Authors: Marcia Muller

The Bughouse Affair (27 page)

BOOK: The Bughouse Affair

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“Perhaps. But I have a feeling that whoever he is, neither of us has seen the last of him—personally or professionally.”

“We’d better have,” John said in ominous tones. “If he tries to interfere in any more of our investigations, I may not be able to restrain myself from strangling, bludgeoning, stabbing, or shooting him.”

Sabina rolled her eyes and maintained an eloquent silence.

Authors’ Note

While we have taken some slight liberties with dates and geographical locations, the detailed historical background in these pages is as accurate as diligent research can make it. Similarly, the character of the man who would be Sherlock Holmes is as true to Conan Doyle’s depiction of the original Holmes as the nature and dictates of the story permitted.

Among the many research tools we consulted, four books were particularly informative and entertaining:
You Can’t Win
by Jack Black (Macmillan, 1926), the extraordinary autobiography of one of the era’s career criminals;
The Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld
by Herbert Asbury (Knopf, 1933);
Champagne Days of San Francisco
by Evelyn Wells (Doubleday, 1939); and
The Complete Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, ed. by Christopher Morley (Doubleday, 1927).

M.M. / B.P.

B
Y
M
ARCIA
M
ULLER AND
B
ILL
P
RONZINI

NOVELS

Double

Beyond the Grave

The Lighthouse

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS

Duo

Crucifixion River

NONFICTION

1001 Midnights

About the Authors

Marcia Muller is the creator of Sharon McCone and one of the key figures in the development of the contemporary female private investigator. The author of more than thirty-five novels, three in collaboration with her husband, Bill Pronzini, Marcia received the MWA’s Grand Master Award in 2005.

Bill Pronzini, creator of the Nameless Detective, is a highly praised novelist, short story writer, and anthologist. He received the Grand Master Award from MWA in 2008, making Marcia and Bill the only living couple to share the award (the other couple being Margaret Millar and Rose Macdonald).

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.

THE BUGHOUSE AFFAIR

Cover art by Gordon Crabb

A Forge Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Forge
^®is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

Muller, Marcia.

The Bughouse affair / Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”

ISBN 978-0-7653-3174-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4299-9721-8 (e-book)

1. Private investigators—California—San Francisco—Fiction. 2. Women detectives—California—San Francisco—Fiction. 3. San Francisco (Calif.)—History—19th century—Fiction. I. Pronzini, Bill. II. Title.

PS3563.U397B84 2013

813'.54—dc23

2012024910

e-ISBN 9781429997218

First Edition: January 2013

Table of Contents