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The Crime of Our Lives
An MWA Grand Master tells it straight:
Fredric Brown: “When I read Murder Can Be Fun, I had a bottle of
bourbon on the table and every time Brown’s hero took a drink, I had a snort myself. This is a hazardous undertaking when in the company of Brown’s characters, and, I’ve been given to understand, would have been just as dangerous around the author himself. By the time the book was finished, so was I.”
Raymond Chandler: “You have to wonder how he got it so right.
He spent a lot of time in the house—working, reading, writing letters. He saw to his wife, who required a lot of attention in her later years. And when he did get out, you wouldn’t find him walking the mean streets. La Jolla, it must be noted, was never much for mean streets.”
Evan Hunter: “In his mid-seventies, after a couple of heart attacks, an aneurysm, and a siege of cancer that had led to the removal of his larynx, Evan wrote Alice in Jeopardy. And went to work right away on Becca in Jeopardy, with every intention of working his way through the alphabet. Don’t you love it? Here’s a man with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel, and he’s perfectly comfortable launching a twenty-six book series.”
Donald E. Westlake’s Memory: “Here’s the point: Don’s manuscript
arrived, and we had dinner and put the kid to bed, and I started
reading. And my wife went to bed, and I stayed up reading, and after a while I forgot I was having a heart attack, and just kept reading until I finished the book around dawn. And somewhere along the way I became aware that my friend Don, who’d written a couple of mysteries and some science fiction and his fair share of soft-core erotica, had just produced a great novel.”
Charles Willeford: “Can a self-diagnosed sociopath be at the same
time an intensely moral person? Can one be a sociopath, virtually unaware of socially prescribed morality, and yet be consumed with the desire to do the right thing? That strikes me as a spot-on description of just about every character Willeford ever wrote. How could he come up with characters like that? My God, how could he help it?”
An MWA Grand Master and a multiple winner of the Edgar, Shamus, and Maltese Falcon awards, Lawrence Block’s reflections and observations come from over a half century as a writer of bestselling crime fiction. . Several of his novels have been filmed, most recently A Walk Among the Tombstones, starring Liam Neeson. While he’s best known for his novels and short fiction, along with his books on the craft of writing, that's not all he’s written. THE CRIME OF OUR LIVES collects his observations and personal reminiscences of the crime fiction field and some of its leading practitioners. He has a lot to say, and he says it here in convincing and entertaining fashion.
Fredric Brown: “When I read Murder Can Be Fun, I had a bottle of
bourbon on the table and every time Brown’s hero took a drink, I had a snort myself. This is a hazardous undertaking when in the company of Brown’s characters, and, I’ve been given to understand, would have been just as dangerous around the author himself. By the time the book was finished, so was I.”
Raymond Chandler: “You have to wonder how he got it so right.
He spent a lot of time in the house—working, reading, writing letters. He saw to his wife, who required a lot of attention in her later years. And when he did get out, you wouldn’t find him walking the mean streets. La Jolla, it must be noted, was never much for mean streets.”
Evan Hunter: “In his mid-seventies, after a couple of heart attacks, an aneurysm, and a siege of cancer that had led to the removal of his larynx, Evan wrote Alice in Jeopardy. And went to work right away on Becca in Jeopardy, with every intention of working his way through the alphabet. Don’t you love it? Here’s a man with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel, and he’s perfectly comfortable launching a twenty-six book series.”
Donald E. Westlake’s Memory: “Here’s the point: Don’s manuscript
arrived, and we had dinner and put the kid to bed, and I started
reading. And my wife went to bed, and I stayed up reading, and after a while I forgot I was having a heart attack, and just kept reading until I finished the book around dawn. And somewhere along the way I became aware that my friend Don, who’d written a couple of mysteries and some science fiction and his fair share of soft-core erotica, had just produced a great novel.”
Charles Willeford: “Can a self-diagnosed sociopath be at the same
time an intensely moral person? Can one be a sociopath, virtually unaware of socially prescribed morality, and yet be consumed with the desire to do the right thing? That strikes me as a spot-on description of just about every character Willeford ever wrote. How could he come up with characters like that? My God, how could he help it?”
An MWA Grand Master and a multiple winner of the Edgar, Shamus, and Maltese Falcon awards, Lawrence Block’s reflections and observations come from over a half century as a writer of bestselling crime fiction. . Several of his novels have been filmed, most recently A Walk Among the Tombstones, starring Liam Neeson. While he’s best known for his novels and short fiction, along with his books on the craft of writing, that's not all he’s written. THE CRIME OF OUR LIVES collects his observations and personal reminiscences of the crime fiction field and some of its leading practitioners. He has a lot to say, and he says it here in convincing and entertaining fashion.
221 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2015
26 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Block
760 books2,995 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 - 26 of 26 reviews
May 19, 2015
Lawrence Block is one of those authors that I’ve often wished I could spend some time with just to hear him reminisce about his long career as well as get his opinions on other crime writers. I haven’t gotten a dinner invitation yet (Although I did get to meet him when he was touring for Hope to Die.), but until that day reading The Crime of Our Lives is a damn fine substitute.
Through this collection of introductions and essays he’s done over the years you get a sense of what Block thinks about the mystery genre as a whole as well as specific things about various writers including some very humorous stories like the time Charles Willeford asked him if he had ever eaten cat.
Some of the more interesting stories come from the early days of his career when Block was working for a shady literary agent where he’d read submissions all day and write up rejections that would encourage the suckers to submit more work for a fee. Block believes that slogging through that much bad fiction was a better education than reading masterpieces of literature because it taught him what not to do rather to admire what most everyone already agreed was great.
