Lawrence Block has been writing award-winning mystery and suspense fiction for half a century. His novels include The Girl With the Deep Blue EyesThe Burglar Who Counted the Spoons, Hit Me, and A Drop of the Hard Stuff, featuring Matthew Scudder. He's well known for his books for writers, including the classic Telling Lies For Fun & Profit and Write for Your Life, and he has recently published The Crime of Our Lives, a collection of his writings about the mystery genre and its practitioners.