The Night and the Music A Matthew Sc..., Lawrence Block
The Night and the Music A Matthew Sc..., Lawrence Block
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The Night and the Music: A Matthew Scudder Story

Author: Lawrence Block

Narrator: Lawrence Block

Unabridged: 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/01/2012


Synopsis

Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world—along with a bevy of awards. But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and here’s one example! This Matthew Scudder vignette was originally written for a New York City jazz festival program.

About Lawrence Block

Lawrence Block is the recipient of a Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America and an internationally renowned bestselling author. His prolific career spans over one hundred books, including four bestselling series as well as dozens of short stories, articles, and books on writing. He has won four Edgar and Shamus Awards, two Falcon Awards from the Maltese Falcon Society of Japan, the Nero and Philip Marlowe Awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers Association of the United Kingdom. In France, he has been awarded the title Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice received the Societe 813 trophy. Born in Buffalo, New York, Block attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Leaving school before graduation, he moved to New York City, a locale that features prominently in most of his works. His earliest published writing appeared in the 1950s, frequently under pseudonyms, and many of these novels are now considered classics of the pulp fiction genre. During his early writing years, Block also worked in the mailroom of a publishing house and reviewed the submission slush pile for a literary agency. He has cited the latter experience as a valuable lesson for a beginning writer. Block's first short story, "You Can't Lose," was published in 1957 in Manhunt, the first of dozens of short stories and articles that he would publish over the years in publications including American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and the New York Times. His short fiction has been featured and reprinted in over eleven collections including Enough Rope, which is comprised of eighty-four of his short stories. In 1966, Block introduced the insomniac protagonist Evan Tanner in the novel The Thief Who Couldn't Sleep. Block's diverse heroes also include the urbane and witty bookseller-and thief-on-the-side-Bernie Rhodenbarr; the gritty recovering alcoholic and private investigator Matthew Scudder; and Chip Harrison, the comical assistant to a private investigator with a Nero Wolfe fixation who appears in No Score, Chip Harrison Scores Again, Make Out with Murder, and The Topless Tulip Caper. Block has also written several short stories and novels featuring Keller, a professional hit man. Block's work is praised for his richly imagined and varied characters and frequent use of humor. A father of three daughters, Block lives in New York City with his second wife, Lynne. When he isn't touring or attending mystery conventions, he and Lynne are frequent travelers, as members of the Travelers' Century Club for nearly a decade now, and have visited about 150 countries.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill

This, the last Matt Scudder book to be issued, published in 2013, is a rather motley affair. A Drop of the Hard Stuff (2011) has the honor of being--at least so far--the last substantial entry in the Scudder Series. The Night of the Music is instead, a collection of odds and ends: eleven short piece......more

Goodreads review by Dave

Play this as you read this review, “You and the Night and the Music,” Frank Sinatra: [URL not allowed] "I seem to remember every drink I ever drank; I just don't always remember why." I have as of this date read or listened to 13 of Lawrence Block’s 17 Matthew Scudder novels and......more

Goodreads review by Kemper

This was a good year for fans of Lawrence Block’s detective Matthew Scudder. First we got a new novel with A Drop of the Hard Stuff and then this collection of short stories. In Matt’s long history he’s gone from alcoholic ex-cop dealing with the guilt of accidently killing a child while breaking up......more

Goodreads review by James

Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder has been one of the most enduring and certainly one of the best-written protagonists in the history of crime fiction. Beginning with The Sins of the Fathers in 1976, Block has written seventeeen novels featuring Scudder, the recovering alcoholic who is also a cop-tur......more


Quotes

“One of the very best writers now working the beat. Block has done something new and remarkable wit the private-eye novel.” Wall Street Journal

“Block is a rarity, a craftsman who writes about the sleazier aspects of life with style, compassion, and wit.” Denver Post

“Block’s prose is as smooth as aged whiskey.” Publishers Weekly