Double

by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini

Book Overview

Sharon McCone has come home to her warm, troubled family, to San Diego and a convention of private detectives in a posh seaside hotel. For Sharon it's a chance to catch up with old friends--all except for the one who fell four stories from one of the hotel spires. Now, Sharon is determined to find out why her friend died. Martin's Press.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312218079
• ISBN13: 9780312218072
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 294 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Nearly Perfect Duet after an Off-Key Beginning

Anyone who is a fan of either Marcia Muller (or her detective, Sharon McCone) or Bill Pronzini (or his detective, "Nameless") should be sure to read this book. By enjoying two top mystery writers at the top of their game sharing a common plot, you will learn more about each author's style and their characters.The book seems primarily inspired by two earlier Pronzini books about the Nameless Detective, Twospot, a "he-said, he-said" collaboration with Collin Wilcox, and the award-winning Hoodwink, set at a pulp writers' convention. As wonderful as those book are, this one vastly exceeds them.The story is told from the alternating perspectives of the two detectives who are both attending a private detectives' convention at the Casa del Rey on Coronado in San Diego harbor. For Nameless fans, there's quick excitement as Sharon McCone supplies a nickname for Nameless, "Wolf," after newspaper reports of his operating as a lone wolf detective during the years before he teamed up with Eberhardt. They each stumble onto the sense that something's amiss at the hotel . . . but for different reasons. Wolf finds a boy wandering around among the cottages on the grounds, and later finds that no one was registered to the cottage that he was staying in. Sharon runs into her old boss, Elaine Picard, who runs security at the hotel. Elaine wants to speak with Sharon about something that's bothering her, but there's no time to get together. Then the two leads coalesce as Wolf watches Elaine take a header from a high tower in the hotel to her death. At first the two detectives occasionally share observations, but before long both abandon the convention and begin to search together for answers to the puzzles. The convention backdrop provides lots of opportunities for humor about the profession, which has increasingly become based on electronic surveillance. Neither Sharon nor Wolf like that development, and you'll enjoy their take on it.The book starts off slowly as the two narratives repeat each other excessively in the beginning pages. That bogs the book down, and makes it seem clumsy. Soon, the separate action begins and the narration becomes strong and independent.One of the high points of the book is that three different characters have to locate the same undisclosed place. Each uses a different method to identify the location. From this and other multifaceted perspectives, you get a strong sense of how the same mystery can be attacked from many different directions. There's also a nice contrast between Sharon's willingness to bend the rules, and Nameless's commitment to following all of the rules. The book has a wonderful blend of characters, subplots (including both detectives' personal lives), motives and action. Because it has both a "she said, he said" perspective, the book has a balance that few detective novels manage. Perhaps the fact that Ms. Muller and Mr. Pronzini are wife and husband in real life helped contribute the chemistry that ma

Interesting collaboration

Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini team up with their characters Sharon McCone and "the nameless detective" to create an intriguing mystery. Sharon and the detective she calls Wolf meet in San Diego at a convention for private investigators. Sharon is also pleased to see an old boss of hers who is now head of security at the hotel where she's staying. When Sharon's friend falls over a balcony, she and Wolf decide that it is no accident and they set about to prove that there has been foul play. Sharon and Wolf take turns telling the story and they each work on bits and pieces of the murder plus other mysterious happenings which seem to be related. This book has a deliciously convoluted plot and a mystery which Muller and Pronzini develop to a crescendo and then reveal to the reader bit by bit. The addition of the character Wolf is a nice departure for this series, and it's interesting to catch a glimpse of McCone's family as well.

Double the Fun

Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller are my 2 favorite mystery writers working today. "Double" offers both Sharon McCone and the Nameless Detective working together. They team up to investigate the murder of Elaine Picard, a former friend of McCone, head of security at the Casa del Ray hotel in San Diego where a private investigator's convention is being held. McCone and Nameless (whom McCone calls "Wolf") alternate chapters. This novel sizzles with action and it is one of my favorites of both Pronzini and Muller. I'm hoping that one day the husband and wife team of Pronzini and Muller will write another joint venture featuring Sharon McCone and the Nameless Detective. An excellent novel that is highly recommended.

An unusual detective page-turner!

In Double, Detective Sharon McCone joins forces with "The Nameless Detective" to solve mysteries surrounding the death of one of Sharon's former friends, at a detective convention. Other deaths soon ensue, and the pair find that there are more than enough mysteries for the two of them to solve. Marcia Muller and Bill Prozini are two gifted mystery writers. They also happen to be married to one another. The book alternates between the point of view of each detective from chapter to chapter. This creates quite an interesting approach, and it comes off very well. There is never a dull moment as the two discover mysteries involving everything from kinky sex, to murder, to an underground escape route for those who do not wish to be found. I highly recommend this and all of the Sharon McCone mysteries. As for "The Nameless Detective", I have just become a new reader.