Bøger af Bill Pronzini

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.

The bestselling author of "The McCone Files" teams up with the creator of the "Nameless Detective" for a collaborative mystery that bridges the San Franciscos of 1894 and 1986. Muller and Pronzini masterfully parallel the investigations of turn-of-the-century detective Quincannon and Chicana amateur sleuth Elena Oliverez.

Nameless is called in by his friend, police lieutenant Eberhardt, when a dead woman's purse contains Nameless's business card. Nameless has never met her, and cannot make a connection. Next, Nameless is hired to track and protect a disturbed man, Martin Talbot, who may be harmed by the husband of a woman who died when Talbot's car collided with theirs after Talbot fell asleep at the wheel. "Pronzini makes people and events so real that you're living those explosive days of terror." -Robert Ludlum "Pronzini is the master of the shivery, spine-tingling it-could-happen suspense story." -Publisher's Weekly "Pronzini is a pro." -The New York Times

The sleepy town of Tule Bend came alive with terror after a drifter was found hanging. The constable knew his job was on the line if he didn't do something. When more swinging bodies appeared he knew he had to move fast because he was next on the hangman's list.

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. A Ramble House book

En ung kvinde hyrer en privatdetektiv for at finde ud af, om hendes mand har en affære. Det har han muligvis, men udover det ligger han snart dolket ihjel på et motelværelse, og det er nu op til detektiven at løse mysteriet. Hvem er den skaldede mand fra parken? Og hvorfor har offeret en gammel kriminalroman liggende i sin kuffert?Bill Pronzini (f. 1943) er en amerikansk krimiforfatter og er især kendt for sine bøger om den San Francisco-baserede Navnløse Detektiv, der har optrådt i mere end 40 bøger fra begyndelsen af 1970’erne og frem til i dag. Pronzini har modtaget adskillige priser for sit arbejde.

HIGH CONCEPTS ... an eclectic mix of science fiction and fantasy, from the darkly serious to the trickily humorous, in a broad range of subject matter. Tales of space exploration and adventures on other worlds. Tales of aliens among us. Interpolations of what life on earth might be like in the near and far future. Variations on such established fantasy tropes as vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts and genies. And a handful of experimental concoctions that defy classification.Thirty-four stories from the pages of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Analog, Fantastic, Amazing Stories, Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Beyond, Jim Baen's Universe and Venture Science Fiction as well as a host of original anthologies... several stories written in collaboration with Barry N. Malzberg... vintage tales from the late 1960s and early 70s, and current ones from the 20-teens, four of them appearing here for the first time. Enter the high concept world of Bill Pronzini...

John Frederick Quincannon, a former United States Secret Service agent, and Sabina Carpenter, one of the first female Pinkerton operatives, joined forces to form the firm of CARPENTER AND QUINCANNON, PROFESSIONAL DETECTIVE SERVICES. Their various cases take them all over the American West in the 1890s. Now they're back in four new adventures. In "The Bughouse Caper," Quincannon matches wits with Sherlock Holmes to solve a series of burglaries and a baffling locked-room murder. "The Cloud Cracker" finds Quincannon called to a small California town to expose an itinerant rainmaker as a charlatan and confidence man, only to run into an unexpected murder. "Medium Rare" has Quincannon and Sabina attend a séance, but more is involved than showing an array of psychic phenomena to be fakery, since they are witnesses to a murder that seems to have been supernatural. "Quincannon in Paradise" is set in the Hawaiian Islands with the detective on the trail of a pair of swindlers.

"Bad money turns unforgettably murderous in the twenty-seventh novel of the long-running, award-winning Nameless Detective series. A simple case of blackmail gets lethally complicated when 'Nameless,' Bill Pronzini's seasoned private-eye, 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."

Originally published in New York by Carroll & Graf in 2000.

"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.... 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." --

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.

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.

The police said it was an accident, the dead woman's sister said it was murder... and that she knew who did it. Nameless isn't certain, but the more he learns about Nancy Mathias's life, the more inclined he is to accept the likelihood of murder--especially as the players still alive become more and more distasteful. Combine that with the situation Jake Runyon, one of the agency's partners, is facing as he searches for a young man who is either a murderer or a victim, and life at their San Francisco detective agency has everyone on edge.

The Stolen Gold Affair is the latest charming historical mystery in Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Bill Pronzini's detective series.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.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#7 The Flimflam Affair#8 The Stolen Gold Affair

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.

The Bags of Tricks Affair is the latest charming historical mystery in Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Bill Pronzini's detective series.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 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

Nameless had told Mitchell Krochek that he''d do whatever he could to find his missing wife, Janice. She''d run away before—propelled by a gambling fever that grew ever higher—and Mitch had always taken her back. This time, when Nameless, his partner Tamara, and the agency''s chief operative Jake Runyon finally found her in a sleazy San Francisco hotel, she demanded a divorce.A few days later, a beaten and bloody Janice stumbled into the agency begging to go home. No one is surprised when, soon after her homecoming, she disappears again. But gambling addiction has a way of twisting things, and the blood on Mitchell and Janice Krochek''s kitchen floor was a card off the bottom of the deck. Janice is missing again, Mitchell is the prime suspect, and as Nameless searches for the truth behind her disappearance, he uncovers a vicious racket that preys on gambling fever victims…

Mr. Marinetti startede på bunden, men har kæmpet sig op ad rangstigen, og er nu kendt som en hensynsløs og kynisk pengespekulant. Det er dog noget helt andet, der ligger Mr. Marinetti på sinde netop nu. Kravet om 300.000 dollars er selvfølgelig ubehageligt, men det er ikke tanken om pengene alene, der efterlader Marinetti som en desperat mand tryglende om hjælp...Bill Pronzini (f. 1943), amerikansk forfatter. Pronzini fik sin litterære romandebut i 1971 med romanen "The Stalker" (udgivet i Danmark under titlen "Den ukendte hævner") og har efterfølgende udgivet et væld af romaner, først og fremmest i krimi- og spændingsgenren. Han har i løbet af sin forfatterkarriere vundet flere priser og blev allerede med sin debutroman nomineret til en Edgar Award.

På flugt fra sig selv og sin ekskones hævn er Jack Lennox havnet på en rasteplads, hvor han er sat af bussen midt i ørkenen.Næste dag bliver han vidne til, at caféejeren myrdes at to lejemordere, og i panik flygter han forfulgt af morderne. En ung kvinde, Jana, der kører rundt i ørkenen for at finde motiver til sin næste bog, tager ham med til den nærmeste by, og Jack tror, at han er reddet. Men morderne ligger i baghold, og Jack og Jana drives på en panisk flugt, som kun kan ende med, at ørkenens sand farves blodrødt...Bill Pronzini (f. 1943), amerikansk forfatter. Pronzini fik sin litterære romandebut i 1971 med romanen "The Stalker" (udgivet i Danmark under titlen "Den ukendte hævner") og har efterfølgende udgivet et væld af romaner, først og fremmest i krimi- og spændingsgenren. Han har i løbet af sin forfatterkarriere vundet flere priser og blev allerede med sin debutroman nomineret til en Edgar Award.