A Matthew Scudder Mystery — by Lawrence Block

• 1976
• 

The pretty young prostitute is dead. Her alleged murderer -- a minister's son -- hanged himself in his jail cell. The case is closed. But the dead girl's fatherhas come to Matthew Scudder for answers, sending the unlicensed private investigator in se...

• 1976
• 

Bad cop Jerry Broadfield didn't make any friends on the force when he volunteered to squeal to an ambitious d.a. about police corruption. Now he'saccused of murdering a call girl. Matthew Scudder doesn't think Broadfield's a killer, but the cops aren...

• 1977
• 

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...

• 1978
• 

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 murd...

• 1982
• 

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 alco...

• Jul-1983
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They make not look dangerous, but look again. And listen closely, as an unwelcomed visitor shares terrifying secrets with a stranger at an isolated fishing hole. Observe two men who concoct a convoluted Hitchcockian murder pot, only to discover death...

• 1984
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They are poor little lambs who have lost their way: a murderous madman feigning madness; a beautiful woman, dangerous to look at and lethal to touch; a shy little boy quietly testing his newfound power to destroy. In this ingenious collection, multip...

• Oct-2000
• 

I began writing about Matthew Scudder in the mid-1970s. The first novel, The Sins of the Fathers, appeared in 1975, and A Drop of the Hard Stuff -- the 17th and most recent -- was published in 2011. Over the years Scudder has also been featured in 11...

• 1986
• 

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...

• Oct-1989
• 

It isn't called Hell's Kitchen for nothing--a gritty landscape of dark doorways and dirty alleys inhabited by crack addicts and homeless. A sleaze-and-terror playground lorded over by Mickey Ballou, the bloodstained Butcher Boy. Ex-cop, ex-boozer, ex...

• Sep-1990
• 

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 eno...

• Sep-1991
• 

The police can't prove that socialite Richard Thurman arranged the rape, torture and murder of his beautiful, pregnant wife. The dead woman's brother thinks Matthew Scudder can. During his ongoing battle with the bottle, ex-cop ex-boozer Scudder left...

• Nov-1992
• 

A ruthless, ingenious pair of entrepreneurial monsters is preying on the loved ones of those who live outside the law. Though he has no love for drug dealers and poison peddlers, ex-cop-turned-p.i. Matthew Scudder now must help them put two thrill-ki...

• Nov-1993
• 

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...

• Apr-1993
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The bear is on the prowl in many different guises. He may be the master thief stealing into Graceland, an intense young passenger experimenting in terror, or a psychiatrist haunted by his patient's nightmare. Or maybe he's beautiful, lethal woman i...

• Oct-1994
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An ancient brotherhood meets annually in the back room of a swank Manhattan restuarant, 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-c...

• Feb-1997
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Matthew Scudder knows that justice is an elusive commodity in the big city, where a harmless man can be shot dead in a public place criminals fly free through holes in a tattered legal system. But now a vigilante is roaming among the millions, execut...

• Oct-1998
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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 quickl...

• Oct-2001
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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 app...

• Mar-2005
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Scudder, a complex character who has grown and aged in real time, confronts the implacable challenge of mortality. But he must also tackle a determined, relentless, and icily inhuman adversary, perhaps the most unforgettable villain Block has ever cr...

• May-2011
• 

Grandmaster Lawrence Block brings his greatest character, Matthew Scudder, back into action in his most personal case. Matthew Scudder is finally on the straight and narrow when he runs into "High-Low" Jack Ellery, a childhood friend from the Bron...