Bill Pronzini

Hardcase Bill Pronzini

Publisher Marketing: A happy newlywed at last, the "Nameless Detective" returns from his honeymoon with the idea that he'll finally take it easy. And when the young, beautiful, and wealthy Melanie Ann Aldrich walks into his office, everything seems perfect. After rummaging through some old papers belonging to her dead parents, she's discovered that she's adopted. Now she wants to know who her real parents are and why no one ever told her the truth. Nameless could do this in his sleep, this case is so easy. But is it? Nameless delves easily enough into the past but no one there is talking... at first. As he starts to sort out the truth behind Melanie's mysterious history, he wonders how much his client will really want to know. Her real mother was an emotionally disturbed young woman, now deceased. Her real father was a teenage delinquent named Stephen Chehalis, who was chased out of town by his own father shortly after Melanie was born. But that's only the beginning. Now Melanie wants to meet her father and asks Nameless to arrange it. Easy enough, but after the arrangement is made, Nameless uncovers some disturbing information about the man-information Chehalis would kill to keep secret. Suddenly a routine case turns into a hardcase, and Nameless must risk his own life to protect a daughter from a vicious father with a deadly secret.

Contributor Bio:  Pronzini, Bill Bill Pronzini's novel, "Snowbound", received the Grand Prix de la Litterature Policiere as the best crime novel published in France in 1988. "A Wasteland of Strangers" was nominated for best crime novel of 1997 by both the Mystery Writers of America and the International Crime Writers Association; in addition to six Edgar Award nominations, Pronzini has received three Shamus Awards, two for best novel, and the Lifetime Achievement Award. He lives in northern California with his wife, the crime novelist Marcia Muller.