Matthew Scudder investigates the brutal murder of a woman known as the “bag lady.” A seemingly homeless woman, she turns out to have distributed her substantial wealth in a complex will naming random strangers. Where did the money come from? Why was she living in such reduced circumstances? And why in the world did she choose these beneficiaries–the owner of a local newspaper stand, a neighbor she rarely spoke to, the detective himself–when her real friends and acquaintances got nothing at all? And how is all this linked to her murder?

There is no accolade or major mystery award that has not already been bestowed upon Lawrence Block. His acclaimed crime novels are as intelligent, 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.

In Matt Scudder’s mind, money, power, and position elevate nobody above morality or the law. Now the ex-cop and unlicensed PI 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.

Anita 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 …

Edgar Award-winning author Lawrence Block has been named a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master. A Drop of the Hard Stuff continues Block’s popular series starring New York private detective and recovering alcoholic Matthew Scudder. Scudder is already struggling with his sobriety when his friend and fellow AA member Jack Ellery is found murdered. Now the only thing keeping Scudder from the bottle is his obsession with finding the culprit.

An ancient brotherhood meets annually in the back room of a swank Manhattan restaurant, a fraternity created in secret to celebrate life by celebrating its dead. But the past three decades have not been kind to the Club of 31. Matthew Scudder–ex-cop and ex-boozer–has known death in all its guises, which is why he has been asked to investigate a baffling thirty-year run of suicides and suspiciously random accidents that has thinned the ranks of this very select group of gentlemen.

But Scudder has mortality problems of his own, for his is a city that feeds mercilessly on the unsuspecting–even the powerful and those who serve them are easy prey. There are too many secrets here, too many places for a maddeningly patient serial killer to hide … and wait … and strike.

After a night out with friends, Matthew Scudder is reminded of an enigmatic case he had while still working as uniformed policeman. The case in question involves the suicide of a devout Catholic man in front of his wife and children … or was it a murder?

Nine long years have passed since the killer last struck–nine years since eight helpless young women were brutally slaughtered by an icepick-wielding maniac. The trail grew cold, and the book was unofficially closed on a serial killer who stopped killing. But now the “Icepick Prowler” has confessed–but only to seven of the killings. Not only does he deny the eighth but he also has an airtight alibi.

Barbara Ettinger’s family had almost come to accept that the young woman was the victim of a random killing. Now they must grapple with the shocking revelation that not only was her death disguised to look like the serial killer’s work but her murderer may have been someone she knew and trusted.

Matthew Scudder has been hired to finally bring her slayer to justice, setting the relentless detective on the trail of a death almost a decade old, searching for a vicious murderer who is either long gone, long dead–or patiently waiting to kill again.

Matthew Scudder is about to face every cop’s worst nightmare: James Leo Motley, psychopath extraordinaire.

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 private investigator 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.

Perhaps more than any other author in the field, Lawrence Block has reinvented contemporary noir fiction–instilling the classic private eye novel with new life and literary depth, while retaining its raw power, grit, suspense, and surprise. For
his efforts he has received multiple Edgar, Shamus, and Maltese Falcon Awards–winning virtually every honor the genre has to bestow–and has been named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. PI Matthew Scudder remains
among Block’s most memorable and exquisitely developed creations–a flawed and complex protagonist whose stark, unassailable humanity is both his greatest weakness and strength.

A new breed of entrepreneurial monster has set up shop in the big city. Ruthless, ingenious murderers, they prey on the loved ones of those who live outside the law–knowing full well that criminals will never run to the police no matter how
brutal the threat. So other avenues for justice must be explored–which is where ex-cop-turned-PI Matthew Scudder comes in. Scudder has no love for the drug dealers and poison peddlers who now need his help. Nevertheless, he is
determined to do whatever it takes to put an elusive pair of thrill-kill extortionists out of business. For they are using the innocent to fuel their terrible enterprise.

Sometime in 1953, I knew with unusual certainty what I intended to do with my life. I would become a writer.
By the time I was twenty-five, 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. Early in 2020, I had a fresh look at A Writer Prepares. By the time I was ready to stop, I’d written about my life as a writer well into 1966, when I’d completed The Thief Who Couldn’t Sleep.
A Writer Prepares, an examination of the first quarter century of one writer’s life, is arguably the work of two writers. There’s the middle-aged fellow who wrote about half of it at a blistering pace in 1994, and there’s the octogenarian who finished the job another quarter century later. The older fellow brought less raw energy to the task, and his memory is a long way from infallible, but one can only hope he’s offset these losses with a slight edge in judgment, in perspective, in maturity.

It was all too frighteningly familiar. For the second time in his life, Alex Penn wakes up in an alcoholic daze in a cheap hotel room off Times Square and finds himself lying next to the savagely mutilated body of a young woman. After the first death, he was convicted of murder and imprisoned, then released on a technicality. But this time he has to find out what happened during the blackout and why, before the police do.

Best-selling author of more than 50 books, Lawrence Block is a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and winner of many Shamus Awards. He is widely praised for his popular Bernie Rhodenbarr mystery series. In Ariel, he has created a dark tale laced with terror. Twelve-year-old Ariel is a strange, solitary girl. Recently, Ariel and her mother have seen a ghostly figure in their house. As a result, they are both having dreams that are becoming stranger, yet more and more real. What is the link between this frightening manifestation and the house? Lawrence Block carefully blurs the boundaries between fear and obsession as he steadily increases the suspense. As Ariel’s family moves toward tragedy, so does the reader’s certainty that a terrible force is at work.

Step into the shoes of Matthew Scudder, one of the titular Batman’s helpers. And how does he help Batman? He’s part of a group of people hired by Warner Brothers to confiscate pirated Batman products from vendors selling them on the streets of New York.

From the The Night and the Music collection

In this first in a series of wickedly funny mysteries, best-selling author Lawrence Block introduces Bernie Rhodenbarr, sometimes burglar, sometimes sleuth. Pulling only an occasional, very discreet job, Bernie manages to maintain his comfortable New York City apartment and keep his unorthodox vocation a closely-guarded secret. Every burglar knows never to trust anonymous phone calls. But when the caller offers easy money for an hour’s work, Bernie can’t ignore the job. All he has to do is find a blue box in an empty apartment. But the valuable box is nowhere to be found. The occupant is, however-and he’s dead. Suddenly Bernie finds himself the object of a massive man hunt, wanted for both theft and murder. Winner of multiple Edgar and Shamus Awards, Lawrence Block crafts clever plots with characters you wish you could have over for drinks. But stop to count the silver afterwards. You’ll find yourself laughing out loud as gravelly-voiced narrator Richard Ferrone brings sticky-fingered Bernie to life.

Matthew Scudder gets hired by a fellow bar patron to prove his innocence. Salesman Tommy Tillary is a forty-five-year-old philanderer with a Manhattan girlfriend and a Brooklyn wife. So when Tommy becomes a suspect in the murder of his wife, it’s up to Matt to find the real killer.

One of the most highly acclaimed novelists in the crime genre, Lawrence Block is also a master of the short story. The sixteen stories (and one stage play!) collected here feature appearances by some of Block s most famous characters, including burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr and private detective Matt Scudder, as well as glimpses into the minds of a rogue’s gallery of killers, sociopaths, and crooked cops. You’ll meet a compulsive hoarder whose towering piles of trash and treasures hide disturbing secrets…a beautiful young tennis star with a possessive secret admirer…a dealer in stolen art who is unwilling to part with his most prized possession…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.

When young, broke, and single Chip Harrison finds a bus ticket to Bordentown, South Carolina, he knows it was sent by the hand of fate. It’s his way out of wintry New York City, and a way into the warm welcome of Bordentown’s sheriff! But before long, Chip charms his way into the sheriff’s good graces and into the arms of Lucille, the preacher’s daughter. Even Chip should see he is headed for trouble with a capital “T” in another furiously funny caper by Edgar Award-winning Lawrence Block.

Ed London is the type of private investigator that you call to clean up the mess when your mistress turns up dead. But after he dumps a body in Central Park, it appears this case is still alive and kicking. Seems that the dead girl was in possession of something special that some very shady characters want back. Now Ed, along with his pretty actress friend Maddy, will have to crack the case before he ends up dead himself. But there’s more than a murder here; there’s missing jewels, Israeli intelligence, Nazi spies, and a host of double-dealing, backstabbing thieves.

You 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 . . .

Dave and Jill Wade come to Pennsylvania, the ink still wet on their marriage license, expecting three weeks of lakeside honeymooning bliss. All is lovely until gunshots shatter their first night together. Killers have come for the man in the next cabin, and afterward they decide to silence the happy couple, battering Dave and dragging his virgin bride into the dead man’s bedroom. The Wades say nothing to the police, but afterward take a second set of vows: death for the men who ruined their honeymoon. They set out for New York, ready to take on the city’s mobsters as they consecrate their marriage in blood.

Battling the bottle one day at a time, ex-cop, sometime PI Matthew Scudder finds that next to staying sober, staying alive seems easy. But in the mean streets of New York City it never is. Not for the prostitute who wanted out and got her beautiful self slashed to ribbons. Not for a pimp named Chance who is betting his life that the broken-down detective can find her murderer. And not for Matthew Scudder–just trying to stay alive in a city that knows nothing better than how to die.

In his popular Matt Scudder mystery series, Edgar and Shamus Award-winner, Lawrence Block, creates riveting stories set in the hardened streets of New York City. His suspenseful tale, Even the Wicked, portrays recovering alcoholic, P.I. Matt Scudder, hot on the trail of a theatrical and twisted criminal. A demented serial killer, who calls himself “The Will of the People,” has gained a wide audience by sending warning letters to the Daily News. When “Will” names a prominent criminal defense attorney as his next victim, Matt suddenly finds himself protecting an old associate. Matching his wits against the wily murderer, Matt must race to uncover “Will’s” identity before he loses his lawyer friend. Proclaimed a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, Lawrence Block skillfully captures the street-smart language and lifestyles of his home city. Narrator Mark Hammer provides the perfect voice for eccentric characters and evil-minded lawbreakers.

In his popular Matt Scudder mystery series, Edgar and Shamus Award-winner, Lawrence Block, creates riveting stories set in the hardened streets of New York City. His suspenseful tale, Even the Wicked, portrays recovering alcoholic, P.I. Matt Scudder, hot on the trail of a theatrical and twisted criminal. A demented serial killer, who calls himself “The Will of the People,” has gained a wide audience by sending warning letters to the Daily News. When “Will” names a prominent criminal defense attorney as his next victim, Matt suddenly finds himself protecting an old associate. Matching his wits against the wily murderer, Matt must race to uncover “Will’s” identity before he loses his lawyer friend. Proclaimed a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, Lawrence Block skillfully captures the street-smart language and lifestyles of his home city. Narrator Mark Hammer provides the perfect voice for eccentric characters and evil-minded lawbreakers.

