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Matthew Scudder #Short Story
Out the Window
I began writing about Matthew Scudder in the mid-1970s. The first novel, The Sins of the Fathers, appeared in 1975, and A Drop of the Hard Stuff - the 17th and most recent - was published in 2011. Over the years Scudder has also been featured in 11 short works of fiction; Out the Window, which first appeared in AHMM in 1977, is the first of them.
Out the Window and A Candle for the Bag Lady kept Scudder alive for me after Dell failed to sell the first three books effectively. There seemed little point in trying to interest another publisher in a series that had already proved unsuccessful, but I couldn't abandon Scudder, and wrote the two novelettes for magazine publication. Then I wrote the fourth novel, A Stab in the Dark, and Don Fine published it at Arbor House, and Scudder was back in business.
Out the Window is included in The Night and the Music, my collection of all 11 Matthew Scudder short stories, available for Kindle or in handsome trade paperback form.
Out the Window and A Candle for the Bag Lady kept Scudder alive for me after Dell failed to sell the first three books effectively. There seemed little point in trying to interest another publisher in a series that had already proved unsuccessful, but I couldn't abandon Scudder, and wrote the two novelettes for magazine publication. Then I wrote the fourth novel, A Stab in the Dark, and Don Fine published it at Arbor House, and Scudder was back in business.
Out the Window is included in The Night and the Music, my collection of all 11 Matthew Scudder short stories, available for Kindle or in handsome trade paperback form.
Audio Cassette
First published January 1, 1997
36 people are currently reading
216 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Block
768 books2,994 followersLawrence 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
August 18, 2024
I thought I’d read all of Block’s Matt Scudder stories - eighteen books and a sprinkling of short stories – but then I spotted this one, and I didn’t recognise it. Looking at the details published on this site it appears that it was published in a collection of pieces titled The Night and the Music, a group of stories I worked my way through some ten or more years ago. So maybe I had read this one before, but after listening to this audio version, I have to say it rang no bells.
Matt Scudder is, in my opinion, one of the finest characters in crime fiction: a heavy drinking (at some point in his life at any rate) ex-cop who left the NYPD after accidentally shooting and killing an innocent bystander. Thereafter, he earns enough to get by - but no more than that - through private investigative work. In this tale he’s alerted to the fact that a barmaid at his favourite city gin mill has met an untimely death courtesy of a seventeen story fall from her apartment window. He’s soon visited at his barstool bar, the sister of the deceased, claiming that it’s not possible the girl took her own life and asked to hire him to investigate her death.
It’s a short story so we know it’s not going to be a convoluted investigation, and in truth it’s not so much the story itself that pleases me but more the manner in which it is told. Block just creates an attitude for his lead man and an undercurrent to the space he operates in that ticks all my boxes. I suppose it helps if you’ve already acquainted yourself with the somewhat downbeat but meticulous Scudder, but even if you haven’t I think this tale offers enough to satisfy most readers as they work their way through a morning cup of coffee – black with no sugar, of course.
Matt Scudder is, in my opinion, one of the finest characters in crime fiction: a heavy drinking (at some point in his life at any rate) ex-cop who left the NYPD after accidentally shooting and killing an innocent bystander. Thereafter, he earns enough to get by - but no more than that - through private investigative work. In this tale he’s alerted to the fact that a barmaid at his favourite city gin mill has met an untimely death courtesy of a seventeen story fall from her apartment window. He’s soon visited at his barstool bar, the sister of the deceased, claiming that it’s not possible the girl took her own life and asked to hire him to investigate her death.
It’s a short story so we know it’s not going to be a convoluted investigation, and in truth it’s not so much the story itself that pleases me but more the manner in which it is told. Block just creates an attitude for his lead man and an undercurrent to the space he operates in that ticks all my boxes. I suppose it helps if you’ve already acquainted yourself with the somewhat downbeat but meticulous Scudder, but even if you haven’t I think this tale offers enough to satisfy most readers as they work their way through a morning cup of coffee – black with no sugar, of course.
July 28, 2024
5★
“She lived on the seventeenth floor. Sometime after four [a.m.] she went out a high window. She swung out past the sidewalk and landed in the street, a few feet from the curb, touching down between a couple of parked cars.”
