Marcia Muller & Bill Pronzini
By Andi Shechter, Seattle -- Library Journal, 7/15/2006
Marcia Muller earned a master’s degree in journalism after being told by a creative writing teacher that she had nothing to say. Vanishing Point, her 24th Sharon McCone mystery, is published this month. Best known as the creator of the Shamus Award–winning “Nameless” detective series, Bill Pronzini has also written short stories, Westerns, and historical novels. His new novel is The Crimes of Jordan Wise. The “Mulzinis,” as their friends call the married couple, live in Northern California in a house full of books.
It’s clear that you consult with each other over books. Does that always work?
BP: It works extremely well for both of us. We have the same character-oriented approach, and we know each other’s series characters almost as well as we know our own. We function as each other’s in-house editor.
Can we ever expect another collaborative mystery like 1984’s Double?
MM/BP: Much as we’d like to do another McCone-“Nameless” novel, we have different publishers and different publication schedules. A collaborative standalone is a possibility. We still plan short story collaborations, including McCone and “Nameless” appearing together again.
What’s it like with two working writers in one household?
BP: Writing is more than just a business for us; it’s who and what we are. We work on regular schedules, five and sometimes six days a week, but even when we’re not actually writing, we’re thinking or talking about it.
You both have established series with lead characters whom you’ve developed over the years. How do you feel about them?
MM: Next to Bill, Sharon McCone is my best friend. I envy her: she’s thinner, younger, better-looking, smarter, and more courageous than I am. But we’re very much alike in the ways that count—in our approach to the world and to life and living.
BP: “Nameless” is my alter ego; I know him as well as I know myself. I like him better—he’s more courageous and gentlemanly, but I have a better sense of humor. Women don’t puzzle me nearly as much as they do him, which is not to say they don’t puzzle me—an important distinction.
As series writers, you’ve taken risks in writing “standalones.” Why do that?
BP: Standalones are challenges, opportunities to experiment with different kinds of stories, themes, formats, backgrounds, and sets of characters. I think they help me grow as a writer, expand my horizons, keep my work fresh. I try to take different stylistic and constructive approaches in the “Nameless” series as well for the same reason.
MM: Standalone novels have also provided a break when I’ve felt burned-out on the McCone series. When I return to the series, I feel refreshed and also very happy to be back in my alter ego’s world.
Bill, tell us about your new novel, The Crimes of Jordan Wise.
BP: I wanted to try something completely different. I wanted to portray the struggle between good and evil that develops inside an average man when his dormant dark side is awakened by a woman with a similar dark side and what ultimately happens to him when he allows evil to triumph at every crisis point.
Marcia, after writing about real places for a long time, is there a certain freedom in creating fictional places, or is it a lot more work?
MM: There’s a great deal of freedom. I can take details from actual locales and incorporate them into a fictional setting where I have absolute power. Who wouldn’t enjoy that?
