Matt Scudder Mystery

9 primary works • 14 total works

Time to Murder and Create

by Lawrence Block

Published 13 December 1979

The Spinner is dead, bashed on the head and left to rot in a river. One of his three blackmail victims must have been the killer - Scudder is determined to nail them. Henry Prager has paid enough for the sins of his daughter, and begs Scudder not to destroy his shaky business or the fragile girl's reformed life. Beverly Etheridge cheerfully admitted all the sex acts Scudder had seen in the photos and she promises to show him a few more. Theodore Huysendahl offers Scudder enough money to choke even a blackmailer's greed, a proposition no sane man would turn down. Scudder's code of honour demands that one of them will pay...

In the Midst of Death

by Lawrence Block

Published 9 August 1979

This time hard-drinking ex-cop Matt Scudder is roped in to an NYPD internal investigation that has ended up with one detective in the slammer on a murdre rap. Jerry is as clean as the world would like him to be although Matt isn't too sure, after all, he was only keen to dish the dirt on his former colleagues as a way of saving his own skin when caught on the take.

Eight Million Ways to Die

by Lawrence Block

Published 1 August 1982

Staying alive is never easy; not for the prostitute who is slashed to robbons, nor for the pimp named Chance who is betting his life that the broken down Scudder can find her killer.

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes

by Lawrence Block

Published 1 January 1986

Scudder is a witness to a heist in an illegal drinking den, and the owners would like him to find the culprits, while another witness wants him to investigate the muder of his wife.

A Dance at the Slaughterhouse

by Lawrence Block

Published 1 September 1991

The 9th breakneck thriller in the Matt Scudder series, from a master of the genre.

To Matt Scudder, no one can rise above the law.

But when the ex-cop is privately hired to investigate the murder of a beautiful pregnant woman, he finds himself pushed to the limits of his beliefs. With every step he takes, Scudder discovers darker and more depraved secrets. Human trafficking, snuff films, murderous fetishes: the light of humanity seems all but extinguished.

In the seedy underworld of New York City, nothing is sacred and anything can be bought.

Devil Knows You'RE Dead

by Lawrence Block

Published 1 November 1993

Private detective Matthew Scudder ventures into the dark and dangerous alleys of Hell's Kitchen to track the killer of a yuppie lawyer.

A Long Line of Dead Men

by Lawrence Block

Published 1 October 1994

From NEW YORK TIMES bestseller Lawrence Block.

In Manhattan thirty-one men have been meeting annually for years. Their private club meets only to record the passage of time and give toast to the joys of life. But suddenly they are dying at an alarming rate and one of their number begins to suspect that something more than bad luck is at work.

For private eye Matt Scudder, the case is one of the most baffling he's faced. Can the deaths really be a bizarre series of suicides and violent accidents? Or is there is a pattern behind the random play of tragedy? Is there a murderer at work and can he be stopped before the victims run out?

Even the Wicked

by Lawrence Block

Published 16 September 1996

An anonymous letter writer, the self-styled "Will of the People" targets prominent criminals and evil-doers that the law cannot reach and kills them. All of his victims are dubbed "society offenders", but then he targets a DA, who calls in Scudder.

Everybody Dies

by Lawrence Block

Published 16 September 1998

The new novel from mystery writers of America Grandmaster Lawrence Block in his multi-award winning series of Matt Scudder rivate detective mysteries. Matt Scudder is well and truly off the booze, but he still spends time with some of his old drinking pas including Mick Ballou - an Irish American who operates moren often than not on the wrong side of the law. Mick is worried - a garage full of bourbon has ebeen ripped off and 2 of his henchman killed in cold blood.Somebody is muscling inon Micks patch and he wants Scudder to look into it. Matt reluctantly agrees to take a look but won't promise a result. On the wayhome he is attacked but does more damage than he has inflicted. That same somebody wants him off Mick's case. The following weekend Matt's mentor from AlAnon is shot dead at point blank range when Scudder is in the men's room of the restaurant where the 2 had met for dinner - Matt knows it should have been him. Nowe the case is personal and no matter that he's warned off by his ex-colleagues in the NYPD and his wife Elaine, this is 1 he is going to see out to the end.

A Walk Among the Tombstones

by Lawrence Block

Published 1 October 1992

Big time dope dealer Kenan Khoury is a wealthy man.Then one fine Spring morning his wife Francine is kidnapped and a ransom is demanded.Kenan pays and his wife is duly returned to him-in small pieces in the boot of an abandoned car.Leaving PI Matt Scudder to speculate on the motives of a very unusual kidnapper.Soon Scudder is on the trail of a pair of ruthlessly sadistic psycopaths whose cruel games hve only just begun...

Out on the Cutting Edge

by Lawrence Block

Published 1 October 1989

'Lawrence Block is a master of crime fiction; the Matthew Scudder novels are among the finest detective novels penned in this century.' Jonathan Kellerman 'If you haven't been introduced to Scudder yet, start here.' Chicago Tribune Lawrence Block's career in crime fiction has been full of triumphs. But of all his accomplishments, none is more admired by critics and readers than his novelsfeaturing detective Matthew Scudder. OUT ON THE CUTTING EDGE takes Matthew Scudder to Hell's Kitchen and back with terrifying results.

A Ticket to the Boneyard

by Lawrence Block

Published 1 September 1990

The streets of New York are never safe, but the release of James Leo Motley, a psychopath who went down swearing revenge on PI Matt Scudder, means death is outthere. No one is safe, friends, lovers, or just those unfortunate enough to share the Scudder name. Soon the streets are littered with the dying and Matt begins to question he new found sobriety.

The Sins of the Fathers

by Lawrence Block

Published 24 May 1979

A pretty young girl is butchered in her Greenwich Village apartment. The prime suspect, a minister's son, is found dead in his jail cell and as far as the NYPD is concerned the case is closed. Matt Scudder, an ex-cop who now does "favours for friends', is persuaded to lookinto the case by the dead girl's father. Suddenly he's up to his neck in sleaze and corruption, phoney religious cults and murderous lust. In New York's underbelly the children have no choice but to pay the price for their parent's most unspeakable sins.

A Stab in the Dark

by Lawrence Block

Published 1 August 1982

Nine long years have passed since the killer last struck. Nine years since eighthelpless young women were hideously slaughteredby an ice-pick wielding maniac. Now hard-drinking ex-cop and unlicensed investigator Matt Scudder has been hiredto bring the murderer to justice at last. Relentlessly Scudder follows an aging trail of blood towards a psychopath either long gone, long dead or very patiently awaiting the chance to kill again.