Nightcrawlers: A Nameless Detective Novel

Bill Pronzini

Apr 2007 · Nameless Detective Novels Book 33 · Sold by Forge Books

About this ebook

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.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

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. His 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.