Scattershot by Bill Pronzini

Nameless is having a really bad week. Three cases, all of which should be quick, easy money, go awry, landing him in the hot seat. And, to top it off, thing are not going great with his girlfriend. I don't really have much to say about the book, even though I definitely enjoyed it. It's a quick story and I love how Nameless manages to solve the crimes. All three are basically locked room mysteries and getting to the answers take both seeing the clues and having that flash of insight. I also appreciated that even though we do have three mysteries, they're actually unrelated. Too often in mysteries, everything conveniently ties together; here they don't, which feels  more realistic to me. I could have done without the moping about the girlfriend. I'm pretty sure that his pressuring her was not helping their relationship. This is the first full-length Nameless story I've read, so I'm not sure how it compares to others, but...
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Cat’s Paw by Bill Pronzini

"Cat's Paw" is my first experience with the new Audible channels, which are free for members. It's one of the selections available on the mystery channel. I wasn't sure how it was going to work, but you click on the channel and it gives you a list of available titles and how long the selections are. I was on my lunch hour, taking the dog for a walk, so 40-ish minutes was perfect for me. I will definitely be seeing what other stories are available on the various channels. "Cat's Paw" won the Shamus Award in 1984 for "Best Private Eye Short Story." The mystery itself was good. I've never read any in Pronzini's "Nameless Detective" series, but that didn't affect my enjoyment of this short story. The zoo makes for an interesting setting and Pronzini is wonderful with descriptions. What starts for our nameless detectives as a job investigating rare animal thefts turns into discovering who is a killer. It's...
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The Bughouse Affair by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini

I expected to really enjoy this one. I'm a sucker for historical mysteries and pair a couple of sleuths with a maybe Sherlock Holmes- ti should have been right up my alley. Turned out it was just kind of meh. Sabina and Quincannon were a little bland. To be honest, it's a few days after i read the book and I can't really think of anything particularly interesting about either. She's a widow. He's a bit full of himself. They're both clever enough, but I guess I don't feel like we really got to know them, or maybe there's nothing much to know. Then there's the Sherlock, who may actually be him but may not. i don't understand shy he was there, if this is a series focussed on the otehr two, the authors should have just left him out. He didn't add much to the story, besides being annoying. I assume he'll show up in later books in the series,...
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