Deadfall

In Deadfall Bill Pronzini's popular "Nameless Detective" returns in his most baffling—and harrowing—case to date. While staked out on a routine car repossession, Nameless all but witnesses the shooting of a San Francisco lawyer, Leonard Purcell. He arrives on the scene in time to hear Purcell's dying words, one of which is "deadfall." But Purcell dies in Nameless's arms before the cryptic word can be explained.