Marksman and Other Stories

William Campbell Gault won the Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America and the Life Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, but Marksman is the first collection of his extraordinary short stories from the pulps and from great digest magazines including Manhunt. The collection begins with six non-series tales showing the range of Gault's approach to the mystery story, and continues with the entire short-story career of private-eye Joe Puma. The stories are not only fast-paced and colorful, but as the editor, Bill Pronzini, puts it in his introduction, they are filled with "finely tuned dialogue, wry humor, sharp social observation, a vivid evocation of both upper class and bottom feeder life