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Tanner on Ice
Part #8 of "Evan Tanner" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Once, Evan Tanner was known as the thief who couldn't sleep, carrying out his dangerous duties for a super-secret intelligence agency. Then someone put him on ice -- for about twenty-five years. Returning to the world (and trying to catch up with a quarter century's worth of current events), Tanner is about to embark on a new covert assignment that will take him to the exotic Far East, where mystery and menace are a way of life . . . . Now, whether he's dodging double crosses or disguising himself as a monk, Tanner is learning that when it comes to power games, pretty women, and political wrangling, some things never change. And he's making up for lost time -- with a vengeance.
Hit Me
Part #5 of "Keller" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
A man named Nicholas Edwards lives in New Orleans renovating houses, doing honest work and making decent money at it. Between his family and his stamp collection, all his spare time is happily accounted for. Sometimes it's hard to remember that he used to kill people for a living. But when the nation's economy tanks, taking the construction business with it, all it takes is one phone call to drag him back into the game. It may say Nicholas Edwards on his driver's license and credit cards, but he's back to being the man he always was: Keller. Keller's work takes him to New York, the former home he hasn't dared revisit, where his target is the abbot of a midtown monastery. Another call puts him on a West Indies cruise, with several interesting fellow passengers-the government witness, the incandescent young woman keeping the witness company, and, sharing Keller's cabin, his wife, Julia. But the high drama comes in Cheyenne, where a recent widow is looking to sell her husband's stamp collection. . .
Two For Tanner
Part #4 of "Evan Tanner" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Evan Tanner can't sleep. Ever. Which gives him plenty of free time to get involved in lots of interesting endeavors in all sorts of exotic locales. Now Tanner's in Thailand with a partially baked plan and a butterfly net, hoping to snare a beautiful missing chanteuse who's metamorphosed into an international jewel thief. Tanner hopes everyone will buy his disguise as a rare butterfly researcher. And everyone does . . . Except the guerilla band holding him captive. They intend to remove his head when the sun rises, so Tanner must put his fate in the hands of a randy Thai youth who will do anything for a woman, even set a suspected spy free. Soon they're running through the jungle together, chased by bandits, soldiers, and yellow fever, and racing headlong into the heart of darkness—and into the flames of war.
The Canceled Czech
Part #2 of "Evan Tanner" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
The second adventure of Evan Michael Tanner -- back in print!"The Canceled Czech" finds the sleepless adventurer on a mission to Czechoslovakia to liberate a dying man, who turns out to be a Nazi. For his troubles, he finds himself leaping from a moving train, tangling with an amorous blonde, and playing the role of a neo-Nazi propagandist. Just another typical work day in the life of "the thief who couldn't sleep".
Me Tanner, You Jane
Part #7 of "Evan Tanner" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
It's a jungle out there.Literally. At least for Evan Tanner, eternally sleepless sometime superspy, who finds himself in Africa on the trail of the AWOL ruler of tiny Modonoland. It seems the petty despot's gone missing, and he's taken the state treasury along with him.No stranger to impossible missions and international peril, Tanner's been in over his head before. This time, however, he's in imminent danger of being buried alive. And it all has to do with the CIA, white supremacists, moderate revolutionaries . . . and a blond jungle bombshell named (no joke!) Sheena. Tanner's always been a sucker for a pretty face and a curvaceous body, especially one that's wrapped in leopard skin. But this red hot renegade daughter of a local missionary is a maneater.Which means this time Tanner's goose is well and truly cooked.
--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
--This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
As Dark as Christmas Gets
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
As Dark as Christmas Gets: A Christmas StoryAS DARK AS CHRISTMAS GETS. The Mysterious Bookshop, 1997. Privately printed by Otto Penzler as a Christmas gifts for colleagues and customers, this is the first appearance of the Chip Harrison short story, bound as a 20-page pamphlet.
Tanners Twelve Swingers
Part #3 of "Evan Tanner" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Out of print for fifteen years, Lawrence Block's third book in his hilarious Tanner series is back. . . And this time the intrepid spy is up to his neck in a dozen leggy beauties and a life-and-death smuggling assignment out of the cold corners of Russia.
Cinderella Sims
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
There’s no glass slipper in this fairytale—just a damsel in distress, a bag of cash, and a whole lot of dead bodiesReporter Ted Lindsay is trying to forget his ex-wife, and New York City’s tough streets are just what the doctor ordered. They’re also filled with alluring women, but only one catches Ted’s eye. Cinderella Sims is not only beautiful, she’s on the run and she needs Ted’s help. She’s got a bag full of cash and some very angry people staking out her apartment. Before long Ted’s forgotten his heartbreak and is launched into the dark streets of crime with Cindy at his side.This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lawrence Block, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from his personal collection, and a new afterword written by the author.From Publishers WeeklyOriginally titled $20 Lust and published under the pseudonym Andrew Shaw by Nightstand in 1961, this early Block novel has its quirky charms. As the MWA Grandmaster explains in the Lawrence Block Bibliography: 1958¤1993, "much of the work in question was bad, and categorically so... in the early sixties I wrote a soft core sex novel every month, designed to titillate but not to inflame, with a requisite sex scene in every chapter." Strip away the requisite sex scenes and one is left with a dark, clever crime story that shows Block's emerging strengths: good storytelling, a bright sense of humor and more than a few flashes of good writing. Ted Lindsay, a reporter for the Louisville Times, loses his wife to another man, then to a fatal accident. He relocates to New York in order to get a new start. He's unsuccessful until he sees "the girl." The girl turns Ted's life upside down, setting him on a path of treacherous lies, deceptions and dangers as they try to outwit the gang that's after her. The sex scenes, mild by today's more graphic standards, are more likely to amuse than titillate. Readers who have not yet discovered the joys of Block - bookseller/thief Bernie Rhodenbarr, PI Matthew Scudder, hitman John Keller, etc. - should skip this one. But established Block fans should enjoy this peek at the author's obscure apprentice work and be grateful that he moved on to create better books.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. From BooklistTed Lindsay settles for a numbing routine while he heals from a painful marital breakup. Then he meets a woman who can make him forget his ex-wife, and life is once again filled with desire and passion. Cinderella Jones is on the run from a gang that pulled a casino scam to the tune of fifty large. While they were congratulating themselves, she ran off with the booty. She is willing to trade half the money and her body for Ted's help. They escape across the country, making frequent stops for passionate 1950s-style volcanic release sex. That's important because this is one of current best-selling author Block's early learn-the-trade, pay-the-bills sex novels. It predates his Matt Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr series, but readers will recognize the noir sensibility, the subtle humor, the surprisingly complex characters, and the relentless advancement of the plot. The release of this 40-year-old quickie is more of a curiosity than a publishing event, but it will attract considerable interest from Block's devoted readership. And, dated or not, it's still a pretty good crime caper. Wes LukowskyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
The Sins of the Fathers
Part #1 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
The hooker was young, pretty. . . and dead, butchered in a Greenwich village apartment. The prime suspect, a minister's son, was also dead, the victim of a jailhouse suicide. The case is closed, as far as the NYPD is concerned. Now the murdered prostitute's father wants it opened again-and that's where Matthew Scudder comes in. But this assignment carries the unmistakable stench of sleaze and perversion, luring ex-cop-turned-investigator Scudder into a sordid world of phony religion and murderous lust where children must die for their parents most secret, unspeakable sins.