She’s Paula, a somewhat flaky young waitress in a bar. She’s not a very good waitress, mixes up orders and has a drug habit that shows sometimes, but she always smiles and greets customers by name.
“Her greeting always made you feel you’d come home. When that’s all the home you have, you tend to appreciate that sort of thing. And if her career wasn’t perfect for her, well it certainly hadn’t been what she had in mind when she came to New York in the first place. You no more set out to be a waitress in a Ninth Avenue gin mill than you intentionally become an ex-cop, coasting through the months on bourbon and coffee.”
Block’s narration of his own story is perfect. Scudder is a wry, world-weary drinker who is surprised to be stirred awake when Paula’s sister approaches him to find out why Paula is dead. She is positive it isn’t suicide.
I completely enjoyed the story and the author’s narration. I’m pretty sure I’ll be hearing his voice in my mind when I read something else by him.
“She lived on the seventeenth floor. Sometime after four [a.m.] she went out a high window. She swung out past the sidewalk and landed in the street, a few feet from the curb, touching down between a couple of parked cars.”
She’s Paula, a somewhat flaky young waitress in a bar. She’s not a very good waitress, mixes up orders and has a drug habit that shows sometimes, but she always smiles and greets customers by name.
“Her greeting always made you feel you’d come home. When that’s all the home you have, you tend to appreciate that sort of thing. And if her career wasn’t perfect for her, well it certainly hadn’t been what she had in mind when she came to New York in the first place. You no more set out to be a waitress in a Ninth Avenue gin mill than you intentionally become an ex-cop, coasting through the months on bourbon and coffee.”
Block’s narration of his own story is perfect. Scudder is a wry, world-weary drinker who is surprised to be stirred awake when Paula’s sister approaches him to find out why Paula is dead. She is positive it isn’t suicide.
I completely enjoyed the story and the author’s narration. I’m pretty sure I’ll be hearing his voice in my mind when I read something else by him.
February 1, 2013
Another day, another free short story made available by Lawrence Block, which can be found here for Kindle readers.
I don't know how much more praise I can lay on Block, but I will repeat one thing that always strikes me, no matter how much of his work I read, about his writing -- his ear for dialogue is uncanny. There is a conversation between Scudder and a cop acquaintance of his in this story that was so real I could actually hear them talking in my head. The only other writer on Block's level with dialogue is Elmore Leonard, who is also legend in his own right.
I don't know how much more praise I can lay on Block, but I will repeat one thing that always strikes me, no matter how much of his work I read, about his writing -- his ear for dialogue is uncanny. There is a conversation between Scudder and a cop acquaintance of his in this story that was so real I could actually hear them talking in my head. The only other writer on Block's level with dialogue is Elmore Leonard, who is also legend in his own right.
August 21, 2023
A short story from when Scudder was drinking bourbon in his coffee
December 4, 2024
I do love Lawrence Block’s writing and it was reading the first six Matthew Scudder novels that cemented that passion. However, at the time (pre-kindle), you couldn’t always get the individual books and it was my desire to read them in sequence.
I propose to tackle them from the beginning this year; meanwhile as a taster; and to treat myself ahead of the banquet to come I am going to read the short stories first.
Out the Window is the first. It mentions why he left the police force and had a damaging relationship with alcohol. However, it also presents to the reader why as a PI he remained such a good detective. He is a good man. He isn’t arrogant or full of himself. His bulk may be a threatening presence but he doesn’t use this to bully folk for information, nor does he resort to waving a gun about. Guess the cliché is that he puts in the yards, the hours, the shoe leather. Being a short story this is reflected on rather than told in minute detail.
This is what I like. His personality, his hard work and thoroughness in building a case. For me it is his interactions with others, be they suspects, clients or former colleagues is one of respect, a degree of humility and never with self-aggrandisement.
Great case and inspired solution to close it. I’m going to enjoy this journey back in time on the streets of New York.
I propose to tackle them from the beginning this year; meanwhile as a taster; and to treat myself ahead of the banquet to come I am going to read the short stories first.
Out the Window is the first. It mentions why he left the police force and had a damaging relationship with alcohol. However, it also presents to the reader why as a PI he remained such a good detective. He is a good man. He isn’t arrogant or full of himself. His bulk may be a threatening presence but he doesn’t use this to bully folk for information, nor does he resort to waving a gun about. Guess the cliché is that he puts in the yards, the hours, the shoe leather. Being a short story this is reflected on rather than told in minute detail.
