Bill Pronzini has 34 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 27 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4★ across 3 ratings. The most-rated is Deadly Anniversaries.
Endgame
Summary
The Nameless Detective has taken many cases over the years...and these two will test his agency's resources. The first involves a woman whose husband is accidentally killed in a remote cabin in the Sierras. The wife isn't buying that he was alone, and she's determined to uncover his secret and get closure...in spite of any potential heartbreak. Nameless' next case is a missing person - a person who was agoraphobic and never left the house. The husband swears that while their relationship was strained due to his wife's condition, he was still in love with her. He begs Nameless to clear him and find his wife before the cops come for him. Endgame is a classic Nameless tale - twisty puzzles featuring one of mystery's best-loved detectives.
©2017 Bill Pronzini (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave
Summary
Bill Pronzini's riveting western mystery, The Peaceful Valley Crime Wave, takes on the modern world with old-fashioned violence - and his Peaceful Valley is anything but.... Nothing much happens in Peaceful Valley, Montana. And that's just how Sheriff Lucas Monk likes it. Aside from the occasional drunken brawl or minor disturbance out on the reservation, he hasn't had to resort to his fists or sidearm in years. That is, until mid-October, 1914, when the theft of a wooden cigar store Indian sets off a crime wave like nothing Lucas has ever seen. Teenager Charity Axthelm goes missing, Reba Purvis' housekeeper is poisoned with cyanide Reba is sure was meant for her, and Lucas' gut tells him that this is only the beginning. It's not long before the first corpse shows up, bringing the peace in the valley to a thundering end.
©2019 Pronzini-Muller Family Trust (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Deadly Anniversaries
Summary
Deadly Anniversaries celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Mystery Writers of America with a collection of stories from some of the top names in crime fiction. An anniversary can honor many things: a birth, a wedding and sometimes even a death. In Deadly Anniversaries, editors Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini present new stories from some of the best contemporary authors to honor the diamond jubilee of the Mystery Writers of America, an organization founded on the principle that “Crime Doesn’t Pay - Enough.” Each author puts their own unique spin on what it means to recognize a certain day or event each year. These 19 stories travel across a wide range of historical and contemporary settings and remind readers of how broad the mystery writing tradition can be, encompassing detective tales, domestic intrigue, psychological suspense, black humor and thrilling action. By the time this group of best sellers and award winners is through, none of us will ever look at anniversaries the same way again. Deadly Anniversaries is sure to shock, scare and delight mystery and suspense fans of all kinds.
©2020 Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini (P)2020 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited
Panic!
Summary
Broke and fleeing his shattered marriage, Jack Lennox takes a bus towards the southwestern desert. He takes work with Al Perrins, only to see two well-dressed men murder Perrins the following morning. But they see Lennox, and he becomes both hunter and hunted. A novel of suspense by the author of The Snatch.
©1972 Bill Pronzini (P)2012 Speaking Volumes
The Vanished
Summary
His name was Roy Sands, and he had everything to look forward to. He was getting out of the service and coming home to marry his beautiful fiancée. He had his debts paid, money in the bank, and a happy new life ahead of him. Then he disappeared.
©1973 Bill Pronzini (P)2012 Speaking Volumes
The Stolen Gold Affair: A Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery
Summary
The Stolen Gold Affair is the latest charming historical mystery in Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Bill Pronzini’s detective series. In response to a string of gold thefts in a Mother Lode mine, Quincannon goes undercover as a newly hired miner to identify and capture the men responsible. Meanwhile, Sabina finds herself not only making plans for her and Quincannon’s wedding, but also investigating both an audacious real estate scam and an abusive young man’s villainous secret.
©2020 Bill Pronzini (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing
The Flimflam Affair
Summary
The Flimflam Affair is the latest charming historical mystery in Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Bill Pronzini's detective series. Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services is a fixture in San Francisco at the dawn of a new century. While the future is unclear, Sabina and John know one thing for certain: they will protect their clients from flimflammers, thieves, and murderers, and do whatever it takes to run these dregs of society into the arms of the law. Sometimes, that requires a subtle touch. Professor A. Vargas, self-styled medium extraordinaire, and his partner Annabelle, use guile and trickery to swindle bereaved men and women eager to contact the spirits of deceased loved ones. John and Sabina must not only unmask these charlatans, but also solve the riddle of an impossible murder in the midst of a seance. Other cases involve brute force and personal danger. Such as the theft of a burglarproof safe mysteriously emptied of gold bullion. And John's pursuit of a ruthless gang of counterfeiters, whose leader appears to be a man from John's past in the Secret Service - a man thought long dead. Adding spice to these exploits is Sabina and John's personal relationship, which is rapidly progressing to an exciting new level.
