What do you think?
Rate this book
Code of Arms
Cover appears used and pages may show heavy wear. May have notes, underlining and or highlighting to text. Dust jacket may be missing. May be missing CD or access codes. Will meet or exceed Amazon guidelines for acceptable condition. Ships directly from Amazon.
- GenresFiction
405 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1981
2 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Block
767 books2,976 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 2, 2018
May 1940. Ted Campbell is an American pacifist and industrialist who owns airplane factories in Germany; he is struggling to maintain political neutrality, but it is not easy. His future father-in-law has ties to the British Secret Service, and his Nazi friends need to use his company to support their war effort. Personal and international events soon draw him into an espionage adventure that will change the course of World War II.
This is an expertly plotted spy novel that takes place over the course of the most pivotal year in the war, from May 1940 to May 1941. It imaginatively fills in gaps to answer some of the most pressing mysteries of that era:
Why didn't Hitler press his advantage against Britain after Dunkirk? Why did he turn his forces toward Russia rather than cripple Churchill immediately?
Why did Germany waste the resources of its Luftwaffe in meaningless raids against London, rather than strategically target RAF bases and fuel depots?
Why didn't the Nazis realize their Enigma cipher had been broken by Alan Touring?
Why Rudolph Hess fly to Scotland in the middle of the war to broker a secret peace agreement without the Fuhrer's knowledge or any reassurance Churchill would listen?
Lawrence Block commented at length on the difficulty of writing this novel in his monthly Writer's Digest columns. He or his publisher eventually asked Harold King to help him complete it. The resulting thriller lacks Block's trademark easygoing prose and strong point-of-view characters, but it does have a sense of historical authenticity and plausibility. It felt slow in the beginning--I had a difficult time caring about the characters--but eventually I got wrapped up in the story itself.
This is one of a very few books that Block has not brought back into print through e-publishing. This is a shame. It may not be his best work, but it is certainly entertaining and intriguing.
This is an expertly plotted spy novel that takes place over the course of the most pivotal year in the war, from May 1940 to May 1941. It imaginatively fills in gaps to answer some of the most pressing mysteries of that era:
Why didn't Hitler press his advantage against Britain after Dunkirk? Why did he turn his forces toward Russia rather than cripple Churchill immediately?
Why did Germany waste the resources of its Luftwaffe in meaningless raids against London, rather than strategically target RAF bases and fuel depots?
Why didn't the Nazis realize their Enigma cipher had been broken by Alan Touring?
Why Rudolph Hess fly to Scotland in the middle of the war to broker a secret peace agreement without the Fuhrer's knowledge or any reassurance Churchill would listen?
Lawrence Block commented at length on the difficulty of writing this novel in his monthly Writer's Digest columns. He or his publisher eventually asked Harold King to help him complete it. The resulting thriller lacks Block's trademark easygoing prose and strong point-of-view characters, but it does have a sense of historical authenticity and plausibility. It felt slow in the beginning--I had a difficult time caring about the characters--but eventually I got wrapped up in the story itself.
This is one of a very few books that Block has not brought back into print through e-publishing. This is a shame. It may not be his best work, but it is certainly entertaining and intriguing.
March 23, 2015
Interesting diversion from Block as he strays away from his bread-and-butter of crime novels. Very well-written and well-researched alternative explanation of Rudolf Hess's World War II flight from Germany to England and his aborted peace attempt.
Not a typical Block novel, but a good read.
Not a typical Block novel, but a good read.
Want to read
September 28, 2009AKA: Sheldon Lord, Jill Emerson, Paul Kavanaugh, Chip Harrison, Lawrence Block
July 18, 2014
hasibecengiz.blogspot.com
July 29, 2014
bored and left unfinished.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews