In his Preface to Tales of the Impossible, Bill Pronzini cites Carter Dickson (aka, John Dickson Carr) collection of locked room and impossible crimes, The Department of Queer Complaints (1940), as the book that ignited his fascination with “miracle problems.”
Over his long and successful career, Bill Pronzini has published many stories involving locked room mysteries and impossible crimes. This new Stark House volume collects 19 top-notch stories in that genre.
My favorite story in Tales of the Impossible is one of Pronzini’s stories about his most famous character: the Nameless Detective. The Nameless Detective in “Booktaker” is hired by a bookstore owner to investigate the thefts of several rare and expensive items from his secure Antiquities Room. Despite locks and security monitors, valuable items have vanished. Kerry Wade, the Nameless Detective’s love interest, plays a key role in the solution of how the thefts were accomplished.
Also entertaining are the Carpenter and Quincannon stories set in the 1890s. Pronzini sets his stories in a mausoleum, a gold mine, a sawmill camp, a locked office, and in ghostly surroundings. John Quincannon, who thinks he’s “indisputably the foremost detective west of the Mississippi if not the entire nation,” proves this might be the case as he solves the eight crimes he’s investigating in Tales of the Impossible.
Tales of the Impossible displays the quintessence of Bill Pronzini’s locked room and impossible crime stories. The bizarre crimes, complex puzzles, the tantalizing enigmas make Tales of the Impossible one of the Best Books of the Year! GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
PREFACE: The Game of Miracles — 7
STANDALONES
The Arrowmont Prison Riddle — 12
Proof of Guilt — 31
The Half-Invisible Man (with Jeffrey Wallmann) — 40
The Terrarium Principle — 50
Vanishing Act (with Michael Kurland) — 54
NAMELESS DETECTIVE
Where Have You Gone, Sam Spade? — 70
Something Wrong — 97
A Nice Easy Job — 102
Dead Man’s Slough — 119
Ace in the Hole — 129
Booktaker — 139
CARPENTER AND QUINCANNON
The Horseshoe Nail — 172
Devil’s Brew — 192
The Chatelaine Bag (with Marcia Muller) –209
The Body Snatchers — 223
The Gold Stealers — 238
Smoke Screen — 255
It Couldn’t Be Done — 270
The Carville Ghost — 290
Bibliography — 312
Although I have probably read all the stories, this one is too good not to jump on.
Jerry, TALES OF THE IMPOSSIBLE belongs in the Library of every mystery fan!
Like you and Jerry, I’m pretty sure I’ve read all the stories, but I will definitely be ordering it.
Jeff, I enjoyed reading all the stories in TALES OF THE IMPOSSIBLE, familiar and new. And Art Scott shows up in “Smoke Screen” (p. 266)!
You can’t go wrong with Pronzini’s work!
Bob, I’ve been reading Pronini’s work since the Sixties. Great guy, great writer!
I’ve been Losing Track in several manners, and am guilty I’ve not yet posted my review of this Pronzini retrospective.
But, then, some of my reviews have been hanging fire for years. Glad you enjoy it as well!
Todd, I’m always interested in your reviews…whenever they are posted!
Glen is a fan of Pronzini, but primarily the Nameless series. He is thinking about getting this book.
Tracy, TALES OF THE IMPOSSIBLE would make a nice Christmas present…