unmask these charlatans, but also solve the riddle of an impossible murder in the midst of a séance.

Other cases involve brute force and personal danger. Such as the theft of a burglarproof safe mysteriously emptied of gold bullion. And John’s pursuit of a ruthless gang of counterfeiters, whose leader appears to be a man from John’s past in the Secret Service — a man thought long dead.

Adding spice to these exploits is Sabina and John’s personal relationship, which is rapidly progressing to an exciting new level.

Featuring the best from the modern masters of detective, intrigue, suspense, and mystery fiction

Quincannon’s pursuit of two con men who have absconded to Hawaii with a considerable sum of his employer’s assets dovetails nicely with Sabina’s vision of a second honeymoon.

But neither is wont to stay out of trouble, and Sabina inadvertently becomes involved in a locked room/dying message murder in Honolulu.

One day a stream of life-giving water, the next an evil ribbon of salt — could Illya and Solo entrap the mad monster who had sworn to turn the world’s great waterways into death traps? THRUSH had its most monstrous weapon in its hands — and only U.N.C.L.E. stood in the way!

In response to a string of gold thefts in a Mother Lode mine, Quincannon goes undercover as a newly-hired miner to identify and capture the men responsible.

Meanwhile, Sabina finds herself not only making plans for her and Quincannon’s wedding, but also investigating both an audacious real estate scam and an abusive young man’s villainous secret.

A unique conception in suspense novels, TWOSPOT combines the talents of two popular San Francisco-based detectives, Bill Pronzini’s “Nameless” private eye and Collin Wilcox’s Lieutenant Frank Hastings, on a case of murder and 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 matter. Alex is concerned that his mother, Rosa, may be romantically involved with an enologist she has hired named Jason Booker; he wants the detective to investigate Booker’s background for proof that the man is a fortune hunter. But soon a series of surprising twists take the case in an entirely different direction. For no apparent reason Alex is attacked and almost killed at the winery; “Nameless” himself is assaulted. And then, in San Francisco, there is sudden and violent death.

Lieutenant Hastings is called in and confronted with a long list of suspects that includes Alex’s autocratic brother, Leo; Paul Rosten, the winemaker who has been with the family for decades; Shelly Jackson, Logan Dockstetter and Philip Brand, all of whom work at the winery’s business office in San Francisco; and Alex himself. A slip of paper signed with the cryptic name “Twospot,” and the shadowy presence of a hoodlum, further complicate matters — and eventually lead to another attempted murder and a chilling gun battle on San Francisco’s Telegraph Hill.

As “Nameless” and Hastings delve deeper into the web of violence and mystery, working together and separately in the Napa Valley and in San Francisco, the truth begins slowly to unfold. And if is a truth of shocking magnitude which foreshadows a climax as frightening as it is harrowing.

Told in alternate sections through the eyes of the two protagonists, TWOSPOT is a compelling novel filled with the same tension, atmosphere, and power which have earned each of the authors a high ranking among contemporary suspense novelists.

Юрист осматривает наследство, которое должен передать европейскому обществу библиофилов согласно завещанию скончавшегося джентльмена. Главная часть наследства — огромная библиотека. Вступив в нее, герой навсегда изменил свое представление о мироздании…