The most moving parts come in several things Block wrote about his late friend Donald Westlake. (It’s probably a safe bet that Block was inspired to do this by the similar collection of Westlake material in the posthumously published The Getaway Car. Block also wrote an introduction for it that is reprinted here.) Through the various pieces you get a real sense of the long friendship between the two writers as well as the deep respect that Block holds for his work. There’s also some intriguing musings as to how he thinks Westlake’s career and legacy might have been different if his early book Memory would have been published at the beginning of his career. The story of how Block helped get it into print after Westlake’s death that he relates here shows just how much Block thought of that particular work.
Because there are some different pieces on the same subject, there’s a little bit of repetition, but even that becomes interesting if you pay attention to the different ways that Block can relate the same story. Fans of Block or of the crime genre in general will find a lot of interesting tidbits as well as probably adding a few writers to their To-Read lists.
(Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.)
Through this collection of introductions and essays he’s done over the years you get a sense of what Block thinks about the mystery genre as a whole as well as specific things about various writers including some very humorous stories like the time Charles Willeford asked him if he had ever eaten cat.
Some of the more interesting stories come from the early days of his career when Block was working for a shady literary agent where he’d read submissions all day and write up rejections that would encourage the suckers to submit more work for a fee. Block believes that slogging through that much bad fiction was a better education than reading masterpieces of literature because it taught him what not to do rather to admire what most everyone already agreed was great.
The most moving parts come in several things Block wrote about his late friend Donald Westlake. (It’s probably a safe bet that Block was inspired to do this by the similar collection of Westlake material in the posthumously published The Getaway Car. Block also wrote an introduction for it that is reprinted here.) Through the various pieces you get a real sense of the long friendship between the two writers as well as the deep respect that Block holds for his work. There’s also some intriguing musings as to how he thinks Westlake’s career and legacy might have been different if his early book Memory would have been published at the beginning of his career. The story of how Block helped get it into print after Westlake’s death that he relates here shows just how much Block thought of that particular work.
Because there are some different pieces on the same subject, there’s a little bit of repetition, but even that becomes interesting if you pay attention to the different ways that Block can relate the same story. Fans of Block or of the crime genre in general will find a lot of interesting tidbits as well as probably adding a few writers to their To-Read lists.
(Also posted at Kemper's Book Blog.)
April 2, 2015
The Crime of Our Lives is a collection of Lawrence Block's non-fiction writing, taking from columns, tributes, introductions, and other sources.
Ever wonder what a crime writer thinks of other crime writers? Wonder no more! In the Crime of Our Lives, Block covers a wide variety of writers, starting with himself and running through a great portion of the alphabet, from Anthony Boucher and Frederic Brown, all the way to the great Donald E. Westlake and Charles Willeford.
Along the way, Block touches on such diverse topics as going on a bender with Ross Thomas, working at Scott Meredith's literary agency, writing erotica to cut his teeth and pay the bills, and whether or not it's a good idea to finish another author's work.
Some of the selections are taken from introductions Block wrote to other author's books, and I'm happy to say he doesn't ruin any plot points in them, unlike the intro to Lonesome Dove I read a couple weeks ago that spoiled the last hundred pages of the book for me.
I'd say my favorite parts of the book were the parts focusing on Block himself and also the ones about Donald Westlake, which reminds me that I'm due for a reread of the Parker books.
Lawrence Block's non-fiction is just as enjoyable and accessible as his fiction. Four out of five stars. Go buy it.
Ever wonder what a crime writer thinks of other crime writers? Wonder no more! In the Crime of Our Lives, Block covers a wide variety of writers, starting with himself and running through a great portion of the alphabet, from Anthony Boucher and Frederic Brown, all the way to the great Donald E. Westlake and Charles Willeford.
Along the way, Block touches on such diverse topics as going on a bender with Ross Thomas, working at Scott Meredith's literary agency, writing erotica to cut his teeth and pay the bills, and whether or not it's a good idea to finish another author's work.
Some of the selections are taken from introductions Block wrote to other author's books, and I'm happy to say he doesn't ruin any plot points in them, unlike the intro to Lonesome Dove I read a couple weeks ago that spoiled the last hundred pages of the book for me.
I'd say my favorite parts of the book were the parts focusing on Block himself and also the ones about Donald Westlake, which reminds me that I'm due for a reread of the Parker books.
Lawrence Block's non-fiction is just as enjoyable and accessible as his fiction. Four out of five stars. Go buy it.
June 24, 2015
Lawrence Block picks some of his favorite authors (about 15) and collects the book introductions and articles he wrote about those authors and creates a book of appreciations.
Now I'm a fan of Mr. Block, and by some wonderful coincident or reading tastes appears to be similar when it comes to mystery authors. What he has done here was make me want to go and read many of the authors he sites once again. It's been a while since I'd read any Ross Thomas, or Charles Willaford or Donald Westlake's "Parker" series.
When I finished the book I realized that I had read a number of introductions it contains. However Mr. Block's easy and humorous writing style made it a pleasure to re-visit these works again.
This is not only a well received historical document but a tribute compilation to the authors noted.
Now I'm a fan of Mr. Block, and by some wonderful coincident or reading tastes appears to be similar when it comes to mystery authors. What he has done here was make me want to go and read many of the authors he sites once again. It's been a while since I'd read any Ross Thomas, or Charles Willaford or Donald Westlake's "Parker" series.
When I finished the book I realized that I had read a number of introductions it contains. However Mr. Block's easy and humorous writing style made it a pleasure to re-visit these works again.
This is not only a well received historical document but a tribute compilation to the authors noted.
July 25, 2020
When I picked this up I don’t think I intended to read the whole thing. I was just sort of going to pick and choose the pieces that interested me, and leave most of it unfinished or even untouched. But Block’s reminiscences of crime writers and crime writing are so consistently entertaining that I skipped almost nothing and enjoyed everything I read. Block is a funny man, an excellent writer, and a great storyteller. He loves his craft and his fellow craftsmen and this book fills the reader with those same feelings.
January 8, 2020
Note: This is reposted from my blog, at NOT JUST ANOTHER GROUCHY GRAMMARIAN.
