Cream of the Crop

Twenty-six stories personally selected by Bill Pronzini from over a half century's writing career, including a selection of standalone mysteries, plus stories featuring Carpenter & Quincannon and The Nameless Detective. The selections here span a broad range of topics, themes, settings, and types of crime fiction. Some are grim, some upbeat, some wryly humorous; no two are alike. The one unifying factor in all of the stories is that they're character-driven. People both good and bad-who they are and what makes them act and react the way they do-are the core ingredient of Pronzini's crime fiction. Several of these have been honored in best of the year anthologies and have been nominated for awards. The Nameless Detective story, "Cat's-Paw," won a PWA Best Short Story Shamus Award. And two were filmed: "Proof of Guilt" was adapted for an episode of the British TV series Tales of the Unexpected, and "Liar's Dice" was the basis for a 1995 made-for-U.S. TV film. Here is Bill Pronzini at his best... the best of the best!