#Bill Pronzini

[bracketsoffear]

The Pit and the Pendulum (Edgar Allan Poe) "The protagonist describes the horror and uncertainty he feels in stumbling through his darkened enclosure, only able to feel around for the instruments of his destruction."

Peekaboo (Bill Pronzini) "The only character in the story is a career criminal pretending to be a reclusive writer hiding out in a rented house a good distance away from the closest town. One night he thinks he hears an intruder in the house and decides to investigate while armed. While he's searching his suddenly creepy hideout, he can't help but reminisce on the games of Peekaboo he used to play when he was a kid, as well as the old rumors of occult worship and paranormal activities surrounding the house. (Spoilers under the cut)

He's a nervous wreck by the end of the story, and when he finally reaches the basement after finding nothing in the rest of the house he giggles in relief. There's nothing there after all, it's just him, all alone, hiding under the stairs.

"Peekaboo," a voice behind him said.

[e-b-reads]

As I ended up choosing three mysteries, I think this is a good time to ask what's your top 5 favorite mysteries you've read this year? ✨️

Thanks for asking, and happy new year! Sorry it took a little while, it's hard to choose!

I've narrowed it down to 5, with 2 additional honorable mentions. (Maybe this is cheating, but oh well!) In no particular order:

The Cutting Season by Attica Locke - I enjoyed this contemporary mystery set on a Louisiana plantation with a Black protagonist; aside from being a good mystery, it dove into the protagonist's complicated feelings about her family's historical relationship with the plantation.

The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave by Bill Pronzini - Not sure exactly why I liked this so much, maybe I just enjoyed the main character's narration! A western-set mystery with, as it suggests, several crimes to solve, some more serious than others.

Death Comes to the Village by Catherine Lloyd - I guess this whole series kind of counts as cozy historical? Set in Regency England. I enjoyed that the series doesn't go on forever, and I also enjoyed the romance (across the books) between the practical rector's daughter and the wounded (recovering) soldier with PTSD. He's a lord of some sort, but he's all for abolishing the aristocracy.

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, tr. Antonia Lloyd-Jones - I'm putting this on the list mainly because it's different, and it kept me thinking for a while. The narrator is charismatic and fascinating.

Nemesis by Agatha Christie - Of course I need to include something by Christie! This was a reread but I still think it's a favorite. It's Miss Marple, and I usually like the books with her, and also it's about a mystery that's several years old, and I enjoy those kinds of gradual uncoverings.

And then my two honorable mentions:

I started several contemporary cozy mystery series and liked some more than others: Plantation Shudders by Ellen Byron is the first in a series that did manage to hold my attention for a while!

Death and Hard Cider by Barbara Hambly is book 19 in a series I love, so it's not necessarily the best mystery I read on it's own merit, but it has a cast of characters I adore.

[jasper-the-menace]

I'm going to be engaging in a reading bingo thing for the library I work at (though I won't be eligable to win any prizes) for January and February. There aren't any rules about only counting one book per square, so there's a lot of fun overlap. The books are as follows:

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea (Rebecca Thorne)

Diadem: Book of Names (John Peel)

Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under The Sea (Dav Pilkey)

Dracula (Bram Stoker)

Give-A-Damn Jones (Bill Pronzini)

Gods of Jade and Shadow (Silvia Moreno-Garcia)

Heartbreaker (Julie Garwood)

Hide (Kiersten White)

Marrying the Ketchups (Jennifer Close)

Practical Gods (Carl Dennis)

Sigil Magic: For Writers, Artists, & Other Creatives (T Thorn Coyle)

Strawberry Shortcake Murder (Joanne Fluke)

The Leftover Woman (Jean Kwok)

The Midnight Library (Matt Haig)

The Puppets of Spelhorst (Kate DiCamillo)

The Whittiers (Danielle Steel)

Zendikar: In The Teeth Of Akoum (Robert Wintermute)

17 books in 60 days, most of which are over 300 pages. Let's fucking gooooo!

[jamesdavisnicoll]

The End of Summer: Science Fiction of the Fifties by Barry N. Malzberg & Bill Pronzini

Long after the 1950s faded to half-remembered myth, Malzberg and Pronzini tried to Astound younger readers with Eisenhower-era SF.  

[gaymormonmike]

MYSTERY WRITERS

Some of my greatest fun has been reading detective, mystery and suspense novels. It started with my love of movies when I was about 10. I started reading Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. I entered an adult world of crime and mystery. I was scared and intrigued and wanted more. I discovered Agathe Christie and the joy of trying to figure out who did it. I still remember Roger Ackyroid and the complete surprise ending that no one could figure out. I loved Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe. The mystery and his cranky personality were a joy to read. As an adult, I discovered Walter Mosely who shows us what it was like to be black in LA in 1940- to 1950’s. He introduced me to a culture and characters I could only dream existed. His detective is so good hearted and has true grit. I loved Bill Pronzini’s Nameless Detective. Great stories that take a couple of hours to read and leave me wanting more. His earlies books are impossible to find. More recently, I discovered Michael Connelly’s Bosch LA police detective. The stories are so great as hard to solve mysteries but even better because of Bosch’s personality and willingness to take on all who stand in the way of truth. There are so many series I have devoured and loved. I am thankful to writers who find ways to take a genre and make it their own with twists, turns and sweet stories.      Do you have any favorite mystery writers or novels you can recommend?

[sherlockholmesbracket]

The"bughouse" Holmes from the "Quincannon and Carpenter" books by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini, whom for several books it was ambiguous whether he was Sherlock Holmes or a lunatic who thought he was.

Another dubiously authentic Holmes, residing in San Francisco, Sherlock Holmes!

