I had started reading Block’s Scudder books way back in 2011 and when I finally got to the fifth installment – Eight Million Ways to Die – I knew I had just read a game changer for the series. In his foreword, Block says that in the original novel, he was trying to tell three…
Through his wife Elaine, Matt Scudder is introduced to a young woman being stalked and threatened by a former client of hers. Without a name or photo to go on, can Matt track him down and scare him off? Having believed to be done with Scudder, Block surprised us all when he announced a new…
Editor’s Note: As you may notice, this is a list heavy with white males. This wasn’t a conscious effort on my part. It just so happens that a lot of these authors are ones I truly enjoy and have read in the past. These are just seven of the more than six dozen books I…
Sinner Man tells the story of small town insurance-peddler Don Barshter, and how after a few too many drinks, inadvertently murders his wife following an errant strike. Rather than call the police and turn himself in, Don decides to cram his wife’s body into a closet and flee town. It’s during his aimless travels that…
Back in 1978, Lawrence Block released a book detailing his advice for prospective novelists. Now, nearly forty years later, while much of the material is still relevant, Block decided to add and expand the text with the digital world in mind. Now dubbed, “Writing the Novel: From Plot to Print to Pixel”, Block’s gives important…
The Night & The Music holds eleven Scudder short stories that cover a wide spectrum of his literary life. The first few tales take place while Matt was still sucking down bourbon and coffee while the latter bring us up to his marriage with Elaine as well as his friendship with Irish gangster Mick Ballou.…
Doak Miller is a former cop living out his retirement in Florida. Not content to sit on his ass and collect a pension, Doak picks up a P.I. license and takes the odd job that floats his way. When a local sheriff comes to him with a request to impersonate a hit-man to a housewife…
Seeing as Matt Scudder ages along with his creator, Lawrence Block doesn’t feel there’s much interest in following the activities of a detective in his mid-70s. Rather than write a follow-up to All The Flowers Are Dying, Block backtracks about thirty years, all the way back to Scudder’s first year of sobriety where he finds…