Best-selling author Lawrence Block transports you to New York City to walk the shadowy back streets with P.I. Matt Scudder, ex-cop and recovering alcoholic. In Everybody Dies, Matt is finally leading a comfortable, almost respectable life-until he helps an unlikely friend uncover a nameless enemy. The Big Apple seems to be mellowing now that the crime rate is down and gentrification is sweeping the old neighborhoods. But when a hoodlum buddy from the past asks Matt to investigate the murders of two employees, the spruced-up sidewalks seem as mean as ever. Suddenly Matt finds himself in a world where every step leads him through a mine field, and no man’s survival can be taken for granted. Well-crafted characters, action-packed plots, and gritty, realistic settings have earned Lawrence Block multiple Edgar and Shamus Awards. With his dramatic performance, narrator Mark Hammer expertly captures all the restless rhythms and street-smart language.

Best-selling author Lawrence Block transports you to New York City to walk the shadowy back streets with P.I. Matt Scudder, ex-cop and recovering alcoholic. In Everybody Dies, Matt is finally leading a comfortable, almost respectable life-until he helps an unlikely friend uncover a nameless enemy. The Big Apple seems to be mellowing now that the crime rate is down and gentrification is sweeping the old neighborhoods. But when a hoodlum buddy from the past asks Matt to investigate the murders of two employees, the spruced-up sidewalks seem as mean as ever. Suddenly Matt finds himself in a world where every step leads him through a mine field, and no man’s survival can be taken for granted. Well-crafted characters, action-packed plots, and gritty, realistic settings have earned Lawrence Block multiple Edgar and Shamus Awards. With his dramatic performance, narrator Mark Hammer expertly captures all the restless rhythms and street-smart language.

For almost three years, novelist and short-story writer Lawrence Block’s monthly column, “Generally Speaking,” was one of the most popular features in Linn’s Stamp News. A general collector of pre-1940 issues, Block had the entire world of stamps as his subject, and he turned in thirty-three columns before he decided it was time to stop.
But Keller, the author’s fictional character, never lost his enthusiasm for philately. A wistful and introspective killer for hire, Keller rekindled a boyhood passion for stamps at the end of Hit Man, the first of a series of books about him. Like Block, Keller collects the whole world through philately’s first century. (How’s that for coincidence?) And the nature of his profession gives Keller more discretionary income than Block-and a lot more money to spend on stamps.

Mystery Writers of America Grand Master and New York Times best-selling author Lawrence Block pens gritty crime thrillers that enthrall listeners from beginning to end. Here Block, writing as Jill Emerson, spins a gripping tale of desire and the thirst for revenge. Katherine Ann Tolliver hasn’t used her real name in years. She keeps a low profile as she moves from place to place, searching for all the men who got away. Once she finds them, she seduces them before evening the score.

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?

Keller is a regular guy. He goes to the movies, works on his stamp collection. Call him for jury duty and he serves without complaint. Then every so often he gets a phone call from White Plains that sends him flying off somewhere to kill a perfect stranger. Keller is a pro and very good at what he does. But the jobs have started to go wrong. The realization is slow coming yet, when it arrives, it is irrefutable: Someone out there is trying to hit the hit man. Keller, God help him, has found his way onto somebody else’s hit list.

Keller is a regular guy, a solid citizen. He goes to the movies, watches the tube, browses the art galleries, and works diligently on his stamp collection. But every now and then a call from the breezily efficient Dot sends him off to kill a total stranger. He takes a plane, rents a car, finds a hotel room, and gets back before the body is cold.

He’s a real pro, cool and dispassionate and very good at what he does. Until one day when Dot breaks her own rule and books him for a hit in New York, his home base. She sends him to an art gallery opening, and the girl he gets lucky with steers him to an astrologer. He’s a Gemini, his moon’s in Taurus…and he’s got a murderer’s thumb.

Then the jobs start to go wrong. Targets die before he can draw a bead on them. The realization is slow in coming, but there’s no getting around it: Somebody out there is trying to hit the hit man. Keller, God help him, has found his way on to somebody else’s hit list.

Read by the author.

The conclusion of Hit and Run found Keller living in a big old house in post-Katrina New Orleans’ Lower Garden District, with a new name (Nicholas Edwards), a new wife (Julia), a new career (rehabbing houses), and a baby on the way. It certainly looked as though he was done killing people for money. But old habits die hard, and when the economic downturn knocked out the construction business, a phone call from Dot draws him back into the old game. His work takes him to Dallas, to settle a domestic dispute; to Florida, where he joins a government witness on a West Indies cruise; to Wyoming, where a widow has her husband’s stamp collection for sale; and to New York, where he lived for so many years, and where people might remember him.

The New York Times bestselling author and master of the modern mystery returns with a fierce and poignant new novel featuring his acclaimed killer-for-hire, Keller. John Keller is everyone’s favorite hit man. He’s cool. Reliable. A real pro: the hit man’s hit man. The inconvenient wife, the business partner, the retiree with a substantial legacy. He’s taken care of them all, quietly and efficiently.

Keller’s got a code of honor, though he’d never call it that. And he keeps the job strictly business. But while Keller might be a pragmatic and crack assassin, he’s also prone to doubts and loneliness just like everybody else. And though he’s got Dot, his wisecracking contact and sometimes confidante, these days, it doesn’t seem to be enough.

Keller’s been at this business a long while. Just maybe it’s time to pack it in. Only problem is, retirement takes money. And to get money, he’s got to go to work…

Hit Parade, the third novel featuring the fascinating Keller, displays the hallmarks that distinguish Lawrence Block’s award-winning fiction: the intelligence, the clever plotting, the humor, the tricky twist and ironic turns, the darkness and emotional complexity — and, above all else, the humanity.

Twenty-five years ago Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block introduced his acclaimed unlicensed private investigator to the New York crime scene. Today Matt Scudder remains one of the most complex, richly human protagonists in noir fiction as he pursues a faceless adversary with a unique talent and taste for murder.

When Byrne and Susan Hollander are killed in a brutal home invasion, the whole city catches its collective breath. A few days later the killers turn up dead behind a locked door in Brooklyn. One has killed his partner, then himself. The city sighs with relief. The cops close the case.

Matt and Elaine Scudder were in the same room with the Hollanders hours before their deaths. In spite of himself, Scudder is drawn to the Hollander case. The closer he looks, the more he senses the presence of a third man, a puppet master who manipulated his two accomplices, then cut their strings when he was done with them.

The villain who looms in the shadows is one of Block’s most inspired creations, cold and diabolical, murdering for pleasure and profit. Nobody but Scudder even suspects he exists—and he’s not done killing.

He’s just getting started. . . .

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 …

While he is probably best known as a novelist and short-story writer, Lawrence Block has produced a rich trove of nonfiction over the course of a sixty-year career.
Over the years, Block has written extensively for magazines and periodicals. Generally Speaking collects his philatelic columns from Linn’s Stamp News, while his extensive observations of crime fiction, along with personal glimpses of some of its foremost practitioners, have won wide acclaim in book form as The Crime of Our Lives. Hunting Buffalo With Bent Nails is what he’s got left over.
The title piece, originally published in American Heritage, recounts the ongoing adventure Block and his wife undertook, crisscrossing the United States and parts of Canada in their quixotic and exotic quest to find every “village, hamlet, and wide place in the road named Buffalo.” Other travel tales share space with a remembrance of his mother, odes to New York, a disquisition on pen names and book tours, and, well, no end of bent nails not worth straightening. Where else will you find “Raymond Chandler and the Brasher Doubloon,” an assessment of that compelling writer from a numismatic standpoint? Where else can you hear about Block’s collection of old subway cars? Highly recommended.

In a truly unprecedented literary achievement by author and editor Lawrence Block, this newly-commissioned anthology of seventeen superbly-crafted stories, each inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper. Contributors include Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Olen Butler, Michael Connelly, Megan Abbott, Craig Ferguson, Nicholas Christopher, Jill D. Block, Joe R. Lansdale, Justin Scott, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Warren Moore, Jonathan Santlofer, Jeffery Deaver, Lee Child, and Lawrence Block himself. Even Gail Levin, Hopper’s biographer and compiler of his catalogue raisonee, appears with her own first work of fiction, providing a true account of art theft on a grand scale and told in the voice of the country preacher who perpetrated the crime.

Jerry Broadfield thinks he’s a good cop. But now he’s been charged with extortion–and his former buddies in the NYPD would like to see him laid out on a morgue slab for squealing to a committee on police corruption. Suddenly, he’s got a lot of enemies, and when a dead call girl turns up in his apartment, his troubles get even bigger. Broadfield screams “setup,” but nobody believes him–except ex-policeman, now unlicensed PI Matthew Scudder. Because Broadfield turned traitor, no cop is going to give Scudder any help with this investigation; so Scudder is on his own. But finding a killer among the stoolie cop’s sleazebag connections is going to be as difficult as pouring a cold beer in hell–where some of Broadfield’s enemies would like to see Scudder if he gets himself in too deep.

There were five of them, each prepared to kill, each with his own reasons for accepting what might well be a suicide mission. The pay? $20,000 apiece. The mission? Find a way into Cuba and kill Castro. This breathtaking thriller, originally published the year before the Cuban Missile Crisis under a pen name Lawrence Block never used before or since, is the rarest of Block’s books–and still a work of chilling relevance all these years later, with Castro and Cuba once again commanding headlines.

Lawrence Block’s seventeen Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world–along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe, and the Maltese Falcon. But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and here’s one example.

Matthew Scudder reminisces of his uniformed days and of the night he bent the law to help some “friends of a friend.” When a friendly game of poker turns deadly, Scudder is called upon to solve the murder–and hide the body.

“Let’s Get Lost” is included in the collection of Matthew Scudder short stories, The Night and the Music.

Lawrence Block’s seventeen Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world–along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe (Germany), and the Maltese Falcon (Japan). But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and here’s one example!

A twenty-five-year-old cold case of art theft and murder is reexamined when Matthew Scudder and his wife, Elaine, encounter the main suspect in Florence, Italy. Throughout the trip, Scudder comes to realize the killer’s motive and takes the steps towards proving the suspect’s guilt.

At cards and with women, Bill Maynard knew how to cheat …

On the mend after getting run out of Chicago, professional cardsharp Bill Maynard is hungry for some action … but not nearly as hungry as Joyce Rogers, the tantalizing wife of Bill’s latest mark. Together they hatch an ingenious scheme to get rid of her husband. But in life as in poker, the other player sometimes has an ace up his sleeve.

This classic pulp novel was originally released in 1964 as The Sex Shuffle under the pen name Sheldon Lord.

Chip Harrison has finally secured himself a job, acting as the man-about-town for the corpulent detective Leo Haig. And it’s on the dangerous streets of New York that Chip brings home his first case, one in which five beautiful sisters are being systematically murdered by a killer with a diabolical design. Three of the Trelawney women have already been bumped off, and now Chip is cozying up to the remaining two, and investigating a couple of other nefarious relatives with motive on their minds. The solution is a tantalizing brainteaser that only Edgar Award-winning Lawrence Block could have written.

Lawrence Block’s seventeen Matthew Scudder novels have won fans throughout the world–along with a bevy of awards, including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe (Germany), and the Maltese Falcon (Japan). But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and in this one, Matthew Scudder and his wife Elaine visit their good friend, Mick Ballou, at his bar, Grogan’s, where Mick muses on about the final scene of The Sopranos.

“Mick Ballou Looks at the Blank Screen” was first published in a two hundred-limited-edition broadside in 2007, and, according to Lawrence Block, “it sold out in a hurry.”

Here’s Chip Harrison–the second series character created by Lawrence Block, bestselling author of A Walk among the Tombstones …

Chip’s debut in No Score opens with the lad orphaned and cast adrift by the loathsome headmaster of his prep school. Thus unfolds a picaresque tale in which young Chip travels far and wide, determined to make his way in the world and somehow shrug off the awful cloak of virginity. This earnest and endearing Lecher in the Wry finds work as an assistant to Gregor the Pavement Photographer (whose wife keeps him forever on Third Base, and won’t let him steal home) and employment as a Termite Salesman. He falls in and out of love, and, well, you’ll see.

Jimmie John Hall wasn’t anything until he was a killer, and Betty Dienhardt wasn’t anything until she met Jimmie John Hall. When they get together, sparks fly and bullets follow. The first to go are Betty’s parents, but Betty isn’t bothered. She only wants to be with her man – the first person to ever make her feel special. They set off on a cross-country spree, killing for gas money and food, killing to swap their car for one the police aren’t looking for. As the dragnet draws tighter they only grow closer, riding a road that leads to death because death has surrounded them all the time.

Lawrence Block’s seventeen Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world–along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe, and the Maltese Falcon. But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well. “One Last Night at Grogan’s” was the final nightcap story that Block penned for the collected short stories in The Night and the Music.

This is a city that seduces dreamers–then eats their dreams.

Matthew Scudder understands the futility of his search for a longtime missing Midwestern innocent who wanted to be an actress in the vast meat grinder called New York City. But her frantic father heard that Scudder is the best, and now the ex-cop turned private investigator is scouring the hell called Hell’s Kitchen looking for anything that might resemble a lead. And in this neighborhood of the lost, he’s finding love–and death–in the worst possible places.

Matthew Scudder, a down-but-not-out-detective, is shocked by the apparent suicide of Paula, a waitress at Armstrong’s, one of Scudder’s hangouts. When Paula’s sister shows up and asks Matt to investigate what she believes to be a murder, Scudder agrees to take on the case. A number of clues don’t add up to suicide, and Scudder’s investigation leads him to the dark corners of Paula’s world.

When Guthrie leaves his job, his car, and his apartment behind and starts walking, he has no plan. But day by day, he finds direction, company, and a vision that gets clearer with each passing mile. Lawrence Block is widely known for his best-selling mysteries. Here, in an early work that is now reissued, the Edgar and Shamus Award-winning author offers a provocative fantasy that has changed the lives of many readers.

The author of dozens of acclaimed novels including those in the Scudder and Keller series, Lawrence Block has long been recognized as one of the premier crime writers of our time. Now, the breathtaking skill, power, and versatility of this Grand Master are brilliantly displayed once again in a mesmerizing new thriller set on the streets of the city he knows and loves so well.

That was the thing about New York — if you loved it, if it worked for you, it ruined you for anyplace else in the world.

In this dazzlingly constructed novel, Lawrence Block reveals the secret at the heart of the Big Apple. His glorious metropolis is really a small town, filled with men and women from all walks of life whose aspirations, fears, disappointments, and triumphs are interconnected by bonds as unbreakable as they are unseen. Pulsating with the lives of its denizens — bartenders and hookers, power brokers and politicos, cops and secretaries, editors and dreamers — the city inspires a passion that is universal yet unique in each of its eight million inhabitants, including:

John Blair Creighton, a writer on the verge of a breakthrough;

Francis Buckram, a charismatic ex–police commissioner — and the inside choice for the next mayor — on the verge of a breakdown;

Susan Pomerance, a beautiful, sophisticated folk-art dealer plumbing the depths of her own fierce sexuality;

Maury Winters, a defense attorney who prefers murder trials because there’s one less witness;

Jerry Pankow, an ex-addict who has turned being clean into a living, mopping up after New York’s nightlife;

And, in the shadows of a city reeling from tragedy, an unlikely killing machine who wages a one-man war against them all.

Infused with the raw cadence, stark beauty, and relentless pace of New York City, Small Town is a tour de force Block fans old and new will celebrate.

The author of dozens of acclaimed novels including those in the Scudder and Keller series, Lawrence Block has long been recognized as one of the premier crime writers of our time. Now, the breathtaking skill, power, and versatility of this Grand Master are brilliantly displayed once again in a mesmerizing new thriller set on the streets of the city he knows and loves so well. That was the thing about New York-if you loved it, if it worked for you, it ruined you for anyplace else in the world. In this dazzlingly constructed novel, Lawrence Block reveals the secret at the heart of the Big Apple. His glorious metropolis is really a small town, filled with men and women from all walks of life whose aspirations, fears, disappointments, and triumphs are interconnected by bonds as unbreakable as they are unseen. Pulsating with the lives of its denizens-bartenders and hookers, power brokers and politicos, cops and secretaries, editors and dreamers-the city inspires a passion that is universal yet unique in each of its eight million inhabitants, including: John Blair Creighton, a writer on the verge of a breakthrough; Francis Buckram, a charismatic ex-police commissioner-and the inside choice for the next mayor-on the verge of a breakdown; Susan Pomerance, a beautiful, sophisticated folk-art dealer plumbing the depths of her own fierce sexuality; Maury Winters, a defense attorney who prefers murder trials because there’s one less witness; Jerry Pankow, an ex-addict who has turned being clean into a living, mopping up after New York’s nightlife; And, in the shadows of a city reeling from tragedy, an unlikely killing machine who wages a one-man war against them all. Infused with the raw cadence, stark beauty, and relentless pace of New York City, Small Town is a tour de force Block fans old and new will celebrate.

