Keller is an ordinary man - who kills people for a living. But then a hit goes wrong, and more than one life is at stake...\\n'Absolutely riveting ... Block is terrific' Washington Post\nKeller is an ordinary man - who kills people for a living. But then a hit goes wrong, and more than one life is at stake...\\n'Absolutely riveting ... Block is terrific' Washington Post\\nKeller is an assassin - he is paid by the job and works for a mysterious man who nominates hits and passes on commissions from elsewhere. Keller goes in, does the job, gets out: usually at a few hours' notice. Often Keller's work takes him out of New York to other cities, to pretty provincial towns that almost tempt him into moving to the woods and the lake shores ... Almost, but not quite.\\nBut then a job goes wrong in a way Keller has never imagined and it leaves him with a big problem. Finding himself with an orphan on his hands, Keller's job begins to interfere with his carefully guarded life.\\nAnd once you let someone in to your life, they tend to want to know what you do when you're away. And killing for a living, lucrative though it is, just doesn't find favour with some folks.

Keller's a hit man. For years now he's had places to go and people to kill.\nBut enough is enough. He's got money in the bank and just one last job standing between him and retirement. So he carries it out with his usual professionalism, and he heads home, and guess what?\nOne more job. Paid in advance, so what's he going to do? Give the money back?In Des Moines, Keller stalks his designated target and waits for the client to give him the go-ahead. And one fine morning he's picking out stamps for his collection (Sweden 1-5, the official reprints) at a shop in Urbandale when somebody guns down the charismatic governor of Ohio.\nBack at his motel, Keller's watching TV when they show the killer's face. And there's something all too familiar about that face. . . .\nKeller calls his associate Dot in White Plains, but there is no answer. He's stranded halfway across the country, every cop in America's just seen his picture, his ID and credit cards are no longer good, and he just spent almost all of his cash on the stamps.\nNow what?

Bestselling author and grand master Lawrence Block returns to his deadliest hitman. A man named Nicholas Edwards lives in New Orleans renovating houses, doing honest work and making decent money at it. Between his family and his stamp collection, all his spare time is happily accounted for. Sometimes it's hard to remember that he used to kill people for a living. But when the nation's economy tanks, taking the construction business with it, all it takes is one phone call to drag him back into the game. It may say Nicholas Edwards on his driver's license and credit cards, but he's back to being the man he always was: Keller. Keller's work takes him to New York, the former home he hasn't dared revisit, where his target is the abbot of a midtown monastery. Another call puts him on a West Indies cruise, with several interesting fellow passengers -- the government witness, the incandescent young woman keeping the witness company, and, sharing Keller's cabin, his wife, Julia. But the high drama comes in Cheyenne, where a recent widow is looking to sell her husband's stamp collection . . . In Hit Me, legendary Edgar Grandmaster and New York Times bestselling author Lawrence Block returns to one of his most beloved characters. Welcome back, Keller. You've been missed.

Evan Tanner, war veteran, permanent insomniac, and pursuer of beautiful women, reappears in print with his very first adventure, the case of a ravishing blonde who asks him to her smuggle her into her native country. Reprint.

Evan Tanner ran head-first into a piece of shrapnel in Korea, and now he can't sleep. Ever. Which can be an asset for a dedicated linguist, term paper forger, thief, lost cause enthusiast . . . Spy.Tanner takes on jobs for a covert intelligence organization so secret that even those who work for it have no idea who they're working for. Now his nameless supervisor wants him to sneak behind the Iron Curtain, storm an impregnable castle in Prague (alone!), and rescue an old Slovak who's got a pressing date with a hangman's noose.The trouble is the prisoner is an unrepentant Nazi who makes Goering look like Mister Rogers. Tanner hates Nazis. If he's caught (which is likely) the U.S. will deny that they know him. And Tanner will be executed. After being tortured, no doubt. All in all, there are many excellent reasons why Tanner should refuse this assignment.So, naturally, he says yes.