The Collected Mystery Stories
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
The 71 tales in this indispensable volume represent the complete short fiction of one of the genre's giants....like all the best short stories, each of them, from the badger game turned murderous to the fatalistic ex-con trying vainly to go straight, seems less created than discovered, dug up from dark places and carved to gemlike brightness. Lots of suspense writers can keep you turning pages far into the night. But how many others can keep you starting story after story, popping just one more poisoned chocolate, hours after you meant to turn out the light?
All the Flowers Are Dying
Part #16 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
"A man in a Virginia prison awaits execution for three hideous murders he swears, in the face of irrefutable evidence, he did not commit. A psychologist who claims to believe the convict spends hours with the man in his death row cell, and ultimately watches in the gallery as the lethal injection is administered. His work completed, the psychologist heads back to New York City to attend to unfinished business. " Meanwhile, Matthew Scudder has just agreed to investigate the ostensibly suspicious online lover of an acquaintance. It seems simple enough. At first. But when people start dying and the victims are increasingly closer to home, it becomes clear that a vicious killer is at work. And the final targets may be Matt and Elaine Scudder.
Hit and Run
Part #4 of "Keller" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Keller's a hit man. For years now he's had places to go and people to kill. But enough is enough. He's got money in the bank and just one last job standing between him and retirement. So he carries it out with his usual professionalism, and he heads home, and guess what? One more job. Paid in advance, so what's he going to do? Give the money back?In Des Moines, Keller stalks his designated target and waits for the client to give him the go-ahead. And one fine morning he's picking out stamps for his collection (Sweden 1-5, the official reprints) at a shop in Urbandale when somebody guns down the charismatic governor of Ohio. Back at his motel, Keller's watching TV when they show the killer's face. And there's something all too familiar about that face. . . . Keller calls his associate Dot in White Plains, but there is no answer. He's stranded halfway across the country, every cop in America's just seen his picture, his ID and credit cards are no longer good, and he just spent almost all of his cash on the stamps. Now what?
Small Town
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
A beautiful young woman called Marilyn picks up a stranger in a bar and takes him home to her Manhattan apartment. The next morning her housekeeper discovers Marilyn's body. Marilyn's life and death have far-reaching effects on others, even people she has never met: a charismatic former police commissioner on the verge of a breakdown; a struggling writer; a folk art dealer plumbing the depths of her own fierce sexuality; a lawyer who prefers murder trials because there's one witness fewer. And in a city reeling from 9/11, an unlikely mass murderer wages a one-man war against everyone. In this gripping, multi-faceted story, Block not only brings to life in brilliant detail the city of New York, but proves he is one of the most talented, innovative and surprising crime writers in the business.
Tanners Tiger
Part #5 of "Evan Tanner" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
The Cold War's boiling over. Global tensions are near the breaking point. So what's the perfect assignment for a super-spy who hasn't slept since the Korean conflict? A fun-filled trip to the Montreal World's Fair! The adorable little girl he's escorting—who, under different circumstances, would be sitting on the Lithuanian throne—can hardly contain her excitement, but it isn't all playtime for Evan Tanner. Some mysterious disappearances, apparently linked to the fair's Cuban exhibition, need to be looked into. Keeping his mind on business, however, won't be easy after an insatiable lovely in a tiger skin falls into Tanner's arms, and a mother lode of dangerous drugs falls into his lap. But the biggest, deadliest suprise is the terrorist plot Tanner's tumbling into, and he'll have to think and act quickly to prevent the visiting queen of England from being blown to smithereens.
The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Suppose you're Bernie Rhodenbarr. You've got a dream job, running your own cozy secondhand bookstore, complete with Raffles, your caudally challenged cat. It's in Greenwich Village, and your best friend's dog grooming salon is two doors away, and the two of you lunch together and meet for drinks after work. And you've got another way to make a buck. Every once in a while you put your conscience on the shelf and let yourself into someone else's residence, and you leave with more than you came with. You're a burglar, and you know it's wrong, but you love it. And you're good at it. You've got two ways to make a living, one larcenous, the other literary and legitimate, and you're good at both of them.Nice, huh? Until the 21st Century pulls the rug out from under you. All of a sudden the streets of your city are so overpopulated with security cameras and closed-circuit TV that you have to lock yourself...
The Thief Who Couldnt Sleep
Part #1 of "Evan Tanner" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Evan Michael Tanner hasn't slept in more than a decade—not since a small piece of battlefield shrapnel invaded his skull and obliterated his brain's sleep center. Still, he's managed to find numerous inventive ways to occupy his waking hours. Tanner is a card-carrying member of hundreds of international organizations, from the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Order to the Flat Earth Society—not because he believes in their myriad lost causes, he's simply a joiner by nature. Besides, it gives him something to do. The Russians think Tanner is a CIA operative on a covert mission. The CIA is certain he's a Soviet agent. Actually, he's in Turkey pursuing a fortune in hidden Armenian gold. But Tanner's up for anything, including a little spycraft, if it helps him reach his big payday. And if need be, he'll even start a small revolution . . .
Dead Girl Blues
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
DEAD GIRL BLUES"It's been a long time since I read anything this hard-hitting and thought-provoking. DEAD GIRL BLUES is daringly original, both shocking and brilliantly told. At a time when many crime novels blend together, Grandmaster Lawrence Block again shows he's a one-of-a-kind author. " ~ David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author of Murder As a Fine ArtYou might as well know this going in: Lawrence Block's new novel is not for everyone. It's recounted in journal form by its protagonist, and begins when he walks into a roadhouse outside of Bakersfield, California, and walks out with a woman.And rapes and murders her.But, um, not in that order.Right. But it's what he does with the rest of his life that's really interesting...Lawrence Block has been writing and publishing crime fiction for sixty years. He's received recognition for lifetime achievement in the US and the UK. His books have...
One Night Stands and Lost Weekends
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
In the era before he created moody private investigator Matthew Scudder, burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, sleepless spy Evan Tanner, and the amiable hit man Keller—and years before his first Edgar Award—a young writer named Lawrence Block submitted a story titled "You Can't Lose" to Manhunt magazine. It was published, and the rest is history.One Night Stands and Lost Weekends is a sterling collection of short crime fiction and suspense novelettes penned between 1958 and 1962 by a budding young master and soon-to-be Grand Master—an essential slice of genre history, and more fun than a high-speed police chase following a bank job gone bad.
