The Mourners – Bill Pronzini – (Nameless Detective # 30)
So when you read your fifteenth book in a mystery series, one would think that you have read most of the books in that series. That unless the author of the series is grandmaster Bill Pronzini and the series is his “Nameless Detective” series. The first book in the series was released in 1971! The total number of books in the series now stands at 40! Yikes, I haven’t even read half of the books!
By the time I read my first “Nameless” book The Quicksilver in 1990 Pronzini was already on book #17! Between 1990 and 2000 I read 11 more books in the series. Since then I have read sporadically read four more books in the series. Sometimes going back to where I left off and at other times just reading a book in the series.
About The Mourners
The Mourners is book #30 in the series and was released in 2007. It has been sitting on my “to be read” shelves for a long while now and I don’t even know when I added it to the shelves. However, one of my Reading Challenge fed was to read books from authors that I read in the past Bill Pronzini certainly fits that Challenge!
Bill is hired in The Mourners by James Troxell’s wife to discover if he is cheating on her. What he discovers is that Troxell is attending funeral’s of young women who died violent deaths. Could he be the killer?
Through most of the books Nameless work alone. In 2003’s Spook Nameless ( who now has a name Bill still no last name though) is ready to turn over the day-to-day operation of his business to his young black associate Tamara Corbin. They also hire another investigator Jake Runyon. Jake is an ex-Seattle cop and widower. He lost his wife Colleen recently to cancer.
In The Mourners Jake is attracted to the sister of one of the victims whose funeral Troxell had attended. Mainly, because she reminds him of Colleen. Anyway, he becomes obsessed with finding out who murdered her sister and how it ties to Troxell.
Thoughts about The Mourners
As in all of Pronzini’s books the story twists and turns and the characters are terrific. And I haven’t even mentioned the subplot of what’s wrong with Bill’s wife Kerry!
Finding out what will eventually happen to Kerry is one reason I need to move on to book #31 Savages!! I also know that I’ll find a great mystery that Bill, Jake and Tamara are trying to unravel!!
So I know it would be a daunting task to read all of the Nameless Detective books so just jump in the readings fine! You can go backward or forward from the book you choose, either way you’ll find a great read!
Book 60 Read in 2018
