"This is a wonderful book!" ~Joe R. Lansdale "Fare thee well, Matt Scudder. You picked a hell of a novelist to chronicle your most sensational cases, and you’ve done him proud in telling the story of the rest of your life. And happy birthday, LB. Thanks for sharing your present with us." ~Frank Sennett, Chicago Culture Authority "I finished the autobiography and loved it! At one point I had to stop and ask myself, "Wait, Scudder is Larry's invention, right?" I was so into his narrative and life. Makes me want to go back and reread all the Scudder books." ~Jonathan Santlofer " It’s evident from his handling of this meta approach that Block hasn’t lost much speed off his fastball. But for devoted readers (like me), there’s an element of pure wish fulfillment at play. The book is essentially a chance to tug the sleeve of a character we’ve gotten to know quite well and offer to buy him another cup of coffee before he heads out, to hear an additional story or two and ask questions long wondered about. It’s an impressive trick that requires decades of work on the part of both writer and reader to carry off. You need to know Matt Scudder in order to appreciate this book, and if you know Matt Scudder you’ve already ordered it." ~Vince Keenan "O ne of the all-time great fictional detectives from one of my very favourite writers." ~Ian Rankin Since the 1970s, Lawrence Block has been writing award-winning novels and short fiction featuring Matthew Scudder. Now, with both himself and his detective half a century older, the author found himself charged with writing a book about his protagonist. And he decided he wasn’t the right person for the job. “What was Matt’s family like? How did he spend his childhood? What steered him toward the NYPD, and how did he get all the way from the Police Academy to a detective’s gold shield? Who were the influences and what were the experiences that made him the man we’ve come to know? These were important questions. There were certainly stories to be told, but that didn’t mean I was the person to tell them. If Matt Scudder was to have a memoir, he ought to write it himself.” So Block passed on the assignment to his most enduring fictional character, and the result—The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder—is a remarkable document, at once a convincing Bildungsroman and the indispensable capstone of an outstanding series. Since his 1976 debut in The Sins of the Fathers, Matthew Scudder has aged in real time; so too, remarkably enough, has his creator. Lawrence Block turned 84 on June 24, 2022, while Mr. Scudder reached that same milestone on September 7. The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder demonstrates clearly—and irresistibly—that neither one of them has lost a step. Lawrence Block, named a Grand Master by Mystery Writers of America, is a multiple winner of the Edgar Allan Poe and Shamus awards; recognition for his lifetime achievement includes the UK Crime Writers Association’s Diamond Dagger. "This is Scudder's back story; where he was born, what his family was like, how he became a cop, a detective, and an alcoholic. To this reviewer the most fascinating bits revolved around how Scudder became a police officer. We meet his partner, an older cop who demonstrates how he thinks policing should work, the occasional bribe notwithstanding. And we get to see how Scudder washed out of the force to become the private investigator Block has been writing about for half a century. Devotees of the Scudder books will not want to miss this one. If you have never experienced any of the stories in this series I think after you read this autobiography you'll be intrigued to comprehend there are another 19 Scudder books already out there just waiting for you to devour them." ~Vick Mickunas, Dayton Daily News
Author
Lawrence Block has been writing crime, mystery, and suspense fiction for more than half a century. He has published in excess (oh, wretched excess!) of 100 books, and no end of short stories. Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them. His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game. LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller. Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke. LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights. Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014. LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.) LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries. He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
