Hope to Die
A Novel

I've noted several times on this site that Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series is my favorite of all crime fiction series. If I were cast away on the proverbial desert island and could take only one series with me, I wouldn't hesitate a second before grabbing these books off the shelf. That said,......more

This is a professional and enjoyable entry in a superb series. Detective Scudder may be getting old (sixty-two years old in this adventure), but the series hardly show its age. And yet...there's a new darkness here--a forced, sensationalist darkness. And I doubt it bodes well for the future. The plot......more

At this point Matt Scudder is 62 years old, happily married and semi-retired. But don’t think that he’s content with just hitting the early bird special at the nearest buffet or spending his time arguing with empty chairs. The murder of a wealthy couple shocks New York, and the case catches Matt’s i......more

This 15th novel in Lawrence Block’s Matt Scudder mystery series finds the formerly alcoholic detective sober, happy, bored and kinda boring. From Hell’s Kitchen to Lincoln Center. I just so happened to read and finish it almost simultaneously with one I had skipped, When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, #......more

When a married couple is found brutally murdered in their own home, the two scum bags thought responsible are found dead in their own apartment of an apparent murder suicide. While the NYPD feels confident in closing the case, the niece of the deceased does not. She mentions this in passing to TJ wh......more