Evan Tanner s latest assignment is to find a friend s long-lost love, and smuggle her out of Russia. Everyone Evan meets on his trek across Eastern Europe is desperate for a one-way ticket to America. There s a subversive Yugoslavian author, a six-year-old future queen of Lithuania, and the beautiful woman Evan has been sent to rescue."

Bernie Rhodenbarr and his lesbian companion, Caroline, break into a luxurious New York apartment, learn that another burglar has beaten them to it, and soon find themselves accused of murder

Since his 1977 debut, Bernie Rhodenbarr has won the devotion of an ever-increasing international audience. The lighthearted and light-fingered fellow, whose talents as a detective get him out of the trouble his burglar skills get him into, wins readers' hearts and minds as he goes along. THE BURGLAR WHO PAINTED LIKE MONDRIAN is his fifth adventure.

Since his 1977 debut, Bernie Rhodenbarr has won the devotion of an ever-increasing international audience. The lighthearted and light-fingered fellow, whose talents as a detective get him out of the trouble his burglar skills get him into, wins readers' hearts and minds as he goes along. THE BURGLAR IN THE RYE is his ninth adventure.

Ever since The Burglar on the Prowl climbed the bestseller lists in 2004, fans have been clamoring for a new book featuring the lighthearted and lightfingered Bernie Rhodenbarr. Now everybody's favorite burglar returns in an eleventh adventure that finds him and his lesbian sidekick Carolyn Kaiser breaking into houses, apartments, and even a museum, in a madcap adventure replete with American Colonial silver, an F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscript, a priceless portrait, and a remarkable array of buttons. And, wouldn't you know it, there's a dead body, all stretched out on a Trent Barling carpet...

Four decades ago, Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Lawrence Block introduced the world to one of his most beloved and enduring creations: Bernie Rhodenbarr, the clever, nimble-fingered star of novels such as Burglars Can't Be Choosers, The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling, and The Burglar Who Counted the Spoons. Called “the Heifetz of the picklock” by the New York Times, Bernie has stolen not only antiques, stamp collections, and priceless works of art but also millions of readers' hearts.\\nNow, for all those craving more adventures of their favorite bookseller-by-day and burglar-by-night, The Burglar in Short Order for the first time ever collects all of Bernie's short-form appearances in one complete volume. From the story in which a prototype of Bernie first appeared (“A Bad Night For Burglars”) to his appearances in Playboy and (maybe? It's kinda complicated) Cosmopolitan…from an essay discussing Bernie's misadventures in Hollywood (how in the world did Whoopi Goldberg ever get cast?) to a piece commissioned by a European publisher for a tourist guide to New York…you'll find every published story, article, and standalone excerpt Bernie has ever appeared in—plus two new, unpublished pieces: an introduction discussing the character's colorful origins and an afterword in which the author, contemplating retirement, comes face to face with his own creation. In all of mystery fiction, there has never been a character like Bernie—and in this, his dozenth book, he demonstrates all the charm and wit and kleptophilic ingenuity that has made two generations of readers welcome their favorite burglar into their homes.

Louis Pinell, the recently apprehended "Icepick Prowler," freely admits to having slain seven young women nine years ago -- but be swears it was a copycat who killed Barbara Ettinger Matthew Scudder believes him. But the trail to Ettinger's true murderer is twisted, dark and dangerous...and even colder than the almost decade-old corpse the p.i. is determined to avenge.

Nobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a person can sink in the city of New York. Except a young prostitute named Kim—and she wanted out. Maybe Kim didn't deserve the life fate had dealt her. She surely didn't deserve her death. The alcoholic ex-cop turned P.I. was supposed to protect her, but someone slashed her to ribbons in a seedy hotel room. Now, finding Kim's killer will be Scudder's penance. But there are lethal secrets hiding in the slain hooker's past that are far dirtier than her trade. And there are many ways of dying in this cruel and dangerous town—some quick and brutal . . . and some agonizingly slow. With this book, which won the Shamus Award and was short-listed for the Edgar, Lawrence Block elevated the Matthew Scudder series to the top tier of American detective fiction. This special hardcover edition features an afterword by the author. Read Eight Million Ways to Die, the novel that proves Block to be one of the best mystery writers working today.

The streets of New York are never safe, but the release of James Leo Motley, a psychopath who went down swearing revenge on Matt Scudder on all who knew him, means death is out there looking for a victim. No-one is safe - friends, lovers or just those unfortunate enough to share the same name.

There is no accolade or major mystery award that has not already been bestowed upon Lawrence Block. His acclaimed crime novels are asintelligent, provocative, and emotionally complex as they are nerve-tighteningly intense. And perhaps the most respected of his myriad works are the Matthew Scudder books -- masterworks of suspenseful invention featuring a remarkable protagonist rich in conscience and character, with all the flaws that his humanity entails. This is the detective novel as high art.\nA Dance At The SlaughterhouseIn Matt Scudder's mind, money, power, and position elevate nobody above morality and the law. Now the ex-cop and unlicensed p.i. has been hired to prove that socialite Richard Thurman orchestrated the brutal murder of his beautiful, pregnant wife. During Scudder's hard drinking years, he left a piece of his soul on every seedy corner of the Big Apple. But this case is more depraved and more potentially devastating than anything he experienced while floundering in the urban depths. Because this investigation is leading Scudder on a frightening grand tour of New York's sex-for-sale underworld -- where an innocent young life is simply a commodity to be bought and perverted ... and then destroyed.

Currently filming in the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan, A Walk Among the Tombstones stars Liam Neeson as unlicensed private eye and sober alcoholic Matthew Scudder. Supporting players include Dan Stevens (ex-Downtown Abbey) and Ruth Wilson (Luther); TJ is played by the rapper Astro. Scott Frank wrote the screenplay, and is directing the film.The wife of Kenan Khoury, heroin wholesaler, is killed after he haggles over the price of her ransom. With the help of two computer geniuses, a streetwise punk, drug lords and his friend, ex-cop Scudder, they track the killers through the back streets of Brooklyn.

Matthew Scudder investigates a secret, private club in Manhattan whose members suddenly start dying, when it becomes obvious that someone is trying to kill them all.

Facing his demons in his first year of sobriety, Matthew Scudder finds himself on the trail of a killer. When Scudder's childhood friend Jack Ellery is murdered, presumably while attempting to atone for past sins, Scudder reluctantly begins his own investigation, with just one lead: Ellery's Alcoholics Anonymous list of people he wronged. One of them may be a killer, but that's not necessarily Scudder's greatest danger. Immersing himself in Ellery's world may lead him right back to the bar stool. In a novel widely celebrated by critics and readers, Lawrence Block circle back to how it all began, reestablishing the Matthew Scudder series as one of the pinnacles of American detective fiction. "Right up there with Mr. Block's best . . . A Drop of Hard Stuff keeps us guessing." -- Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

Alex Penn wakes up in a squalid Times Square hotel room. This is what he sees when he finally opens his eyes: “The floor was a sea of blood. A body floated upon this ocean. A girl—black hair, staring blue eyes, bloodless lips. Naked. Dead. Her throat slashed deeply. “It had to be a dream. It had to, had to be a dream. It was not a dream. It was not a dream at all. “I’ve done it again, I thought. Sweet Jesus, I’ve done it again.” Years before, Alex Penn woke up in similar circumstances, called the police, went to prison. A technicality freed him—and now there’s been another drunken blackout, another dead streetwalker. But something nags at his memory, and he begins to suspect some other hand wielded the knife. And if he didn’t murder this woman, maybe he didn’t kill the other one, either. So he runs, adrift in an urban jungle, hoping to steer clear of the police long enough to solve the crime. AFTER THE FIRST DEATH is sure to appeal to fans of David Goodis and Cornell Woolrich. And, with its gritty New York setting and its undercurrent of alcoholism, it can be considered a precursor to Lawrence Block’s iconic Matthew Scudder series. THE CLASSIC CRIME LIBRARY brings together Lawrence Block's early crime novels, reformatted and with new uniform cover art.

