Femme, by Bill Pronzini

I've recommended Bill Pronzini's great Nameless Detective series to numerous people over the years, and most are reluctant to jump into the daunting prospect of a long-running character series. I get it. Many is the time I've been curious about an author, and when I consider a book to read, I see it's part of a series. I generally move along to something else.

The hardest thing about the Nameless series is how it progressed along the years. The early books are good. By the middle of the run they are excellent. The novels are breathtaking by the time the series started to wind down. So where does a poor reader jump into the world of the Nameless Detective?

The perfect answer is Femme, a 2012 novella that was a Cemetery Dance original publication. It's a tight story that doesn't delve too deeply into the personal lives of its characters.

The femme fatale is one of the biggest cliches in the suspense field. It's right up there with locked-room mysteries and gumshoe private dicks. Bill Pronzini, a longtime student and master practitioner of the mystery genre, takes the old trope and puts a modern spin on it.

It's your typical opening: A classy, enigmatic beauty comes to a private eye with an unusual request. Things aren't what they seem, and the plot thickens like pea soup.

The Nameless Detective has seen a lot in the many years Bill Pronzini has chronicled his exploits, but even he is shocked and sickened by the revelations of this femme fatale melodrama, It's an ugly, horrifying story that is thankfully illuminated by the decency and humanity of Nameless and his co-workers.

The CD edition is long out of print, but used copies are not expensive. There's also a Kindle for those so inclined. The cover art by the late, great Glen Orbik is a classic depiction of a dangerous dame and an unlucky victim.

Take a chance with this Femme, if you dare, and maybe you'll be seduced into reading more of the incomparable Nameless Detective books.

Written by Mark Sieber