bookBestsellersbookPW Best BookshomePublishers Weekly HomelockUse and Privacy Policies
bestsellers
best books
free newsletter
sign up nowBUY THIS BOOKWhen the Sacred Ginmill Closes
Lawrence Block. Arbor House, $15.95 (239pp) ISBN 978-0-87795-774-4
The prolific, Edgar Awardwinning Block has written many mysteries, most in assorted series with colorful protagonists. Featured here is Matt Scudder in his follow-up appearance to Eight Million Ways to Die. Scudder is a former New York cop, now an unlicensed private detective who does favors for friends. Divorced from his wife, who lives with their sons on Long Island, Scudder rooms in a West Side hotel. His real home, however, is any one of three or four local bars, and his family are their owners, staff and habitues. In the summer of 1975, Matt is busy with assorted favors. Tommie Tillary, an investment salesman in flashy clothes, whose wife has been murdered in Bay Ridge, needs to be cleared of suspicion. The real booksas opposed to those shown to the IRSstolen from Skip Devoe's bar must be ransomed, and the masked gunmen who robbed the Morrisey brothers' after-hours place have to be identified. Drinking steadily all summer, Scudder accomplishes all of the above, his intuition, doggedness and respect for a higher law sputtering through the alcoholic haze. Block is an accomplished storyteller, and Matt Scudder is a fine example of hero as human being. Mystery Guild selection. (April 30)DETAILSshareBUY THIS BOOKcloseDetails
Reviewed on: 01/01/1986
Genre: Fiction
Downloadable Audio - 978-1-4498-8178-8
Hardcover - 314 pages - 978-0-8161-4244-6
Mass Market Paperbound - 384 pages - 978-0-380-72825-1
Mass Market Paperbound - 10 pages - 978-0-515-10278-9
Mass Market Paperbound - 261 pages - 978-0-441-88097-3
TANNER'S TIGERTANNER'S TIGERLawrence BlockA pity Block doesn't write for the movies. There's a great little B movie here. First published in 1968, this is a reissue of the fifth book in the series featuring Evan Tanner, "whose Continue reading »
HOPE TO DIEHOPE TO DIELawrence BlockUnlicensed PI Matthew Scudder returns after a three-year absence to investigate the murder of a wealthy couple savagely slain in their Manhattan townhouse. Matt's now 62, and his age shows in Continue reading »
CINDERELLA SIMSCINDERELLA SIMSLawrence BlockOriginally titled $20 Lust and published under the pseudonym Andrew Shaw by Nightstand in 1961, this early Block novel has its quirky charms. As the MWA Continue reading »
SMALL TOWNSMALL TOWNLawrence BlockThis is a rare standalone from the Edgar Award–winning creator of Matt Scudder, Bernie Rhodenbarr, hit man Keller and others, and takes a number of risks unusual for its author. For a start, Continue reading »
SMALL TOWNSMALL TOWNLawrence BlockBlock (The Burglar in the Library; Eight Million Ways to Die; etc.) is one of today's most well-established mystery and Continue reading »
THE BURGLAR ON THE PROWLTHE BURGLAR ON THE PROWLLawrence BlockYou'd think that Block, with more than 50 books to his credit, would run out of ideas, but as this 10th in his Burglar series shows (after 1999's The Burglar in the Continue reading »
ALL THE FLOWERS ARE DYINGALL THE FLOWERS ARE DYINGLawrence BlockMatt Scudder, bestseller Block's extraordinary private detective, has been around for almost 30 years, and if his aging has been neither gentle nor graceful, it's certainly been eventful. Continue reading »
TANNER'S VIRGINTANNER'S VIRGINLawrence BlockSince this reissue of MWA Grandmaster Block's 1968 Evan Tanner thriller lacks the wit and clever plotting that characterize his mature work, this dated tale of picaresque adventure will appeal Continue reading »
Hit ParadeHit ParadeLawrence BlockBlock's assassin, John Keller (Hit Man ; Hit List ), returns in these loosely linked, well-crafted vignettes of the Continue reading »
Hit ParadeHit ParadeLawrence BlockBlock's latest collection of darkly funny, morally ambiguous short tales featuring the philatelist–hit man John Keller and his wisecracking "manager," Dot, is being called a Continue reading »
A Diet of TreacleA Diet of TreacleLawrence BlockReprinted for the first time since its pseudonymous publication nearly 50 years ago, this tour of the 1950s Manhattan underworld begins with Anita, a good college girl with a bright but Continue reading »
Hit and RunHit and RunLawrence BlockWhile in Des Moines for one last job in MWA Grand Master Block’s solid fourth Greatest Hits thriller (after Hit Parade ), hit man John Paul Keller takes to Continue reading »
One Night Stands and Lost WeekendsOne Night Stands and Lost WeekendsLawrence BlockFirst published in two volumes by Crippen & Landru in 1999, this collection of early crime stories from bestseller Block (Hit and Run ) is a mixed bag. Part Continue reading »
Killing CastroKilling CastroLawrence BlockShortly before the Cuban missile crisis, mystery Grand Master Block (Hit and Run ) donned a pen name to publish this absorbing yarn about five men vying for a Continue reading »
Hellcats and HoneygirlsHellcats and HoneygirlsDonald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block, Block LawrenceIn the 1960s, Block and the late Westlake (1933–2008), not yet individually established as two of the world's most superbly talented crime writers, collaborated on three erotic pulp novels: A Girl Continue reading »
A Ticket to the BoneyardA Ticket to the BoneyardLawrence BlockA call girl warns former cop Matthew Scudder that a homicidal psycho he helped convict is out of jail and seeking revenge. ``The New York settings are superbly authentic, the dialogue is hip . . . Continue reading »
Step by Step: A Pedestrian MemoirStep by Step: A Pedestrian MemoirLawrence BlockMystery Writers of America Grand Master Block has been writing for more than 50 years and walking slightly longer, according to this memoir notable for frequent flashes of the author's keen wit. Continue reading »
Gangsters, Swindlers, Killers, and Thieves: The Lives and Crimes of Fifty American VillainsGangsters, Swindlers, Killers, and Thieves: The Lives and Crimes of Fifty American VillainsLawrence BlockThis engaging anthology from the American National Biography reference series chronicles America's obsession with the outlaw and documents the rise and fall of more than 50 of the country's most Continue reading »
A Dance at the SlaughterhouseA Dance at the SlaughterhouseLawrence BlockBlock masterfully builds the pressure in this Edgar Award winner, as newly sober Manhattan PI Matt Scudder investigates the death of a TV producer's wife. Continue reading »
Sins of the FathersSins of the FathersLawrence BlockBlock has been getting better and better in recent Matt Scudder novels, but as this first hardcover version of a 16-year-old paperback shows, he was pretty good from the start. King's admiring Continue reading »
The Burglar Who Traded Ted WilliamsThe Burglar Who Traded Ted WilliamsLawrence BlockBurglar/Greenwich Village bookseller Bernie Rhodenbarr discovers a dead body in the apartment and is accused of stealing a $1 million baseball card collection. Continue reading »
Even the Wicked: A Matthew Scudder NovelEven the Wicked: A Matthew Scudder NovelLawrence BlockMarriage to his old flame, Elaine, seems to have mellowed Block's veteran PI, Matt Scudder. He still continues to get his man with a combination of doggedness and occasional flashes of inspiration, Continue reading »
The Burglar Who Studied SpinozaThe Burglar Who Studied SpinozaLawrence BlockA welcome reissue is The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza, the fourth entry in Lawrence Block's Bernie Rhodenbarr series originally published in 1980. The Greenwich Village bookseller who moonlights as a Continue reading »
Hit ManHit ManLawrence BlockKeller, the protagonist of this smoothly integrated story collection, is a gun for hire. Every so often a mystery man in White Plains, N.Y., calls him through an amiably efficient assistant, Dot, and Continue reading »
Everybody DiesEverybody DiesLawrence BlockThe body count is indeed high in this latest Matt Scudder tale, which is also the best since A Walk Among the Tombstones (1993)--resonant, thoughtful, richly textured and capped by a slam-bang Continue reading »
