Best Selling Books by Lawrence Block

Book description to come.

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.

Grandmaster and Edgar award-winning author Lawrence Block has brought together 71 of his best stories featuring his most popular series characters. From Matt Scudder in ''The Merciful Angel of Death'' to Bernie Rhodenbarr in ''Like a Thief in the Night'' and Keller''s ''Answers to Soldier'', THE COLLECTED MYSTERY STORIES is the ultimate collection from ''one of the best authors now working the beat'' Wall Street Journal

Nobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a person can sink in the city of New York. Except a young prostitute named Kim—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 in a seedy hotel room. 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. With this book, which won the Shamus Award and was short-listed for the Edgar, Lawrence Block elevated the Matthew Scudder series to the top tier of American detective fiction. This special hardcover edition features an afterword by the author. Read Eight Million Ways to Die, the novel that proves Block to be one of the best mystery writers working today.

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. "Right up there with Mr. Block''s best . . . A Drop of Hard Stuff keeps us guessing." -- Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

Block covers every step of the novel writing and selling process to help writers deliver a salable manuscript to the right editor''s desk.

A thief finds himself in the wrong place and suspected of the wrong crime in the "unfailingly entertaining" series from bestselling author ( The New York Times). It''s hard to ignore someone with his hands in your mouth. Bernie Rhodenbarr''s all ears when Dr. Sheldrake, his dentist, starts complaining about his detestable, soon-to-be-ex wife, and happens to mention the valuable diamonds she keeps lying around the apartment. Since Bernie''s been known to supplement his income as a bookstore owner with the not-so-occasional bout of high-rise burglary, a couple of nights later he''s in the Sheldrake apartment with larceny on his mind—and has to duck into a closet when the lady of the house makes an unexpected entrance. Unfortunately he''s still there when an unseen assailant does Mrs. Sheldrake in . . . and then vanishes with the jewels. Bernie''s got to come out of the closet some time. But when he does, he''ll be facing a rap for a murder he didn''t commit—and for a burglary he certainly attempted—unless he can hunt down the killer who left him hanging. "Light-hearted crime at its very best." —Robert Ludlum "Hilarious." — St. Louis Post-Dispatch "A forgery ring turns up—along with the breezy Manhattan repartee and charmingly crude New Yorkers we''ve come to expect from the likably smart-alecky Mr. Block." — Kirkus Reviews

Meet Killer, the coldly efficient, yet decidedly human hit man. Your basic Urban Lonely Guy. He makes a decent wage, lives in a nice apartment. Until the phone rings and he gets on a plane and flies halfway across the country and kills somebody. It''s a living. But is it a life? Keller''s not sure. He goes to a shrink. He gets a dog, he gets a girlfriend. He gets along. There''s no one like Keller. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Bookseller and New-Yorker-to-the-bone, Bernie Rhodenbarr rarely ventures out of Manhattan, but he''s excited about the romantic getaway he has planned for himself and current lady love Lettice at the Cuttleford House, a remote upstate b&b. Unfortunately, Lettice has a prior engagement—she''s getting married . . . and not to Bernie—so he decides to take best buddy Carolyn instead. A restful respite from the big city''s bustle would be too good to waste. Besides, there''s a very valuable first edition shelved in the Cuttleford''s library that Bernie''s just itching to get his hands on. Did we neglect to mention that Bernie''s a burglar? But first he''s got to get around a very dead body on the library floor. The plot''s thickened by an isolating snowstorm, downed phone lines, the surprise arrival of Lettice and her reprehensible new hubby, and a steadily increasing corpse count. And it''s Bernie who''ll have to figure out whodunit . . . or die.

There is no accolade or major mystery award that has not already been bestowed upon Lawrence Block. His acclaimed crime novels are asintelligent, provocative, and emotionally complex as they are nerve-tighteningly intense. And perhaps the most respected of his myriad works are the Matthew Scudder books -- masterworks of suspenseful invention featuring a remarkable protagonist rich in conscience and character, with all the flaws that his humanity entails. This is the detective novel as high art. A Dance At The Slaughterhouse In 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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

John Keller finds himself getting lonely and begins to have doubts about continuing his job as a paid assassin.

A deranged derelict, a crazed Vietnam vet, has been arrested for gunning down successful young lawyer Glenn Holtzmann at a corner phone booth on Eleventh Avenue -- and the suspect''s brother wants p.i. Matthew Scudder to prove the madman innocent. But Scudder''s curiosity and dedication are leading him to dark, unexplored places in his own heart...and to passions and secrets that could destroy everything be loves.

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.

Twelve years ago, Matthew Scudder lied to a jury to put James Leo Motley behind bars. Now the ingenious psychopath is free. And the alcoholic ex-cop-turned-p.i. must pay dearly for his sins. Friends and former lovers -- even strangers unfortunate enough to share Scudder''s name -- are turning up dead. Because a vengeful maniac is determined not to rest until he''s driven his nemesis back to the bottle...and then to the boneyard.