“You may rape the bride…” David and Jill Wade wanted a properly traditional start to their marriage. For openers, they decided to delay its consummation until after the ceremony. They planned a perfect honeymoon at a secluded lakeside resort in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains. Joe Carroll, the guest in the cabin next door, seemed friendly enough. They took his dinner suggestion, then returned to their cabin and prepared to retire—until a noise alerted them, and they went to the porch and watched a group of men descend on Joe Carroll’s cabin. They dragged him out at gunpoint, then executed him in cold blood. And Jill screamed… The men heard her, rushed the Wade's cabin. They took their turns with Jill. Then they left. And the newlyweds barely considered reporting the violation to the police. Instead, with only a name and a few bare clues to steer them, they hunted down the men who’d done the awful deed and the crime boss who’d given them their orders. DEADLY HONEYMOON was Lawrence Block’s first hardcover novel. It’s a powerful tale of revenge, and of a man and woman far more closely bound by their shared mission than they would have been by a more ordinary honeymoon. THE CLASSIC CRIME LIBRARY brings together Lawrence Block's early crime novels, reformatted and with new uniform cover art.

Evelyn Stone, the secretary to real-estate entrepreneur Wallace Gunderman and his spurned lover, teams up with Johnny Hayden and Doug Rance to make their scheme to take Gunderman for all he is worth suceed. Reprint.

“The colonel was right. You had to draw a line through mankind, a wavy line but a line, and on one side you had Good and on the other side you had Evil. There was good and bad in everyone, sure, and every shitheel was some mother’s son, and it was all well and good to know this, but when push came to shove, it was just words; there was Good and Evil with no shades of gray and Judgment Day came seven time a week.”Meet the Specialists, five good men, Manso and Murdock and Simmons and Giordano and Dehn. They scattered when they took off their green berets and returned to civilian life, but now and then their colonel picks up the phone and gets in touch—and they get together to do as they did in Vietnam.Colonel Roger Elliott Cross left a leg in Vietnam. His men came home physically intact, but each bears scars nonetheless. But when they come together, teamed up to right wrongs, they are a powerful force for good.And,by doing good, they also manage to do well. Because when five specialists take on a Mafia-owned bank, why shouldn’t they turn profit on the deal?If you saw The A-Team on television, this may seem familiar to you. When Lawrence Block saw the A-Team, it seems uncannily familiar to him, and he had the feeling the show’s producers had read his 1968 novel. But he decided, wisely or not, that life is too short for litigation. Now, years later, the TV show has vanished and the book lives on. Isn’t that as it should be?THE CLASSIC CRIME LIBRARY brings together Lawrence Block's early crime novels, reformatted and with new uniform cover art.

“This goes through you like a dose of salts and stings like iodine.”So said Virginia Kirkus Reviews of Such Men Are Dangerous when it first appeared almost fifty years ago, and since then this edge-of-the-chair novel hasn’t lost a step. It’s the story of Paul Kavanagh, a burnt-out ex-Green Beret who copes with what we’ve since learned to call PTSD by retiring to a dime-sized islet in the Florida Keys. There he lives a determinedly simple life, his human contact limited to a weekly visit to a storekeeper on a nearby island.Then George Dattner turns up with a plan. A CIA op, he has inside knowledge of a scheduled shipment of military goods from an army base in South Dakota. It’s really nasty stuff—atomic grenades, lethal gas, tactical weaponry that could be a game-changer for a border war or insurgency. And he’s got a buyer lined up. All he needs is a partner, because the way he’s got it figured, hijacking the shipment is a job that the right two men can pull off.Kavanagh signs on.The operation is brilliantly planned and executed, but not without a few surprises along the way. But the greatest surprise, and a denouement that’s as shocking now as it was half a century ago, will hit you as hard as it hit readers half a century ago.THE CLASSIC CRIME LIBRARY brings together Lawrence Block's early crime novels, reformatted and with new uniform cover art.

When the wife of his latest mark concocts a clever scheme to get rid of her husband, professional cardsharp Bill Maynard, craving some action, is only too happy to help, but all bets are off when his luck runs out and the tables turn. Original.

