Time to Murder and Create (Matthew Scudder) - Softcover

Lawrence Block

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0380763656 ISBN 13: 9780380763658

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks, 2002

Synopsis

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 angel. But he's willing to risk his own life and limb to confront Spinner's most murderously aggressive marks. A job's a job after all -- and Scudder's been paid to find a killer -- by the victim...in advance.

About this title

About the Author:

Lawrence Block is one of the most widely recognized names in the mystery genre. He has been named a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America and is a four-time winner of the prestigious Edgar and Shamus Awards, as well as a recipient of prizes in France, Germany, and Japan. He received the Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writers' Association—only the third American to be given this award. He is a prolific author, having written more than fifty books and numerous short stories, and is a devoted New Yorker and an enthusiastic global traveler.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Second of the publisher's hardcover reprints of the early Matt Scudder novels. In The Sins of the Fathers (1992/1976), Stephen King waxed on about the alcoholic p.i.'s cases; this one comes with an equally flattering introduction by Jonathan Kellerman, though the story's not as good--a relatively pat, if pungently saturnine, tale of blackmail and murder. As with many reprints of aged paperbacks (e.g., Bill Pronzini's Carmody's Run, p. 554), period-piece value outweighs the literary here. This Scudder is very 70's; boozing his days and nights away; casually bribing cops for the price of a ``hat'' ($25); willing--thanks to his (and the era's) ignorance about child molestation--to let a pederast go free. The case itself has a classic setup: A small-time hood hires Scudder to guard a package; when the hood turns up dead, Scudder opens the package to find four envelopes, three of them holding blackmail evidence--one on an ``architectural consultant'' with pockets deep enough to have bought his daughter off a manslaughter charge; another on a society wife with a secret prostitute past; the third on a would-be state governor with a yen for young boys. The fourth envelope contains $4,000 and a request that Scudder find the hood's murderer among the three. The p.i. visits each suspect, pretending to be their new blackmailer. Soon, two near-miss attempts--by car and by knife--are made on his life; then one suspect kills himself: case closed? Scudder thinks so, until an unexpected third attack sends him on a drunken bender and onto the trail of suspect number two: case closed? Not likely, in Scudder/Block's darkly ironic world. More than paperback hack work, but special only to die-hard Scudder fans--and for glimmers of what was to come. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0380763656
• ISBN 13: 9780380763658
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 273