The Scoreless Thai # aka Two for Tanner
Part #4 of "Evan Tanner" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Evan Tanner can't sleep. Ever. Which gives him plenty of free time to get involved in lots of interesting endeavors in all sorts of exotic locales.Now Tanner's in Thailand with a partially baked plan and a butterfly net, hoping to snare a beautiful missing chanteuse who's metamorphosed into an international jewel thief. Tanner hopes everyone will buy his disguise as a rare butterfly researcher. And everyone does . . .Except the guerilla band holding him captive. They intend to remove his head when the sun rises, so Tanner must put his fate in the hands of a randy Thai youth who will do anything for a woman, even set a suspected spy free. Soon they're running through the jungle together, chased by bandits, soldiers, and yellow fever, and racing headlong into the heart of darkness—and into the flames of war.From Publishers WeeklyIn this first hardcover edition of a 1968 paperback original (titled Two for Tanner), Evan Tanner is "the spy who never sleeps," a Korean War vet whose head injury has destroyed the sleep center in his brain. Never having to sleep, Tanner has plenty of time to become interested in hopeless causes, help oppressed groups, learn obscure languages and travel to exotic locales. The U.S. government has used his undercover talents in the past, but in this fourth novel in the Tanner series he's working for himself. Missing in Thailand is his latest girlfriend, singer Tuppence Ngawa, who is half African and half American and speaks in a bizarre '60s jive. Tuppence and the jazz musicians with whom she was on tour have been kidnapped by Communist rebels, shortly after a major burglary of the Thai royal jewelry collection. Tanner rushes to Tuppence's rescue, only to be taken prisoner by another rebel group in the dense Thai jungle. Tanner escapes from a bamboo cage perched in a tree with the help of a small, comical Thai who believes that somehow Tanner can help him finally find a woman who will relieve him of his virginity. This early Block novel is very much of its time, very '60s, with eerie echoes of the treatment of American POWs in Vietnam. It's still a great pleasure today. (Nov. 8) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the AuthorLawrence Block is one of the most widely recognized names in the mystery genre. He has been named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and is a four-time winner of the prestigious Edgar and Shamus Awards, as well as a recipient of prizes in France, Germany, and Japan. He received the Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association—only the third American to be given this award. He is a prolific author, having written more than fifty books and numerous short stories, and is a devoted New Yorker and an enthusiastic global traveler.
A Diet of Treacle
Lawrence Block
SEX, DRUGS, AND MURDER INTHE LAND OF THE LOTUS EATERSAnita Carbone was a good girl-and it bored her. That's why she took the long subway ride down to Greenwich Village, home of the Beats and the stoners, home to every kind of misfit and dropout and free spirit you could imagine. It was where she met Joe Milani, the troubled young war veteran with the gentle touch. But it was also where she met his drug-dealing roommate-a man whose unnatural appetites led to murder...
Hit Parade
Part #3 of "Keller" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Keller is friendly. Industrious. A bit lonely, sometimes. If it wasn't for the fact that he kills people for a living, he'd be just your average Joe. The inconvenient wife, the troublesome sports star, the greedy business partner, the vicious dog, he'll take care of them all, quietly and efficiently. If the price is right. Like the rest of us, Keller's starting to worry about his retirement. After all, he's not getting any younger. (His victims, on the other hand, aren't getting any older. ) So he contacts his "booking agent," Dot, up in White Plains, and tells her to keep the hits coming. He'll take any job, anywhere. His nest egg needs fattening up. Of course, being less choosy means taking greater risks—and that could buy Keller some big trouble. Then again, in this game, there are plenty of opportunities for some inventive improvisation . . . and a determined self-motivator can make a killing.
Hope to Die
Part #15 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
The city caught its collective breath when upscale couple Byrne and Susan Hollander were slaughtered in a brutal home invasion. Now, a few days later, the killers themselves have turned up dead behind the locked door of a Brooklyn hellhole -- one apparently slain by his partner in crime who then took his own life. There's something drawing Matthew Scudder to this case that the cops have quickly and eagerly closed: a nagging suspicion that a third man is involved, a cold, diabolical puppet master who manipulates his two accomplices, then cuts their strings when he's done with them. No one but Scudder even suspects he exists. And his worst fear is that the guy is just getting started . . .
Flesh Mob
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Sheesh. What a lousy title. Flesh Mob was published by Midnight Reader, a fellow imprint of Nightstand Books, in 1962. I can tell at a glance that it's my work, although I don't specifically recall writing it. And I must have put a title on it, but I an assure you that it wasn't Flesh Mob. It could only have been the inspiration of some editor in Illinois.Several notables filled that role over the years, including Earl Kemp, A. J. Budrys, and Harlan Ellison, but it's hard to imagine any of those three making a eureka moment of Flesh Mob. For years it struck me as merely a bad title, two works that when combined had a sort of reverse synergy, amounting to rather less than the sum of their parts. Then just this week I looked at the title and saw that it could only be a pun on the phrase "flash mob." That still didn't make it a good title, but at least it gave it a lame reason for being. Except not. Because a little...
Tanners Virgin
Part #6 of "Evan Tanner" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
The CIA, the FBI, the KGB, Interpol—not one of the world's premier intelligence organizations knows quite what to make of Evan Michael Tanner. Is he a spy, a mercenary, a footloose adventurer, or simply a screwball sucker for hopeless causes? (Actually he's a little bit of all of the above. Plus he never sleeps. Ever. ) One thing's for sure: Tanner's a true romantic, which is why he can't refuse a distraught mother who begs him to rescue her lost, pure-as-driven-snow daughter. Phaedra Harrow (nee Deborah Horowitz) once shared Tanner's apartment but not his bed. And now the virginal beauty's been abducted by white slavers in the Afghan wilderness. Finding Phaedra will be difficult enough. Bringing her back alive and unmolested may be impossible. And first Tanner will have to swim the English Channel, survive trigger-happy Russian terrorists . . . and maybe pull off a timely assassination or two.
A Drop of the Hard Stuff
Part #17 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
"Right up there with Mr. Block's best. . . . A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF keeps us guessing. "--Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal Facing his demons in his first year of sobriety, Matthew Scudder finds himself on the trail of a killer. When Scudder's childhood friend Jack Ellery is murdered, presumably while attempting to atone for past sins, Scudder reluctantly begins his own investigation, with just one lead: Ellery's Alcoholics Anonymous list of people he wronged. One of them may be a killer, but that's not necessarily Scudder's greatest danger. Immersing himself in Ellery's world may lead him right back to the bar stool. In a novel widely celebrated by critics and readers, Lawrence Block circle back to how it all began, reestablishing the Matthew Scudder series as one of the pinnacles of American detective fiction.