There's only one problem with opening a new non-fiction book by Lawrence Block: Your reading list explodes logarithmically. His newest collection of introductions, eulogies, and other appreciations, The Crime of Our Lives, is no exception. In addition to finding authors I already knew of and enjoyed, like Robert B. Parker and Donald E. Westlake, there were a whole bunch whose work I had never heard of, and another bunch of writers who I dimly remember from school -- all presented so engagingly that I now have a new list of authors to pursue, along with a batch of notes on their various pseudonyms and notable pieces, so I don't miss anything. When I mentioned this to my ex -- also a Lawrence Block fan -- he noted "you don't have to read every author he recommends." "Maybe so," I responded, "but he makes them all sound so engaging."
And that is the truth of Block's writing. Fiction or non-fiction, gentleman thief, assassin, adventurer, ex-cop, running essays, stamp collecting, writing -- Block's work is engaging. I have never read a Block book or story that didn't feel like I was settling in with a good friend for a catch-up session.
In The Crime of Our Lives, he gives overviews of the work of sixteen writers -- peppered with anecdotes about them, about his own life and writing, and about writing and the mystery/crime genres in general. One caveat which Block notes in the beginning, is that he has restricted the subjects of the book to deceased American writers, primarily of the "hard-boiled" variety of fiction, and the list has no women on it. He does note that the last is because Christie and Sayers are British while the female American writers he would include are still living. His reasoning is that he does not wish to assemble a list of favorites and upset friends by their exclusion. In his words: "I have mentioned how generous and amiable mystery writers are, how much I enjoy their company, how well we all get along. If you think I am going to change all that by assembling a list of favorites and leaving some of them off it, you’re out of your mind."*
Among the writers Block covers in this volume: Anthony Boucher, Frederic Brown, Raymond Chandler, Stanley Ellin, Erle Stanley Gardner, Dashiell Hammett, John D. MacDonald, Robert B. Parker, Ellery Queen, Rex Stout, and Donald E. Westlake.
After reading Block's overviews, my first instinct was to go to the Brooklyn Public Library website, find all the books by each writer and start putting them on hold, one writer at a time.
If you are a fan of mysteries, crime stories, noir, or all three, this is an interesting, engaging overview of some of the author's favorite writers, who happen to be among the best in their fields. I highly recommend this book to you. In fact, I recommend this book even if you aren't a fan of the genre. You might just well become a fan after reading it.
*Block, Lawrence (2015-03-26). The Crime of Our Lives (Kindle Locations 286-288). Lawrence Block. Kindle Edition.
There's only one problem with opening a new non-fiction book by Lawrence Block: Your reading list explodes logarithmically. His newest collection of introductions, eulogies, and other appreciations, The Crime of Our Lives, is no exception. In addition to finding authors I already knew of and enjoyed, like Robert B. Parker and Donald E. Westlake, there were a whole bunch whose work I had never heard of, and another bunch of writers who I dimly remember from school -- all presented so engagingly that I now have a new list of authors to pursue, along with a batch of notes on their various pseudonyms and notable pieces, so I don't miss anything. When I mentioned this to my ex -- also a Lawrence Block fan -- he noted "you don't have to read every author he recommends." "Maybe so," I responded, "but he makes them all sound so engaging."
And that is the truth of Block's writing. Fiction or non-fiction, gentleman thief, assassin, adventurer, ex-cop, running essays, stamp collecting, writing -- Block's work is engaging. I have never read a Block book or story that didn't feel like I was settling in with a good friend for a catch-up session.
In The Crime of Our Lives, he gives overviews of the work of sixteen writers -- peppered with anecdotes about them, about his own life and writing, and about writing and the mystery/crime genres in general. One caveat which Block notes in the beginning, is that he has restricted the subjects of the book to deceased American writers, primarily of the "hard-boiled" variety of fiction, and the list has no women on it. He does note that the last is because Christie and Sayers are British while the female American writers he would include are still living. His reasoning is that he does not wish to assemble a list of favorites and upset friends by their exclusion. In his words: "I have mentioned how generous and amiable mystery writers are, how much I enjoy their company, how well we all get along. If you think I am going to change all that by assembling a list of favorites and leaving some of them off it, you’re out of your mind."*
Among the writers Block covers in this volume: Anthony Boucher, Frederic Brown, Raymond Chandler, Stanley Ellin, Erle Stanley Gardner, Dashiell Hammett, John D. MacDonald, Robert B. Parker, Ellery Queen, Rex Stout, and Donald E. Westlake.
After reading Block's overviews, my first instinct was to go to the Brooklyn Public Library website, find all the books by each writer and start putting them on hold, one writer at a time.
If you are a fan of mysteries, crime stories, noir, or all three, this is an interesting, engaging overview of some of the author's favorite writers, who happen to be among the best in their fields. I highly recommend this book to you. In fact, I recommend this book even if you aren't a fan of the genre. You might just well become a fan after reading it.
*Block, Lawrence (2015-03-26). The Crime of Our Lives (Kindle Locations 286-288). Lawrence Block. Kindle Edition.
July 18, 2015
John D. MacDonald.
Ed McBain.
Charles Willeford.
I've been hearing these three names for several years now, and they've always always been showered in the kind of hollow praise that didn't make me want to hype for myself one bit...until now. I was already familiar with Lawrence Block's terrific brand of hardboiled fiction, but what I didn't know is that he felt such a passion for the genre. A passion that echoes the one I feel for several other things, including authors of the following generation.
The second half of THE CRIMES OF OUR LIVES isn't as enthralling because it's a collection of introductions he wrote to other authors' work. It's kind of idiosyncratic, but Block's charm and passion are undeniable anyway. Now I have to figure out how I have afford to get into John D. MacDonald, Ed McBain and Charles Willeford without going bankrupt. I don't think anybody but Lawrence Block could've convinced me to do that.
Ed McBain.
Charles Willeford.