Hit ListHit ListLawrence BlockJohn Keller, whom Block introduced in Hit Man, is a killer for hire, with a difference. He's thoughtful, even broody, tends to take a liking to some of the towns where he goes to do his work, dreams Continue reading »
Enough RopeEnough RopeLawrence BlockA month before the mass market edition of his bestseller Hope to Die hits shelves, whodunit Grand Master Lawrence Block will come out with Enough Rope""in Blocks words, a huge doorstop of a thing Continue reading »
Lucky at CardsLucky at CardsLawrence BlockThe Hard Case Crime imprint has found a perfect partner in Block, as this gritty grifter's tale, in print for the first time in 40 years, goes to show. In a small town somewhere between Chicago and Continue reading »
Random Walk: A Novel for a New AgeRandom Walk: A Novel for a New AgeLawrence BlockBlock's latest novel is for New Age disciples or for readers interested in learning the tenets of the philosophy. Otherwise a ``random walk'' can be a tiresome journey. Guthrie Wagner, a bartender in Continue reading »
A Ticket to the Boneyard: A Matthew Scudder NovelA Ticket to the Boneyard: A Matthew Scudder NovelLawrence BlockThis is as near perfect as a private-eye thriller can get. Block is the utter professional, a master who holds the reader in the palm of his hand for as long as the pages need to be turned. His hero Continue reading »
Out on the Cutting EdgeOut on the Cutting EdgeLawrence BlockThe prolific author's humanity and the immediacy of his understated style are again evidenced in his seventh mystery related by Matt Scudder: ex-NYPD officer, recovering alcoholic, and now private Continue reading »
Such Men Are DangerousSuch Men Are DangerousLawrence BlockA former Green Beret attempts to steal a shipment of nuclear weapons from the U.S. Army. Continue reading »
A Dance at the SlaughterhouseA Dance at the SlaughterhouseLawrence BlockIn this pitch-perfect crime story, now-sober Manhattan PI Matt Scudder--seen last in A Ticket to the Boneyard --embarks on a personal mission as he investigates the death of the wife of TV producer Continue reading »
A Walk Among the TombstonesA Walk Among the TombstonesLawrence BlockDespite their dark titles (the words Slaughterhouse and Boneyard figured in the previous two), Block's splendid, award-winning Matt Scudder novels are by no means unrelievedly bleak. His latest-as Continue reading »
Some Days You Get the BearSome Days You Get the BearLawrence BlockBest known for his Matt Scudder private eye novels, Block is also an accomplished writer of short fiction, and the 22 stories here, most of them post-1984, have appeared in a variety of magazines, Continue reading »
SpecialistsSpecialistsLawrence BlockFive ex-soldiers are hired to find and eliminate criminals in the Edgar Award-winning author's gripping novel. Continue reading »
The Girl with the Long Green HeartThe Girl with the Long Green HeartLawrence BlockTwo scam artists orchestrate a phony real estate deal in this thriller. Continue reading »
A Long Line of Dead MenA Long Line of Dead MenLawrence BlockThe newest Matt Scudder novel by the blessedly prolific Block is right up to his usual standards. It takes a while to set up the situation (someone in an exclusive male dinner club that meets once a Continue reading »
The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart Counter DisplayThe Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart Counter DisplayLawrence BlockThis time out, the recently revived Bernie Rhodenbarr, Greenwich Village bookseller and dedicated burglar, is swept away by a gorgeous foreigner who comes into his store one day. They share a passion Continue reading »
The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling: 8a Bernie Rhodenbarr MysteryThe Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling: 8a Bernie Rhodenbarr MysteryLawrence BlockThose who long for another new exploit of the immortal Bernie Rhodenbarr, Greenwich Village bookseller by profession and burglar by avocation, should be warned that their wait must be extended. For Continue reading »
