Lawrence Block
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
...22) No Score
In this sinfully silly coming-of-age adventure, a young orphan works a series of very odd jobs, attempting to make his fortune and lose his virginity in one fell swoop Chip Harrison thought he was normal until his parents blew their brains out. An orphan at seventeen, he is cast out of his prep school with nothing in his pocket but $27.46 and a vintage prophylactic, determined to make his fortune as soon as he manages to lose his virginity. He
...It's not that used bookstore owner and part-time burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr believes the less legal of his two professions is particularly ethical. (It is, however, a rush, and he is very good at it.) He just thinks it's unfair to face a prison term for his legitimate activities. After appraising the worth of a rich man's library — conveniently leaving his fingerprints everywhere in the process — Bernie finds he's the cops' prime suspect
...Gulliver Fairborn's novel, Nobody's Baby, changed Bernie Rhodenbarr's life. And now pretty Alice Cottrell, Fairborn's one-time paramour, wants the bookselling, book-loving burglar to break into a room in New York's teeth-achingly charming Paddington Hotel and purloin some of the writer's very personal letters before an unscrupulous agent can sell them. Here's an opportunity to use his unique talents in the service of the revered, famously reclusive
...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.
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.
LB: "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
27) Lucky at Cards
A good card mechanic is hard to find and even harder to change His dentist's poker game is the last place that card shark Bill Maynard expects to find another hustler. But that's just what Mrs. Murray Rogers, the scheming wife with her eye on her husband's fortune, is. The only problem is her husband's still alive, and she'll have to enlist the help of Bill in order to get what she wants. They've got a plan, but will Bill stick with it, or will
...When a stripper is murdered onstage, Chip Harrison must put his sexual frustration aside to seek out the mobster responsible
One hundred and twenty-three 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
...30) Random Walk
The ever-randy hero of Lawrence Block's No Score flees New York City for South Carolina, where a job in a whorehouse gives him an opportunity for lots of loving and lots of trouble Flat broke and sick of freezing to death in New York City, the permanently aroused Chip Harrison hops on a bus to warmer climes, landing in the quiet hamlet of Bordentown, South Carolina. With his usual clumsy charm, the aspiring lecher backs his way into a job
...34) Tanner's Tiger
The Cold War's boiling over. Global tensions are near the breaking point. So what's the perfect assignment for a super-spy who hasn't slept since the Korean conflict? A fun-filled trip to the Montreal World's Fair!
The adorable little girl he's escorting—who, under different circumstances, would be sitting on the Lithuanian throne—can hardly contain her excitement, but it isn't all playtime for Evan Tanner. Some mysterious disappearances,
...35) Ariel
There is something scary about Roberta Jardell's Charleston home—and it's not just the presence of a ghost Every night the apparition of a woman with a baby visits Roberta Jardell in her room. And her adopted daughter, Ariel, leaves her cold. Now that she has given birth to a son she feels even more alienated from the girl. Is her imagination getting the best of her, or does the strange child know more than she lets on? Suspenseful and filled
...36) Manhattan Noir
New York City’s main borough becomes the centerpiece for a collection of noir tales that celebrates its appeal, its arrogance, its diversity—and its darkness. From Battery Park to Harlem, the Lower...
Sometime spy Evan Tanner has accepted impossible assignments for many reasons: money, thrills, to have something to occupy his waking hours (twenty-four of them every day, in fact, since battlefield shrapnel obliterated his brain's sleep center). But this might be the first time he's put his life on the line . . . for love.
Tanner's agreed to smuggle a sexy Latvian gymnast—the lost lady love of a heart-sick friend—out of Russia.
...39) Tanner's Virgin
The CIA, the FBI, the KGB, Interpol—not one of the world's premier intelligence organizations knows quite what to make of Evan Michael Tanner. Is he a spy, a mercenary, a footloose adventurer, or simply a screwball sucker for hopeless causes?
(Actually he's a little bit of all of the above. Plus he never sleeps. Ever.)
One thing's for sure: Tanner's a true romantic, which is why he can't refuse a distraught mother who begs him
...Evan Tanner can't sleep. Ever. Which gives him plenty of free time to get involved in lots of interesting endeavors in all sorts of exotic locales.
Now Tanner's in Thailand with a partially baked plan and a butterfly net, hoping to snare a beautiful missing chanteuse who's metamorphosed into an international jewel thief. Tanner hopes everyone will buy his disguise as a rare butterfly researcher. And everyone does . . .
Except the guerilla
...