I've been hearing these three names for several years now, and they've always always been showered in the kind of hollow praise that didn't make me want to hype for myself one bit...until now. I was already familiar with Lawrence Block's terrific brand of hardboiled fiction, but what I didn't know is that he felt such a passion for the genre. A passion that echoes the one I feel for several other things, including authors of the following generation.
The second half of THE CRIMES OF OUR LIVES isn't as enthralling because it's a collection of introductions he wrote to other authors' work. It's kind of idiosyncratic, but Block's charm and passion are undeniable anyway. Now I have to figure out how I have afford to get into John D. MacDonald, Ed McBain and Charles Willeford without going bankrupt. I don't think anybody but Lawrence Block could've convinced me to do that.
April 26, 2015
A collection of nonfiction pieces on some of Mr. Block's favorite crime writers. Only some because he chooses not to write about any still living writers because he doesn't want to hurt feelings, either for things he might say about a subject or for not mentioning them at all.
What we do get is a list of fine writers that he either knew and admired while they lived or very early writers that may have led him in his younger days to writing crime stories. And one or two shady characters he encountered along the way that made their own impressions on his life and writing.
Most writers he covered I've read. One or two not and shamefully in one case I'd only read a tie-in novel. I've got ideas for future reads from virtually all of them. Because try as I might, one cannot read everything amd there are always things that slip through the cracks.
Worth a look for crime fiction readers.
What we do get is a list of fine writers that he either knew and admired while they lived or very early writers that may have led him in his younger days to writing crime stories. And one or two shady characters he encountered along the way that made their own impressions on his life and writing.
Most writers he covered I've read. One or two not and shamefully in one case I'd only read a tie-in novel. I've got ideas for future reads from virtually all of them. Because try as I might, one cannot read everything amd there are always things that slip through the cracks.
Worth a look for crime fiction readers.
March 11, 2020
Great collection of articles and introductions on Crime Fiction. Reading these might very well turn you on to authors you've not read that might have otherwise overlooked.
July 27, 2015
At age 77, Lawrence Block continues to churn out top-notch new novels (there will be a new one published next month from Hard Case Crime, in fact). He belongs to a small elite group of older writers whose legacy and popularity will almost certainly outlive him. Perhaps this is why over the last few years he has also busied himself republishing old pseudonymous works and collecting previously forgotten pieces—early short stories, essays, magazine articles, etc.—into new books. Or maybe he just wants to earn more money. Either way, this is good thing for his fans, because this stuff is very interesting.
Here Block gives us an easy-to-read collection of book introductions, freelance articles, and his “Murders on Memory Lane” column from Mystery Scene magazine. All of these pieces are centered on famous crime authors and their novels. Block is always imminently readable, his style sort of reminds me of a rambling conversation with an eccentric uncle.
He is profusely gracious and complimentary toward living writers, but he dishes the dirt on dead ones. For example, he tells an anecdote of Robert Ludlum throwing a tantrum when Robin Cook got a bigger advance than he did. There is a story of Evan Hunter a.k.a. Ed McBain writing sex novels under a pseudonym in order to keep a mistress on the side. There is even a funny anecdote concerning Lucille Ball’s rather demanding sexual proclivities.
The highlight was probably the essay on Scott Meredith, the now-infamous literary editor/agent who ran mail-order scams and collected unethical commissions on every story he bought. The analysis of the works of Robert Parker and Mickey Spillane were insightful and perhaps brutally honest. Charles Wileford sounds like the literary world’s most good-hearted psychopath.
As you might expect in a collection of this format, some observations show up more than once. There is also some overlap with stories already told in Block’s monthly Writer’s Digest columns, which were previously collected in a quartet of books-- Telling Lies for Fun & Profit, Spider Spin Me a Web, Liar’s Bible, and Liar’s Companion.
Still, this is rare, fun stuff if you are a fan of the genre. Some of my favorite quotes are listed below:
Fredric Brown: “When I read Murder Can Be Fun, I had a bottle of bourbon on the table and every time Brown’s hero took a drink, I had a snort myself. This is a hazardous undertaking when in the company of Brown’s characters… By the time the book was finished, so was I.”
Ross Macdonald: “It is one of the singular properties of his fiction that ten minutes after you have turned the last page, every detail of the plot vanishes forever from your mind.”
Jim Thompson: “He is surely an important writer and very much worth reading, but it helps to keep it in mind that the stuff ain’t Shakespeare.”
Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe: “Throughout, he alienates powerful people with his trademark wisecracks for no apparent reason, turns down fees whenever they’re offered to him, and goes through abrupt mood swings that make you wonder if he shouldn’t be on lithium.”
Donald E. Westlake’s Memory: “Don’s manuscript arrived, and we had dinner and put the kid to bed, and I started reading. And my wife went to bed, and I stayed up reading, and after a while I forgot I was having a heart attack, and just kept reading until I finished the book around dawn. And somewhere along the way I became aware that my friend Don… had just produced a great novel.”
Dashiel Hammett: “[He] took murder out of the Venetian vase and dropped it into the alley; he gave murder back to the kind of people who commit it for a reason…. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before.”
On himself: “I don’t know that I had all that much interest in making a lot of money, not in my idealistic youth. I was more interested, I seem to recall, in making my parents proud of me, and in impressing girls and maybe, God willing, actually getting laid. But I certainly wanted to be able to support myself by writing, if only to avoid having to do anything else.”
Here Block gives us an easy-to-read collection of book introductions, freelance articles, and his “Murders on Memory Lane” column from Mystery Scene magazine. All of these pieces are centered on famous crime authors and their novels. Block is always imminently readable, his style sort of reminds me of a rambling conversation with an eccentric uncle.
He is profusely gracious and complimentary toward living writers, but he dishes the dirt on dead ones. For example, he tells an anecdote of Robert Ludlum throwing a tantrum when Robin Cook got a bigger advance than he did. There is a story of Evan Hunter a.k.a. Ed McBain writing sex novels under a pseudonym in order to keep a mistress on the side. There is even a funny anecdote concerning Lucille Ball’s rather demanding sexual proclivities.
The highlight was probably the essay on Scott Meredith, the now-infamous literary editor/agent who ran mail-order scams and collected unethical commissions on every story he bought. The analysis of the works of Robert Parker and Mickey Spillane were insightful and perhaps brutally honest. Charles Wileford sounds like the literary world’s most good-hearted psychopath.
As you might expect in a collection of this format, some observations show up more than once. There is also some overlap with stories already told in Block’s monthly Writer’s Digest columns, which were previously collected in a quartet of books-- Telling Lies for Fun & Profit, Spider Spin Me a Web, Liar’s Bible, and Liar’s Companion.
Still, this is rare, fun stuff if you are a fan of the genre. Some of my favorite quotes are listed below:
Fredric Brown: “When I read Murder Can Be Fun, I had a bottle of bourbon on the table and every time Brown’s hero took a drink, I had a snort myself. This is a hazardous undertaking when in the company of Brown’s characters… By the time the book was finished, so was I.”
Ross Macdonald: “It is one of the singular properties of his fiction that ten minutes after you have turned the last page, every detail of the plot vanishes forever from your mind.”
Jim Thompson: “He is surely an important writer and very much worth reading, but it helps to keep it in mind that the stuff ain’t Shakespeare.”
Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe: “Throughout, he alienates powerful people with his trademark wisecracks for no apparent reason, turns down fees whenever they’re offered to him, and goes through abrupt mood swings that make you wonder if he shouldn’t be on lithium.”
Donald E. Westlake’s Memory: “Don’s manuscript arrived, and we had dinner and put the kid to bed, and I started reading. And my wife went to bed, and I stayed up reading, and after a while I forgot I was having a heart attack, and just kept reading until I finished the book around dawn. And somewhere along the way I became aware that my friend Don… had just produced a great novel.”
Dashiel Hammett: “[He] took murder out of the Venetian vase and dropped it into the alley; he gave murder back to the kind of people who commit it for a reason…. He wrote scenes that seemed never to have been written before.”
On himself: “I don’t know that I had all that much interest in making a lot of money, not in my idealistic youth. I was more interested, I seem to recall, in making my parents proud of me, and in impressing girls and maybe, God willing, actually getting laid. But I certainly wanted to be able to support myself by writing, if only to avoid having to do anything else.”
June 21, 2015
Noted crime writer, author, and much more, Lawrence Block avoids writing book reviews. He also prefers to write, if he is going to, about those authors that have departed. He explains why and more in the first section titled “Before We Begin” of The Crime of our Lives. While he won’t write reviews, he will write introductions to books which is what most of this book consists of— many of the various introductions he has written over the years.
After that beginning, which is basically an interesting forward, the author explains how the whole writing thing began all those many years ago in “My Life In Crime.” Along with explaining his past, Mr. Block goes on to consider the past of the mystery field and well as how he sees things today. In essence, he gives a sort of “the state of the mystery” and finds our union to be in very good shape.
That section segues into a detailed list of his sixteen favorites. As mentioned before, if you made his list it means that not only were you an author (a good thing), you are most certainly dead (not such a good thing). You may not be a deceased parrot, but you are most certainly dead. (gratuitous Monty Python reference.) For each of the sixteen authors listed, Mr. Block has a few paragraphs covering a favorite book or two and why they made the cut beyond being dead and all. While the list it is something to aspire to in a future updated version of the book, it certainly is not something one wishes to rush into considering the consequences.
Then it is on to the introduction that Lawrence Block wrote for various books over the years. The introductions not only reference the book it was written for, but put the work and author into context through a variety of means and mediums. The result is a book of introductions that serve, if you will, as a crash course in movies, books, and history over the years that every mystery/crime reader should be aware of. In fact, the same can be said for the entire book.
One could easily develop quite the reading list, a movie list, and a couple of other lists based on the inferences and works cited in The Crime Of Our Lives. While some of the authors mentioned in the introduction section are still alive and producing new works such as Mary Higgins Clark, Ed Gorman, among others, the majority of the authors mentioned are no longer with us. Fortunately, their books still are so, after you read this one, you have a lot of reading and watching to do.
The Crime Of Our Lives
Lawrence Block
http://www.lawrenceblock.com
Self-Published
March 2015
ASIN: B00V9EEBDI
E-Book (also available in print)
221 Pages
$9.99
In recent months I have been honored to receive unsolicited e-book review copies of the author’s work. Such is the case here as I received this some time back for my use in an objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
After that beginning, which is basically an interesting forward, the author explains how the whole writing thing began all those many years ago in “My Life In Crime.” Along with explaining his past, Mr. Block goes on to consider the past of the mystery field and well as how he sees things today. In essence, he gives a sort of “the state of the mystery” and finds our union to be in very good shape.
That section segues into a detailed list of his sixteen favorites. As mentioned before, if you made his list it means that not only were you an author (a good thing), you are most certainly dead (not such a good thing). You may not be a deceased parrot, but you are most certainly dead. (gratuitous Monty Python reference.) For each of the sixteen authors listed, Mr. Block has a few paragraphs covering a favorite book or two and why they made the cut beyond being dead and all. While the list it is something to aspire to in a future updated version of the book, it certainly is not something one wishes to rush into considering the consequences.
Then it is on to the introduction that Lawrence Block wrote for various books over the years. The introductions not only reference the book it was written for, but put the work and author into context through a variety of means and mediums. The result is a book of introductions that serve, if you will, as a crash course in movies, books, and history over the years that every mystery/crime reader should be aware of. In fact, the same can be said for the entire book.
One could easily develop quite the reading list, a movie list, and a couple of other lists based on the inferences and works cited in The Crime Of Our Lives. While some of the authors mentioned in the introduction section are still alive and producing new works such as Mary Higgins Clark, Ed Gorman, among others, the majority of the authors mentioned are no longer with us. Fortunately, their books still are so, after you read this one, you have a lot of reading and watching to do.
The Crime Of Our Lives
Lawrence Block
http://www.lawrenceblock.com
Self-Published
March 2015
ASIN: B00V9EEBDI
E-Book (also available in print)
221 Pages
$9.99
In recent months I have been honored to receive unsolicited e-book review copies of the author’s work. Such is the case here as I received this some time back for my use in an objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
September 23, 2017
In his bio, he says he’s written in excess of 100 books. GR lists 445.
*blinks*
That’s some excess. A goodly chunk of his work have also made it to film.
But this is a compilation of forewords he has written for the works of his friends and genre compatriots.
For Anthony Boucher:
[wait… a nun detective? Runs off to check local library - nope - dammit.]
This gem for Joseph Conrad.
Hmmm… yep. That makes total sense.
His intro for Ed Gorman: he wrote 17 words and is stuck for the remaining 987 to get to the thousand requested, so he rambles… with intermittent word counts. I guffawed.
Omg his story for Henry Kane. I am going to smile (for more than the usual reasons) every time I see a photo of Lucille Ball. Perfect matchmaking, Henry.
Al Nussbaum, the con on the lam who decides to masquerade as a writer, buys a typewriter, and then uses it, and ends up a published author.
Block theorises that his lack of winning Edgar statuettes is due to attributing Poe’s famous story to Robert Louis Stevenson, AND calling it ‘the curse of amontillado’ rather than the ‘cask’. Bwahaha.
Then he married Poe’s great great etc niece… and that did the trick breaking said curse. Now he owns five of them.
That’s not a bad motivation.
***
An interesting mix, and a great intro to crime and pulp writers. I have already scoped out my local library and found more than a few residing there. In a nod to both their age (and mine) they all seem to be in the ‘large print’ section. Gone are the days when I would have been put off by this. Now it’s ‘you bewdy; won’t need the reading glasses!’
I had better add a few of Block’s works into that borrowing pile, too.
3 stars.
*blinks*
That’s some excess. A goodly chunk of his work have also made it to film.
But this is a compilation of forewords he has written for the works of his friends and genre compatriots.
For Anthony Boucher:
My own favorite, though but dimly recalled, is Nine Times Nine, a locked-room mystery investigated by Sister Ursula of the Order of Martha of Bethany. (Kindle Locations 299-300).
[wait… a nun detective? Runs off to check local library - nope - dammit.]
This gem for Joseph Conrad.
Conrad didn’t have to go to sea to write The Secret Agent. But he may have had to go to sea to become the man capable of writing it. (Kindle Locations 817-818).
Hmmm… yep. That makes total sense.
It is the role of the author’s imagination to take every sort of experience— his own and others’— and make stories of it. Where do you get your ideas? ask no end of people who’ve never had an idea, and wouldn’t know what to do with one if they did. Ideas are all over the place, no harder to come by (and no more like the finished product) than sand for a maker of silicon chips. It is what one does with an idea that is the telling thing, and that is where imagination comes in.(Kindle Locations 840-843).
His intro for Ed Gorman: he wrote 17 words and is stuck for the remaining 987 to get to the thousand requested, so he rambles… with intermittent word counts. I guffawed.
Omg his story for Henry Kane. I am going to smile (for more than the usual reasons) every time I see a photo of Lucille Ball. Perfect matchmaking, Henry.
Al Nussbaum, the con on the lam who decides to masquerade as a writer, buys a typewriter, and then uses it, and ends up a published author.
Block theorises that his lack of winning Edgar statuettes is due to attributing Poe’s famous story to Robert Louis Stevenson, AND calling it ‘the curse of amontillado’ rather than the ‘cask’. Bwahaha.
Then he married Poe’s great great etc niece… and that did the trick breaking said curse. Now he owns five of them.
“When I set out to be a writer, I wanted to give Ernest Hemingway a run for his money. But it didn’t take me too long to find out I couldn’t hope to be better than a third- or fourth-rate Hemingway. So I quit trying, and what I found out was I could be a pretty good William Campbell Gault.” (Kindle Locations 3214-3216).
That’s not a bad motivation.
***
An interesting mix, and a great intro to crime and pulp writers. I have already scoped out my local library and found more than a few residing there. In a nod to both their age (and mine) they all seem to be in the ‘large print’ section. Gone are the days when I would have been put off by this. Now it’s ‘you bewdy; won’t need the reading glasses!’
I had better add a few of Block’s works into that borrowing pile, too.
3 stars.
September 17, 2019
Like any collection there are good parts and bad parts. In this case the good outnumber the bad and the bad aren't really all that bad anyway. Most of this is culled from introductions Block has written for other authors over his 60+ year career. The ones he didn't know personally like Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler read like a Wikipedia entry. The authors he did know like Donald Westlake are much more insightful. There are also the author's personal experiences with the publishing game, starting out as a slush reader for a barely legit agent. That story is repeated in part a number of times to become a little repetitive, but it's still a really enlightening look at the seedy underbelly of the publishing industry in the 50s and 60s.
Other than Block, Chandler, and a couple of Westlake books I haven't read tons of crime fiction so if nothing else it provides a lot of names I should look into for future reading material.
Other than Block, Chandler, and a couple of Westlake books I haven't read tons of crime fiction so if nothing else it provides a lot of names I should look into for future reading material.
September 24, 2023
An interesting and informative recollection by The Master of the Crime Novel Lawrence Block on Sixteen of his favorite 'deceased' writers of the hard-boiled crime fiction Novel. He lists them in alphabetical order (one of Block's idiosyncrasies) so as not to offend. It was enjoyable to read his take on these writers as I have read many of them on his list.
February 25, 2020
More an odds and sods compilation of introductions and tributes than anything. They have their place, and I certainly read my share of these compilations in college, but the format can be constraining and repetitive. There are a few good nuggets in there, though.
September 3, 2019
A very interesting book about many of my favorite mystery (yes, I will use that word) writers and their backgrounds! A good read for mystery buffs.
May 23, 2023
So Lawrence Block muses about other crime writers. Block is an excellent writer and he has some interesting tidbits about other writers. Worth a read if you are into mystery writers.
April 30, 2015
Right. Time to write a review of the latest Lawrence Block non-fiction collection. Because the man was nice enough to send me a review copy, and who am I to say "no" in the face of such graciousness? ("You're no-one, regardless of getting a free copy," the insecure writer at the back of my brain says. Let's ignore him for the moment, shall we?)
Look, here's the thing.
If you're already a Larry Block fan, you don't need some hack like me telling you to read this collection of introductions and essays and columns. You know the man's got some insight into the crime field gleaned from a nice long career. You already know, I'm sure, that he prefers only to write retrospectives about friends who have already died, that he's honest (sometimes brutally) about what he likes and doesn't like, that he's fond of variations of the phrase "he never wrote a bad sentence, a klunky phrase, a weak book" in regards to certain favorite authors. You already know if you appreciate his self-effacing way of writing introductions like he's got nothing new to say about the stuff he's introducing. You already know if you enjoy or get annoyed by the way he re-tells certain stories every chance he gets. (On that last, I can honestly say I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing how Block came to work for the Scott Meredith Agency, or how he met Donald Westlake; each telling has a slightly different flavor without ever changing the actual facts.)
In fact, if you're already a Larry Block fan, you've already figured out what I'm doing with this review. Good on ya for that.
And if you're not already a Larry Block fan, well ... I'm not going to tell you to start with this collection, because really, you should be out there reading his fiction: the cozy crime capers of Bernie Rhodenbarr, the noir darkness of Matthew Scudder, the plethora of short stories. Personally, I'd make sure to check out Killing Castro, reissued a few years back by Hard Case Crime, a great thriller that is also a bit of alternate history, which technically also makes Block a science fiction writer... but I digress. Read some of Block's fiction first, then come back to this collection of non-fiction about his friends and influences.
It's a great batch of stuff, really: reminiscences about his friendships and professional relationships with Donald Westlake, Evan Hunter, and others. Several columns worth of "what it was like to learn how not to write bad stuff while working for Scott Meredith." Some funny pieces about (not) winning an Edgar. Tributes to Poe, Chandler, Hammett, Spillane, and some less-obvious and long-out-of-print pulp and paperback original authors. (My "scour used bookstores for these authors" list got a bit longer while reading this collection...)
But, like I said: if you're a Block fan, you don't need me to tell you this. And if you're not, I've rambled on long enough. Go buy the book already. Block self-published it in affordable ebook format just for that purpose. So why would you want to let him down by not reading it?
Look, here's the thing.
If you're already a Larry Block fan, you don't need some hack like me telling you to read this collection of introductions and essays and columns. You know the man's got some insight into the crime field gleaned from a nice long career. You already know, I'm sure, that he prefers only to write retrospectives about friends who have already died, that he's honest (sometimes brutally) about what he likes and doesn't like, that he's fond of variations of the phrase "he never wrote a bad sentence, a klunky phrase, a weak book" in regards to certain favorite authors. You already know if you appreciate his self-effacing way of writing introductions like he's got nothing new to say about the stuff he's introducing. You already know if you enjoy or get annoyed by the way he re-tells certain stories every chance he gets. (On that last, I can honestly say I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing how Block came to work for the Scott Meredith Agency, or how he met Donald Westlake; each telling has a slightly different flavor without ever changing the actual facts.)
In fact, if you're already a Larry Block fan, you've already figured out what I'm doing with this review. Good on ya for that.
And if you're not already a Larry Block fan, well ... I'm not going to tell you to start with this collection, because really, you should be out there reading his fiction: the cozy crime capers of Bernie Rhodenbarr, the noir darkness of Matthew Scudder, the plethora of short stories. Personally, I'd make sure to check out Killing Castro, reissued a few years back by Hard Case Crime, a great thriller that is also a bit of alternate history, which technically also makes Block a science fiction writer... but I digress. Read some of Block's fiction first, then come back to this collection of non-fiction about his friends and influences.
It's a great batch of stuff, really: reminiscences about his friendships and professional relationships with Donald Westlake, Evan Hunter, and others. Several columns worth of "what it was like to learn how not to write bad stuff while working for Scott Meredith." Some funny pieces about (not) winning an Edgar. Tributes to Poe, Chandler, Hammett, Spillane, and some less-obvious and long-out-of-print pulp and paperback original authors. (My "scour used bookstores for these authors" list got a bit longer while reading this collection...)
But, like I said: if you're a Block fan, you don't need me to tell you this. And if you're not, I've rambled on long enough. Go buy the book already. Block self-published it in affordable ebook format just for that purpose. So why would you want to let him down by not reading it?
January 12, 2016
A collection of pieces the author wrote about other mystery/crime authors.
Note: I'm a fan of Mr. Block's writing, whether it's his fiction or nonfiction. The man has an easygoing way of telling a story, whether it's about an alcoholic P.I. working to solve a murder, or it's his own true account of meeting and befriending a contemporary in the world of crime fiction. This book will not be for everyone. It's for people, like myself, who find the lives of some of our writer idols to be as fascinating as the characters they've written about.
Some great stories in here, and great reflections on a bygone era. It would have been a five star review, but I had to knock one off because some of the stories repeat themselves. Although the pieces contained herein were written at different times (and for different publications), occasionally the subjects overlap and we are treated to the same story. Example: the story about Evan Hunter/Ed McBain and how he inspired Mr. Block to try his hand at writing.
Great stories (all) told once, but I found myself skipping sections because they were repeated (albeit worded slightly different). A little cutting during the editing process would've taken care of this problem.
But four stars because I dug the stories, and even came away with discovering books I had no prior knowledge about (e.g. Malcolm Braly's ON THE YARD).
Note: I'm a fan of Mr. Block's writing, whether it's his fiction or nonfiction. The man has an easygoing way of telling a story, whether it's about an alcoholic P.I. working to solve a murder, or it's his own true account of meeting and befriending a contemporary in the world of crime fiction. This book will not be for everyone. It's for people, like myself, who find the lives of some of our writer idols to be as fascinating as the characters they've written about.
Some great stories in here, and great reflections on a bygone era. It would have been a five star review, but I had to knock one off because some of the stories repeat themselves. Although the pieces contained herein were written at different times (and for different publications), occasionally the subjects overlap and we are treated to the same story. Example: the story about Evan Hunter/Ed McBain and how he inspired Mr. Block to try his hand at writing.
Great stories (all) told once, but I found myself skipping sections because they were repeated (albeit worded slightly different). A little cutting during the editing process would've taken care of this problem.
But four stars because I dug the stories, and even came away with discovering books I had no prior knowledge about (e.g. Malcolm Braly's ON THE YARD).
October 16, 2021
9/10 - Lawrence Block is my favorite author across all genres, as is evidenced by the number of his novels that I have read (sadly no longer viewable through the "Most Read Authors" stat on this site, but it is somewhere north of 50 now). Thanks to this collection of musings on some of his fellow crime writers (all deceased), I have several new authors on my to-read list. I am a growing fan of Donald Westlake, so it was interesting to read of Block's long friendship with Westlake in the longest entry of the collection.
I have more thoughts, but having trouble organizing them as I just finished this work a short time ago, and I need breakfast and a strong drink. So I'll just toss in a couple of Block-ean quotes to go with the rich selection in the GR summary...
=====================================================
For a while I contributed a column to Mystery Science Magazine, which I called "The Murders in Memory Lane." It constituted personal recollections of a number of writers- all gone, alas, at the time of writing, and I miss them.
When I stopped writing the column, a few people asked me why. I told them I'd run out of dead friends.
=====================================================
I have more thoughts, but having trouble organizing them as I just finished this work a short time ago, and I need breakfast and a strong drink. So I'll just toss in a couple of Block-ean quotes to go with the rich selection in the GR summary...
=====================================================
For a while I contributed a column to Mystery Science Magazine, which I called "The Murders in Memory Lane." It constituted personal recollections of a number of writers- all gone, alas, at the time of writing, and I miss them.
When I stopped writing the column, a few people asked me why. I told them I'd run out of dead friends.
=====================================================
August 2, 2015
Repetitive. He retells the same story many times. This is a better book if you read a few pages, take a break. Maybe come back in a month and read some more. I didn't hate it but I was bored at the end. He talks about writers he has admired and mostly known. The insights feel superficial, a hale and hearty men's club with back slapping, self congratulations and token women. BUT I have to admit that partway through this book, I remembered I had an unfinished Ed McBain book and went back to it and liked it. Maybe if I had stopped at each chapter and read the authors he was talking about, I would like this book. It is a collection of his introductions, eulogies, speeches etc he had been asked to do. By the end I was quite bored.
April 9, 2015
A book about books you will want to read
I have been a big fan of Lawrence Block his fiction and nonfiction so the day this book came to kindle I had to buy it. A word of warning this book will lead you to more reading and if you are like me more book collecting.
The book is comprised of articles and stories about other writers and how their work has formed the crime writing category as we know it. The book is a delightful read and I filled the book with highlights to investigate other books and other writers to discover.
I have been a big fan of Lawrence Block his fiction and nonfiction so the day this book came to kindle I had to buy it. A word of warning this book will lead you to more reading and if you are like me more book collecting.
The book is comprised of articles and stories about other writers and how their work has formed the crime writing category as we know it. The book is a delightful read and I filled the book with highlights to investigate other books and other writers to discover.
June 18, 2016
Overview Of Crime
If you are as into crime writers, novelists and the milieu in which they operate as I am, this book is for you. Block has known them all and isn't afraid to tell you what he knows about their lives, warts and all. I particularly like his essay on Charles Willeford, one of my favorite and under appreciated writers. Also interesting reporting on what it was like to toil in the world of digests, paperback originals, and soft core porn books in the late nineteen fifties.
If you are as into crime writers, novelists and the milieu in which they operate as I am, this book is for you. Block has known them all and isn't afraid to tell you what he knows about their lives, warts and all. I particularly like his essay on Charles Willeford, one of my favorite and under appreciated writers. Also interesting reporting on what it was like to toil in the world of digests, paperback originals, and soft core porn books in the late nineteen fifties.
October 25, 2015
No offense to LB, but this is obviously not where you should start reading him. It's nice to read his views/reminiscences about significant mystery writers of the past, but these are not really edited from their original state, so you hear the story of Block's intro to pulp fiction through Evan Hunter again and again. Still, now I have a couple more authors to check out more thoroughly, and I know what a jerk Scott Meredith was. And Block is always readable, even in repetition.
May 2, 2015
I had a good time with this collection of pieces about other crime writers. Block writes well about the people he admired and at least in this collection of non fiction, the stories don't repeat themselves too much. I discovered a few writers from this book, so who can not like it?
January 7, 2017
Charming and delightful. Larry dishes the classic crime writers.
If you're well versed in this field, you'll love the personal reflections on your favorites. If you're just starting out, you'll find the tour most valuable in finding your next author.
If you're well versed in this field, you'll love the personal reflections on your favorites. If you're just starting out, you'll find the tour most valuable in finding your next author.
March 26, 2017
Boring and repetitious. Feels like Mr. Block gathered up his notes and introductions and slung them together into a book. Seems very proud of his soft-core porn work. One or two interesting topics but not worth slugging through.
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