Case File: A Collection of Nameless Detective Stories

Nameless Detective #47

by Bill Pronzini

It was fifteen years ago when the big, sort-of-sloppy, brew-loving P.I. appeared on the scene, dazzling readers with keen solutions to seemingly unsolvable crimes. And just as his disheveled demeanor gave no hint of the brilliant mind that lay behind it, his lack of a moniker said nothing about his rising popularity with mystery readers everywhere.


Nameless opens up his files on some of his most fascinating cases. Collected here are ten stories and two novelettes, giving Nameless fans a page-turning potpourri of his toughest and most dangerous adventures. CASEFILE holds his greatest hits - a 122 pack to be popped open and enjoyed on an off-duty afternoon. So sit back and spend some time with one of America's favorite (and most likeable) P.I's, who has caught more criminals - and imaginations - than any other gumshoe in recent American Fiction.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories

ebook

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Mystery Writers of America Awards "Grand Master" 2008
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1999) for Boobytrap
Edgar Awards Best Novel nominee (1998) for A Wasteland of Strangers
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) for Sentinels
Shamus Awards "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) 1987
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1982) for Hoodwink

Married to author Marcia Muller.

Pseudonyms:
Robert Hart Davis (collaboration with Jeffrey M. Wallmann)
Jack Foxx
William Jeffrey (collaboration with Jeffrey M. Wallmann)
Alex Saxon

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This diverting collection of Nameless Detective short stories, all published in the first fifteen years of his career (1968 to 1983), is a pleasant way to pass the time. These stories, although not memorable, never insult the reader’s intelligence, and they contain good enough puzzles and enough human truth to satisfy all but the most exacting mystery fan. In addition, the book features too things almost as much fun for a true “Nameless” fan as the stories: a preface which begins with the words “Why doesn’t he have a name?”, and an afterward to “Private Eye Blues” in which Pronzini tells us of his plan, in 1975, to kill off Nameless with lung cancer and begin writing “big commercial novels.” (I am glad that Pronzini had second thoughts. The best Nameless Novels begin with Labyrinth, in 1980.)

Another virtue of this book is that the ten stories themselves are diverse in their subjects and intellectual challenges: “It’s a Lousy World” (ex-con Colly Babcock is shot dead during a burglary, but his wife is convinced he’d gone straight), “Death of a Nobody” (skid row bum hires Nameless to investigate the hit-and-run death of his homeless friend), “One of Those Cases” (a simple tail to prove adultery turns into something else), “Sin Island” (Nameless’ travels to Majorca to deliver daddy’s money to a rich kid in trouble), “Private Eye Blues” (Nameless spots something wrong during a casual encounter, leading to a dangerous pursuit), “The Pulp Connection” (a locked room mystery inside a collection of old detective magazines), “Where Have You Gone, Sam Spade” (Nameless is guarding a shipment in a warehouse when a murder occurs), “Dead Man’s Slough” (a man goes missing on a very small island), “Who’s Calling?” (a woman is being threatened by obscene phone calls), and “Booktaker” (valuable items are being stolen from the rare book room of a bookstore). “The Pulp Connection,” “Dead Man’s Slough,” and “Booktaker” are my favorites, but each one of the ten stories is enjoyable.

[Carla Remy · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are Nameless Detective stories, and they are all good. The series of Nameless Detective mystery novels began in 1971. The stories here start in the late sixties and end with Booktaker (early 1980s). This was good for me personally, having just read the one where Nameless goes to a vintage Pulp convention and starts dating Kerry Wade, daughter of pulp detective writers. Nameless wants to marry Kerry (38 to his 50). So this is right where the last book I read ended.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of ten Nameless Detective stories written from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s. They cover a surprisingly large array of set-ups, from fairly routine PI investigations in his home of San Francisco to one story set in Majorca, from problems of the rich to the murder of a homeless man's homeless friend. Yet they are all alike in that the detective, well, investigates--looking at the scenes, questioning witnesses or interested parties, describing to the reader all his observations. He then in a sudden burst of inspiration pulls the important clues from miscellaneous collection of observations and solves the crime in a scrupulously fair-play way, surprising and pleasing the mystified reader. This method works better in some stories than in others (in general they improve as they go along), but you always feel confident that you are in the presence of an author who knows exactly what he's doing.

[Ron Hefner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Nameless Detective is one of the great and enduring legacies in detective fiction.

If you'll pardon the expression, Pronzini absolutely kills it in every in these great stories. His writing is crisp and to the point, without unnecessary embellishment. But at the same time, there is always intriguing subtext going on.

Pronzini, an aficionado of the early pulp detective stuff, always pays tribute to the various themes from those wonderful writers: the locked room mystery, the femme fatale, insurance fraud, etc. He's keeping a great tradition alive.

