October 20, 2007

Wandering the mystery shelves

Want a good dark mystery novel? Try When the Sacred Ginmill Closes, by Lawrence Block. This is the sixth book of sixteen that Block has written featuring Matthew Scudder, an ex-NYPD cop, and it seems to be one of the most highly acclaimed by Scudder fans. There's a full list at the author's website. Scudder is now an on-the-wagon alcoholic, but in this book he's looking back to events ten years earlier, when he was still virtually living in bars. Its characters are vivid, Scudder is interesting, and the ending will surprise you.

Block is highly prolific; he's written a bunch of light-hearted caper books featuring Bernie Rhodenbarr, a bookstore owner and burglar who can't give up his night job. Bernie's about as far removed from Scudder as you can get as a protagonist; the only shared feature I recognize is their wry attitude.

I've read several of Bernie's adventures, but only one of the Scudder books; I'm going to look for more of both. Caveat: Bernie you can read out of order; Scudder should probably be read from the beginning. I found that "Ginmill" worked as a starting point because it's a prequel of sorts to the rest of the series, but I plan to read The Sins of the Fathers next; it introduces Scudder.

Posted by Linkmeister at October 20, 2007 12:07 PM | TrackBack
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