Crucifixion River: Western Stories

by Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini

A Comanche whos been in the white world for the last several years struggles to come to terms with his heritage while investigating the wrongful hanging of his best friend.

Crucifixion River / by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini --
Free durt / by Bill Pronzini --
He said ... she said / by Marcia Muller --
Wrong place, wrong time (a Nameless Detective story) / by Bill Pronzini --
Irrefutable evidence (a Sharon McCone story) / by Marcia Muller --
The Carville ghost (a John Quincannon story) / by Bill Pronzini --
Pickpocket (a Sabina Carpenter story) / by Marcia Muller --
The dying time / by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Westerns, Historical, Historical Fiction, Detective, American

260 pages, Paperback

First published November 14, 2007

About the author

Marcia Muller is an American author of mystery and thriller novels.
Muller has written many novels featuring her Sharon McCone female private detective character. Vanishing Point won the Shamus Award for Best P.I. Novel. Muller had been nominated for the Shamus Award four times previously.
In 2005, Muller was awarded the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master award.
She was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Birmingham, Michigan, and graduated in English from the University of Michigan and worked as a journalist at Sunset magazine. She is married to detective fiction author Bill Pronzini with whom she has collaborated on several novels.

Reviews

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Crucifixion River" is a collection of eight detective fiction short stories, a few in western settings but a few not. Among Pronzini and Muller regulars there's a Nameless Detective mystery in here, a Quincannon, and a McCone. Eight easy short stories and I'd say six of them are really good, especially the main story "Crucifixion River," a Spur-award-winning (2007) western tale where an odd assortment of characters find themselves trapped during a storm at a river crossing ferry stop.

Verdict: A good collection of short detective fiction tales. A fun read even for detective fiction fans not usually interested in westerns.

Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: PG, PG-13

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, um guys crocheting does not and has never employed the use of needles, you use a hook and only one, no clicking involved. Terrorism isn't a word likely to be used in 1895 to describe anything much less one man threatening a group of people with a gun...

Kris' reading rule # 12: Husband and wife collaborations ALWAYS suck. Especially when both are big names in their own right.

I give this one three stars because the individual stories written by Ms Muller and Mr Pronzini are very good. The collaboration at the beginning and the one at the end should be passed by. Mediocre, melodramatic and neither written particularly well or interesting.

[Paschalis]

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[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good collection of short stories - some favourite old characters (Nameless and Sharon) and a few good suspense pieces. A nice read.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I'm a long time fan of Ms. Muller, I was disappointed with this book.

[Chuck Barksdale · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of mostly western stories from Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini. Most of them were new to me although a few had shown up in prior collections, especially the ones by Bill Pronzini. My favorites were probably the two new (to me) John Quincannon (Pronzini) and Sabina Carpenter (Muller) stories that had appeared previously in the September-October, 2007 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Crucifixion River, a novella collaboration of Muller and Pronzini was also an interesting and enjoyable story.

[Paulette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short story mysteries by one of my favorite mystery authors with her husband, a Western author. Perfect for North Shore reading.

[Johanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK. A mix of stories by Muller and Pronzini, good examples of the short story genre but no really stunning examples