Rejected by the CIA, an ex-commando fresh from the jungles of Vietnam attempts to retire to a jungle island but is lured back into action with an offer of unfathomable profit and unlimited danger.

Do nothing. That’s what Paul Kavanagh wants to do–absolutely nothing. Ten years of jungle combat have left him numb to mankind, and the only way he seems to keep from hurting people is to stay as far away as he can. He flees to an isolated patch of Caribbean sand, a paradise built for one. But paradise has a way of being found.

An old CIA contact appears with a proposition. Four trucks of nuclear weapons have disappeared on their way to a covert campaign in a Cold War hotspot, and he is the only one who knows that they are not in South America–but in South Dakota. Steal them without blowing the American heartland to hell and Paul can retire in style. It’s the opposite of doing nothing. But it sounds like a lot more fun.

First he gets a partner, George Dattner, who has the cold eyes of a trained killer. Each of these men alone is dangerous. But anyone who tries to stop them together is guaranteed not to come out of it alive.

Lawrence Block is a best-selling author of popular mystery fiction. With over 30 of his works in print, he is as prolific as he is skilled. This collection of essays and articles from his Writer’s Digest columns has been in print for over 20 years. Here he provides invaluable advice to the aspiring writer and the established author. Featuring a witty and honest narration from the author himself, Block presents an illuminating look into the world of the professional writer.

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. Lawrence Block: “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 bildungsroman and the indispensable capstone of an outstanding series. Since his 1976 debut in The Sins of the Fathers, Matthew Scudder has aged in real time, so, too, remarkably enough, has his creator. Lawrence Block turned 84 on June 24, 2022, while Mr. Scudder reached that same milestone on September 7. The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder demonstrates clearly—and irresistibly—that neither one of them has lost a step.

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 Whoopi Goldberg ever get cast?) to a piece commissioned by a European publisher for a tourist guide to New York…you’ll find every published story, article, and standalone excerpt Bernie has ever appeared in–plus two new, unpublished pieces: an introduction discussing the character’s colorful origins and an afterword in which the author, contemplating retirement, comes face to face with his own creation. In all of mystery fiction, there has never been a character like Bernie–and in this, his dozenth book, he demonstrates all the charm and wit and kleptophilic ingenuity that has made two generations of readers welcome their favorite burglar into their homes.

Popular author Lawrence Block creates the wild and wonderful world of Bernie Rhodenbarr: fine, upstanding citizen by day, and crafty burglar by night. In this hilarious whodunit, Bernie does a favor for his dentist, only to discover mixing his personal and professional lives can be hazardous to his well-being. As Bernie squirms in the dental chair, Dr. Sheldrake presents a business proposition. He wants Bernie to rob his estranged wife’s apartment while she’s out enjoying the New York City nightlife. Bernie would get her fabulous collection of jewels, and Dr. Sheldrake would only take 20% of the profits. The plan sounds foolproof, so why has Bernie found himself locked in Mrs. Sheldrake’s closet? Winner of three Edgar and four Shamus Awards, Lawrence Block creates plots that twist around every corner and packs them with fun-loving characters. You’ll want the quirky Bernie and his companions for your very own friends, as gravelly-voiced narrator Richard Ferrone brings them vividly to life.

Lawrence Block’s talent for creating colorful characters, sophisticated dialog, and engaging atmosphere has earned him many awards: the title of Grand Master, three Edgar Awards, four Shamus Awards, and a Nero Wolfe Award. One of his most popular series follows the adventures of the suave bookseller and crook, Bernie Rhodenbarr. Bernie’s sweetheart has dumped him. But although his heart is broken, he hasn’t lost his love for fine books-or for an occasional discrete burglary. So Bernie takes off for a snowy winter weekend at a country inn that just happens to have a rare, signed first edition of The Big Sleep in its library. It’s not long, however, before Bernie’s ex-girlfriend arrives with her new husband, a body is found in the library, and the book disappears. Bernie must sort out a tricky tangle of clues if he has any hope of nabbing the priceless edition for himself. Narrator Richard Ferrone captures Bernie’s cool demeanor and his flair for perfect timing.

Winner of multiple Edgar and Shamus Awards, Lawrence Block keeps fans guessing to the end with his rollicking Bernie Rhodenbarr mysteries. In this diverting caper, full-time bookstore owner and part-time burglar Bernie tries to do the right thing for a new friend, only to find himself accused of some terrible wrongs. All Bernie plans to do is steal some letters. A New York City literary agent is auctioning off her personal correspondence with enigmatic writer Gully Fairborn. Gully’s attractive ex-girlfriend has asked Bernie to swipe the letters so she can return them to her old heartthrob. But when Bernie breaks in, the letters are missing, and the literary agent is in bed with no hope of waking up. With the police watching him very closely, Bernie relies on jiggers of rye and Caroline, his lesbian best friend, to sharpen his deductive skills and find the killer. Narrator Richard Ferrone expertly guides you on a laugh-filled journey through the twists and turns of the clever plot.

Acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Lawrence Block returns with the extraordinary Bernie Rhodenbarr. Antiquarian bookseller by day, burglar by night, Bernie has an innate knack, a gift, for getting into places designed to keep him out.

Bernie is a gentleman who knows and loves his territory, the gloriously diverse streets of Manhattan; a connoisseur who surrounds himself with the finer things in life, including his tailless Manx tabby, Raffles, and good friends like his neighbor, Carolyn. In fact, it’s a friend that gets him in his latest jam. Bernie is asked for a favor — a neat, uncomplicated bit of vengeful larceny that will reap a tidy profit — an offer the intrepid thief can’t refuse.