The Burglar in the Library: A Bernie Rhodenbarr MysteryThe Burglar in the Library: A Bernie Rhodenbarr MysteryLawrence BlockBernie Rhodenbarr, bookseller and burglar (The Burglar Who Thought He Was Bogart, etc.), is one of Block's most stylish creations, and this new outing (there has been a reissue or two in recent Continue reading »
Murder on the Run (Hc)Murder on the Run (Hc)Lawrence Block, VariousThe Adams Round Table, founded in 1982 by Mary Higgins Clark and Thomas Chastain, is a group of writers who meet once a month at a restaurant to share their writing experiences. In its fourth Continue reading »
Tanner on Ice: The New Evan Tanner NovelTanner on Ice: The New Evan Tanner NovelLawrence BlockNever one to abandon a sound series hero indefinitely, Block (who recently resurrected burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr) has now also brought back international man of action Evan Tanner, after more than 25 Continue reading »
The Burglar in the RyeThe Burglar in the RyeLawrence BlockBlock's addictive series about bookseller/burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr (The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian, etc.) continues as our hero invades the hotel suite of an aged literary agent in search of Continue reading »
Ronald Rabbit is a Dirty Old ManRonald Rabbit is a Dirty Old ManLawrence BlockMaster mystery writer Block has dabbled in his time in many genres, and early in his career, back in 1971, he published a handful of paperback erotic novels under a pseudonym; this is one of them. He Continue reading »
The Scoreless ThaiThe Scoreless ThaiLawrence BlockIn this first hardcover edition of a 1968 paperback original (titled Two for Tanner), Evan Tanner is ""the spy who never sleeps,"" a Korean War vet whose head injury has destroyed the sleep center in Continue reading »
Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams 12-CopyBurglar Who Traded Ted Williams 12-CopyLawrence BlockBlock has long been one of the best hard-boiled writers in the business, with his ongoing series about PI Matt Scudder. He also has a lighter side, however, and those who relish his tales of Bernie Continue reading »
Getting Off: A Novel of Sex and Violence Getting Off: A Novel of Sex and Violence Lawrence BlockMWA Grand Master Block revives his Jill Emerson alias for the first time since the 1970s for this extremely violent erotic novel that works better as soft-core porn than as noir. As a child growing Continue reading »
Strange Embrace/69 Barrow StreetStrange Embrace/69 Barrow StreetLawrence BlockEarly 1960s Manhattan plays host to murder, marijuana, and kinky sex parties in this striking two-pack revival of vintage pulp from MWA Grandmaster Block. Stella James, “the tigress with the biggest Continue reading »
Hit Me: A Keller NovelHit Me: A Keller NovelLawrence BlockMWA Grand Master Block’s highly enjoyable, episodic third novel featuring philatelist and killer for hire John Keller (after 2008’s Hit and Run) finds Keller living in New Orleans under a new name Continue reading »
Catch and Release: Stories by Lawrence BlockCatch and Release: Stories by Lawrence BlockLawrence BlockCrime writer Lawrence Block, who turns 75 this year, is beyond a legend and practically a force of nature at this point in his career. You might expect this collection of relatively new material to Continue reading »
BorderlineBorderlineLawrence BlockFirst published in 1962, this erotic crime novel from MWA Grand Master Block (A Walk Among the Tombstones) packs plenty of vicarious thrills, sexual titillation, and taboo breaking. Meg, a Continue reading »
Defender of the Innocent: The Casebook of Martin Ehrengraf Defender of the Innocent: The Casebook of Martin Ehrengraf Lawrence BlockThe clients of Mephistophelean DA Martin Ehrengraf are always innocent, even when they recall committing murder, as shown in this collection of 12 dark, twisted tales from MWA Grand Master Block Continue reading »
The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons: A Bernie Rhodenbarr MysteryThe Burglar Who Counted the Spoons: A Bernie Rhodenbarr MysteryLawrence Block“I love to steal,” admits Bernie Rhodenbarr in MWA Grand Master Block’s superlative 11th mystery featuring the New York City thief and bookseller (after 2004’s The Burglar on the Prowl). A Continue reading »