Five killers, each with their own reasons for accepting what might as well be a suicide mission for $20,000 apiece, must find a way into Cuba and kill Castro. Reprint.

Tired of being a good girl, Anita Carbone gets more than she bargained for when she, arriving in Greenwich Village, meets a troubled young war veteran and his drug-dealing roommate, who has a penchant for murder. Original.

“Ed London is the kind of private investigator you call to clean up the mess when your mistress turns up dead. But after he dumps a body in Central Park, it appears this case is still alive and kicking. Seems that the dead girl was in possession of something special that some very shady characters want back. Now Ed, along with his actress friend Maddy, will have to crack the case before he ends up dead himself. But there's more than a murder here; there's missing jewels, Israeli intelligence, Nazi spies, and a host of double-dealing, backstabbing thieves.”Coward’s Kiss started life as a tie-in novel for Belmont Books, linked to the TV series Markham, starring Ray Milland. When a very young Lawrence Block turned in the book, his agent sent it instead to Knox Burger at Gold Medal, who shared the agent’s enthusiasm. Block rewrote the book, changing Roy to Ed and Markham to London, and Gold Medal published the book with the unfortunate title of Death Pulls a Doublecross.After fulfilling his assignment by writing another book for Belmont (You Could Call It Murder, Classic Crime Library #12) Block tried to write a second Ed London novel, but somehow never managed it. He did write three magazine novelettes with London, and you can find them in One Night Stands and Lost Weekends, a collection of his earliest pulp work.The legendary Anthony Boucher gave the book a nice review in the New York Times Book Review, and if Lawrence Block had the sense to hang on to things, we’d reproduce it here. But he doesn’t, so you’ll have to take our word for it. THE CLASSIC CRIME LIBRARY brings together Lawrence Block's early crime novels, reformatted and with new uniform cover art.

There's no glass slipper in this fairy tale - just a damsel in distress, a bag of cash, and a whole lot of dead bodies. Reporter Ted Lindsay is trying to forget his ex-wife, and New York City's tough streets are just what the doctor ordered. They're also filled with alluring women, but only one catches Ted's eye. Cinderella Sims is not only beautiful, she's on the run and she needs Ted's help. She's got a bag full of cash and some very angry people staking out her apartment. Before long Ted's forgotten his heartbreak and is launched into the dark streets of crime with Cindy at his side. The author speaks: “Look, this wasn’t my idea. “Three or four years ago, Bill Schafer suggested that I might give some consideration to republishing a book of mine called $20 Lust, which had originally appeared under a pen name. I recalled the book he meant, but dimly; I had, after all, written it in 1960. But I didn’t need to remember it all that vividly to know the answer to his suggestion. “No, I told him. “A little later I suggested he might want to publish a fancy edition of Mona, the first book under my own name; it had come out as a paperback original in 1961, and we could celebrate its fortieth anniversary with a nice limited edition hardcover. “Bill was lukewarm to the notion, but had an alternative proposal; how about issuing a double volume, containing Mona and $20 Lust? Once again, I didn’t have to do a lot of soul-searching to come up with a response. “No, I told him. “Time passed. Then Ed Gorman, the Sage of Cedar Rapids, used an ancient private eye novelette of mine in a pulp anthology. When it came out he sent me a copy, and, while I didn’t read my novelette—I figured it was enough that I wrote the damned thing—I did read his introduction, which I found to be thoughtful and incisive and generous. I e-mailed him and told him so, and he e-mailed me back and thanked me, adding that my early work was probably better than I thought. “‘And,’ he added, ‘I really think you ought to let Bill Schafer publish $20 Lust.’ “I felt as though I’d been sucker-punched. Where the hell did that come from? “So I got in touch with Bill. ‘I suppose I could at least read it,’ I said, ‘except I can’t, because I don’t have a copy.’ Three days later, a battered copy arrived in the mail. I looked at the first two pages, and I looked at the last two or three pages, and I heaved a sigh. Heaved it clear across the room, and would have heaved the book, too, but instead I hollered for my wife. “‘Bill Schafer wants to reprint this,’ I said. “‘Great,’ she said. “‘Not necessarily,’ I said, and explained the circumstances. ‘I’d like you to read this,’ I said, ‘or as much of it as you can without gagging, and then tell me it’s utter crap and I’d surely destroy what little reputation I have if I consent to its republication.’ “’Suppose I like it?’ “‘Not to worry,’ I said. ‘I’ll sign the commitment papers, and I’ll make sure they take real good care of you.’ “Well, she liked it. And Bill Schafer published it, and a lot of people liked it, and my agent sold it in France, where even more people liked it. Shows what I know. And it’s now my pleasure to include it in the Classic Crime Library. “Cinderella Sims was originally intended to be my second crime novel for Gold Medal, to follow Grifter’s Game (aka Mona). At some point along the way I lost faith in it, and wrapped it up in a hurry, and sold it to Nightstand Books. Hope y’all enjoy it!” THE CLASSIC CRIME LIBRARY brings together Lawrence Block's early crime novels, reformatted and with new uniform cover art.

