An anniversary can honor many things: a birth, a wedding and sometimes even a death. In DEADLY ANNIVERSARIES, editors Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini present new stories from some of the best contemporary authors to honor the diamond jubilee of the Mystery Writers of America, an organization founded on the principle that “Crime Doesn’t Pay --- Enough.” Each author puts his or her own unique spin on what it means to recognize a certain day or event each year. These 19 stories travel across a wide range of historical and contemporary settings and remind readers of how broad the mystery writing tradition can be, encompassing detective tales, domestic intrigue, psychological suspense, black humor and thrilling action.

John Quincannon’s pursuit of two con men who have absconded to Hawaii with a considerable sum of his employer’s assets dovetails nicely with Sabina Carpenter’s vision of a second honeymoon. But neither is wont to stay out of trouble, and Sabina inadvertently becomes involved in a locked room/dying message murder in Honolulu.

In response to a string of gold thefts in a Mother Lode mine, John Quincannon goes undercover as a newly hired miner to identify and capture the men responsible. Meanwhile, Sabina Carpenter finds herself not only making plans for her and Quincannon’s wedding, but also investigating both an audacious real estate scam and an abusive young man's villainous secret.

Nothing much happens in Peaceful Valley, Montana. And that’s just how Sheriff Lucas Monk likes it. Aside from the occasional drunken brawl or minor disturbance out on the reservation, he hasn’t had to resort to his fists or sidearm in years. That is, until mid-October 1914, when the theft of a wooden cigar store Indian sets off a crime wave like nothing Lucas has ever seen. Teenager Charity Axthelm goes missing, Reba Purvis’ housekeeper is poisoned with cyanide Reba is sure was meant for her, and Lucas’ gut tells him that this is only the beginning. It’s not long before the first corpse shows up, bringing the peace in the valley to a thundering end.

Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services is a fixture in San Francisco at the dawn of a new century. While the future is unclear, Sabina and John know one thing for certain: they will protect their clients from flimflammers, thieves and murderers, and do whatever it takes to run these dregs of society into the arms of the law. Professor A. Vargas, self-styled medium extraordinaire, and his partner Annabelle use guile and trickery to swindle bereaved men and women eager to contact the spirits of deceased loved ones. John and Sabina must not only unmask these charlatans, but also solve the riddle of an impossible murder in the midst of a séance.

Give-a-Damn Jones, a free-spirited itinerant typographer, hates his nickname almost as much as the rumors spread about him. He’s a kind soul who keeps finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. That’s what happened in Box Elder, a small Montana town. Tensions are running high, and anything (or anyone) could be the fuse to ignite them: a recently released convict trying to prove his innocence, a prominent cattleman who craves respect at any cost, a wily traveling dentist at odds with a violent local blacksmith, or a firebrand of an editor who is determined to unlock the town’s secrets. Jones walks into the middle of it all, and this time, he may be the hero that this town needs.

A conman always has a bag of tricks, ready to fool the unsuspecting, and almost everyone is unsuspecting until they get taken. When that happens, they turn to Carpenter and Quincannon, Professional Detective Services, to recover their money and what’s left of their dignity, and perhaps even to save their lives. When one such case leaves Sabina Carpenter the only witness to a murder, the family of the culprit vows to stop at nothing to keep her silent. The threat leaves John Quincannon deeply concerned for Sabina’s safety, but there’s no rest for the wicked. And when Sabina’s life is put in danger, John must rush to save her while grappling with the terrifying realization of exactly how much she means to him.

The Nameless Detective has taken two cases that will test his agency's resources. One involves a woman whose husband died accidentally in a remote cabin in the Sierras. The wife isn’t buying that her husband was alone, and is determined to find out his secret and get closure…in spite of any potential heartbreak. The other case is a missing person…but the person missing was agoraphobic and never left the house. The husband swears that while their relationship was strained due to his wife’s condition, he was still in love with her. He begs Nameless to clear him and find his wife before the cops come for him.

In Echo Park, in the small town of Santa Rita, California, the mutilated body of Martin Torrey is found by two passersby. A registered sex offender, Torrey has been a suspect in a string of recent rapes, and instant suspicion for his murder falls on the relatives and friends of the women attacked. Police chief Griffin Kells and detective Robert Ortiz are under increasing pressure from the public and from a mayor demanding results in a case that has no easy solution. Bill Pronzini unfolds the case through alternating perspectives until a surprising break leads to a completely unexpected conclusion.

