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shannon_aI finished another couple of Nameless Detective novels this weekend, Bindlestiff and Quicksilver. We're into the early '80s now, and it's interesting to see how Pronzini's view of San Francisco culture is slowly changing. Before, things had been pretty homogeneous, but now we've had one story centered around Chinatown (Dragonfire) and one centered around Japantown (Quicksilver).
These books continue the move back away from the stupid locked room mysteries that Pronzini was obsessed with for the course of a couple of books, which is all for the series' better.
I'm a little less pleased by Nameless' changing interaction with the police--though it's by no means a deal-breaker like the locked-room obsession was. I wrote earlier that I really liked how Nameless interacted with the police department: keeping them informed of things when he should and not sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.
In the last several books, that's totally evaporated. He increasingly dives into situations that he knows he shouldn't be involved in, and just pays faint lip service to his old ideals, noting that he shouldn't be doing what he's doing (as he does). Now, mind you, this is how many fictional detectives operate, such as Spenser, who I quite enjoy. It was just nice to see Nameless act differently.
In any case, having read a total of three Nameless books over the last week, I'm liable to put them aside for a while.
These books continue the move back away from the stupid locked room mysteries that Pronzini was obsessed with for the course of a couple of books, which is all for the series' better.
I'm a little less pleased by Nameless' changing interaction with the police--though it's by no means a deal-breaker like the locked-room obsession was. I wrote earlier that I really liked how Nameless interacted with the police department: keeping them informed of things when he should and not sticking his nose where it doesn't belong.
In the last several books, that's totally evaporated. He increasingly dives into situations that he knows he shouldn't be involved in, and just pays faint lip service to his old ideals, noting that he shouldn't be doing what he's doing (as he does). Now, mind you, this is how many fictional detectives operate, such as Spenser, who I quite enjoy. It was just nice to see Nameless act differently.
In any case, having read a total of three Nameless books over the last week, I'm liable to put them aside for a while.