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.
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.
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.
“The murders are as savage as they come, their horrific nature intensified by the clarity of Mr. Block’s pristine prose…Block has a fine nose for the pungencies of New York’s after-dark street life, and he gives his hero wonderful opportunities to swap syllables with the city’s most articulate riffraff.”—New York Times
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.
“Exceptional…A whale of a knockout punch to the solar plexus.”—New York Daily News
After the bloodbath of Butcher’s Moon, the action-filled blowout Parker adventure, Donald Westlake said, “Richard Stark proved to me that he had a life of his own by simply disappearing. He was gone.” And for nearly twenty-five years, he stayed away, while readers waited.
But nothing bad is truly gone forever, and Parker’s as bad as they come. According to Westlake, one day in 1997, “suddenly, he came back from the dead, with a chalky prison pallor”—and the resulting novel, Comeback, showed that neither Stark nor Parker had lost a single step. Knocking over a highly lucrative religious revival show, Parker reminds us that not all criminals don ski masks—some prefer to hide behind the wings of fallen angels.
After the publication of Butcher’s Moon in 1974, Donald Westlake said, “Richard Stark proved to me that he had a life of his own by simply disappearing. He was gone.” And readers waited.
But nothing bad is truly gone forever, and Parker’s as bad as they come. According to Westlake, one day in 1997, “suddenly, he came back from the dead, with a chalky prison pallor”—and the novels that followed showed that neither Parker nor Stark had lost a step.
Backflash finds Parker checking out the scene on a Hudson River gambling boat. Parker’s no fan of either relaxation or risk, however, so you can be sure he’s playing with house money—and he’s willing to do anything to tilt the odds in his favor. Featuring a great cast of heisters, a striking setting, and a new introduction by Westlake’s close friend and writing partner, Lawrence Block, this classic Parker adventure deserve a place of honor on any crime fan’s bookshelf.
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.
“Very tight and well written and filled with a cross section of New York City denizens…Reader Alan Sklar does an excellent job.”--Library Journal
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.
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.
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 dedicated collector will ignore the other nine commandments, too, in his quest for his personal Holy Grail.
From Joyce Carol Oates's tale of the ultimate Marilyn Monroe collectible to Dennis Lehane's bookseller with a penchant for other people's tragic correspondence, from Lee Goldberg's Hollywood hustler with a collection of unaired TV shows to Joe R. Lansdale's stylish foray into noir, culminating in Lawrence Block's own classic story of a killer with a unique approach to choosing his victims, Collectibles illustrates the range of the collecting impulse and the lengths people will go to in their hunger to possess the perfect piece.
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.
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. Winner of the Shamus Award!
