Lawrence Block
AUTHOR

Lawrence Block

Lawrence Block (b. 1938) 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 (2002), 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.

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Best Sellers

    • Stories

    • All-New Tales
    • By: Neil Gaiman (author and editor), Al Sarrantonio (editor), Joe Hill, and others
    • Narrated by: Anne Bobby, Jonathan Davis, Katherine Kellgren, and others
    • Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 609
    • Performance
      4 out of 5 stars 451
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 453

    The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Something for Everyone

    • By Nicole on 05-24-17

    Regular price: $42.20

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • The Sins of the Fathers

    • By: Lawrence Block
    • Narrated by: Alan Sklar
    • Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 216
    • Performance
      4 out of 5 stars 183
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 185

    The hooker was young, pretty...and dead, butchered in a Greenwich Village apartment....

    • 3 out of 5 stars

    • Good introduction to a popular series

    • By Sharron on 12-26-11

    Regular price: $13.96

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • Hit List

    • By: Lawrence Block
    • Narrated by: George Guidall
    • Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 112
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 95
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 96

    Keller is a regular guy. He goes to the movies, works on his stamp collection. Then every so often he gets a call from White Plains that sends him flying off somewhere to kill a perfect stranger....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Gallows humour at its best

    • By A. Tanneberger on 11-23-16

    Regular price: $24.49

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • Hit Me

    • Keller, Book 5
    • By: Lawrence Block
    • Narrated by: Richard Poe
    • Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 210
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 185
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 185

    The conclusion of Hit and Run found Keller living in a big old house in post-Katrina New Orleans' Lower Garden District, with a new name (Nicholas Edwards), a new wife (Julia), a new career....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Killer of a story!

    • By 9S on 03-11-13

    Regular price: $24.49

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • In Sunlight or in Shadow

    • Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper
    • By: Lawrence Block - editor
    • Narrated by: full cast
    • Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 22
    • Performance
      4 out of 5 stars 20
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 21

    A truly unprecedented literary achievement by author and editor Lawrence Block, this newly-commissioned anthology of 17 stories, each inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Hopper Noir

    • By RueRue on 12-20-16

    Regular price: $34.99

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • Hit Parade

    • By: Lawrence Block
    • Narrated by: Lawrence Block
    • Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 337
    • Performance
      4 out of 5 stars 151
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 154

    Keller is a new kind of hero, one for the 21st century. Reliable. A real pro. His job? He's a stone-cold killer....

    • 3 out of 5 stars

    • Not as good as the original

    • By Mark on 06-17-08

    Regular price: $28.51

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • Hit Man

    • By: Lawrence Block
    • Narrated by: Robert Forster
    • Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 1,693
    • Performance
      4.5 out of 5 stars 741
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 745

    Keller possesses all the qualities of a professional killer. He's cool, confident, reclusive, icy, and...

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Surprisingly Terrific

    • By Sunshine on 02-15-03

    Regular price: $19.95

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • Everybody Dies

    • By: Lawrence Block
    • Narrated by: Mark Hammer
    • Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 130
    • Performance
      4 out of 5 stars 76
    • Story
      4.5 out of 5 stars 76

    In Everybody Dies, Matt is finally leading a comfortable, almost respectable life - until he helps an unlikely friend uncover a nameless enemy....

    • 5 out of 5 stars

    • Excellent

    • By Rich on 09-30-07

    Regular price: $29.37

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • A Walk Among the Tombstones

    • A Matt Scudder Mystery
    • By: Lawrence Block
    • Narrated by: Mark Hammer
    • Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 466
    • Performance
      4 out of 5 stars 409
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 411

    Private detective Matt Scudder investigates a series of kidnappings that always end in brutal murder....

    • 4 out of 5 stars

    • Movie to be out Sept 19, 2014

    • By PerryMartinBookReviews on 06-24-14

    Regular price: $32.87

    Free with 30-day Trial

    • Time to Murder and Create

    • By: Lawrence Block
    • Narrated by: Alan Sklar
    • Length: 5 hrs and 4 mins
    • Unabridged
    • Overall
      4 out of 5 stars 100
    • Performance
      4 out of 5 stars 93
    • Story
      4 out of 5 stars 94

    Small-time stoolie Jake "The Spinner" Jablon made a lot of new enemies when he switched careers from informer to blackmailer....

    • 4 out of 5 stars

    • Another good Matt Scudder novel....

    • By antonio on 10-26-12

    Regular price: $13.96

    Free with 30-day Trial

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