Book Review: 'Femme' by Bill Pronzini

✰✰✰ Cory Beckett is as mysterious, seductive, and cold as they come. When bail bondsman Abe Melikian calls in the Nameless Detective to locate Cory’s bail jumping brother Kenneth, the case seems quite routine at first. Kenneth was previously arrested on a grand theft charge, but now he’s nowhere to be found. As the Nameless Detective and his associate Jake Runyon search for Kenneth, certain information about Cory comes to light. The Nameless Detective begins to suspect there’s something more to Cory Beckett than first meets the eye.

In more than thirty years of experience, the Nameless Detective has never had the misfortune to come across a woman like Cory Beckett. She’s the type you read about in folklore or pulp fiction. But Cory is a different breed of seductress. Before she’s finished, she’ll leave behind a wake of destruction like no one has ever seen before and give new meaning to the phrase femme fatale.

The Bottom Line: This slim novella is a quick weekend read recommended for those interested in pulp fiction, noir, and the hardboiled. This was the first Nameless Detective mystery that I have read, and I’ll be sure to check out others. The unexpected twist ending was a special treat.

Details: Femme: A Nameless Detective Novella by Bill Pronzini. Hardcover published by Cemetery Dance Publications in 2012. 176 p. ISBN: 978-1-58767-267-5