In the introduction to this book, Pronzini talks about his early desire to write big best sellers. But he realized that best sellers were not his forte. Crime fiction was.

And let's all be thankful.

[Eddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just pure PI

Just straight forward detective and realistic. Right down to contract signing. Likable without even knowing his name. Recommend for a fun read.

[Macel Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Nameless is always a pleasure.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here is a list of all the books (in order) Happy Reading.

1971 The Snatch Random House
1973 The Vanished Random House
1973 Undercurrents Random House
1977 Blowback Ramdom House
1978 Twospot Putman
1980 Laybrinth St. Martin's Press
1980 A Killing In Xanadu Waves Press
1981 Hoodwinked St. Martin's Press
1982 Scattershot St. Martin's Press
1982 Dragonfire St. Martin's Press
1983 Bindlestiff St. Martin's Press
1983 Casefile St. Martin's Press
1984 Quicksilver St. Martin's Press
1984 Nightshades St. Martin's Press
1984 Double St. Martin's Press
1985 Bones St. Martin's Press
1985 Grave Yard Plots St. Martin's Press
1886 Dreadfall St. Martin's Press
1988 Shackles St. Martin's Press
1988 Small Fellonies St. Martin's Press
1990 Jackpot Delacorte
1991 Breakdown Delacorte
1992 Quarry Delacorte
1992 Epitaths Delacorte
1993 Demons Delacorte
1995 Hardcase Delacorte
1996 Spadework Crippen & Landru
1996 Sentinels Carroll & Graf
1997 Illusions Carroll & Graf
1998 Boobytrap Carroll & Graf
1999 Sluths Five Star
1999 Duo Five Star
2000 Crazybones Carroll & Graf
2002 Bleeders Carroll & Graf
2003 Spook Carroll & Graf
2003 Scenarios Five Star
2005 Nightcrawlers Forge
2006 Mourners Forge
2007 Savages Forge
2008 Feaver Forge
2009 Schemers Forge
2010 Betrayers Forge
2011 Camouflage Forge
2012 Hellbox Forge
2012 Kinsmen Cemetery Dance
2012 Femme Cemetery Dance
2013 Nemesis Forge

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

A set of short stories about the Nameless Detective by Bill Pronzini. They were written over a period of 10+ years, so they cover the entirety of Nameless' career to that date, from before his first novel to just before Scattershot (the last one I've read).

To start with, I don't think the short story is as good of a format for mystery as the short novel. And, yes, I've read Holmes too. There just isn't time for much anything but mystery-solution, especially in the twenty or so pages that most of these stories featured.

I've complained in other posts about Nameless turning into a Holmesian locked-door-mystery solver, and that's obvious here too. In an author's note on "Private Eye Blues", a story situated at the midpoint of this collection, Pronzini talks about how he'd originally planned to kill off Nameless, and when he didn't, he began to change things up in the stories instead. As he says, "And you'll also find that the types of cases he becomes involved in are somewhat different, too; that they're a bit more, um, puzzling than his straightforward investigations during the prelesion period."

To which I say, sigh. Whether you're Laurell K. Hamilton or Bill Pronzini, you shouldn't notably change the type of story you're telling midway through a series. It just annoys your early adopters. Sure enough Case File immediately follows that author's note with two locked-room murders. There's also a locked-room theft and a disappearance on a small island later in the book.

The result is a mediocre collection with some annoying stories.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

*It's a lousy world (aka Sometimes there is justice)
*Death of a nobody
One of those cases (aka The assignment)
*Sin island
*Private eye blues
*The pulp connection (aka The private eye who collected pulps)
*Where have you gone, Sam Spade?
*Dead man's slough
Who's calling?
*Booktaker
***
La bellezza delle bellezze
The big bite
Sanctuary
Thin air
Who you been grapplin' with?
Wrong place, wrong time

[Richard Mann · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are early stories about Pronzini's Nameless Detective. They are a bit simpler than some of the later stories, but are still quite enjoyable. For those who are fans of Pronzini, to read a series of Nameless stories where his buddy Eberhardt is still working in the police force and Nameless hasn't yet met Kerry is a bit disorienting. If you are a fan of Nameless, you need to read these early stories. If you're not a fan, what the heck is wrong with you?

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of my first Kindle purchases. Pronzini is one of the best and it's fun to read stories written years ago. The people remain true to life, although details of living, such as prices, have changed a bit.

[Nancy]

recommended by Martha johnson

[Harry Addington · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this series and enjoyed the collection of short stories about Nameless. Now I am going to read the latest by Pronzini's wife, Marcia Muller.