Sinner ManSinner ManLawrence BlockThe first crime novel by MWA Grand Master Block (The Girl with the Deep Blue Eyes) returns to print, slightly revised, after being lost for 50 years. It’s as lean and compulsively readable Continue reading »
Resume SpeedResume SpeedLawrence BlockIn this quietly suspenseful novella from MWA Grand Master Block, a man on the run boards a Trailways bus in Galbraith, N.Dak., and gets off in Cross Creek, Mont. Under a new name, he settles down in Continue reading »
In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward HopperIn Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward HopperLawrence BlockIn this thematic short story collection, 17 writers—including Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, and Joyce Carol Oates—imagine back stories to paintings by American realist painter Hopper. The resulting Continue reading »
Hit Parade: PW Talks with Lawrence BlockA Web-Exclusive Q&AProlific mystery writer Lawrence Blocks talks to PW about his latest series starring Keller, the laconic, stamp-collecting hitman on the brink of retirement. William Morrow will Continue reading »
Edward Hopper as Muse: PW Talks with Lawrence BlockIn the anthology 'In Sunlight or in Shadow,' editor Block and 16 other authors, including Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King, write short stories inspired by Edward Hopper’s Continue reading »
PW EDITORS’ PICKS FORTHE BEST NEW BOOKSSign UpPW EDITORS’ PICKS FOR THE BEST NEW BOOKSSign Up
Featured Fiction Reviews
LázárLázárNelio BiedermannAn aristocratic Hungarian family copes with cascading trauma over three generations and two world wars in the extraordinary English-language debut from Swiss writer Biedermann. Continue reading »Dear Monica LewinskyDear Monica LewinskyJulia LangbeinFor Jean Dornan, the protagonist of Langbein’s incandescent sophomore novel (after American Mermaid) whose life is still in shambles following a toxic relationship with her Continue reading »The Left and the LuckyThe Left and the LuckyWilly VlautinVlautin (The Horse) delivers a surprisingly uplifting tale of neighbors helping neighbors while eking out a living in Portland, Ore. Connie works nights as a stripper while Continue reading »TranscriptionTranscriptionBen LernerIn the beautiful and resonant latest from Lerner (The Topeka School), a middle-aged man constructs an elaborate farewell to his mentor. In the first of three sections, the Continue reading »chevron_right
BUY THIS BOOKWhen the Sacred Ginmill Closes
PW EDITORS’ PICKS FORTHE BEST NEW BOOKSSign UpPW EDITORS’ PICKS FOR THE BEST NEW BOOKSSign Up
LázárLázárNelio BiedermannAn aristocratic Hungarian family copes with cascading trauma over three generations and two world wars in the extraordinary English-language debut from Swiss writer Biedermann. Continue reading »
Dear Monica LewinskyDear Monica LewinskyJulia LangbeinFor Jean Dornan, the protagonist of Langbein’s incandescent sophomore novel (after American Mermaid) whose life is still in shambles following a toxic relationship with her Continue reading »
The Left and the LuckyThe Left and the LuckyWilly VlautinVlautin (The Horse) delivers a surprisingly uplifting tale of neighbors helping neighbors while eking out a living in Portland, Ore. Connie works nights as a stripper while Continue reading »
TranscriptionTranscriptionBen LernerIn the beautiful and resonant latest from Lerner (The Topeka School), a middle-aged man constructs an elaborate farewell to his mentor. In the first of three sections, the Continue reading »chevron_right 
Hit Parade: PW Talks with Lawrence BlockA Web-Exclusive Q&AProlific mystery writer Lawrence Blocks talks to PW about his latest series starring Keller, the laconic, stamp-collecting hitman on the brink of retirement. William Morrow will 
Edward Hopper as Muse: PW Talks with Lawrence BlockIn the anthology 'In Sunlight or in Shadow,' editor Block and 16 other authors, including Joyce Carol Oates and Stephen King, write short stories inspired by Edward Hopper’s 