Nightshades — Bill Pronzini

When Great Western Insurance hires the Nameless Detective to investigate an accidental death in a small northern California town, it looks like a routine case -- one he expects to solve swiftly so he and his lady friend, Kerry Wade, can take a much needed vacation. But no such luck. Nameless lands in the middle of a violent conflict between a group of greedy land developers and the handful of citizens who inhabit an isolated Gold Rush ghost town. The triumverate of successful realtors plan to "renovate" Musket Creek (nee Ragged-Ass Gulch), and bring back its glory days as a Gold Rush boomtown -- this time in the guise of a "theme-style" amusement park.



The town denizens have different ideas. Stark, desolate, crumbling -- this isd ouble-dealing, arson, and murder. It's a classic showdown -- with death thrown in as the twist.



The twelfth installment in the thrilling Nameless Detective series.