The Plague of Thieves Affair: A Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery - Hardcover

Muller, Marcia; Pronzini, Bill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0765381044 ISBN 13: 9780765381040

Publisher: Forge Books, 2016

Synopsis

Will the true identity of the Sherlock Holmes imposter be revealed at last? Find out in Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini's The Plague of Thieves Affair

Sabina Carpenter and John Quinncannon are no stranger to mysteries. In the five years since they opened Carpenter and Quinncannon, Professional Detective Services, they have solved dozens, but one has eluded even them: Sherlock Holmes or, rather, the madman claiming his identity, who keeps showing up with a frustrating (though admittedly useful) knack for solving difficult cases.

Roland W. Fairchild, recently arrived from Chicago, claims Holmes is his first cousin, Charles P. Fairchild III. Now, with his father dead, Charles stands to inherit an estate of over three million dollars-if Sabina can find him, and if he can be proved sane. Sabina is uncertain of Roland's motives, but agrees to take the case.

John, meanwhile, has been hired by the owner of the Golden State brewery to investigate the "accidental" death of the head brewmaster, who drowned in a vat of his own beer. When a second murder occurs, and the murderer escapes from under his nose, John finds himself on the trail not just of the criminals, but of his reputation for catching them.

But while John is certain he can catch his quarry, Sabina is less certain she wants to catch hers. Holmes has been frustrating, but useful, even kind. She is quite certain he is mad, and quite uncertain what will happen when he is confronted with the truth. Does every mystery need to be solved?

The Carpenter and Quincannon Mysteries:
#1 The Bughouse Affair
#2 The Spook Lights Affair
#3 The Body Snatchers Affair
#4 The Plague of Thieves Affair
#5 The Dangerous Ladies Affair
#6 The Bags of Tricks Affair

About this title

About the Author

MARCIA MULLER is the New York Times bestselling creator of private investigator Sharon McCone. The author of more than thirty-five novels, Muller 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 the MWA in 2008, making Muller and Pronzini the only living couple to share the award.

Reviews

One of the ongoing mysteries in Muller and Pronzini's entertaining 1890s-era San Francisco whodunits may be resolved in the series's fourth entry (after 2015's The Body Snatchers Affair). In previous volumes, PIs Sabina Carpenter and John Quincannon encountered an eccentric claiming to be Sherlock Holmes. Roland Fairchild, an attorney from Chicago, retains Sabrina to track down the Holmes impersonator, whom he believes to be his cousin Charles, so that Charles's fitness to inherit the family fortune can be evaluated. She also also accepts the duty of guarding an exhibition of famous, and expensive, reticules. Meanwhile, John is on the trail of those responsible for the gruesome murder of a brew master who drowned in a vat of fermenting beer. One suspect apparently takes his own life behind locked doors, but John is convinced that a clever murderer pulled off the seemingly impossible crime. The antics of the man who may be Charles Fairchild add a light touch, although the solutions to the various crimes aren't the authors' most imaginative. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency. (Jan.)\n

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The Plague of Thieves Affair

A Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery

By Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini

Tom Doherty Associates

Copyright © 2016 Pronzini-Muller Family Trust
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-7653-8104-0

CHAPTER 1

QUINCANNON

There were few more undesirable places for a detective and committed temperance man to be plying his trade, John Quincannon reflected sourly, not for the first time in the past few days, than the bowels of a blasted brewery.

The fine, rich perfume of malt, hops, yeast, and brewing and fermenting beer permeated every nook and cranny of the two-story, block-square brick building that housed Golden State Steam Beer. Whenever he prowled its multitude of rooms and passages, he was enveloped in a pungent miasma that tightened his throat and dried his mouth, creating a thirst that plain water couldn't quite slake.

In his drinking days he had been mightily fond of the type of lager, invented during the Gold Rush and unique to San Francisco, known as "steam beer." John Wieland's Philadelphia Brewery, the National Brewery, and others operating in the city in this year of 1896 specialized in porter and pilsner; if one of their owners had sought the services of Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services, he would not be suffering such pangs as this place instilled in him. But it had been Golden State's James Willard who had come calling, and the fee he'd offered for an investigation into the bizarre death of the head brewmaster, Otto Ackermann, was a sum no self-respecting Scot in his right mind could afford to turn down.

In the five years since Quincannon had taken the pledge, he had seldom been even mildly tempted to return to his bibulous ways. Even on his regular visits to his favorite watering hole, Hoolihan's Saloon on Second Street, to spend an evening with cronies or clients, he hadn't once considered imbibing anything stronger than his usual mug of clam juice. But after four days in Golden State's rarefied atmosphere, his craving for a tankard of San Francisco's best steam beer had grown to the barely manageable level. Another few days here and he might well be shamefully if briefly seduced.

Well, such a temporary fall should not be in the offing. He wouldn't be here in the guise of a city sanitation inspector for a second week, or even for one more day, if matters developed as he now believed they would. In anticipation of such a development, he wore his .36 Navy Colt holstered under his coat — the very same 1861 model sidearm his father had carried in the company of Allan Pinkerton during the Civil War, rechambered now for metal cartridges. Until today, he had honored Willard's aversion to firearms and refusal to permit them in his brewery. Under the present circumstances, however, Quincannon had no qualms about ignoring his employer's edict; a detective on the verge of unmasking and arresting a dangerous felon was a fool to do so unarmed. The weapon, necessary or not, was a comfortably familiar weight on his hip.

Instead of entering the brewery with the arriving employees, as he had on previous mornings, he loitered outside the main entrance. The cold, fog-laden, late January wind was much preferable to the brewery perfume. He smoked a pipeful of navy cut tobacco, feigning interest in the big dray wagons with both full and empty kegs that emerged from the wagon entrance and rumbled past on Fremont Street.

He had been there some five minutes when James Willard arrived. The brewery owner paused for a moment as if thinking of having a word with Quincannon, rightly changed his mind — this was no place to discuss matters pertaining to an undercover investigation

Edition details

• Publisher: Forge Books
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0765381044
• ISBN 13: 9780765381040
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256