Tag Archives: lawrence block

Killing Castro, by Lawrence Block

Posted on April 25, 2018 by

A large piece of the Hard Case Crime series has been reprints of older, “lost” stories written by famous authors. They have almost always been entertaining reads, even if the quality hasn’t been consistent with the writers’ better-known works. The … Continue reading →

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The Girl With the Long Green Heart, by Lawrence Block

Posted on February 13, 2018 by

Discovering the Hard Case Crime imprint has led me toward the early work of a few widely-known crime authors, including those of Lawrence Block. I’ve found the early Block novels variable in quality, but usually interesting for the characters and … Continue reading →

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Sinner Man, by Lawrence Block

Posted on January 21, 2018 by

The last book I reviewed reached a sort of philosophical climax when the two major protagonists, father and son, confronted each other about their willingness, as Emperors of their people, to commit evil acts in service of the greater good. The … Continue reading →

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After the First Death, by Lawrence Block

Posted on November 19, 2017 by

One of the two famous repeating characters in Lawrence Block’s fiction, the detective Matthew Scudder, is featured in eighteen books. He is a character enriched by a collection of evolving strengths and faults, not the least being his alcoholism. Block … Continue reading →

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October reads – a list

Posted on October 31, 2017 by

I stocked up on some quick-to-read crime fiction this month, with plenty of Hard Case Crime volumes and a couple books out of the Parker series. It seems I stumbled across some below-average examples of both: Westlake definitely created a … Continue reading →

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A Diet of Treacle by Lawrence Block

Posted on October 28, 2017 by

For the most part, reading the early books of famed crime writer Lawrence Block have been low-risk, entertaining tasks. I often see prototypes of characters later written into the Matthew Scudder series, but the plots have been consistently clear and … Continue reading →

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Two unpleasant titles from Hard Case Crime

Posted on October 27, 2017 by

No sooner do I praise Hard Case Crime for being having consistently entertaining titles in their back-catalog than I come across a pair of books overstuffed with gratuitous violence. I understand that the genre has its lurid side – steeped … Continue reading →

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September reads – a list

Posted on October 2, 2017 by

This is a list of the month’s reading experiences, with a sentence or two about each.

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Five More Books from Hard Case Crime

Posted on September 26, 2017 by

Continuing the tour into the Hard Case Crime catalogue, we have five more crime novels, including two from Lawrence Block that almost bookend his entire career:

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Five Books from Hard Case Crime

Posted on September 15, 2017 by

Over the past couple of years, I’ve been dipping into the genre of crime fiction – the blanket term I’ll use to cover noir, mystery, and police procedural stories. I started with a few Jim Thompson paperbacks and the two fantastic … Continue reading →

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