The Best American Mystery Stories 2001
Part #1 of "Anthology" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Even the Wicked
Part #13 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Matthew Scudder knows that justice is an elusive commodity in the big city, where a harmless man can be shot dead in a public place criminals fly free through holes in a tattered legal system. But now a vigilante is roaming among the millions, executing those he fees deserve to die. He calls himself "The Will of the People"—an ingenious serial killer who announces his specific murderous intentions to the media before carrying through on his threats. A child molester, a Mafia don, a violent anti-abortionist—even the protected and untouchable are being ruthlessly erased by New York's latest celebrity avenger.
A Writer Prepares
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Sometime in 1953, I knew with unusual certainty what I intended to do with my life. I would become a writer.I was then 15 years old, and the next several years were to prove eventful. I went to college, I got a summer job at a literary agency and dropped out of college to keep it, I sold two dozen short stories and articles to national magazines, and I completed a novel. By the time I was 25, I had a wife and two daughters and a house in a suburb. I had published over fifty books. Most of these bore pen names, and for a time I resisted acknowledging my early pseudonymous work. Then, in one astonishing and feverish week in 1994, I recalled those early years in fifty thousand words of memoir. A publisher contracted to bring out my memoir once I'd completed it. Instead I put it on a shelf and never looked at it again, and after a few years I bought it back from the publisher. Early in 2020, I had a fresh look at A Writer Prepares....
Getting Off
Lawrence Block
Getting Off: A Novel of Sex & ViolenceSO THIS GIRL WALKS INTO A BAR... ...and when she walks out there's a man with her. She goes to bed with him, and she likes that part. Then she kills him, and she likes that even better. On her way out, she cleans out his wallet. She keeps moving, and has a new name for each change of address. She's been doing this for a while, and she's good at it.And then a chance remark gets her thinking of the men who got away, the lucky ones who survived a night with her. She starts writing down names. And now she's a girl with a mission. Picking up their trails. Hunting them down. Crossing them off her list... ReviewPraise for Getting Off:"One of the best books of this or any year." - BookReporter"...you'll be rooting for this thoroughly beguiling serial killer on a mission. A pro's pro, Block never wastes a word, never misplaces a plot element... it also boasts Block's legendary craftsmanship, sly humor, and virtuoso plotting. The premise is to die for!" - *Booklist*"[A] fun, fast-paced read full of steamy moments and a twist ending... a must have for pulp fiction fans." - Celebrity Cafe"A great read from cover to cover... believe me when I say that you are in for a wonderful time." - Horror NewsAbout the AuthorLawrence Block is one of the most acclaimed and highly decorated living mystery writers, having received multiple Edgar, Shamus and Maltese Falcon Awards, as well as lifetime achievement awards in the US, UK, and France. He was named a "Grand Master" by the Mystery Writers of America, the organization's highest honor. In the 1960s and 70s he wrote seven novels under the pen name "Jill Emerson," a pseudonym he is reviving for the first time in nearly 40 years for Getting Off.
The Male Hustler
Lawrence Block
The Male Hustler: 7 Midnight Cowboys Tell Their Storiesby Lawrence Block (as John Warren Wells)Is he an out-and-out mincing homosexual? Or a closet queen? A transvestite masquerading in full make-up and dress as a woman? A muscle-bound stud? Or is he just your normal American boy who happens to be in the business for himself, selling desirable merchandise--his body--at prices the market will bear? In THE MALE HUSTLER John Warren Wells talks frankly and at length to seven male prostitutes. They tell exactly what they do for a living; how they find their clients, what they think about their clients--and themselves; they talk about money, about men, about women. This book is a fascinating odyssey into a world that has never before been so compassionately and objectively revealed.contentsIntroductionAlanBrendanCaryDerekEldonFlipGreg
Everybody Dies
Part #14 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Matt Scudder is finally leading a comfortable life. The crime rate's down and the stock market's up. Gentrification's prettying-up the old neighborhood. The New York streets don't look so mean anymore. Then all hell breaks loose. Scudder quickly discovers the spruced-up sidewalks are as mean as ever, dark and gritty and stained with blood. He's living in a world where the past is a minefield, the present is a war zone, and the future's an open question. It's a world where nothing is certain and nobody's safe, a random universe where no one's survival can be taken for granted. Not even his own. A world where everybody dies.
A Walk Among the Tombstones
Part #10 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
The wife of Kheran Khoury, heroin wholesaler, is killed after he haggles over the price of her ransom. With the help of two computer geniuses, a streetwise punk, drug lords and his friend, ex-cop Scudder, they track the killers through the back streets of Brooklyn.
The Devil Knows Youre Dead
Part #11 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
When Yuppie lawyer Glenn Holtzmann sits in his penthouse gazing at the setting sun, he little imagines that within half an hour he will be dead. Everyone believes it to be a clear-cut case, but Scudder isn't convinced that the evidence or the victim are what they seem.
A Long Line of Dead Men
Part #12 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
In Manhattan, thirty men have been meeting once a year for years; they form a tontine, a secret, private club, the only purpose of which is to record the passage of time and to give a toast to the joys of life. But when these men start to die at alarming rates, murder rears its ugly head. It's clear someone is determined to kill them all. Hired by one of the members, Matt Scudder, ex-cop and recovering alcoholic, enters the world of privilege, which may as well be on another planet from the world of street hustlers and career criminals he's so familiar with. As the case draws Matt deeper and deeper, he's forced to look at his own life--his work, his loves, his friendships and his destiny.
Strange Embrace
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Strange Embrace started out to be a novel based on Johnny Midnight, a TV series which everyone has long since forgotten.Except, of course, that nothing manages to be forgotten in the Internet Age. I, whose job it was to knock out 50,000 words of Johnny Midnightish prose and dialogue, had forgotten when it ran and who was in it, but Google took no time at all to remind me that the title role was played by Edmund O'Brien, and that the series ran during the first nine months of 1960. And if you want to know more about it, well, Google and Wikipedia are there to enlighten you.I was in New York, newly married, living at 110 West 69th Street. I was writing short stories for crime fiction magazines, erotic novels for Midwood and Nightstand, and fielding assignments that my agent steered in my direction. Two of these were from paperback publishers who had acquired the book rights to a TV drama and wanted to hire someone to write a book.First up...
Eight Million Ways to Die
Part #5 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Nobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a person can sink in this city. A young prostitute named Kim knew it also—and she wanted out. Maybe Kim didn't deserve the life fate had dealt her. She surely didn't deserve her death. The alcoholic ex-cop turned p. i. was supposed to protect her, but someone slashed her to ribbons on a crumbling New York City waterfront pier. Now finding Kim's killer will be Scudder's penance. But there are lethal secrets hiding in the slain hooker's past that are far dirtier than her trade. And there are many ways of dying in this cruel and dangerous town—some quick and brutal . . . and some agonizingly slow.
Death of the Mallory Queen
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
a Chip Harrison story by the superb Lawrence Block, it’s an affectionate send-up
of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe tales, the traditional detective story, and luminaries
in the mystery field.
Eccentric detective Leo Haig and his assistant, Chip
Harrison, take on the bizarre case of a woman who doesn’t object to being
murdered
Time to Murder and Create
Part #2 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Small-time stoolie, Jake "The Spinner" Jablon, made a lot of new enemies when he switched careers, from informer to blackmailer. And the more "clients, " he figured, the more money - and more people eager to see him dead. So no one is surprised when the pigeon is found floating in the East River with his skull bashed in. And what's worse, no one cares - except Matthew Scudder. The ex-cop-turned-private-eye is no conscientious avenging angel. But he's willing to risk his own life and limb to confront Spinner's most murderously aggressive marks. A job's a job after all - and Scudder's been paid to find a killer - by the victim. . . in advance.
Out on the Cutting Edge
Part #7 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
It isn't called Hell's Kitchen for nothing - a gritty landscape of dark doorways and dirty alleys inhabited by crack addicts and the homeless. For Matt Scudder, it's a city gone mad, but a city he can't leave as he's been hired to find missing would-be actress Paula Hoeldtke.
A Dance at the Slaughter House
Part #9 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
A Dance At The SlaughterhouseIn Matt Scudder's mind, money, power, and position elevate nobody above morality and the law. Now the ex-cop and unlicensed p. i. has been hired to prove that socialite Richard Thurman orchestrated the brutal murder of his beautiful, pregnant wife. During Scudder's hard drinking years, he left a piece of his soul on every seedy corner of the Big Apple. But this case is more depraved and more potentially devastating than anything he experienced while floundering in the urban depths. Because this investigation is leading Scudder on a frightening grand tour of New York's sex-for-sale underworld -- where an innocent young life is simply a commodity to be bought and perverted . . . and then destroyed.
In the Midst of Death
Part #3 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Bad cop Jerry Broadfield didn't make any friends on the force when he volunteered to squeal to an ambitious d. a. about police corruption. Now he'saccused of murdering a call girl. Matthew Scudder doesn't think Broadfield's a killer, but the cops aren't about to help the unlicensed p. i. prove it -- and they may do a lot worse than just get in his way.
Burglar Who Smelled Smoke
Lawrence Block
Lawrence Block - The Burglar Who Smelled Smoke(with Lynne Wood Block)From "The Collected Mystery Stories"
When the Sacred Ginmill Closes
Part #6 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
These were the dark days for Matthew Scudder. An ex-New York cop, he had drowned his career in booze. Now he was drinking away his life in a succession of seedy establishments that opened early and closed late, reduced to doing paid "favors" for the cronies who gathered with him to worship the bottle. Now, in a sad and lonely place like so many before it, opportunity comes knocking — a chance to help the ginmil's owner recover his stolen doctored financial records; a chance to help out a drinking buddy accused of murdering his wife. But when cases flow together in dangerous and disturbing ways — like the nightmare images in a drunkard's delirium — it's time for Scudder to change his priorities: to staying sober. . . and staying alive.
You Could Call It Murder
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
When a beautiful young heiress goes missing, it could be a runaway . . . or it could be murder Roy Markham figures the case of Barbara Taft will be easy. A beautiful and wealthy college girl with a wild streak, she's probably left her sleepy New England campus to be with a boy. But when her body turns up in the Hudson River, Roy suspects this is no suicide. While he's working on Barb's case, another beautiful young girl hops into his cab with killers on her tail. Suddenly the private detective finds himself wrapped up in a whole lot of females' troubles and he's got to crack the case to help them—and him—get out alive.This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lawrence Block, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from his personal collection, and a new afterword written by the author.
A Ticket to the Boneyard
Part #8 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
The streets of New York are never safe, but the release of James Leo Motley, a psychopath who went down swearing revenge on Matt Scudder on all who knew him, means death is out there looking for a victim. No-one is safe - friends, lovers or just those unfortunate enough to share the same name.
The Trouble With Eden
Lawrence Block
A small town with some very big libidos comes to life in this quirky erotic novel New Hope, Pennsylvania, offers a quaint country experience that tourists just adore. But what’s not in the postcards is the town’s web of liberated lovers, who switch bedfellows faster than you can say swinger. When Linda’s man Marc leaves her, she quickly becomes the new catch in town. Her landlord’s got a few ladies on the side, so what’s one more? And then there’s Pete, the sensitive theater guy who hits her up to get high but might be looking for more. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lawrence Block, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from his personal collection, and a new afterword written by the author.
A Stab in the Dark
Part #4 of "Matthew Scudder" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Louis Pinell, the recently apprehended "Icepick Prowler," freely admits to having slain seven young women nine years ago -- but be swears it was a copycat who killed Barbara Ettinger Matthew Scudder believes him. But the trail to Ettinger's true murderer is twisted, dark and dangerous. . . and even colder than the almost decade-old corpse the p. i. is determined to avenge.
Topless Tulip Caper
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Edgar Award-winning author Lawrence Block returns with another outrageous caper featuring Chip Harrison...a sleuth who always seems to get into trouble with a capital T! Now a man about town working for a famous detective, Chip Harrison finds himselfat a Times Square Club waiting for his latest client, a stripper, to finish a night's work. When she completes her set, she introduces him toher roommate, a dancer who's targeted for murder...and killed in the club right before their very eyes! The list of suspects is as long as the line outside the club, and now it will take all of Chip's street smarts to trap a killer! Lawrence Block is one of the most respected and bestselling authors ofmystery fiction Lawrence Block has won the Edgar Award three times, the Shamus Award four times, the Maltese Falcon Award twice, and was named Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America Previously published under pseudonyms and in omnibus collections, this isthe first time the Chip Harrison novels are being individually published under Lawrence Block's name The Chip Harrison mystery series also includes Make Out With Murder,Chip Harrison Scores Again, and No Score
Transgressions
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Forge Books is proud to present an amazing collection of novellas, compiled by New York Times bestselling author Ed McBain. Transgressions is a quintessential classic of never-before-published tales from today's very best novelists. Faeturing: "Walking Around Money" by Donald E. Westlake: The master of the comic mystery is back with an all-new novella featuring hapless crook John Dortmunder, who gets involved in a crime that supposedly no one will ever know happened. Naturally, when something it too good to be true, it usually is, and Dortmunder is going to get to the bottom of this caper before he's left holding the bag."Hostages" by Anne Perry: The bestselling historical mystery author has written a tale of beautiful yet still savage Ireland today. In their eternal struggle for freedom, there is about to be a changing of the guard in the Irish Republican Army. Yet for some, old habits-and honor-still die hard, even at gunpoint."The Corn Maiden" by...
Manhattan Noir 2, The Classics
Lawrence Block (ed)
Manhattan Noir 2, The ClassicsTABLE OF CONTENTSPART I: THE OLD SCHOOLEDITH WHARTON, Greenwich Village, Mrs. Manstey’s View, 1891STEPHEN CRANE, East 40s, A Poker Game, 1902O. HENRY, Lower West Side, The Furnished Room, 1906IRWIN SHAW, West Village, Sailor off the Bremen, 1939CORNELL WOOLRICH, East 37th Street, New York Blues, 1970PART II: THE POETS EDGAR ALLAN POE, West 84th Street, The Raven, 1845HORACE GREGORY, Chelsea, Selections from Chelsea Rooming House, 1930GEOFFREY BARTHOLOMEW, East Village, Selections from The McSorley Poems, 2001PART III: DARKNESS VISIBLEJERROLD MUNDIS, Central Park, The Luger Is a 9mm Automatic Handgun with a Parabellum Action, 1969BARRY N. MALZBERG, Upper West Side, The Interceptor, 1972CLARK HOWARD, Sixth Avenue, Crowded Lives, 1989JEROME CHARYN, Lower East Side, Young Isaac, 1990DONALD E. WESTLAKE, Wall Street, Love in the Lean Years, 1992JOYCE CAROL OATES, Central Park South, A Manhattan Romance, 1997LAWRENCE BLOCK, Eighth Avenue, In for a Penny, 1999SUSAN ISAACS, Murray Hill, Two Over Easy, 2008Lawrence Block has won most of the major mystery awards and has been called the quintessential New York writer. His series characters—Matthew Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, Evan Tanner, Chip Harrison, and Keller—all live in Manhattan; like their creator, they would not really be happy anywhere else.From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. While Akashic's original city-themed anthologies tend to be hit or miss, its third reprint volume (after Brooklyn Noir 2 and D.C. Noir 2) offers 17 sure winners by such literary heavyweights as Edith Wharton, Stephen Crane, O. Henry, Damon Runyon, Donald E. Westlake and Joyce Carol Oates. The tales range in time from 1891 to 2008, giving the book a variety some others in the series have lacked. Block makes a persuasive case in his introduction for including Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, written in 1845 on what would become Manhattan's Upper West Side, as well as poetic selections by Horace Gregory and Geoffrey Bartholomew, whose works are set respectively in a Chelsea rooming house and McSorley's bar in the East Village. If one had to choose the single story that epitomizes noir, the honors would go to Cornell Woolrich's New York Blues, a bleak tale of love and loneliness, madness and death. (Sept.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
A Time to Scatter Stones
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
MATT SCUDDER RETURNS. More than 40 years after his debut and nearly a decade since his last appearance, one of the most renowned characters in all of crime fiction is back on the case in this major new novella by Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block. Well past retirement age and feeling his years—but still staying sober one day at a time—Matthew Scudder learns that alcoholics aren't the only ones who count the days since their last slip. Matt's longtime partner, Elaine, tells him of a group of former sex workers who do something similar, helping each other stay out of the life. But when one young woman describes an abusive client who's refusing to let her quit, Elaine encourages her to get help of a different sort. The sort only Scudder can deliver. A Time to Scatter Stones offers not just a gripping crime story but also a richly drawn portrait of Block's most famous character as he grapples with his own mortality while proving to the younger...
Getting Off: A Novel of Sex & Violence
Part #69 of "Hard Case Crime" series by Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Review"One of the best books of this or any year." - BookReporter"...you’ll be rooting for this thoroughly beguiling serial killer on a mission. A pro’s pro, Block never wastes a word, never misplaces a plot element... it also boasts Block’s legendary craftsmanship, sly humor, and virtuoso plotting. The premise is to die for!" - *Booklist*"[A] fun, fast-paced read full of steamy moments and a twist ending... a must have for pulp fiction fans." - Celebrity Cafe"A great read from cover to cover... believe me when I say that you are in for a wonderful time." - Horror News*"A perfect treat." - Affairs Magazine*"Block has, once again, created a tale to excite and absorb even the most jaded reader of crime fiction." - Eclipse MagazinePraise for Lawrence Block:"There is only one writer of mystery and detective fiction who comes close to replacing the irreplaceable John D. MacDonald...The writer is Lawrence Block." - Stephen King "Unfailingly entertaining." - The New York Times "One of the very best writers now working the beat." - The Wall Street Journal "Lawrence Block is a master of crime fiction." - Jonathan Kellerman About the AuthorLawrence Block is one of the most acclaimed and highly decorated living mystery writers, having received multiple Edgar, Shamus and Maltese Falcon Awards, as well as lifetime achievement awards in the US, UK, and France. He was named a "Grand Master" by the Mystery Writers of America, the organization's highest honor. In the 1960s and 70s he wrote seven novels under the pen name "Jill Emerson," a pseudonym he is reviving for the first time in nearly 40 years for Getting Off.
Collectibles
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
From Publishers Weekly:"Standouts include Dennis Lehane's gilt-edged chiller, 'A Bostonian (in Cambridge),' in which a wealthy collector of letters of abandonment falls prey to wily blackmailers, and Joe R. Lansdale's 'The Skull Collector,' a gangster yarn featuring gun-toting female grave robbers. Overshadowing everything, though, is Lee Goldberg's 'Lost Shows,' a delightful shocker about a fanatical collector of short-lived and unaired TV shows who has turned his Hollywood home into a mausoleum of lost dreams." A COLLECTION... OF COLLECTIONS What leads one person to collect stamps and another coins, one fine art and another butterflies? Who can say? But one thing is certain: those who've got the collecting bug care passionately—sometimes violently—about the objects of their obsession. No one covets like a collector; and as you will find in the pages of this brand new anthology from MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block, a truly...
Catch and Release
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
The Master Returns--With Never-Before-Collected Tales of Murder and Desire One of the most highly acclaimed novelists in the crime genre, Lawrence Block is also a master of the short story, with award-winning work ranging from the macabre to the slyly comic, from heart-stopping tales of revenge to memorable explorations of lust and greed, all told in Block's unforgettable style. The sixteen stories (and one stage play!) collected here feature appearances by some of Block s most famous characters, including gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr and alcoholic private detective Matt Scudder, as well as glimpses into the minds of a rogue's gallery of frightening killers, dangerous sociopaths, crooked cops, and lost souls whose only chance to find themselves may be on the wrong side of a gun. You'll meet a compulsive hoarder whose towering piles of trash and treasures hide disturbing secrets...a beautiful young tennis star with a rather too possessive secret admirer...a dealer in stolen art who is unwilling to part with his most prized possession at any price...poker players with agendas that have nothing to do with the cards in their hands...and a catch-and-release fisherman whose preferred catch walks on two legs. Terror and passion, cruelty and vindication--it's all here, in a collection that will thrill you, scare you, and remind you why Lawrence Block is still the best there is at what he does. This is the book that led Publishers Weekly’s reviewer to enthuse, “If Block were a serial killer instead of one of the best storytellers of our time, we’d be in real trouble.”Table of ContentsA Burglar’s-Eye View of GreedA Chance to Get EvenA Vision in WhiteCatch and ReleaseClean SlateDolly’s Trash and TreasuresHow FarMick Ballou Looks at the Blank ScreenOne Last Night at Grogan’sPart of the JobScenariosSee the WomanSpeaking of GreedSpeaking of LustWelcome to the Real WorldWho Knows Where It GoesWithout a Body
Matthew Scudder 01 - The Sins of the Fathers
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
The pretty young prostitute is dead. Her alleged murderer, a minister's son, hanged himself in his jail cell. The case is closed. But the dead girl's father has come to Matthew Scudder for answers, sending the unlicensed p.i. in search of terrible truths about a life that was lived and lost in a sordid world of perversion and pleasures.