©2019 Bill Pronzini (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing
The Dangerous Ladies Affair
Summary
For the firm of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services, stopping extortionists is not only grand, but excitingly lucrative. When a pleasant afternoon's bicycling through Golden Gate Park with a friend ends with the revelation of threatening letters, followed by a gunshot in a mansion garden, Sabina Carpenter knows this is a case that demands her immediate and undivided attention. The questions her partner John Quincannon has to unravel are not difficult: Wrixton, a wealthy banker, has met his extortionist's first demand, but the order to pay another $5,000 is too much to face. The banker's real problem is something he doesn't want to reveal. That was fine with the detective, and when he was informed that some private letters were involved and Wrixton absolutely needed them back, there was nothing more Quincannon needed in the way of background. As with so many of San Francisco's elite, the bedroom doors never seemed to stay shut. That was the easy part. Far more difficult was the matter of the dead courier, murdered most foully in a locked room within a locked room, creating a trail that will take John Quincannon through most of San Francisco's less savory places and end with a riverboat trip that is anything but a relaxing cruise. The Dangerous Ladies Affair is the next thrilling installment in this charming historical mystery series from MWA Grand Masters Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini.
©2017 Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Body Snatchers Affair
Summary
Drug lords, missing millionaires, corrupt cops… just another day for Carpenter and Quincannon Detective Services. Two missing bodies and two separate investigations take Carpenter and Quincannon from the heights above San Francisco Bay to the depths of Chinatown's opium dens. For John Quincannon, this is a first: searching a Chinatown opium den for his client's husband, missing in the middle of a brewing tong war set to ignite over the stolen corpse of Bing Ah Kee. Meanwhile, his partner, Sabina Carpenter, unsure of the dark secrets her suitor might be concealing, searches for the corpse of a millionaire, stolen from a sealed family crypt and currently being held for ransom. With the threat of a tong war hanging over the city - a war perhaps being spurred on by corrupt officials - Carpenter and Quincannon have no time to lose in solving their cases. Is there a connection between the two body snatchers? Or is simple greed the answer to this one? And why is the enigmatic Englishman who calls himself Sherlock Holmes watching so carefully from the shadows?
©2015 Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Epitaphs
Summary
So what if Nameless can't get his girlfriend, Kerry, to marry him? So what if he can't talk his partner, Eberhardt, out of his bitter funk? Skies are sunny, and the Nameless Detective wants them to stay that way. So he decides to do an old man a favor and find his missing granddaughter, Gianna. But no one said it would be easy. It seems Gianna's roommate is turning tricks, and Nameless' search quickly leads him to a pimp, a murder, and into a dark pit of human perversion - the kind of place where people die. What happen to Gianna Fornessi? Ask Nameless: He's the one gripping his .38 and writing epitaphs in his head....
©2010 BBC Audio (P)1992 Bill Pronzini. All rights reserved.
Strangers
Summary
My profession, bottom line, is helping people in trouble. It's not just a job to me; it's what I live for. Cody Hatcher is the kind of teenager you don't want your kids hanging out with. That's the book on him, and it's why the citizens of Mineral Springs have no problem at all believing that he's guilty of three rapes. His mother, Cheryl, an old lover of Nameless, is being harassed by vindictive townspeople. It's against such odds that Nameless must work to prove Cody innocent. There are few to help him and plenty to get in his way. It's a classic situation for an iconic private investigator.
©2014 Bill Pronzini (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
The Spook Lights Affair
Summary
A debutante's missing body, murder most foul, and weird spectrallights in the fog make for a thrilling gas light-era tale of mystery and detection. In 1895 San Francisco young debutantes don't commit suicide at festive parties, particularly not under the eye of Sabina Carpenter. But Virginia St. Ives evidently did, leaping from a foggy parapet in a shimmer of ghostly light. The seemingly impossible disappearance of her body creates an even more serious problem for the firm of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services. Sabina didn't want to take the case, but her partner John Quincannon insisted it would serve as entrée to the city's ultra rich and powerful. That means money, and Quincannon loves the almighty dollar - which is why he is hunting the bandit who robbed the Wells Fargo office of $35,000. Working their separate cases - while Sabina holds Johnoff with one light hand - the detectives give readers a tour of the city the way it was. From the infamous Barbary Coast to the expensive tenderloin gaming houses and brothels frequented by wealthy men, Quincannon follows a danger-laden trail to unmask the murderous perpetrators of the robbery. Meanwhile, Sabina works her wiles on friends and relatives of the vanished debutante until the pieces of her puzzle start falling into place. But it's an oddly disguised gent appearing out of nowhere who provides the final clue to both cases - the shrewd "crackbrain" who believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes.
©2013 Marcia Muller (P)2013 Blackstone Audio
Quarry
Summary
Old Man Hass is concerned by the near-catatonic behavior of his daughter, Grady. The young woman showed up at his doorstep a few days earlier, refused to admit that anything was wrong, and has been wandering around the farm, not talking, barely eating. The Nameless Detective thinks the old farmer would have been better off calling a psychiatrist - but he's at least willing to ask a few questions. As Nameless begins to investigate, he discovers that Grady's affliction is more than just a broken heart: she has been the victim of brutal psychological torture. In order to save her he's not only going to have to find her tormentor, he's going to have to call on his own darkest impulses and turn the quarry into the victim.
