Conceived as a lone-wolf sleuth, prowling the fog-embraced hills and criminal redoubts of modern San Francisco, Bill Pronzini's Nameless Detective has evolved over the course of 29 novels into a semi-retired family man and mentor to two younger operatives, neither of whom seems any more capable of staying out of trouble than Nameless was in his prime. Fortunately, Nightcrawlers (the sequel to Spook) packs enough grim drama and emotional traumas to go around.

A couple of short-fused homophobes are putting the hurt on gay men in the city's Castro district, and among their victims is Kenneth Hitchcock, the elder lover of investigator Jake Runyon's estranged 22-year-old son, Joshua. So, for professional as well as personal reasons, the widowed Runyon takes an interest in these attacks, connecting the bashers to an underage hustler and an "old-fashioned meat market" called the Dark Spot. Meanwhile, Nameless is summoned to the death bed of Russell Dancer, a manifestly repulsive former pulp-magazine contributor (first introduced in 1973's Undercurrent), now fallen on hard times, who has an unpublished manuscript he wants delivered to Nameless's mother-in-law, Cybil Wade, after whom he's lusted--unrequitedly--for half a century. It will be a test of Nameless's diplomatic acumen to fulfill Dancer's request, without drawing rancor from both Cybil and his wife, Kerry. A still greater test, however, awaits Nameless's black junior partner, Tamara Corbin, whose assignment to stake out a deadbeat dad turns into something more perilous, after she spots her subject's neighbor sneaking an unidentified, squirming bundle into his house one dark eve.

It's evidence of just how much American detective fiction has changed over the last 30 years, that Nightcrawlers can come off as fresh. Even with its high-stakes, triple plot lines, this novel is more retro than revolutionary. Yet the Shamus-winning Pronzini, who has outlasted most of his original contemporaries to become a sage of the genre, continues to entice by emphasizing character development over simplistic violence or gruesome gimmickry, and by allowing Nameless to do something rarely attempted: explore the creaky twilight of his hero-hood (he's now in his early 60s). Seems that age really can bring wisdom. --J. Kingston Pierce


From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The fast-paced latest in the longest-running PI series currently published shows Pronzini at the top of his form. Nameless's beat is the mean streets of San Francisco—but it's a vastly different city from the one inhabited by Sam Spade and the Continental Op. Gay-bashers seeking a thrill brutally beat a young man ("The crack of bone breaking damn near gave him a hard-on") and stalk gay lovers in the Castro district. Enter three seasoned investigators: Jake Runyon, Tamara and "Bill" (Nameless finally has a first name). When Jake learns that the young man attacked was his son's lover, he takes on the case—on his own time and without pay, vowing to beat the night crawlers on their own turf. Pronzini handles the two main story lines and multiple, shifting points of view with aplomb while unsentimentally exploring violence against gays with understatement, righteous indignation and genuine pathos. The author's legendary pulp-collecting nameless investigator shines in a number of affecting scenes in which he visits a famed pulp writer, Russ Dancer, who's dying of cirrhosis and emphysema in a Redwood City hospital. Pronzini just doesn't get better than this. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
The "Nameless" detective is doing his best to settle into semiretirement after making his longtime assistant, Tamara Corbin, a partner in the agency and adding Jake Runyon, a former cop, as a field operative. However, some cases require Nameless' attention. Thugs are roaming the streets of San Francisco's Castro district, attacking gay men. Runyon's son's lover is one of the thug's victims, prompting Runyon and Nameless to investigate. Meanwhile Tamara, on a routine surveillance of a credit deadbeat, sees her subject carry something into his house that raises the hair on the back of her neck. The long-running Nameless series continues to evolve. With the novels no longer exclusively first-person narratives by Nameless, parallel plotlines have been introduced from multiple points of view, giving readers a chance to view Nameless as others see him. And, as always, the novels are never just about crime. Each of the three principals--and even the bad guys--deal with the family issues that have defined them. Another excellent entry in an outstanding series. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"One of the best in mystery suspense field is Bill Pronzini.... He has been holding up the California hard-boiled PI tradition for 30 years."--Washington Post Book World

"His novels are cerebral, not bloody. There is violence, but of a muted sort, and none of it is gratuitous.... The 'Nameless Detective' novels are a thinking reader's detective series."--The Chicago Sun-Times

"There is no living writer whose work more faithfully embodies the spirit of classic private-eye fiction than Bill Pronzini's. It is class, classy noir storytelling." --Cleveland Plain-Dealer

"[He] is the classic private eye hero pared down to the bone: He has not identity except for his detective work, into which he pours all his skill and soul. He is a remarkable creation." --Chicago Sun-Times

"No one is better at finding links between tricky homicides than Nameless, and no one is more poetic in relating the details of a case; [Pronzini's] crisp language renders a blood-spattered room almost beautiful." -- Booklist



Book Description
Bill Pronzini's "Nameless" detective has become one of the longest-lived, and consistently highly praised, private investigators in the annals of American crime fiction and the award-winning author proves, once again, that his skills
are unmatched.

