What are the ingredients of a hard-boiled detective story? "Savagery, style, sophistication, sleuthing and sex," said Ellery Queen. Often a desperate blond, a jealous husband, and, of course, a tough-but-tender P.I. the likes of Sam Spade or Philop Marlowe. Perhaps Raymond Chandler summed it up best in his description of Dashiell Hammett's style: "Hammett gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it....He put these people down on paper as they were, and he made them talk and think in the language they customarily used for these purposes." Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of...
What are the ingredients of a hard-boiled detective story? "Savagery, style, sophistication, sleuthing and sex," said Ellery Queen. Often a desperate ...
Bill Pronzini Jeffrey M. Wallmann Earl Derr Biggers
"Checkmate " That was the last word uttered to Charlie Chan and Prefect of Police Claude DeBevre by a dying reporter. The man had been murdered . . . stabbed to death and left to die in a vacant hotel room. It is the second murder in 24 hours at the Transcontinental Chess Tournament, and Charlie Chan has been summoned from a peaceful and long-deserved vacation to help solve the crime before international scandal ruins the tournament's good name Originally published in Charlie Chan's Mystery Magazine in 1974, this is the first book appearance of The Pawns of Death.
"Checkmate " That was the last word uttered to Charlie Chan and Prefect of Police Claude DeBevre by a dying reporter. The man had been murdered . . . ...
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 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 mor...
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...
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 ...
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
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 famili...
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...
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 Pronz...
Percy Hand is hired to locate Constance Markley--the third Mrs. Markley--who supposedly ran off with another man two years ago. The soon-to-be-fourth Mrs. Markley, Faith Salem, doesn't want any loose ends before she weds Graham Markley. Percy doesn't want the case--what P.I. wants to track down a two-year-old elopement?--but the more questions he asks, the more he finds that there is something not right here. But if Constance and Regis are now living somewhere in connubial bliss, why doesn't anyone want them found... and where are they?
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LEAVE HER TO HELL
Percy Hand is hired to locate Constance Markley--the third Mrs. Markley--who supposedly ran off with another man ...
His name was Roy Sands, and he had everything to look forward to. He was getting out of the service and coming home to marry his beautiful Fiancee. He had his debts paid, money in the bank, and a happy new life ahead of him. Then he disappeared."
His name was Roy Sands, and he had everything to look forward to. He was getting out of the service and coming home to marry his beautiful Fiancee. He...
The Nameless detective is hired by a young wife to find out whether her husband has been having an affair. He trails the husband to a motel of cabins in a small village, sees him meet with a bald man and then return to his cabin. Hours later, Nameless realizes the cabin may have a backdoor; he investigates and finds the husband has been murdered
The Nameless detective is hired by a young wife to find out whether her husband has been having an affair. He trails the husband to a motel of cabins ...
