A Stab in the Dark, Lawrence Block
A Stab in the Dark, Lawrence Block
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A Stab in the Dark
A Matthew Scudder Novel

Author: Lawrence Block

Narrator: William Roberts

Unabridged: 5 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/01/2011

Synopsis

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.

About Lawrence Block

Lawrence Block is the recipient of a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and a New York Times bestselling author. His prolific career spans over one hundred books, including four bestselling series and dozens of short stories and articles. He has won multiple Edgar, and Shamus awards, two Falcon Awards from the Maltese Falcon Society of Japan, the Nero and Philip Marlowe Awards, the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers Association of America, and many others. Aside from being a mystery writer, he has also written a number of episodes for television, including two episodes of the ESPN series Tilt; he also cowrote the screenplay for the film My Blueberry Nights, starring Norah Jones. Block currently lives in New York City with his wife, Lynne.

About William Roberts

William Roberts’ theater appearances include Of Mice and Men and To Kill a Mockingbird. Among his films are Cold Mountain and Death Wish III, while he has been seen on television in Martin Chuzzlewit and The Old Devils. An accomplished voice artist, he is a frequent narrator of audiobooks and has received an AudioFile Earphones Award.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill

This fourth book in the Matt Scudder series is an absorbing mystery in itself, but it also deepens and darkens Block's portrait of his hard-drinking, guilt-ridden hero, and, through the use of two effective foils (an alcoholic woman sculptor and a damaged former cop), increases Scudder's self-knowle......more

Goodreads review by James

Matthew Scudder prowls the streets of New York City for the fourth time in A Stab in the Dark. By now the character has been firmly established: Matt is an ex-cop who left the force under tragic circumstances and who now works unofficially as a private detective. He doesn't have a license; he doesn'......more

Goodreads review by Kemper

When you’ve hit a point where you’ve read hundreds of books and age starts to degrade your memory, you sometimes doubt your previous assessments. I’d read most of the Scudder novels anywhere from 10 to 15 years ago, and while I thought they were very good, I’d started to wonder if they were actually......more

Goodreads review by Dave

In The Midst of Death, a former colleague asks him how he is doing, asks him about drinking, suggests he doesn't have to “climb back inside the bottle” when things go south. And they do, and he does. In this book, a woman named Janice Corwin he interviews for a case calls him out, while they are dri......more

Quotes

“Lawrence Block is a master…The Matthew Scudder novels are among the finest detective books penned in this century.” Jonathan Kellerman

“Among the virtues of the book is its complete lack of sentimentality. The author is a deft surgeon, spare and economical, with no wasted motion, sure and precise in his technique.” New York Times

“This is a Scudder mystery, and listeners will enjoy his relentless investigation into the brutal nine-year-old murder of a pregnant woman. The novel is early in the Scudder series, by the way, and an important stepping-stone on his way to sobriety.” AudioFile

“The more interesting aspect of the work is Scudder’s alcoholism. Not yet bottomed out, he engages in morning eye-openers and all-day benders…Though his lover enters Alcoholics Anonymous at the end of the work, Scudder continues his heavy drinking. William Roberts’s reading of the story is quite good. A required purchase for all detective story collections.” Library Journal

Awards

  • Shamus Award
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