Things were quiet in the San Francisco-based agency Nameless founded and his

partners, Jake and Vanessa were itching to get back to work. A deadbeat father needed to be found, and Vanessa needed to do some field work, so she took the file and headed out to keep an eye on the last known address.

Jake got to work on something much more personal...and dangerous. The Castro had become the stomping ground, literally, of two violent gay-bashers and the most recent victim was Jake's son's lover. Father and son are estranged, but maybe helping now would help them reconcile. That was Jake's thought when he started. For Nameless it was all a matter of letting everyone know that if they needed his help, he was there.

Jake was handling his situation but for Vanessa, things got out of hand. Her perp never showed up, but when she saw a man carrying a young girl into the house across the street, she knew something was wrong....and about to get worse, because she was going to investigate what was going on.

When she doesn't show up a few days later, Nameless feels a sinking in his gut: a few years ago he'd been kidnapped, shackled, and left to die in a cabin in the woods and something about Vanessa's disappearance echoed too loudly. When he discovers the house she'd investigated on her own and sees the words TAKING US TO A HOUSE IN THE WOODS scrawled on a closet wall, the echo became thunderous.

Now it was a race against time, and the clock had begun ticking before "Nameless" and Jake heard the starter's gun.



About the Author
Bill Pronzini is the author of more than sixty novels. He created "Nameless" in a short story in 1969, and the first Nameless novel was published in 1971, making his exploits the longest-running private eye series currently being published.

Bill Pronzini has received three Shamus Awards (two for best novel, and the Lifetime Achievement Award), and six Edgar Award nominations. Hi novel Snowbound received the Grand Prix de la Litterature Policiere as the best crime novel published in France in 1988. He lives in northern California with his wife, the crime novelist Marcia Muller.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Things were quiet in the San Francisco-based agency Nameless founded, and his partners, Jake and Tamara were itching to get back to work. A deadbeat father needed to be found, and Tamara needed to do some fieldwork, so she took the file and headed out to keep an eye on the last known address." "Jake got to work on something much more personal...and dangerous. The Castro had become the stomping ground, literally, of two violent gay-bashers, and their most recent victim was Jake's son's lover. Father and son are estranged, but maybe helping now would help them to reconcile. That was Jake's thought when he started. For Nameless, it was all a matter of letting everyone know that if they needed his help, he was there." "Jake was managing his situation, but for Tamara, things got out of hand. Her perp never showed up, but when she saw a man carrying a young girl into the house across the street, she knew something was wrong....and about to get worse, because she was going to investigate what was going on." "When she doesn't show up a few days later, Nameless feels a sinking in his gut. A few years ago he'd been kidnapped, shackled, and left to die in a cabin in the woods, and something about Tamara's disappearance echoes too loudly. When he discovers the house she'd investigated on her own and sees the words Taking kidnapped child and me to trailer in the woods scrawled on a closet wall, the echo became thunderous." Now it is a race against time, and the clock has begun ticking before Nameless and Jake hear the starter's gun.

FROM THE CRITICS

Marilyn Stasio - The New York Times

Pronzini constructs his sturdy plot with top-quality materials, including spit-polished dialogue and loathsome villains who actually giggle as they crack their victims' bones.

Publishers Weekly

The fast-paced latest in the longest-running PI series currently published shows Pronzini at the top of his form. Nameless's beat is the mean streets of San Francisco-but it's a vastly different city from the one inhabited by Sam Spade and the Continental Op. Gay-bashers seeking a thrill brutally beat a young man ("The crack of bone breaking damn near gave him a hard-on") and stalk gay lovers in the Castro district. Enter three seasoned investigators: Jake Runyon, Tamara and "Bill" (Nameless finally has a first name). When Jake learns that the young man attacked was his son's lover, he takes on the case-on his own time and without pay, vowing to beat the night crawlers on their own turf. Pronzini handles the two main story lines and multiple, shifting points of view with aplomb while unsentimentally exploring violence against gays with understatement, righteous indignation and genuine pathos. The author's legendary pulp-collecting nameless investigator shines in a number of affecting scenes in which he visits a famed pulp writer, Russ Dancer, who's dying of cirrhosis and emphysema in a Redwood City hospital. Pronzini just doesn't get better than this. Agent, Dominick Abel. (Mar. 2) FYI: Pronzini created Nameless for a short story in 1969; he appeared in his first novel in 1971. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews