Thu 1 Aug 2019
PI Stories I’m Reading: BILL PRONZINI “Incident in a Neighborhood Tavern.”
Posted by Steve under Stories I'm Reading[7] Comments
BILL PRONZINI “Incident in a Neighborhood Tavern.” Short story. “Nameless” PI. First published in An Eye for Justice, edited by Robert J. Randisi (Mysterious Press, 1988). Collected in Small Felonies (St. Martin’s, 1988). [See comment #5 for other collections this story has appeared in.] Reprinted in Under the Gun, edited by Edward Gorman & Robert J. Randisi (Plume, 1990).
Bill Pronzini’s “nameless” PI is sitting in a bar talking to the owner about a series of robberies local merchants have asked him to look into, the police having made no headway in the case. It’s that time of he evening, just before seven, when only two other customers are in the place, when in comes a hopped up kid with a gun. Object: robbery.
The story’s only eight pages long, but not only does this turn out to be a pretty good detective story, but what makes this story all the more compelling is Pronzini’s ability to describe what it must feel like to be facing the wrong end pf a gun, the other end in the hand of someone who obviously doesn’t care if it goes off or not.
You’ve got to keep your head in situations such this, and “Nameless” does just that, in more ways than one.
August 1st, 2019 at 11:29 am
Pleased that you liked the story, Steve. It was a Mystery Writers of America Best Short Story Edgar nominee in ’89, incidentally.
August 1st, 2019 at 12:00 pm
I did not know that, Bill. Belated congratulations!
August 1st, 2019 at 2:31 pm
I agree. I’ve read it two or three times and still enjoy it each time.
August 1st, 2019 at 6:58 pm
Any Pronzini story is going to be good, and “Nameless” seems to bring out the best in him. It’s one of the most consistently well written Private Eye series that seems to always evolve without ever slipping into parody of itself or self conscious pretension like some.
August 2nd, 2019 at 8:54 pm
Steve: Thanks for the congrats. I should have mentioned previously that “Incident” is also included in two “Nameless” collections, SPADEWORK(Crippen & Landru, 1996) and SCENARIOS (Five Star, 2003).
Jeff, David: The kind words much appreciated.
August 3rd, 2019 at 2:57 pm
I must have read it before in one of those two collections, Bill. This time I found it in the Gorman-Randisi anthology, which I’m currently picking my way through.
As Jeff said, there are stories you can read more than once and enjoy them every time. This is one of them.
August 7th, 2019 at 8:17 am
I just bought an audio book of Bill Pronzini’s CAMOUFLAGE at a Library Book Sale. I’ll have to find my copies of SPADEWORK and SCENARIOS.