Skip to main content

Lawrence Block

Biography

Lawrence Block

Lawrence Block has won more awards than almost any other living mystery writer: four Edgar Awards, four Shamus Awards, two Maltese Falcon Awards, the Nero Wolfe Award, the Cartier Diamond Dagger and more. He was named a Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America, the organization’s highest honor. (Previous recipients include James M. Cain, Agatha Christie and Ross Macdonald.) His work ranges from the searing noir investigations of alcoholic detective Matt Scudder to the witty adventures of master burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, and includes many stunning stand-alone thrillers such as Hard Case Crime’s debut title, GRIFTER'S GAME.

Books by Lawrence Block

edited by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories, Suspense, Thriller

Those who have the collecting bug care passionately --- sometimes violently --- about the objects of their obsession. No one covets like a collector, and as you will find in the pages of this new anthology from MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block, a truly dedicated collector will ignore the other nine commandments, too, in his quest for his personal Holy Grail. From Joyce Carol Oates' tale of the ultimate Marilyn Monroe collectible to Dennis Lehane's bookseller with a penchant for other people's tragic correspondence, and culminating in Block's own classic story of a killer with a unique approach to choosing his victims, COLLECTIBLES illustrates the range of the collecting impulse and the lengths people will go to in their hunger to possess the perfect piece.

by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Noir, Suspense, Thriller

You might as well know this going in: Lawrence Block's new novel is not for everyone. It's recounted in journal form by its protagonist, and begins when he walks into a roadhouse outside of Bakersfield, California, and walks out with a woman. And rapes and murders her. But, um, not in that order. Right. But it's what he does with the rest of his life that's really interesting.

edited by Lawrence Block - Anthology, Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories

Seventeen stories by 17 brilliant writers, inspired by 17 paintings. That was the formula for Lawrence Block’s two groundbreaking anthologies, IN SUNLIGHT OR IN SHADOW and ALIVE IN SHAPE AND COLOR, and it’s on glorious display here once again in FROM SEA TO STORMY SEA. This time the paintings are exclusively the work of American artists, and the roster includes Harvey Dunn, John Steuart Curry, Reginald Marsh, Thomas Hart Benton, Helen Frankenthaler, Winslow Homer, Rockwell Kent, Grant Wood and Andy Warhol. Among the star-studded lineup of writers, you’ll find Warren Moore, Jerome Charyn, Jane Hamilton, Christa Faust, John Sandford, Sara Paretsky, Charles Ardai, Barry Malzberg and Janice Eidus.

edited by Lawrence Block - Anthology, Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories

Any number of artists have produced evocative work, paintings that could trigger a literary response. But none came to mind who could equal Edward Hopper in turning out canvas after canvas. If no single artist could take Hopper’s place, how about a full palette of them? Suppose each author was invited to select a painting from the whole panoply of visual art. In artists ranging from Art Frahm and Norman Rockwell to René Magritte and Clifford Still, the impressive concept goes on to include Thomas Pluck, Sarah Weinman, David Morrell, Craig Ferguson, Joe R. Lansdale, Jill D. Block, Justin Scott, Jonathan Santlofer, Gail Levin, Nicholas Christopher and Lee Child, with each story accompanied in color by the work of art that inspired it.

edited by Lawrence Block - Anthology, Fiction, Mystery, Short Stories

"Edward Hopper is surely the greatest American narrative painter. His work bears special resonance for writers and readers, and yet his paintings never tell a story so much as they invite viewers to find for themselves the untold stories within." So says Lawrence Block, who has invited 17 writers to join him in an unprecedented anthology of brand-new stories. Contributors include Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Olen Butler, Michael Connelly, Megan Abbott, Joe R. Lansdale, Jonathan Santlofer, Jeffery Deaver and Lee Child.

by Lawrence Block - Crime, Fiction, Hard-boiled Mystery

To escape punishment for a murder he didn't mean to commit, insurance man Don Barshter has to take on a new identity: Nathaniel Crowley, ferocious up-and-comer in the New York mob. But can he find safety in the skin of another man...a worse man...a sinner man...?

by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Hard-boiled Mystery, Mystery

Cashed out from the NYPD after 24 years, Doak Miller operates as a private eye in steamy small-town Florida, doing jobs for the local police. Like posing as a hit man and wearing a wire to incriminate a local wife who’s looking to get rid of her husband. But when he sees the wife, when he looks into her deep blue eyes, he falls --- and falls hard. Soon he’s working with her, against his employer, plotting a devious plan that could get her free from her husband and put millions in her bank account. But can they do it without landing in jail?

edited by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Mystery, Noir, Short Stories

Famed detective and mystery writer Lawrence Block takes the helm as guest editor for DARK CITY LIGHTS, the fourth edition of the Have a NYC series. Here are 23 thrilling, hilarious and poignant short stories --- all based in New York City --- written by new and acclaimed fiction masters, including Robert Silverberg, Ed Park, Jim Fusilli, Parnell Hall, SJ Rozan, Brian Koppelman, Elaine Kagan and more. Additional authors include Thomas Pluck, Warren Moore, Erin Mitchell and Tom Callahan.

by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

The lives of five desperate people collide on the no-holds-barred border between the United States and Mexico with disastrous results. Bestselling and acclaimed author Lawrence Block wrote BORDERLINE under a pseudonym in 1958, and now it is being published for the first time under his own name.

by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Mystery

Bestselling mystery writer Lawrence Block brings back one of his most popular characters, burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, in this 11th novel of the series. Bernie must use his illegal skills to solve a mystery involving a rare and valuable American Colonial silver spoon, an F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscript, a priceless portrait, and an array of historic buttons. And along the way, he just happens to have to solve a murder.

by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Thriller

Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block brings back his hit man, Keller, in this fifth book of the series. Keller’s life might have changed for the better with his new wife and life in a new city, but he still practices his dark side profession in five new assignments that take him everywhere from a West Indies cruise to his old haunts in New York City.

by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Mystery, Noir, Short Stories

Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block brings together in one collection 16 of his short stories and a short play. These are truly tales from the dark side involving serial killers, dirty cops, obsessed fans, and dangerous, desperate people.

by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Mystery

Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block brings back his hit man, Keller, in this fifth book of the series. Keller’s life might have changed for the better with his new wife and life in a new city, but he still practices his dark side profession in five new assignments that take him everywhere from a West Indies cruise to his old haunts in New York City.

by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Mystery

Two early pulp novels by bestselling author Lawrence Block are published in one volume in the famous Ace Doubles format. STRANGE EMBRACE involves murder in a Broadway show company, while 69 BARROW STREET looks at the dark side of Greenwich Village during the waning days of the “beat” culture.

Lawrence Block, writing as Jill Emerson - Fiction, Hard-boiled Crime Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

So this girl walks into a bar... and when she walks out, there’s a man with her. She goes to bed with him, and she likes that part. Then she kills him, and she likes that even better.

by Lawrence Block - Fiction, Mystery

Forced out of the NYPD, Matthew Scudder has given up the drink. Then he runs into "High-Low" Jack Ellery, a childhood friend. Scudder once solved crimes as a detective. Ellery committed them. Then Ellery is killed, presumably while attempting to atone for past sins. Is it what he saw or what he said that got him killed?