It is the second murder in 24 hours at the Transcontinental Chess Tournament, and Charlie Chan has been summoned from a peaceful vacation to help solve the crime before international scandal ruins the tournament's good name. Originally published in "Charlie Chan's Mystery Magazine" in 1974, this is the first book appearance of "The Pawns of Death."

Compellingly and compulsively readable, Hardboiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories offers thirty-six superb stories that chronicle the evolution of this quintessentially American art form. Here are eight decades worth of the best writing about betrayal, murder, and mayhem: from Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler to Faye Kellerman, Lawrence Block, and James Ellroy.

It's a lazy mid-August Sunday afternoon. The "Nameless Detective" and his old friend Lieutenant Eberhardt are relaxing on the patio, drinking beer and shooting the breeze, when the doorbell rings. As Eberhardt answers the door, Nameless hears two sharp echoing reports-gunshots; they could only be gunshots. Rushing into the house, Nameless glimpses the bloody body of his friend sprawled on the floor-just before he feels a bullet strike his own chest. While Eberhardt lies in a coma, Nameless is released from the hospital and hits the San Francisco streets, determined to track down the gunman. Facing the toughest case of his career, Nameless doggedly pursues the secret behind his friend's shooting-only to find himself plunged into an action-packed intrigue involving murder, bribery, violence, and the forces of organized crime in San Francisco's Chinatown. The inimitable Nameless Detective, an overweight private eye of Italian descent with a penchant for pulp magazines, is in top form in this gripping, fast-paced tale. "Pronzini makes people and events so real that you're living those explosive days of terror." -Robert Ludlum "Pronzini is a pro." -The New York Times

The Nameless detective is hired by a young wife to find out whether her husband has been having an affair. He trails the husband to a motel of cabins in a small village, sees him meet with a bald man and then return to his cabin. Hours later, Nameless realizes the cabin may have a backdoor; he investigates and finds the husband has been murdered

The bestselling author of "The McCone Files" teams up with the creator of the "Nameless Detective" for a collaborative mystery that bridges the San Franciscos of 1894 and 1986. Muller and Pronzini masterfully parallel the investigations of turn-of-the-century detective Quincannon and Chicana amateur sleuth Elena Oliverez.