A few days before the crime, Bernie gets restless. What does a burglar do to change his mood? Go on the prowl. This bit of prowling lands Bernie in a pile of trouble that includes four murders and the burglary of his own home. Caught in the center of a deadly mystery, he must use his wits and wiles to connect the dots and add up the coincidences. Because if Bernie doesn’t catch a killer, he’ll lose not only his freedom but his life.

Infused with the rich atmosphere of New York City and filled with a smart, charming cast of characters headed by the stylish Bernie, The Burglar on the Prowl is an engaging and delightfully suspenseful tale sure to be savored by Block fans old and new.

Ever since The Burglar on the Prowl climbed the bestseller lists in 2004, fans have been clamoring for a new book featuring the lighthearted and lightfingered Bernie Rhodenbarr. Now everybody’s favorite burglar returns in an eleventh adventure that finds him and his lesbian sidekick Carolyn Kaiser breaking into houses, apartments, and even a museum, in a madcap adventure replete with American Colonial silver, an F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscript, a priceless portrait, and a remarkable array of buttons. And, wouldn’t you know it, there’s a dead body, all stretched out on a Trent Barling carpet …

Best-selling author Lawrence Block will keep you hooting with laughter as you follow the hilarious hijinks of his incorrigible character, Bernie Rhodenbarr: notorious burglar and part-time sleuth. Trying to go legit, Bernie has taken over a secondhand bookstore in Greenwich Village, but he still can’t resist stealing things when the rewards are right. Ever since he bought Barnegat Books, Bernie has been having trouble making ends meet. When a mysterious client asks him to steal a rare edition of Kipling’s poetry, he seizes the opportunity to practice his criminal talents and pay his creditors. Pilfering the book is boringly easy. But delivering it is difficult-with the police and a host of shady assailants hot on his heels. A Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster, Lawrence Block packs his entertaining whodunits with plenty of action and unexpected plot twists. Richard Ferrone’s gravelly voice and expert pacing will keep you glued to the tape deck as Bernie lands in one dangerous scrape after another.

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 in the bathroom to have an undocumented moment.

And locks, which used to provide the recreational pleasure of a moderately challenging crossword puzzle, have become genuinely pickproof.

Meanwhile, internet booksellers have muscled your legit enterprise into obsolescence. The new breed of customers browse your bookshop, find what they’re looking for, then whip out their phones and order their books online.

Wonderful. You had two ways to make a living, and neither of them works anymore.

But suppose you keep on supposing, okay?

Suppose you wake up one morning in a world just like the one in which you fell asleep–but with a couple of differences.

The first one you notice doesn’t amount to much. The Metrocard in your wallet has somehow changed color and morphed into what seems to be called a SubwayCard. That’s puzzling, but you swipe it at the turnstile same as always, and it gets you on the subway, so what difference does it make?

But that’s not the only thing that’s changed. The Internet’s up and running, as robust as ever, but nobody seems to be using it to sell books. Doors are secured not with pickproof electronic gizmos but with good old reliable Rabson locks, the kind you can open with your eyes closed.
And what happened to all those security cameras? Where’d they go?

All of a sudden you’ve got your life back, and your bookshop’s packed with eager customers, and how are you gonna find time to steal something?

Well, just suppose one of the world’s worst human beings has recently acquired one of the world’s most glamorous gems. When the legendary Kloppmann Diamond is up for grabs, what can you possibly do but grab it?

And what could possibly go wrong?

By day, Bernie Rhodenbarr runs a respectable used book store in New York City. But by night, he gets his kicks gaining illegal entry into the posh residences of the wealthy. In this wacky mystery, the incorrigible burglar pulls off a low-risk burglary, only to find himself up against an eccentric kidnapper with a taste for abstract Dutch art. When Bernie is offered the chance to appraise a Manhattan millionaire’s private library, he jumps at the opportunity. After all, how often does he get a chance to check out the holdings of the rich and famous and get paid at the same time? But when he returns later to help himself to some plunder, he finds he’s been framed for some very nasty crimes. Named a Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America, best-selling author Lawrence Block has won almost every major mystery award, including three Edgar and four Shamus Awards. His action-packed plot and irresistible characters, dramatically performed by Richard Ferrone, make this audiobook an irresistible work of art.

Best-selling author Lawrence Block exposes the wickedly exciting double life of Bernie Rhodenbarr-respectable bookseller by day and notorious burglar by night. In The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, Bernie applies philosophy to match wits with a wily murderer and a few too many burglars. Bernie and his dog-grooming partner in crime, Carolyn, are planning the perfect crime. Tonight, they will rob a brownstone while the well-heeled owners are out of town with their vicious watch dog. But when Bernie painstakingly picks the lock, they discover somebody has already emptied the house-except for a valuable coin almost too hot to handle. Lawrence Block’s finely-crafted plots and well-drawn characters have earned him three Edgar Awards and the title of Grand Master. With his deep, gravelly-toned narration, Richard Ferrone provides the perfect voice for the book-loving thief and his sophisticated friends as they land in one hilarious scrape after another.

Edgar Award-winner Lawrence Block invites you into the criminally funny world of the most notorious star of mystery fiction: Bernie Rhodenbarr, bookseller by day and burglar by night. In this humorous mystery, Bernie’s passion for Humphrey Bogart movies leads him to a beautiful damsel in distress, a dangerous international conspiracy, and more than a few incriminating bodies. Sparkling with wit and energy, The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart is guaranteed to have you laughing out loud.

