The latest in MWA Grand Master Bill Pronzini’s critically-acclaimed Nameless Detective Series
VIXEN
Bill Pronzini
“This is a typical Nameless mystery: engrossing, tightly plotted and thought provoking. Pronzini is one of the modern masters of the Dashiell Hammett–style hard-boiled detective story, and his appeal to old-school crime fiction readers remains high.”
—Booklist
Bill Pronzini has been nominated for, or won, every prize offered to crime fiction writers and he continues to show his skill with America’s longest-running detective series. The Nameless Detective faces a dangerous femme fatale in the latest from the master of mystery: VIXEN (Forge Hardcover; June 23, 2015; $24.99).
Nameless is hired by Cory Beckett, a beautiful young woman, to find her missing brother, Kenneth. It appears that he has fled San Francisco in a drug-induced panic to avoid the charge of stealing a necklace from his employer’s wife. But when the agency finds and questions the missing brother Cory Beckett’s motives come into question and the case takes on darkly sinister complexities.
As Nameless and his agency follow the mystery through a series of shocking twists and turns Cory is revealed as a deadly, designing woman who will stop at nothing. But the detectives do not realize until the end how devilish Cory Beckett really is, a femme fatale who has brought something new to the species—new, and terrible.
Mystery readers will find a fresh take in every masterful contribution from Pronzini, and VIXEN continues the trend with another addictive tale. Follow Booklist’s advice and “Never, ever miss a Nameless case.”
Praise for Bill Pronzini
“There is no living writer whose work more faithfully embodies the spirit of classic private-eye fiction than Bill Pronzini. It is classy, classy noir storytelling.”
—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Pronzini is a pro at PI fiction: he never cheats on the reader,
respecting the conventions of the hard-boiled detective stories
and puzzle mysteries he employs so well.”
—Library Journal
“Pronzini constructs his sturdy plot with top-quality materials.”
—The New York Times Book Review on Nightcrawlers
“One of the best in the mystery-suspense field”
—The Washington Post Book World
“«There isn’t a significant award for crime fiction that Pronzini hasn’t won,
and this is a fine example of his work. His core of protagonists continues
to evolve, his plotting is always masterful, and his shifting narrative
viewpoints add additional context to the work.”
— Booklist, Starred Review on Nemesis
“«Can doing first-rate work as consistently as
Pronzini really be as effortless as he makes it seem?”
—Kirkus, Starred Review on Camouflage
BILL PRONZINI has been nominated for, or won, every prize offered to crime fiction writers, including the 2008 Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. It is no wonder, then, that Detroit Free Press said of him, "It's always nice to see masters at work. Pronzini's clear style seamlessly weaves [storylines] together, turning them into a quick, compelling read." He lives and writes in California, with his wife, the crime novelist Marcia Muller.
THE INTERVIEW
1. There is a rumor that the Nameless
series may be coming to an end. Any truth to that?
Vixen may or may not be the last Nameless
novel. Depends on several factors. In any event, one more Nameless book will
definitely be published next year: Zigzag,
a collection of two original novellas and two short stories.
2. Where were you in the series when
you realized that Nameless was to become the most important element of your
career?
I’ve
been writing Nameless short stories since 1967, novels since 1971, so the
series has always been the major focus of my career.
3. Many private detective series pay
little serious attention to the cities they're set in. Was it a conscious
decision to make San Francisco a key aspect of many of the books?
I believe a strong sense of place is an
important component in fiction, and thus strive to make the settings in my
novels as accurate and cinematic as I can.
A character, in effect, as well developed as the human ones. I’ve lived in San Francisco and environs for
most of my life, know them well; the city and other northern California locales
lend themselves perfectly to the series because of their geographical, ethnic,
and historical diversity.
4. Is it fair to say that the Nameless
novels are also a kind of spiritual autobiography of one William John Pronzini?
I like to think of the series as a sort of
ongoing biography of a man who happens to be a detective. As to it being a spiritual autobiography… well,
to some extent, yes. Nameless’s
ethnicity, likes, dislikes, opinions, attitudes, etc. are all pretty much
mine. But he’s an all-around better
person – the kind of man I aspire to be, you might say.
5.
As Edward Grainger pointed out in his excellent
review of your great new novel Vixen, the Nameless novels have kept their
vitality and modernity yet a few reviewers called them "retro." I
mean this sincerely--I've never been able to decipher what they mean by that.
You deal with contemporary themes in contemporary settings and in classic
private
detective
style. So do ninety per cent of all other p.i. writers. But why are yours
supposedly "retro?"
I suppose it’s because my books mostly deal
with crime on a small, personal scale, as did the early PI novels. No serial killer bloodbaths, no Mafia or
Russian mobsters and hitmen, no drug wars, no international terrorism,
etc. They have relatively little
on-stage violence, focus on character interaction as much as on plot. What interests me are the effects of crime on
Nameless, those close to him, and the often flawed individuals he comes in
contact with.
6. Any
regrets about the Nameless books? Cases you never got to writing, cases you
wish you hadn't written, cases you still plan to write.
My only real regret is that some of the novels
– hell, most of them – didn’t turn out better than they are. Every time I have occasion to look at one of
the early titles, I find myself itching to rewrite it.
7. Of
all the memorable, timeless characters who've appeared in your books two of
your finest and most enduring. Kerry certainly puts the lie to the charge of
the Nameless books being "retro." The relationship between
Kerry and Nameless is as modern as chick lit. You obviously take the
opportunity to comment on love in contemporary society through their enduring
love, their occasional frustration and even moments of alienation.
One of PI fiction’s tropes is that the protagonist remain unmarried,
a perpetual loner; if he falls in love, then something is supposed to happen to
break up the relationship so he can get laid by a different woman next time
out. I never bought into that, any more
than I did the bottle of bourbon in the desk drawer or the .45 in a shoulder
holster. When Nameless meets Kerry in Hoodwink,
they were so right together it was inevitable their relationship lead to a
permanent commitment. He believes in
true love and all its benefits. So do
I. And so do a fair number of readers,
otherwise the series wouldn’t have lasted as long as it has.
8.
The other character who has stayed with me is
Eberhart, the former cop who became a partner in the Nameless agency. He is one
of the most complicated and believable figures in the entire history of private
eye fiction. Exasperating, endearing, trustworthy, duplicitous, arrogant,
self-loathing...in many respects he is the neurotic version of Everyman. He was
pretty much a standard cop figure when we first meet him in the early books but
in the artful way you enrich him in later books he became a heartbreaking
figure. Did you consciously develop him into this great sad dramatic figure?
As you say, Eberhardt was pretty much a
standard cop figure in the early books.
The decision to deepen his character was intentional, but the ways in
which he developed and changed weren’t; he just sort of evolved naturally – an
example of what writers mean when we say that a character takes on a life of
his own without any conscious intent on our part, his fate determined by who he
is and who he becomes.
9. I
think your new Nameless novel VIXEN is among your finest depictions of the kind
of people who are in crime news virtually every day. No no we say people can't
really be like that but just this week we have a prison worker who not only
helped two dangerous prisoners escape but also allegedly wanted them to murder
her husband. VIXEN has that kind of shock value and that's definitely a part of
its significance and page-turning quality. Tell us about it.
Vixen is my take on the classic femme fatale, as
viewed from investigators’ points of view rather than (except for one necessary
scene) her victim’s. Cory Beckett is no
Brigid O’Shaugnessy or Matty Walker, certainly, but still a pretty vicious
specimen with a couple of twists I felt were at least somewhat original to the
breed.
Thank you very much, Bill.
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