Slow and steady start to a series I have never read before. Pronzini is highly regarded and I thought I would try to find out why. This is clearly a man who wears his love of the pulps on his sleeve going as far as having out nameless PI collect old magazines. The central kidnapping and murder is actually fairly weak. The detective does a little bit of detecting but only after several clues have walked right up to him and introduced themselves. The denouement is also fairly meh with the baddie realizing the magnitude of his own crimes and having a sobbing breakdown rather than firing the weapon he has pointed at our unarmed narrator and making a run for it.

I may seek out another, but it's also possible that this just isn't really for me.