Fans will rejoice as New York’s most charming burglar returns to action. Greenwich Village bookseller Bernie Rhodenbarr has perfected the art of breaking and entering, as well as that of clever repartee. Bernie gets plenty of opportunity to exercise both his wit and his lock-picking muscles, as he juggles old friends, new “employees,” potential girlfriends, and various criminal charges. Bernie is seriously considering retiring from his life of crime, now that his used bookstore is finally turning a small profit. Then his nasty new landlord raises the rent-by $10,000 a month-and Bernie is hard pressed to resist the temptation to supplement his income. But when a dead body turns up, and an invaluable baseball card collection is missing, who will believe that Bernie had nothing to do with it? Narrator Richard Ferrone’s deadpan delivery offers the perfect contrast to Bernie’s giddy misadventures. It would be a crime to miss this fabulous performance.

In New York City, there is little sense and no rules, and those who fly the highest often come crashing down the hardest.

A deranged, derelict, 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 unlicensed private investigator 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 he loves.

In this unmerciful metropolis, no one is truly innocent–including Matthew Scudder.

IN THE DEPTHS OF HER BLUE EYES, HE GLIMPSED – MURDER BRAND NEW LAWRENCE BLOCK BOOK! FIRST PUBLICATION EVER! Florida private eye Doak Miller agreed to help the local cops by posing as a hit man to catch a woman looking to get rid of her husband. But then he met the wife — and fell, hard. Now he’s plotting with her to commit a murder that could net them millions of dollars and the chance to be together. But to pull it off under the watchful eyes of the police, It’ll have to be the perfect crime…

She was every man’s dream–and one man’s nightmare. Johnny Hayden and Doug Rance had a scheme to take real estate entrepreneur Wallace Gunderman for all he was worth. But they needed a girl on the inside to make it work. Enter Evelyn Stone: Gunderman’s secretary, his lover–and his worst enemy. Gunderman had promised to marry her, but never came through. Now she’s ready to make him pay …

Lawrence Blocks Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world–along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe (Germany), and the Maltese Falcon (Japan). But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and here’s one example!

Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world–along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe (Germany), and the Maltese Falcon (Japan). But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and here’s one example!

Lawrence Block’s seventeen Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world–along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe (Germany), and the Maltese Falcon (Japan). But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and it’s all here, from a pair of late-70’s novelettes (Out the Window and A Candle for the Bag Lady) through “By the Dawn’s Early Light” (Edgar) and “The Merciful Angel of Death” (Shamus), all the way to “One Last Night at Grogan’s,” a moving and elegiac story never before published. Some of these stories appeared in such magazines as Alfred Hitchcock, Ellery Queen, and Playboy. The title vignette, “The Night and the Music,” was written for a NYC jazz festival program; another, “Mick Ballou Looks at the Blank Screen,” has appeared only as the text of a limited-edition broadside. Several stories look back from the time of their writing, with Scudder recounting events from his former life as a cop, first as a patrolman partnered with the legendary Vince Mahaffey, then as an NYPD detective leading a double life. Along with these eleven stories and novelettes, The Night and the Music includes a list of the seventeen novels in chronological order, and an author’s note detailing the origin and bibliographical details of each of the stories. Brian Koppelman, the prominent screenwriter and director (Solitary Man, Ocean’s Thirteen, Rounders) and a major Matt Scudder fan, has sweetened the pot with an introduction.

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–that’s where Matthew Scudder comes in. But this assignment carries the unmistakable stench of sleaze and perversion, luring Scudder into a sordid world of phony religion and murderous lust where children must die for their parents’ most unspeakable sins.

Albert Platt is a rotten man. Bred in the rough parts of Brooklyn, he made his name as a killer and has built a fortune from gambling, loan sharking, and the other pastimes of a standard thug. His latest gambit? Buying banks, robbing them, and collecting the insurance. He’s a hard man, and no one ever stood in his way until he brushed up against Eddie Manso.

Manso is no ordinary veteran. He and four other commandos, battle-hardened in the jungles of Laos, have found that the civilian world demands their talents as much as the military once did. These specialists have made a living targeting vicious men whom the law cannot touch, dismantling their empires and taking their plunder. And Albert Platt has just entered their crosshairs.

When a stripper is murdered onstage, Chip Harrison must put his sexual frustration aside to seek out the mobster responsible.

123 murders. That’s the statistic that gets Chip Harrison’s attention–that and the girl who reports it: a statuesque stripper and amateur ichthyologist who has come to him for help catching the killer of her 123 rare fish. But it’s the 124th victim–this time a human–who draws Chip and his mentor, porcine super-sleuth Leo Haig, into a world of dressing rooms and easy death, where the poison kills quickly and the best clues are found between the sheets. Catching the killer is tough, but Chip’s real challenge is staying alive long enough to get the stripper to take off her clothes.

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 United 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. 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 who makes him question his path. Can he turn back before it’s too late for him – and America?

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 the more people eager to see him dead. So he’s greedy but scared, and he turns to his old acquaintance Matthew Scudder, who used to pay him for information back in Scudder’s days as a cop. Scudder’s his insurance policy–if anything happens to The Spinner, Scudder can check up on the people who wanted him dead. No one is too surprised when the pigeon is found floating in the East River with his skull bashed in. Blackmail’s a dangerous business. What’s worse, no one cares–except Matthew Scudder. The unofficial 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.

When ex-cop Matt Scudder thought back on the summer of ’75, two faces emerged from behind the smoky haze of a half dozen boozy saloons that made up his beat-Skip Devoe and Tommy Tillary-two bar flies he wouldn’t have given a second thought to in the bright light of day. Yet they and their troubles were the reason that moved him a little farther out of the bleary-eyed mess that had become his life.

A missing person case brings private eye Roy Markham to the remote winter-bound college town of Cliff’s End, New Hampshire. But what began as a routine investigation quickly becomes dark and dangerous. Six pornographic photos and a tidy little blackmail scheme result in a brutal and baffling murder, and no one is safe–especially Markham himself.