When a pleasant afternoon’s bicycling through Golden Gate Park with a friend ends with the revelation of threatening letters, followed by a gunshot in a mansion garden, Sabina Carpenter knows this is a case that demands her immediate and undivided attention. The questions her partner John Quincannon has to unravel are not difficult: Wrixton, a wealthy banker, has met his extortionist's first demand, but the order to pay another $5,000 is too much to face. The banker’s real problem is something he doesn't want to reveal. Meanwhile, a courier has been murdered, creating a trail that will take Quincannon through most of San Francisco’s less savory places and end with a riverboat trip that is anything but a relaxing cruise.

ZIGZAG includes two novellas and two short stories featuring Bill Pronzini's iconic Nameless Detective. “Zigzag” is an original novella, in which a safe and simple accident investigation becomes the unraveling of a twisted murder scheme. “Grapplin” deals with the kind of missing person case that can end in only one of two ways: closure or heartbreak. In the second short, “Nightscape,” readers discover how, indeed, one thing just leads to another. The final work, “Revenant,” is another original novella and entangles Nameless in a weird crime with fearful occult overtones.

John Quincannon 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 beer. John is certain he can catch his quarry, but his partner, Sabina Carpenter, is not sure she even wants to catch hers: Sherlock Holmes or, rather, the madman claiming his identity. A Mr. Roland W. Fairchild of Chicago claims the man is his first cousin, who is due to inherit a $3 million estate --- if Sabina can find him and if he can be proved sane.

For John Quincannon, this is a first: searching a Chinatown opium den for his client's husband, missing in the middle of a brewing tong war set to ignite over the stolen corpse of Bing Ah Kee. Meanwhile, his partner, Sabina Carpenter, searches for the corpse of a millionaire, stolen from a sealed family crypt and currently being held for ransom. Is there a connection between the two body snatchers? Or is simple greed the answer to this one?

When Nameless is hired by Cory Beckett, a beautiful young woman who claims to be a model, to find her missing brother, Kenneth, it seems to be a routine matter. Kenneth has fled San Francisco in a drug-induced panic to avoid trial on a charge of stealing a valuable necklace from the alcoholic wife of the man for whom he works, wealthy yachtsman Andrew Vorhees. When agency operative Jake Runyon locates and questions the frightened young man, Cory's motives come into question and the case takes on darkly sinister complexities.

Cody Hatcher is the kind of teenager you don’t want your kids hanging with. That’s the book on him, and it’s why the citizens of Mineral Springs have no problem at all believing that he’s guilty of three rapes. His mother, Cheryl, an old lover of Nameless, is also being harassed by vindictive townspeople. It’s against such odds that Nameless must work to prove Cody innocent.

While John Quincannon follows a danger-laden trail to unmask the murderous perpetrators of a Wells, Fargo robbery, his partner, Sabina Carpenter, works her wiles on friends and relatives of a vanished debutante until the pieces of her puzzle start falling into place. But it’s an oddly disguised gent appearing out of nowhere who provides the final clue to both cases --- the shrewd “crackbrain” who believes himself to be Sherlock Holmes.

Jake Runyon agrees to investigate Verity Daniel’s claim that he is receiving threatening demands for money from a mysterious caller. Verity is nowhere near the helpless victim she pretends to be, and a series of surprise revelations culminates in Runyon being falsely accused of a crime that never happened. With the help of partner Tamara Corbin, Nameless works to clear both Runyon’s and the agency’s good names --- but not until he overcomes a deadly threat to his own safety.

In 1890s San Francisco, former Pinkerton operative Sabina Carpenter and her detective partner, ex-Secret Service agent John Quincannon, undertake what initially appear to be two unrelated investigations. The two cases eventually connect in surprising fashion, but not before two murders and other felonies complicate matters even further. And not before the two sleuths are hindered, assisted and exasperated by the bughouse Sherlock Holmes.

Bill, the “Nameless Detective,” and his wife Kerry were in the Sierra foothills falling in love with a cabin when Kerry went missing. Bill begins a search that uncovers just what price the citizens in town without pity may have to pay. Following the few leads he has, Bill comes face to face with the Hellbox.