This is what I like. His personality, his hard work and thoroughness in building a case. For me it is his interactions with others, be they suspects, clients or former colleagues is one of respect, a degree of humility and never with self-aggrandisement.
Great case and inspired solution to close it. I’m going to enjoy this journey back in time on the streets of New York.
April 4, 2022
⭐️3.5⭐️
February 16, 2013
It’s been eighteen hours since Paula Wittlauer threw herself out of her seventeenth floor apartment that early Friday morning in September and crash landed into the street just down from Mathew Scudder’s own residence. Among the others at Armstrong’s the night before, Paula had served Scudder and talked to him while she worked her last shift. Everything had seemed normal and he had no indication at all that she was in distress. Just a few hours later, for some reason, she took off all her clothes and went off the balcony in one final swan dive.
The death bothers him on so many levels so when Ruth Wittlauer, Paula’s sister, is sure it wasn’t suicide, Scudder doesn’t dismiss her out of hand. Considering her lifestyle, Paula’s death may be a suicide--intentional or accidental. It could have been something entirely else so he agrees to look into the matter.
What follows is an entertaining noir type short story previously published in “Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine” in 1977 and again in “The Night & the Music: The Mathew Scudder Stories” published in 2011. It depicts a somewhat cynical detective in New York long before the towers fell working a case that is both complicated throughout and yet simply explained at the end. It’s a solidly good short story and far better than a lot of the novels out there today.
Out the Window: A Mathew Scudder Story
Lawrence Block
http://www.lawrenceblock.com
December 2012
Kindle ASIN# B00AK2DFLE
38 Pages (approximate)
$2.99
Material snagged during the author’s recent free e-book promotion.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2013
The death bothers him on so many levels so when Ruth Wittlauer, Paula’s sister, is sure it wasn’t suicide, Scudder doesn’t dismiss her out of hand. Considering her lifestyle, Paula’s death may be a suicide--intentional or accidental. It could have been something entirely else so he agrees to look into the matter.
What follows is an entertaining noir type short story previously published in “Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine” in 1977 and again in “The Night & the Music: The Mathew Scudder Stories” published in 2011. It depicts a somewhat cynical detective in New York long before the towers fell working a case that is both complicated throughout and yet simply explained at the end. It’s a solidly good short story and far better than a lot of the novels out there today.
Out the Window: A Mathew Scudder Story
Lawrence Block
http://www.lawrenceblock.com
December 2012
Kindle ASIN# B00AK2DFLE
38 Pages (approximate)
$2.99
Material snagged during the author’s recent free e-book promotion.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2013
July 21, 2017
Out the Window is a terrific Matt Scudder short by Lawrence Block. Scudder is a former NYPD detective who tried to stop a robbery when he was off duty, but his shot went wide of the target and ended a nine year old girl's journey through life. Scudder fell apart, lost his family, made friends with a bottle of scotch and then another bottle of scotch. He picks up cases as a private op here and there.
In this story, he frequents a bar where Paula works, Paula who sometimes walked through her shift "like a ghost through walls." Sometimes she had a brittle smile with tabs of amphetamines behind it. This career probably wasn't why she came to New York: "You no more set out to be a waitress in a Ninth Avenue gin mill than you intentionally become an ex-cop coasting through the months on bourbon and coffee."
Paula lived on the seventeenth floor and sometime after four she swung out of a high window and four seconds later there wasn't enough left of her to perform an autopsy on. "They scooped her up with a spatula and a sponge and then they hosed it all down."
With her apartment locked and the chain on, the cops call it suicide, but her sister doesn't like it and hires Scudder to investigate.
Yes, it's a locked room mystery, but it is told with wit and depth and good old fashioned storytelling skills. Bring on some more of this stuff.
In this story, he frequents a bar where Paula works, Paula who sometimes walked through her shift "like a ghost through walls." Sometimes she had a brittle smile with tabs of amphetamines behind it. This career probably wasn't why she came to New York: "You no more set out to be a waitress in a Ninth Avenue gin mill than you intentionally become an ex-cop coasting through the months on bourbon and coffee."
Paula lived on the seventeenth floor and sometime after four she swung out of a high window and four seconds later there wasn't enough left of her to perform an autopsy on. "They scooped her up with a spatula and a sponge and then they hosed it all down."
With her apartment locked and the chain on, the cops call it suicide, but her sister doesn't like it and hires Scudder to investigate.
Yes, it's a locked room mystery, but it is told with wit and depth and good old fashioned storytelling skills. Bring on some more of this stuff.
October 19, 2012
The Matthew Scudder short stories are never enough.
April 25, 2022
Spoilers ahead:
Not bad. Paula is a waitress at Armstrong's and took a header out the window. Police rule it a suicide because she dived out of her apartment window and her door was locked and chained from the inside. But her sister doesn't believe that she would kill herself and hired Scudder to investigate.
Scudder starts by looking at her apartment. She dived out the window naked and dumped her clothes on a chair next to the window. He examines the clothes and finds them odd. Then he examines the chain on the door which the police had broken to get in. He buys an exact same copy, installs it and finds that he can chain the door from the outside. This then opens the possibility that someone could have killed her and left, chaining the door from the outside.
So now that the possibility of her death being a murder exists, he looks at possible suspects. High on the list is her ex-boyfriend who he interviews. But his intuition doesn't believe he's the killer. As he looks at the building from across the street, a moment of revelation comes to him. If the doorman doesn't think that anyone left after Paula's suicide, maybe he was still in the building. And thus he solves the mystery.
This is a very quick read, with no extraneous material, no buddies, no long stretched dialogs and no fillers. Scudder hasn't stopped drinking at this point so we see a lot of him drinking.
Not bad. Paula is a waitress at Armstrong's and took a header out the window. Police rule it a suicide because she dived out of her apartment window and her door was locked and chained from the inside. But her sister doesn't believe that she would kill herself and hired Scudder to investigate.
Scudder starts by looking at her apartment. She dived out the window naked and dumped her clothes on a chair next to the window. He examines the clothes and finds them odd. Then he examines the chain on the door which the police had broken to get in. He buys an exact same copy, installs it and finds that he can chain the door from the outside. This then opens the possibility that someone could have killed her and left, chaining the door from the outside.
So now that the possibility of her death being a murder exists, he looks at possible suspects. High on the list is her ex-boyfriend who he interviews. But his intuition doesn't believe he's the killer. As he looks at the building from across the street, a moment of revelation comes to him. If the doorman doesn't think that anyone left after Paula's suicide, maybe he was still in the building. And thus he solves the mystery.
This is a very quick read, with no extraneous material, no buddies, no long stretched dialogs and no fillers. Scudder hasn't stopped drinking at this point so we see a lot of him drinking.
June 5, 2022
( Format : Audiobook )
"Like a ghost through walls."
Matt Scudder, retired cop who left the police after inadvertently shooting a little girl and, simultaneously, also left his wife and family to concentrate on his drinking, is asked by the younger sister of a declared suicide to prove that it was actually murder.
The writing is tight, no superfluous wording yet everything, and everyone is perfectly portrayed. Read by the author, his slightly gravelly and sardonic tone suits the character of Scudder well and other protagonists are given individual voices. The whole experience is most enjoyable despite the brevity of the book.
Recommended.
Available for free with Audible Plus; thank you, Audible
"Like a ghost through walls."
Matt Scudder, retired cop who left the police after inadvertently shooting a little girl and, simultaneously, also left his wife and family to concentrate on his drinking, is asked by the younger sister of a declared suicide to prove that it was actually murder.
The writing is tight, no superfluous wording yet everything, and everyone is perfectly portrayed. Read by the author, his slightly gravelly and sardonic tone suits the character of Scudder well and other protagonists are given individual voices. The whole experience is most enjoyable despite the brevity of the book.
Recommended.
Available for free with Audible Plus; thank you, Audible
May 29, 2021
A locked room mystery
One of the standards in murder mysteries is the locked room. This story is a variation of this trope. The variation is the body is not discovered in the locked room. Matt Scudder is asked to look into the death of a young woman, which the police are calling a suicide. The victim's younger sister is sure it was murder so she hires Scudder to look at it and he does. Scudder will worry this case like a dog with a bone until he finds the answers. Although this is a short story is truly Matt Scudder doing what he does best finding the truth. So grab a cup of coffee or your beverage of choice, sit back, and read a fine detective story.
One of the standards in murder mysteries is the locked room. This story is a variation of this trope. The variation is the body is not discovered in the locked room. Matt Scudder is asked to look into the death of a young woman, which the police are calling a suicide. The victim's younger sister is sure it was murder so she hires Scudder to look at it and he does. Scudder will worry this case like a dog with a bone until he finds the answers. Although this is a short story is truly Matt Scudder doing what he does best finding the truth. So grab a cup of coffee or your beverage of choice, sit back, and read a fine detective story.
April 27, 2024
I loved this short story, and, more importantly, it served as an introduction to Lawrence Block, of whom I wasn’t aware. I found the writing to be very atmospheric, and within the first page, I was transported into a late summer’s day in New York. A woman falls from a window, and ex-cop Matthew Scudder is asked by her sister to investigate the apparent suicide. All the characters seemed real because of the dialogue and the well-written setting. I’m on a bit of a noir binge, and reading great stories like this one only makes me want to read more.
December 22, 2024
Fun little novella, narrated for Audible by the authors himself…and Block has the perfect voice to bring a disgruntled old hard-boiled PI to life on the gritty streets of an old school New York. Scudder learns a waitress at his favourite watering hole has jumped to her death, but the victim’s sister is adamant it was murder. Scudder asks all the right questions and pushes all the right buttons; and while the mystery has a rushed (but 100% plausible) ending, the dialogue and atmosphere of this one is superb.
December 31, 2022
This short story reminds me of those 2 sentence horror stories that I have been reading lately. Here is a story that is quick, succinct, and interesting. It keeps you hooked as you fly through the writing. Love how it gives you the smokey detective office, stormy night vibes while reading it - probably because of the year it was written. There is just something fun about that style and of course, following along with the detective as he figures things out.
June 19, 2021
This is one of those short, sweet stories that keeps your attention. A waitress that works at a bar Scudder frequents falls from her 17th floor apartment. Was it suicide or murder? Scudder doggedly searches for the answer.
August 29, 2023
good read
Easy to read. Story was retired cop now a PI. Sister of victim dispute’s description as suicide. PI investigated. Not original idea, visited many times. Great literature, no.
Easy to read. Story was retired cop now a PI. Sister of victim dispute’s description as suicide. PI investigated. Not original idea, visited many times. Great literature, no.
November 21, 2016
It was actually a really good story. No nonsence and I liked the way it was written. I would like to read more.
September 8, 2018
Page Turner
The characters were real and the plot was tight. I was sorry it ended. I will definitely be reading more L Block.
The characters were real and the plot was tight. I was sorry it ended. I will definitely be reading more L Block.
November 16, 2020
I think I found a new series! I really enjoyed the episode as if I was watching it unfold in my mind as I read. I am looking forward to getting to know this character.
December 21, 2020
A short story in the Matthew Scudder series. Quick and entertaining.
May 1, 2023
2 Another short story by Mr Block with the Murder solved pragmatically.
July 27, 2014
This is a self-contained short story featuring troubled private investigator Matt Scudder, who is one of Block’s best creations. The story is set back in the day, during Matt’s heavy drinking sessions and long before the advent of the mobile phone or internet. So it’s very much a traditional murder-mystery investigation, although initially it appears not to be a murder at all…
Scudder is in between jobs when a female acquaintance apparently commits suicide by jumping out of a window from her high-rise apartment. Her sister is convinced she didn’t take her own life but was murdered instead. Scudder takes on the case, which turns out to be a neat twist on a traditional locked-room murder.
As ever, Block’s writing is crisp and classy. This is pure pulp fiction: there’s no faffing around with detailed back story or sprawling social commentary.
There's more background info and thoughts on the story at:
http://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress....
If you’ve enjoyed the full-length Matt Scudder books already then grabbing this short story is a no-brainer. It’s a refreshing interlude back to the days when Matt was a hard-faced man whose soul came close to drowning in a whisky bottle.
If you’ve not tried any of the Scudder stories before then this *might* work as an intro – it’s a satisfying little mystery all right. But it doesn’t have the power and depth of Block’s full-length books so don’t view it as entirely typical. It’s more like a taster before you plunge into the 17 full-length Scudder novels, and it’s also one of a dozen Scudder stories compiled into The Night and The Music anthology.
7/10
Scudder is in between jobs when a female acquaintance apparently commits suicide by jumping out of a window from her high-rise apartment. Her sister is convinced she didn’t take her own life but was murdered instead. Scudder takes on the case, which turns out to be a neat twist on a traditional locked-room murder.
As ever, Block’s writing is crisp and classy. This is pure pulp fiction: there’s no faffing around with detailed back story or sprawling social commentary.
There's more background info and thoughts on the story at:
http://murdermayhemandmore.wordpress....
If you’ve enjoyed the full-length Matt Scudder books already then grabbing this short story is a no-brainer. It’s a refreshing interlude back to the days when Matt was a hard-faced man whose soul came close to drowning in a whisky bottle.
If you’ve not tried any of the Scudder stories before then this *might* work as an intro – it’s a satisfying little mystery all right. But it doesn’t have the power and depth of Block’s full-length books so don’t view it as entirely typical. It’s more like a taster before you plunge into the 17 full-length Scudder novels, and it’s also one of a dozen Scudder stories compiled into The Night and The Music anthology.
7/10
September 24, 2014
A nice quick little short story featuring PI Matthew Scudder. It's a "locked room" mystery, well written and enjoyable. It would probably be even better if I had read any of the Scudder series; even so, I didn't feel like I was missing anything important from the larger series. Block even manages to mention the basics of why Scudder drinks so heavily and is no longer on the police force.
This story was originally published in "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery magazine" in 1977 and again in The Night and the Music in 2011.
I'll get to the larger Scudder series someday but just have too many series I am trying to keep up with at the moment...
This story was originally published in "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery magazine" in 1977 and again in The Night and the Music in 2011.
I'll get to the larger Scudder series someday but just have too many series I am trying to keep up with at the moment...
August 27, 2013
Out the Window (A Matthew Scudder Story)
5.0 out of 5 stars P.I. with a heart, August 27, 2013
This review is from: Out the Window (A Matthew Scudder Story) (Kindle Edition)
As usual whenever I've grown tired of the many cozies I follow and the other mystery writers in a series I can always count on Lawrence Block and Matt Scudder. Never boring, always original and this short story on kindle was no exception.
I realized more than half way through that this short story may have been a novel (Matt Scudder) that I read years ago. It still held my interest throughout. So smooth that this was one book I could not put down nor did I want to.
L.B.'s short stories are worth the price and the time to read. Far above the crowd.
February 4, 2013
This was a 'free for Kindle' offering and it's a good thing for me that it was. I had read this short story in one of Block's compilations, or in another collection of short stories, a few years ago.
Typical Scudder story. He uses logic and a little bit of ingenuity to figure out who pushed Paula Out The Window.
Scudder stories have kept my interest for years and this short story was no different, even though it was a reread for me.
Typical Scudder story. He uses logic and a little bit of ingenuity to figure out who pushed Paula Out The Window.
Scudder stories have kept my interest for years and this short story was no different, even though it was a reread for me.
October 23, 2015
A quick read. Nice short story. Matt gets involved investigating the apparent suicide of a young woman who was a waitress at a bar he frequented. The girl's sister asks him to look into it. The cops had taken it at face value that the woman jumped out her window but Matt sees things differently and finds out what actually happened.
February 3, 2015
Good opening story
Discovered this author after watching the movie adaptation with Liam Neeson of "A Walk Among the Tombstones" This was a quick read & an interesting introduction to the main character. I am looking forward to the next books in the series.
Discovered this author after watching the movie adaptation with Liam Neeson of "A Walk Among the Tombstones" This was a quick read & an interesting introduction to the main character. I am looking forward to the next books in the series.
March 21, 2015
Matt Scudder is on the case.
As always Matt takes a closed case and proves to the police that they were too quick with their version of how Paul died. Little did they know that Matt Scudder would prove them wrong, again. Great story from a very good writer.
As always Matt takes a closed case and proves to the police that they were too quick with their version of how Paul died. Little did they know that Matt Scudder would prove them wrong, again. Great story from a very good writer.
May 6, 2015
This was a great short story. It would have made a great full length book. Lawrence Block writes dialogue very well. I would have liked to get more insight in to Paula's brief life and to know more about the other people in her life.
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