The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Since the 1970s, Lawrence Block has been writing award-winning novels and short fiction featuring Matthew Scudder. Now, with both himself and his detective half a century older, the author found himself charged with writing a book about his protagonist.And he decided he wasn't the right person for the job.LB: "What was Matt's family like? How did he spend his childhood? What steered him toward the NYPD, and how did he get all the way from the Police Academy to a detective's gold shield? Who were the influences and what were the experiences that made him the man we've come to know? These were important questions. There were certainly stories to be told, but that didn't mean I was the person to tell them. If Matt Scudder was to have a memoir, he ought to write it himself."So Block passed on the assignment to his most enduring fictional character, and the result—The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder—is a remarkable document, at once a convincing...
The Burglar in Short Order
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Four decades ago, Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block introduced the world to one of his most beloved and enduring creations: Bernie Rhodenbarr, the clever, nimble-fingered star of novels such as Burglars Can't Be Choosers, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, and The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons. Called "the Heifetz of the picklock" by the New York Times, Bernie has stolen not only antiques, stamp collections, and priceless works of art but also millions of readers' hearts.Now, for all those craving more adventures of their favorite bookseller-by-day and burglar-by-night, The Burglar in Short Order for the first time ever collects all of Bernie's short-form appearances in one complete volume. From the story in which a prototype of Bernie first appeared ("A Bad Night For Burglars") to his appearances in Playboy and (maybe? It's kinda complicated) Cosmopolitan...from an essay discussing Bernie's misadventures in Hollywood (how in the world did...
Sometimes They Bite
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
About the AuthorLawrence Block is a four-time winner of the Edgar Award and was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. He has also won four Shamus Awards, and was the first recipient of the Nero Wolfe Award. He is the author of over 40 books, many of which feature the characters Bernie Rhodenbarr, Matthew Scudder, Chip Harrison, and Evan Tanner. He lives in New York City with his wife Lynne.From AudioFileSuspense writer Lawrence Block doesn't need to use the supernatural to give listeners the creeps. Mortal avarice, desperation and brutishness achieve the same effect in this gleefully misanthropic pulp fiction. Bruce Weitz, who played Belker on TV's "Hill Street Blues," has ghoulish fun with this collection, nicely giving character to the ample dialogue. Despite his adenoidal growl and occasional signs of hasty production, he's surprisingly expressive and easy to listen to. Particularly apt is his tone--as if he's sharing some cosmic dirty joke on the human race with a fellow avenging angel. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Borderline
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
THE SCORCHING PULP NOVEL BY LAWRENCE BLOCK, AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 50 YEARS! On the border between El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, five lives are about to collide - with fatal results. You'll meet MARTY - the professional gambler who rolls the dice on a night with... MEG - the bored divorcee who seeks excitement and finds... LILY - the beautiful hitchhiker lured into a live sex show by... CASSIE - the redhead with her own private agenda... and WEAVER - the madman, the killer with a straight razor in his pocket, on the run from the police and determined to go down swinging! This is MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block at his rawest and most visceral, a bloody, bawdy, brutal story of passion and punishment--and of lines that were never meant to be crossed.**From BooklistHard Case Crime continues to resurrect Block’s early work, often written pseudonymously, from the 1950s and early ’60s. Gleefully mixing soft-core pornography with a thriller plot, Block churned out numerous of these bound-for-the-drugstore-paperback-rack quickies as he was gaining his sea legs for the more mature work that would come later. This one makes the most of its seedy border-town setting, jumping between El Paso and Juárez, as the paths of a gambler, divorcée, hitchhiker, stripper, and psycho killer come together in an inevitable bloodbath—but not before a series of steamy, yet surprisingly stylish, couplings (There was a beginning, bittersweet and almost painful. There was a middle, fast and furious, a scherzo movement in a symphony of fire. And there was an ending, gasping, spent, two bodies washed up on a lonely, barren beach.) Who knew what lurked on those paperback racks, nestled beside the sundries, awaiting the hungry eyes of surreptitious readers? And, yet, along with the titillation, Block’s inimitable craftsmanship shines through, along with flashes of his signature wit. --Bill Ott Review"A brutal story of sexual passion and bloody punishment." - Retrenders "This collection is a must-read for both established fans and those who haven’t yet had the pleasure of being introduced to Block’s work." - Crime Fiction Lover "Entertaining and twisted." - PopCults "If you like your pulp fiction a bit on the raw side, you may want to make a trip to the Borderline. I’m glad I did." - Professor Mondo "it’s as raw and visceral as anything you’ll find in bookstores today." - October Country "Borderline is a visceral punch in the gut. It’s characters play their parts perfectly, rounding out the plot in a crime style that makes for a perfect, quick read. Block once again proves himself to be a Grand Master of mystery." - As The Plot Thins "An important addition to Block’s library and a must read for his fans." - Book Reporter “An edgy story pulsing with sex and violence; his wry sense of humor; a sobering sense of devastation; and all-around expertly crafted prose. what else can I say except it's an excellent story, up to Block's high standard.” – Pulp Serenade “Talk about your page turner. I read this, something I rarely do, in a single sitting just because of its bitter and brutal force. ...you see a great writer busy creating a realm exclusively his own.” – Ed Gorman’s Blog “Block’s inimitable craftsmanship shines through, along with flashes of his signature wit.” – Booklist "Packs plenty of vicarious thrills, sexual titillation, and taboo breaking." - Publisher's Weekly
Shadows
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Shadows, which was not only the debut of Jill Emerson but my own very first novel, is the story of a young woman, Jan Marlowe, who comes to New York fresh out of college, takes an apartment in the Bohemian neighborhood of Greenwich Village, and seeks to find herself—and specifically to come to terms with the puzzling question of sexual identity.Well then...One morning in the spring of 1958 I woke up in my room at the Hotel Alexandria with a paralyzing hangover (which was not unusual) and an idea for a book (which was). I sat in front of my typewriter, and within a few hours I had produced a chapter-by-chapter outline of a novel. I had all the characters sketched out and knew how they'd relate to one another, and how the rather elementary storyline would resolve itself. I even had a title: Shadows.At the time I was working as an editor at a shady literary agency, but I'd already arranged for my departure, as come fall I'd be resuming college in Ohio....
