Vixen A nameless detective novel

Bill Pronzini

Book - 2015

"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 Beckett'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, 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"--

Saved in:

1st Floor Show me where

MYSTERY/Pronzini, Bill
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
1st Floor MYSTERY/Pronzini, Bill Checked In
Subjects
Genres
Mystery fiction
Published
New York : Forge 2015.
Language
English
Main Author
Bill Pronzini (-)
Edition
First edition
Item Description
"A Tom Doherty Associates book."
"A different, much shorter version of this novel appeared as a Cemetery Dance limited edition in 2012 under the title Femme"--Title page verso.
Physical Description
220 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9780765335685
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Nameless, the venerable, semi-retired San Francisco private eye, meets Cory Beckett, a model, as a favor to an associate, bail bondsman Abe Melikian. Abe is holding the ticket on Cory's younger brother, Kenneth, who is accused of stealing a valuable necklace from his employers, the Voorhees family. Cory says Kenneth is a drug addict, but when one of Nameless' operatives, Jake Runyon, tracks down Kenneth, he finds not an addict but a very scared young man who claims he was framed by his sister and is terrified of her. Turns out Cory's true vocation is marrying and divorcing rich men such as Andrew Voorhees. Sometimes, it's rumored, she kills the rich guys' wives to clear a path. When Mrs. Voorhees turns up dead, apparently a suicide, Nameless takes an interest, even though he has no client. This is a typical Nameless mystery: engrossing, tightly plotted and thought provoking. Pronzini is one of the modern masters of the Dashiell Hammett-style hard-boiled detective story, and his appeal to old-school crime fiction readers remains high.--Lukowsky, Wes Copyright 2015 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

In the heavy-handed prologue of MWA Grand Master Pronzini's 40th Nameless Detective novel (after 2014's Strangers), the San Francisco PI links Cory Beckett, "a femme fatale in the classic mode," with a "brand of evil like nothing I could ever have imagined." What follows doesn't live up to that hype. Bail bondsman Abe Melikian approaches Nameless on Cory's behalf to track down her brother, Kenneth, who's been arrested for stealing a diamond necklace belonging to a powerful union leader's wife. Kenneth has violated the terms of his bail by leaving the city without permission, and Nameless asks his partner, Jake Runyon, to trace him. When Jake finds Kenneth, the defendant claims that he was framed by his sister. The case soon escalates to murder. Nameless and his colleagues make an odd ethical choice that will have some readers scratching their heads, and the vicissitudes of the leads' personal lives seem tacked on. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review

The Nameless Detective's so deeply impressed by the femme fatale who hired his agency and did them dirt that he devotes a prologue comparing her to such legendary vixens as Brigid O'Shaughnessy, Cora Papadakis, Matty Walker, and Catherine Tramell. Not so fast, Nameless. Looking as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, Cory Beckett tells Nameless that it's just as bail bondsman Abe Melikian has said: her brother Kenneth, accused of stealing a $20,000 diamond necklace from Margaret Vorhees, the alcoholic wife of San Francisco Maintenance Workers Union chief Andrew Vorhees, has taken a powder. Armed with the information Cory has helpfully supplied, agency operative Jake Runyon soon tracks him down. But Kenneth, who's obviously terrified of going back to the Bay Area and facing his sister, tells quite a different story. He didn't steal the necklace that was found in his car, he insists; it was planted by Frank Chaleen, a mysterious partner in Cory's schemes, in order to frame him. Naturally, Cory denies the whole story, and then so does Kenneth, who says he just made it up. The narrative's shifts in viewpoint from Nameless to Jake to Nameless' partner, Tamara Corbin, to Chaleen himself prevent the tale from developing much momentum, and by the halfway mark, the only casualty is Cybil Wade, Nameless' mother-in-law, dead of a stroke at 88. At length the bodies duly pile up, but the evil over which Nameless waxes so rhapsodic never seems justified by Cory's nefarious behavior. Judging from Nameless' superlatives, in fact, you'd think he'd completely forgotten the women who drive the plot of Camouflage (2011), only four titles back in this venerable series. What a shame that Cory is just as forgettable. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.