(Nobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a p...)
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.
(In the dark days, in a sad and lonely place, ex-cop Matt ...)
In the dark days, in a sad and lonely place, ex-cop Matt Scudder is drinking his life away, and doing "favors" for pay for his ginmill cronies. But when three such assignments flow together in dangerous and disturbing ways, he'll need to change his priorities from boozing to surviving.
(When ex-policeman and recovering alcoholic Matthew Scudde...)
When ex-policeman and recovering alcoholic Matthew Scudder is stalked by a psychotic killer who murders, one by one, Scudders' friends and acquaintances, his fate hinges on the survival of a glamorous call girl.
(Matt Scudder is finally leading a comfortable life. The c...)
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 philosophical yet practical gentleman, Bernie Rhodenbar...)
A philosophical yet practical gentleman, Bernie Rhodenbarr possesses many admirable qualities: charm, intelligence, sparkling wit, and unwavering loyalty. Of course, he also has this special talent and a taste for life's finer things. So he's more than willing to perform some vengeful larceny for a friend - ripping off a smarmy, particularly deserving plastic surgeon - for fun and a very tidy profit. But during a practice run at another address, Bernie's forced to hide under a bed when the lady of the house returns unexpectedly with the worst kind of blind date in tow. In no time, Bernie's up to his burgling neck in big trouble. Again. And this time it includes his arrest, no less than four murders, and more outrageous coincidences than any self-preserving felon should ever be required to tie together.
Lawrence Block is an internationally renowned American mystery and suspense author. His career spans over one hundred books, including four bestselling series and dozens of short stories, articles, and books on writing. Especially, Block is known for A Walk Among the Tombstones, My Blueberry Nights and 8 Million Ways to Die.
Background
Lawrence Block was born on June 24, 1938, in Buffalo, New York, the United States to the family of Arthur Jerome and Lenore Harriet (Nathan) Block. He was the elder of two children. Lawrence's father practiced law in Buffalo while his mother was an accomplished painter and pianist who never pursued either direction professionally.
Education
Lawrence grew up reading the realistic American novelists of the first half of the 20th Century. He attended Bennett High School and in 1955 enrolled at Antioch College. Lawrence spent his entire first year studying. The following summer he took a co-op job as a mail boy at Pines Publications, a magazine and paperback-book publisher in New York. In the end, Lawrence left college before graduation, moved to New York City, and in the 1950s started publishing his first works.
During his early writing years, Block also worked in the mailroom of a publishing house and reviewed the submission slush pile for a literary agency. He has cited the latter experience as a valuable lesson for a beginning writer.
Block's first short story, You Can't Lose, was published in 1957 in Manhunt, the first of dozens of short stories and articles that he would publish over the years in publications including American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and the New York Times.
In 1966, Block introduced the insomniac protagonist Evan Tanner in the novel The Thief Who Couldn't Sleep. His remarkable heroes also include the urbane and witty bookseller Bernie Rhodenbarr, the gritty recovering alcoholic and private investigator Matthew Scudder, and Chip Harrison, the comical assistant to a private investigator with a Nero Wolfe fixation who appears in No Score, Chip Harrison Scores Again, Make Out with Murder, and The Topless Tulip Caper.
Block has also written several short stories and novels featuring Keller, a professional hitman. Block's work is praised for his richly imagined and varied characters and frequent use of humor.
Lawrence Block appeared as a host of The Late Late Show with Craig Fergusson in eight of Ferguson's ten seasons.
(Matt Scudder is finally leading a comfortable life. The c...)
1999
Views
Quotations:
"My mood during the course of the writing continges more on how well the work’s going, not on how good a time my protagonist is having."
"I’m enough of a crank to argue that people wrote better English when they’d studied Latin in high school. Now it’s a rare school where the language is taught. Beyond that, I think the fact that the past two generations of secondary school English teachers are themselves ill-schooled in grammar has effectively made it impossible for many young people to know how to write a sentence."
"The important thing is the work itself, not what it gets you or who does or doesn’t like it."
"Most of my decisions as a writer are made not intellectually but intuitively. Something will occur to me, and if it feels right I’ll go with it."
Membership
International Association of Crime Writers
International Narcotics Enforcement Officers Association
Mystery Writers of America
International Association for the Study of Organized Crime
Players Club
The Travelers' Century Club
Personality
Lawrence Block is modest and a man of few words. He’s murderously blunt, deceptively brief and just a little rough around the edges, like many of his characters. His humor is dry and occasionally self-deprecating.
Block is also known as an enthusiastic New Yorker and a relentless world traveler. Together with his wife Lynne they have already visited around 160 countries.
Interests
travelling
Connections
In 1960 Lawrence Block married Loretta Kallett (divorced 1973). They have three children: Amy, Jill, and Alison. In 1981 Block met Lynne Wood. A year later they began keeping company, and in 1983 finally got married.
Received in 1979 for The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling.
Received in 1979 for The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling.
The Shamus Award,
United States
Was awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America for Best Novel in 1983 (Eight Million Ways to Die), for Best Short Story in 1985 (By Dawn’s Early Light), for Best Novel in 1994 (The Devil Knows You're Dead), and for Best Short Story in 1994 (The Merciful Angel of Death).
Was awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America for Best Novel in 1983 (Eight Million Ways to Die), for Best Short Story in 1985 (By Dawn’s Early Light), for Best Novel in 1994 (The Devil Knows You're Dead), and for Best Short Story in 1994 (The Merciful Angel of Death).
Edgar Allan Poe Award,
United States
Was awarded by the Mystery Writers of America for Best Short Story in 1985 (By Dawn’s Early Light), for Best Novel in 1992 (A Dance at the Slaughterhouse), for Best Short Story in 1994 (Keller’s Therapy).
Was awarded by the Mystery Writers of America for Best Short Story in 1985 (By Dawn’s Early Light), for Best Novel in 1992 (A Dance at the Slaughterhouse), for Best Short Story in 1994 (Keller’s Therapy).
Maltese Falcon Award,
Japan
Received for When the Sacred Ginmill Closes and A Ticket to the Boneyard.
Received for When the Sacred Ginmill Closes and A Ticket to the Boneyard.
Lifetime Achievement Award,
United States
Was awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America in 2002.
Was awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America in 2002.
Grand Maître du Roman Noir,
France
Société 813 Trophy,
France
Grand Master,
United States
Named by the Mystery Writers of America in 1994.
Named by the Mystery Writers of America in 1994.
The British Cartier Diamond Dagger Award,
United Kingdom
Received in 2004.
Received in 2004.
Anthony Award for Best Anthology/Short Story Collection