Ariel
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
### Review “Block is one of the best!” —_The Washington Post_ ### Product Description Ariel Jardell, an adopted 12-year-old girl, is possessed, her mother thinks, by jealousy and by forces far more bizarre. An unnerving tale woven together with a fascinating, terrifying child at the center of each twist and turn it takes, this book gives new definition to the old conflict of good versus evil, sane versus insane.
The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
SUMMARY:
Bookseller Bernie Rhodenbarr's in love—with an exotic Eastern European beauty who shares his obsession with Humphrey Bogart movies. He's in heaven, munching popcorn with his new amour every night at a Bogart Film Festival—until their Casablanca-esque idyll is cut short by his other secret passion: burglary. When he's hired to pilfer a portfolio of valuable documents from a Park Avenue apartment, Bernie can hardly refuse. But the occupant's early return forces Bernie to flee empty-handed—and he soon finds himself implicated in a murder. Before you can say "who stole the strawberries?" he's hunting for a killer, up to his neck in the outrageous intrigues of a tiny Balkan nation . . . and menaced by more sinister fat men and unsavory toadies than the great Bogie himself butted heads with in pursuit of that darn bird!
Make Out with Murder
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
SUMMARY:A previously published mystery follows New York City sleuth-for-hire Chip Harrison as he confronts his first case, in which five beautiful sisters--one of them a former flame--are hunted down by their wicked The third book in a four-novel, humorous mystery series written in the 1970's by Lawrence Block and featuring Chip Harrison, a teenaged, one-man anti-chastity movement training to be an Archie Goodwin to NYC private detective Leo Haig.. Original.
The Burglar on the Prowl
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
Amazon.com ReviewBernie Rhodenbarr, burglar with a heart of gold, returns for this 10th installment in a reliable Burglar on the Prowl, Bernie is recruited by an old friend to burgle the home of a crooked plastic surgeon, removing some off-the-books cash from a wall safe. A simple enough job, but Bernie complicates matters by going "on the prowl" one restless evening―-randomly cruising for an easy job. While he's pawing through a woman's empty apartment, she returns home; Bernie hides hastily, only to overhear an act of violence that draws him into a hunt for the perpetrator and a deepening role in the victim's life.Lawrence Block's prose is merely serviceable, but his plotting and storytelling are first-rate. He constructs a complex puzzle, yet weaves in each new development so seamlessly that you almost don't see it happen. Like its Bernie predecessors, The Burglar on the Prowl is droll and charming, and at times you can feel Block trying a bit too hard with the charm. However, a few truly horrific bad guys and some ugly violence keep the sweetness from cloying. And it's impossible not to like Bernie, a gentleman criminal with few peers in contemporary fiction. --Nicholas H. AllisonFrom Publishers WeeklyYou'd think that Block, with more than 50 books to his credit, would run out of ideas, but as this 10th in his Burglar series shows (after 1999's The Burglar in the Rye), he's as fresh, witty and inventive as ever. The author builds his plot on stupefying coincidences, but not to worry—everything eventually meshes. A friend asks Bernie Rhodenbarr, confirmed New Yorker, used-book dealer and gentleman burglar, to rob a mob-connected plastic surgeon who stole the friend's mistress. He agrees, and cases the doctor's house in Riverdale, the Bronx. But Bernie is restive and, uncharacteristically (because he plans carefully), he breaks into a Manhattan apartment on a whim and almost gets caught, hiding under the bed while a woman is date-raped. Next day a customer is shot near his bookstore, a mysterious émigré couple is murdered, a former Latvian war criminal is reported in New York and Bernie's apartment is ransacked. These crimes seem unrelated in such a large city, but Bernie finds a common thread. In the end, Bernie assembles 22 people (including lawmen) in the surgeon's living room and, Charlie Chan style, explains each participant's role and, where appropriate, crime. Lesser hands would not bring off this breathtaking performance, but in Block's it's seamless and hilarious. Quirky characters like Bernie's pals Carolyn Kaiser, the dog groomer, and cop Ray Kirschmann; an insider's love of New York; and a slew of wonderful puns add to the fun.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Ronald Rabbit Is a Dirty Old Man
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
From Publishers WeeklyMaster mystery writer Block has dabbled in his time in many genres, and early in his career, back in 1971, he published a handful of paperback erotic novels under a pseudonym; this is one of them. He wanted, he says, to have fun with an epistolary novel, and this is written entirely in the form of letters by a fired magazine editor, Larry Clarke, to his former wife, his previous employers, his previous wife's lover and so on. Block's knack of keeping things moving was prodigious even then, and the novel is a rapid and often amusing read, in which Larry Clarke takes sharp potshots at all and sundry, to often delicious effect. The erotic part is less successful, however; Larry (Clarke or Block) was under the impression, common to pornographers, that women crave anal penetration, which makes some of the sex scenes rather distasteful and far from aphrodisiac in effect. It's an interesting glimpse, nonetheless, of the early skills of one of our great noir stylists. (Feb.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.Review“Block is one of the best!” —The Washington Post
The Triumph of Evil
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
An assassin targets the political leaders of the United States, causing a domino effect that could bring down the government and alter our way of life forever Assassinations, political upheaval, student riots, and conservative rage. In the thick of the Cold War it was the perfect recipe for revolution, and it only took a gentle push to send a nation toppling into dictatorship. But what if it happened in the Untied States? Miles Dorn can make it so. A hired killer with no past and no future, he steps out of retirement and sets his sights on the political leaders holding America back from the brink. A Louisiana governor, a Detroit mayor, a bleeding-heart senator, and finally the vice president himself. When they fall, a tyrant will step forward and Dorn will disappear again. But as the death toll rises, he finds himself growing close to a civilian, a Summer of Love idealist who makes him question his path. Can he turn back before it’s too late for him—and too late for America? This ebook features an illustrated biography of Lawrence Block, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from his personal collection, and a new afterword written by the author.
Burglars Can't Be Choosers
Lawrence Block
Mystery & Thrillers / Fiction
SUMMARY:
Bernie Rhodenbarr is a personable chap, a good neighbor, a passable poker player. His chosen profession, however, might not sit well with some. Bernie is a burglar, a good one, effortlessly lifting valuables from the not-so-well-protected abodes of well-to-do New Yorkers like a modern-day Robin Hood. (The poor, as Bernie would be the first to tell you, alas, have nothing worth stealing.) He's not perfect, however; he occasionally makes mistakes. Like accepting a paid assignment from a total stranger to retrieve a particular item from a rich man's apartment. Like still being there when the cops arrive. Like having a freshly slain corpse lying in the next room, and no proof that Bernie isn't the killer. Now he's really got his hands full, having to locate the true perpetrator while somehow eluding the police -- a dirty job indeed, but if Bernie doesn't do it, who will?
