CHOOSING THE RIGHT NAME for a series hero is a tricky business and many authors have spent a great deal of time and energy coming up with just the right one, but when William John Pronzini (1943–) created his popular and long-running San Francisco private detective he decided to give him no name at all; the “Nameless Detective” series began in 1971 with The Snatch and continues to the present day, having appeared in more than thirty novels and scores of short stories. The lack of a name, combined with a less-than-flashy appearance and lifestyle (he’s middle-aged and overweight, and a happy evening is drinking a cold beer and reading one of the pulp magazines from his extensive collection) make him the true Everyman mystery protagonist.
Born in Petaluma, California, where he still lives, Pronzini worked such odd jobs as salesman, sports reporter, and civilian guard with the U.S. Marshal’s office before becoming a full-time writer in 1969. He has had a prodigious output, under both his own name and many pseudonyms, including Jack Foxx, William Jeffrey, Alex Saxon, and Robert Hart Davis. He has written literally hundreds of detective, suspense, and western short stories, yet somehow managed to find the time to edit scores of anthologies as well, mainly in the mystery genre, but also collections of horror, western, and military fiction. Among his outstanding nonfiction titles are 1001 Midnights (1986, written with his wife, mystery writer Marcia Muller), reviews of 1001 volumes of detective fiction; Gun in Cheek (1982), a hilarious history of the worst writing in mystery fiction; its sequel, Son of Gun in Cheek (1987); and Six-Gun in Cheek (1997), an overview of the worst western fiction—all of which are produced with obvious affection for the authors and books that have been skewered. He was named a Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America in 2008.
“Where Have You Gone, Sam Spade?” was first published in the January 30, 1980, issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine; it was first collected in Case File (New York, St. Martin’s, 1983).