Product Description

"Her stories crackle like few others on the mystery landscape."-San Francisco Chronicle

Customer Reviews (3)

Somewhere in the City by Marcia Muller
Good reading because of the variety of stories included,and the different main characters,not always Sharon McCone.Gives you a chance to compare the authors writing style when different characters are speaking.Really good forpicking up and leaving again which isn't always such a good thing to do with a novel.

MANY REPEATS
I love Marcia Muller and hate to write anything negative, but I was excited about getting a book of new short stories, and so many are repeats.There are 19 stories in the book, and ten were already published in other collections: The Place that Time Forgot, Somewhere in the City, Final Resting Place, Silent Night, Benny's Space, The Lost Coast, and Deceptions are in "The McCone Files."The Holes in the System, The Wall, and Up at the Riverside are in "McCone and Friends."

I'm sure I'll enjoy the remaining nine stories, but I'm going to read them carefully and then give this book to someone for Christmas. At least I've started my holiday shopping!

Somewhere in the City
I've been a fan of Marcia Muller for more than 15 years now and she continues to delight me! This collection of short stories fills in some of the holes in the McCone series that the novels sometimes don't address. A great read that can be enjoyed in small bites. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Outstanding Collection of Nameless Detective Short Stories
Spadework was published on the 25th anniversary of The Snatch, the first Nameless Detective novel.I am delighted to highly recommend this collection of fifteen short stories to all fans of detective fiction and especially those who love the Nameless Detective.Two of the stories appear in print for the first time ("Worried Mother Job" and "Zero Tolerance").The book has an excellent foreword by Marcia Muller about her take on her husband's work, and an interesting afterword by Mr. Bill Pronzini in which he talks about his dedication to the needs of the story over the continuity of the series.One of the highlights of the book is "Cats-Paw" which won the Shamus award for the best detective short story in 1983.The book also has a bibliography of the Nameless Detective novels and short stories through 1996.

The stories in Spadework cover the whole gamut of Nameless Detective styles, from early noir to sophisticated plots to wonderful locked room mysteries.The times of the stories are not specified, but appear to date from 1970 to 1996 based on their first publication dates.I found Spadework to be even more appealing than the Casefile collection that preceded this work in 1983.

My favorite story in the collection is "Worried Mother Job" which typifies the kind of case that Nameless hates to take . . . and hates even more after he has taken it.The story touches on deep psychological themes that chilled me . . . and will stay for me for years to come."Home Is the Place Where" is almost as gripping and moving.

I love puzzles, which is one reason I like Mr. Pronzini's work.He has a wonderful talent for them, which is not the case for many writers of short stories.His puzzles can be solved, but you have to pay close attention to what is seen and heard.Then you have to think about what it all means.He uses subtle misdirection that will cause the careless reader to miss important clues.This was masterfully done in "Cats-Paw."Mr. Pronzini's puzzles often connect to long ago events and crimes, and have a wonderful synchronicity to them.However, when you find too much synchronicity, sometimes that's a clue that something's wrong so pay attention.Mr. Pronzini is a careful writer.Something that seems to coincidental to be true probably isn't.

As I finished the story, I was reminded of how we so often bring our troubles on ourselves.

This book is hard to find, by the way.Our local library had to access a copy from Pennsylvania for me.So get help if you cannot easily locate it on your own. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Four Relatively Obscure Novellas - Three Stars
This collection, Women Sleuths, was the first in a series titled Academy Mystery Novellas.The noted editors, Martin Greenberg and Bill Pronzini, used two criteria for their selections: 1) excellence as a mystery or suspense story and 2) relative obscurity.They attributed the obscurity of these four stories to their novella length.Publishers consider the novella as too short to publish as an individual novel, and too long to include in most anthologies.

Now for the four novellas:

The Book That Squealed (1939): I liked Cornell Woolrich's amicable characterization of his amateur sleuth, Prudence Roberts, a young librarian.Prudence, becoming unexpectedly involved in a mystery, surprises herself when she undertakes her own investigation when the police disregard her suggestion that something was amiss.

The Broken Men (1985): Marcia Muller's sleuth is undoubtedly the most realistic character in this collection, a woman with nine years experience in the Bay Area as a private investigator.The Broken Men is a well-constructed, interesting story told in first person in a non-chronological sequence.

The Calico Dog (1934): Mignon Eberhart created an interesting plot. Two young men claim to be the same missing nephew, one that had become recently entitled to a large inheritance. The mystery puzzle is developed fairly with no sudden revelations or contrived ending.The sleuth, a Miss Susan Dare, is not professionally trained, but has demonstrated a flair for seeing solutions to problems that others missed. This novella warrants reading, but is not exceptional.

The Toys of Death (1939): G. D. H. and Margaret Cole collaborated on this overly contrived story. The solution involves a rather convoluted, complicated method for committing murder.Worse yet, the details are revealed in a written confession. Without this letter, the reader would not have been able to unravel the mystery.

Academy Mystery Novellas has developed an attractive concept, bundling together three or four, relatively obscure, mystery/suspense novellas.However, this particular collection is uneven.I give three stars to Women Sleuths. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Top Notch Muller
Of the 30 Marcia Muller books I've read (excluding the ones co-authored or edited with Bill Pronzini), this is one of my 3 favorites.It's the initial book of her Joanna Stark trilogy, introducing one of her three heroines.The other two are: "There Hangs the Knife" and "Dark Star."I think this is the best of the 3.It's certainly interesting to see Muller write of protagonists other than Sharon McCone--demonstrates her breadth of talent.Also, the Stark trilogy is heavily into the world of art and art theft as well as a series of books (like Sherlock Holmes vs. Professor Moriarty) with a continuing struggle between two characters (Stark and Parducci).Muller slowly and teasingly provides detail after detail to fill in the prior relationship between the two characters--considerably enlivening the tales.Enjoy! ... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 4227. ... Read more

Product Description
FIRST MYSTERIOUS PRESS 1992 MASS MARKET PAPERBACK PRINTING.. SOME WEAR AND CREASES ON BOOK.. OVER ALL A GOOD READING COPY. WE SHIP DAILY.. ... Read more