Nemesis (Nameless Detective)
*Starred Review* Verity Daniels recently inherited a considerable sum and decides to live the good life in San Francisco. But life isn’t all sunshine and lollipops. Someone is threatening to harm her unless she gives them $10,000. She’s distrustful of the police so she hires Nameless’ detective agency to deal with the threat. With Bill, the agency owner, on temporary leave to deal with the recent trauma his wife experienced (Hellbox, 2012), the case falls to Jake Runyon. The client seems more flirty than terrified, and Jake proceeds warily. A couple of aborted money drops later, Jake finally abandons the case after he rebuffs Daniels’ aggressive sexual advances. She sues, alleging he was the aggressor. As annoying as lawsuits can be, they don’t compare to a murder charge, which is what Runyon faces after Daniels is found dead with a button from Jake’s sport coat clenched in her fist. Bill swings out of partial retirement, and Tamara, the office manager and Internet whiz, shifts into overdrive to help their beleaguered colleague. What they find is a string of embittered former lovers and a fiancéwho likely committed suicide rather than deal with Daniels’ wrath. There isn’t a significant award for crime fiction that Pronzini hasn’t won, and this is a fine sample of his work. His core of protagonists continues to evolve, his plotting is always masterful, and his shifting narrative viewpoints add additional context to the work. Never, ever miss a Nameless case. --Wes Lukowsky