A thriller loaded with international intrigue from mystery master Lawrence Block. Struggling folksinger Ellen Cameron can't believe her luck. Not only is the State Department sponsoring her trip to West Berlin, but her agent has arranged for her to tour Ireland. It's just the break she needs. And better yet, she's meeting the friendliest and most interesting people on her trip, from a kind priest on the plane to a handsome American studying abroad. But things - and people - aren't always what they seem, and her European adventure could turn out to be the type of international affair she never imagined. LB says: "This book was originally published by Lancer Books under the pen name Anne Campbell Clarke, a pseudonym I never used before or since. I'd been engaged to write a romantic espionage novel in the tradition of Helen MacInnes, and chose Ireland as a setting, being familiar with the countryside and with the folk music. I had a good time writing it, but of course that's no guarantee you'll have a good time reading it. But I certainly hope you do." THE CLASSIC CRIME LIBRARY brings together Lawrence Block's early crime novels, reformatted and with new uniform cover art.

Here's one reviewer's take:"Originally marketed as "occult horror", Ariel is neither. It's a story of the madness that lies just under the surface, and what it takes to bring it out; the need to give evil a face and a name. Who better to scapegoat for unexplainable tragedies than the one who is Different? Ariel is adopted, and looks slightly unusual. Her unstable mother never fails to assume the worst, almost deliberately misreading the girl's ordinary teenage perceptiveness and need for privacy. By the book's end, almost everyone believes that Ariel is a monster -- including Ariel herself."Great characterizations, wonderful descriptions -- I want to live in Ariel's house. I could wish for a sequel, or just for more books like it."And here's LB's:"A publisher provided the premise of Ariel-an adoption that went awry. I was in Charleston when I began the book, and chose that extraordinary city as its setting. I don't know to what extent the book works-I should note that not every reader agreed with the one quoted above-but I greatly enjoyed the interplay of Ariel and her friend Erskine, and on certain nights I can still hear her flute off in the distance."THE CLASSIC CRIME LIBRARY brings together Lawrence Block's early crime novels, reformatted and with new uniform cover art.

Jeff Flanders has a perfectly good life. Until Candace Cain sashays into it and turns it upside-down.Jeff's got a good-looking wife; he loves her and she loves him. He's got a job, swinging a desk at a semi-shady finance company, signing off on usurious loans to losers; he doesn't love it and it doesn't love him, but it's easy work and it pays the bills. Until a girl called Candy applies for a $1000 loan-with no job, no bank account, no security. Nothing but a beautiful face, an awesome body, and all the nerve in the world.He lends her the money himself. That's a mistake. In return, she takes him to bed. That's a bigger one. All she wants in the world is someone who'll keep her in style. All he wants is more Candy. . .CANDY, first published in 1960, is a noir novel of sexual obsession. It could as easily qualify for the Classic Crime Library, as it's unquestionably a crime novel, but on reflection LB decided it was a better fit in the Collection of Classic Erotica.Besides, this way we get to use the gorgeous Paul Rader cover.