Kate’s 2¢: “Hellbox a nameless detective novel” by Bill Pronzini

“Hellbox a nameless detective novel” by Bill Pronzini
Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as, describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read. I’m just saying…

As I was reading/listening to the prologue of “The Hellbox”, my inclination was to stop reading. I don’t enjoy hearing potty mouth, inane, angry men yelling at each other. It just isn’t my cup of tea; however, my policy is to read the first chapter, then, decide if the story is worth my time. Fortunately, the first chapter started the story on a saner vein and I continued to read.
Since this was the first book I’ve read in the nameless detective series, I wondered who the speaker was…It is Bill, the nameless detective.
The rant in the prologue could have been ‘fathered’ into the first chapter, letting the reason for the murder and abduction evolve for the reader.
Eventually, I think I enjoyed the story and I sure hope they don’t purchase that house in the woods.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Bill Pronzini is an American writer of detective fiction. He is also an active anthologist, having compiled more than 100 collections, most of which focus on mystery, western, and science fiction short stories.[1]
William John Pronzini was born in Petaluma, California in 1943. He attended local schools.
He married mystery writer Marcia Muller in 1992. They have collaborated on several novels: Double (1984), a Nameless Detective novel, The Lighthouse (1987), Beyond the Grave (1986), several books in the Carpenter and Quincannon mystery series, and numerous anthologies.[2]
He published his first novel, The Stalker, in 1971. However, his best known works are the Nameless Detective series, which he began in 1971.[3] As of 2017, there are 46 books in the series, including a number of short stories. While the stories involve the usual range of crimes typical to mysteries, they depict relatively little violence.
Pronzini has written and published more than three hundred short stories. They have been published in a variety of markets, including some of the last issues of both Adventure and Argosy magazines, generally considered the first American pulp magazines. Pronzini’s work has also appeared in Charlie Chan Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Man from U.N.C.L.E. Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, and Alfred Hitchcock’s Anthology.[3]
His short story collection, Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services (1998), is based in the 1890s and centers on Sabina Carpenter, a Pinkerton detective widow who is working in her late husband’s profession.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:
Hellbox: a nameless detective novel DB98966
Pronzini, Bill. Reading time: 7 hours, 15 minutes.
Read by Nick Sullivan.

Mystery and Detective Stories

Bill–“Nameless Detective”—and his wife Kerry were in the Sierra foothills falling in love with a cabin, when Kerry went missing. They’d seen Balfour at the diner, and Kerry remembered his name. When she ran into him later along the trail and called him by name, he panicked, and Bill’s nightmare began. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2012.