[charlie-grusin]

Youch! (but I gotta admit they’re not far off, not far off at all)

From “Introduction” to Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories, edited by Bill Pronzini and Jack Adrian

[vtgbooks]

Bill Pronzini THE LIGHTHOUSE 1987 Vintage Horror Vintage TERROR Book

[jolenes-book-journey]

Fever by Bill Pronzini

Fever by Bill Pronzini. Book 35 in the Nameless Detective Series published in 2008. Nameless had told Mitchell Krochek that he’d do whatever he could to find his missing wife, Janice. She’d run away before—propelled by a gambling fever that grew ever higher—and Mitch had always taken her back. This time, when Nameless, his partner Tamara, and the agency’s chief operative Jake Runyon finally found…

[trashmenace]

Reading Rumble Round 2

The Princess by Joe R. Lansdale First published in Mummy! A Chrestomathy of Cryptology, ed Bill Pronzini, 1980, available from Amazon

An ancient preserved body dug up from a bog in Denmark possesses a woman.

The Merchant of Damnation by John Kobler Dime Mystery v18n03 October 1938

Defective detective Peter Quest is going blind and has a death wish, hoping he dies in action before the lights go out. He keeps news clippings of his exploits, and although the cases were successful, he writes "failure" across them, because he failed to get himself killed. Peter Quest is little dramatic. In this case, wealthy old men disappear to turn up murdered and stricken with leprosy.

[bracketsoffear]

Peekaboo (Bill Pronzini) "The only character in the story is a career criminal pretending to be a reclusive writer hiding out in a rented house a good distance away from the closest town. One night he thinks he hears an intruder in the house and decides to investigate while armed. While he's searching his suddenly creepy hideout, he can't help but reminisce on the games of Peekaboo he used to play when he was a kid, as well as the old rumors of occult worship and paranormal activities surrounding the house. (Spoilers under the cut)

Slime (Joseph Payne Brennan) "Originally published in the March 1953 issue of Weird Tales. The title creature is a black, amorphous blob from the bottom of the sea. In fact, it's so black that it's all but invisible at night; witnesses to its attacks pretty much see their friends and loved ones "taken by the darkness", as though the dark itself were alive and hungry."

He's a nervous wreck by the end of the story, and when he finally reaches the basement after finding nothing in the rest of the house he giggles in relief. There's nothing there after all, it's just him, all alone, hiding under the stairs.

"Peekaboo," a voice behind him said.

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Bill Pronzini (editor) - Voodoo!: A Chrestomathy of Necromancy - Arbor House - 1980

[e-b-reads]

12, 20, 25, 30 (for the ask a bookworm asks) <3

12. what are your favourite genres?

I answered this here and mentioned mystery and magical realism, so I will add now that I also enjoy the specific type of nonfiction that is some guy (or occasionally a woman, though this is less common) taking a trip in a boat and then writing about it. (This can be risky, since it's also where I run across some spectacularly sexist passages! Depends on the book.)

20. can you read in other languages?

The most honest answer would be, nope! For a little more detail: I did take French all through high school and a little in college, so I used to be more proficient in it, and can still kind of scrape along. This also means sometimes I can puzzle out the gist of things in other romance languages, but not enough to read them for pleasure.

25. do you read reviews on a book before you read it?

Almost never! Sometimes if I either really do or don't like a book, I'll look up reviews afterwards so I can see if other people agreed with me.

30. favourite book this year?

I answered that one here but obviously I can't just choose one book for the whole year! So, another: I really liked The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave by Bill Pronzini, particularly because it was just a library book I grabbed on a whim, and it's always nice when those turn out good.

[madmonkeysandrum-blog]

“Murder Aboard the Flying Scotsman” Less Strauss ??? I guess they were on board the Flying Scotsman. I’m checking the notes. There are a few mentions from the love interest hubby that his wife aka the MC is not like other girls and I’m a bit bored with that. Not great I remember nothing from this one. What was the characters name? Ginger Gold… or is she married now, yes it was their honeymoon, her name is…? It’s Reed. “Poison at Pemberton Hall” Fran Smith So slow to get start. And every time I read/heard Pemberton, I was thinking Pemberly What was the characters name? It was Victorians so Catherine (my go to at all times)? Nope it was Vita, oh well.

“The Bughouse Affair” Marica Muller and Bill Pronzini When the MC’s are investigators you get away with there not being a murder right away. I kind of like it. I didn’t really like it when it was from the mans perspective. There’s also a cameo by a fictional character… not a fan. What was the characters name? Mary and… Jake? Nope, John and Sabrina

“Murder at the Boat Club” Lee Strauss Feels like a staple for a 20’s cozy, someone is always kicked off the rowing team. I assume rowing was a big deal. I have some notes, there’s a b story when she’s mothering a kid but she’s not a good mother and I hated it. What was the characters name? Ginger Reed, it’s not a very good one is it? “Murder on Washington Square” Victoria Thompson I don’t remember the murder in this one. I remember some of the side stories. I do like how the romance has been slowly slowly building for four books, and building still. What was the characters name? Ah… Mary? Sarah, I knew that. “Front Page Murder” Joyce St. Anthony The MC is a journalist, I like that, it’s so easy to make people investigate things, you don’t need a murder right away. It’s a good job for a cozy. What was the characters name? … Irene

[the25centpaperback]

Other Worlds 2, edited by Roy Torgeson, cover by Jordi Penalva (1980)

[dzelonis]

Iepalicēji #18

Iepalicēju raksts ir mājvieta gan darba, gan neliela slinkuma dēļ iekavētiem individuāliem rakstiem, gan apzināts galamērķis grāmatām, par kurām pēc to izlasīšanas diži daudz nemaz neatrodas ko teikt.

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