©1992 Bill Pronzini. All rights reserved. (P)2010 BBC Audio
Vixen
Summary
When Nameless is hired by Cory Beckett, a beautiful young woman who claims to be a model, to find her missing brother, Kenneth, it seems to be a routine matter. Kenneth has fled San Francisco in a drug-induced panic to avoid trial on a charge of stealing a valuable necklace from the alcoholic wife of the man for whom he works, wealthy yachtsman Andrew Vorhees. When agency operative Jake Runyon locates and questions the frightened young man, Cory's motives come into question, and the case takes on darkly sinister complexities. Cory lied to Nameless about her livelihood, her relationship with Vorhees, her brother's alleged drug use, and the nature of his alleged crime. Not only is she Andrew Vorhees' mistress, but Cory has a secret second lover, factory owner Frank Chaleen, with whom she conspired to frame Kenneth. This bizarre sibling betrayal is part of a diabolical plan that reveals her to be a deadly, designing woman who will stop at nothing to achieve her warped desires. A series of twists and turns drive the story to a truly shocking climax, for not until then do the detectives realize how devilish Cory Beckett really is, a femme fatale who has brought something new to the species - new and terrible. Bill Pronzini's Vixen is the latest in the Nameless Detective series, the longest-running PI series currently in print.
©2015 Bill Pronzini (P)2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Camouflage
Summary
David Virden's case is simple enough: Namless must find his ex-wife and deliver some papers to her. But she refuses the papers, sends a message to Virden to never contact her again, and slams the door. His colleague, Tamara, tells Nameless that Virden threatens to sue, stops payment on his checks, and claims that the woman they located isn't his wife. Then he disappears and his fiancée hires Nameless to find out why. Clearly, someone is trying to make Nameless the monkey in the middle. Then things take a decidedly more deadly turn....
©2011 the Pronzini- Muller Family Trust. All rights reserved. (P)2011 AudioGo
Betrayers
Summary
For each of the detectives at the agency, a betrayal becomes not only the driving force behind an investigation, but the source of the kind of resolve that cannot be derailed by threats.... Tamara's case began as something personal explodes as an investigation of her former lover leads to a scam that bilks charities. For Nameless, trying to find out who is gaslighting an old woman only exposes the ugly side of family. We're told that there are seven deadly sins; not on the list is the deadliest of them all: betrayal.
©2010 The Pronzini-Muller Family Trust (P)2010 BBC Audio
Blowback
Summary
He's just gotten some bad news, and its impact has made him immobile and fearful. He's always known that the racking cough was not just something that was going to go away, that the ache in his chest was indicative of something more serious. And now he's found out that he has a lesion on his lung which could be malignant. He's set to sit and wait and do nothing else until he gets the results, but is swayed into action by a call from an old buddy of his from the service, Harry Burroughs. Harry has an isolated fishing camp in Northern California. Currently, he has several people in residence. Recent events have convinced him that the place is a powder keg waiting to erupt into violence. Therefore, the call to Nameless. What Nameless finds on his arrival is a simmering situation, mostly caused by the presence of a very erotic woman by the name of Angela who is there with her extremely jealous husband, Ray, who is even more combustible because he's a heavy drinker. Angela is a woman who plays sweet but gets deep underneath a man's skin and is nowhere near as innocent as she would have folks believe. And then the murders start. The first doesn't seem to have anything to do with the situation when a rug dealer is killed in his van. But then the inhabitants of the camp become targets, including Nameless. He faces more than the usual share of danger as he is entombed in a cave. The book has a little bit of everything - sexual intrigue, theft, murder, violence - all leavened by Nameless searching for the truth in a high tension environment.
©1977 Bill Pronzini (P)2013 Speaking Volumes
Labyrinth
Summary
Nameless is called in by his friend, police lieutenant Eberhardt, when a dead woman's purse contains Nameless's business card. Nameless has never met her, and cannot make a connection. Next, Nameless is hired to track and protect a disturbed man, Martin Talbot, who may be harmed by the husband of a woman who died when Talbot's car collided with theirs after Talbot fell asleep at the wheel. But despite keeping a close tail, things go horribly wrong.
©1980 Bill Pronzini (P)2014 Speaking Volumes
The Snatch
Summary
In his first chronicled adventure, the Nameless Detective hires on to handle the ransom payoff in a kidnapping case. Financier Louis Martinetti doesn't trust the police to deal with the man who snatched his 9-year-old son from his military prep school, nor is it clear that he trusts the members of his own household. On the appointed evening, Nameless takes a briefcase that contains $300,000 in cash to a secluded location chosen by the kidnapper. Then all hell breaks loose.
©1969 Bill Pronzini (P)2011 Speaking Volumes
The Paradise Affair
Summary
Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Bill Pronzini’s next historical mystery The Paradise Affair, perfect for fans of Peaky Blinders and The Alienist. Quincannon’s pursuit of two con men who have absconded to Hawaii with a considerable sum of his employer’s assets dovetails nicely with Sabina’s vision of a second honeymoon. But neither is wont to stay out of trouble, and Sabina inadvertently becomes involved in a locked-room/dying-message murder in Honolulu.
©2020 Pronzini-Muller Family Trust (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing