Author: ekkarn

Alex – Pierre Lemaitre – As good as it gets!

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Alex – Pierre Lemaitre – Commandant Camille Verhoeven

(Book # 2)      

 

Author of Alex - Pierre LemaitreSeveral weeks ago, when I was in the library I saw an interesting book titled Camille, by a French author Pierre Lemaitre it is the third book in  a series that features Commandant Camille Verhoeven. At the time I didn’t know that, but I did see that the Camille was the sequel to Alex, so I requested  Alex thinking that I was starting at the beginning of the series. Wrong – Alex was actually the first of the three books to be translated and released in the US, but the first book in the series is actually Irene. And since Camille is suffering from the effects of what happened in Irene, I wish I had read that book first!! With that being said I am actually glad that I read Alex because it was a terrific read. I guess, that is to be expected from a book that won the 2013 International Dagger Award for Best Crime Novel. Let me tell you, the book lived up to its billing! From Pierre Lemaitre’s website…..

Commandant Camille Verhoeven has nothing to go on: no suspect, no lead, rapidly diminishing hope. All he knows is that Alex Prévost was snatched off the streets of Paris and bundled into a white van. But Alex – beautiful, resourceful, tough – is no ordinary victim.

Alex was kidnapped by the father of her ex-boyfriend, who is missing. The father hangs a naked Alex in a cage and tells her he wants to watch her DIE! He frequently comes back to take her picture, as she starts her descent toward death, oh and to feed the rats!! The father keeps returning, until the night the police discover that he is the kidnapper, but rather than be captured, the father jumps to his death on a busy Parisian street….. and now the question becomes can Camille and his fellow officers find Alex before she dies!! Oh, and before they do, they discover the body of her ex-boyfriend…..his killer murdered him by pouring battery acid down his throat!! Is is connected to Alex???

Yes the pages flew by on this one and the solution to the crimes was not the resolution of the story!! And the end, well, that what sets Alex apart from your average crime fiction!!!

For those of you who like me may be unfamiliar with Pierre Lemaitre here is some biographical information from Wikipedia…..

Pierre Lemaitre (born 19 April 1951 in Paris) is a Prix Goncourt-winning French author and a screenwriter. His first novel to be translated into English, Alex,[1] is a translation of the French book of the same title,[2] it won the CWA International Dagger for best crime novel of 2013.[1][3] In November 2013, he was awarded the Prix Goncourt, France’s top literary prize, for Au revoir là-haut, an epic about World War I.[4] His novel Camille won the CWA International Dagger in 2015 Read More

Bottom Line: Alex was one terrific ride….it had me at the beginning the middle and the end!! The characters are all well drawn from Alex to Camille and his fellow officers. Here is a quote from the back cover of the book that sums up Alex nicely…… Rating *****

Oh, and by the way, I just requested Irene from my library!

“Moves from read-as-fast-as-you-can horror to an intricately plotted race to a dark truth” Guardian

Book 33 for 2015

Links to Further Explorations of the novels of Pierre Lemaitre

Website
Amazon
Goodreads

Grammie and Granddad Babysit Zoe……….

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.…..and have a great two days with Zoe, can’t wait for the next two (Monday and Wednesday)  with Oliver!!

 

My son Peter and his wife Melissa spent an anniversary weekend in Boston this Friday and Saturday, so my wife and I go to spend some extended time with our granddaughter Zoe. While Miss Zoe is a lot more active now that she can get around on her own, she is still a sea of calm compared to the whirling dervish that is grandson Oliver.

It’s fun watching her play, she takes in everything very seriously and plays well by herself. The bad thing about yesterday was that she didn’t want to nap. She shortened her morning nap from two hours to about 45 minutes and then she shortened her afternoon nap to about 30 minutes. Even with not sleeping though, she was still pleasant and we had a great day.

Today,I’m resting up, because tomorrow we are babysitting Oliver!!  Okay, I’m taking bets on the time that he will first point to the stroller and want me to take him for a walk…..forecast for tomorrow calls for 60% of scattered thundershowers all day!! The plan is to borrow my son Andrew’s car seat just in case, so that we may be able to substitute, a ride say to the Deptford mall and a walk inside!! What a plan!! Either way I’m sure we’ll enjoy the day!!

Here are some pictures of Zoe that my wife took yesterday!! I love it when Zoe puts her hands up on the sides of her head!!

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The featured image at the top of this post shows that new fiesty side of Zoe. First, she dumped out all of her blocks and then put the box on her head. Now if you think that you’ve seen that before you have only it was Mr Oliver doing the dumping and the putting of the box on his head. You can check it out here, Now I want to know how Mr Man Oliver taught his cousin that trick or is it just in the genes

The Highway – C.J.Box Another Winner from Box!

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C.J. Box – The Highway -Cody Hoyt #2 – Cassie Dewell #1

 

Last week I saw that C.J.Box would be releasing a new box on the 28th of this month titled Badlands. The book is the sequel to his release The Highway. Now I am a fan of C.J Box’s work and have read all but one of one of the Joe Pickett novels  and why I never finished Cold Wind, I really can’t say, but I have stayed away from The Highway. Why? Again, I can’t say, But with the second book of this Cassie Dewell series coming out, I thought better get on the stick and read The Highway! When I went to Amazon, I discovered that the Kindle edition of the book was only $2.99 and well that sealed the deal!! Last Tuesday, I finished the book and all I can say is that I should have known better!! C.J.Box is a terrific author and The Highway is as good as any of his Joe Pickett books or his stand-alone books!!

The Highway introduces the reader to a new character Cassie Dewell, a young detective new to the Lewis & Clark County Police Department. When the story opens Cassie is waiting to catch her partner Cody Hoyt, a splendid and somewhat rogue detective, planting evidence at a murder scene! She succeeds and soon Hoyt is suspended from the force.

Meanwhile, a long distance trucker known as the Lizard King, a psychopath who preys on prostitutes, who work the truck stops has accidentally killed his last conquest. In his haste in leaving the truck stop he almost kills two young girls. Those two young girls, Danielle and Grace Sullivan are traveling from their Colorado home to Omaha to visit their father, only Danielle decides to visit her boyfriend in Montana on the way! That boyfriend just happens to be Cody Hoyt’s son Justin. Soon the two girls are kidnapped by the Lizard King and Cody Hoyt is off to save them with Cassie helping at home!

Cody Hoyt, Justin and the Sullivan girls all appeared in Box’s Back of Beyond, which was another great book by Box! All of these characters are well drawn the damaged Hoyt and the spunky Grace Sullivan and her ditsy sister Danielle. Additionally, the new character Cassie Dewell is one that you can definitely root for!!

Bottom Line: The Highway while darker than the Joe Pickett novels was a great read! The pages flew by and the story twisted and turned until the very end! There was one twist that I didn’t see coming and I still don’t believe happened. I can’t wait until the 28th for the release of Badlands!! So don’t do what I did, go and get The Highway now!! Rating: ****

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of C.J.Box

C.J Box Website
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads: C.J. Box, The Highway
Amazon: C.J.Box

 

 

Zoe turns 10 months – Oh My!

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The Ever Quiet Zoe is getting a little  Fiesty at 10 Months!

 

So over the last little while I have posted more about my grandson Oliver, than my granddaughter Zoe. The main reason for that is Zoe’s mom Melissa left her job several months ago and I haven’t been babysitting Zoe twice a week like I was back in the winter. My wife and I see her at least once a week, or so, and she is a wonderfully happy little girl. She is standing by herself now, and walking several steps,all with the small great smile she has always had. Every month her mother has posted a picture on her monthly anniversary. As a sign of growing independence Zoe wasn’t much interested in having having her picture taken last month…..

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Then this month,she seemed to be amazed at how old she was., exclaiming “I can’t believe I’m ten months old!”

Zoe oh my!

.Her Grammie says that she is just channeling her “Inner Munch”

Zoe Channels Munch

 

But then again, she may be just thinking, “That painting sold for HOW MUCH?” ‘The Scream’ Is Auctioned for a Record $119.9 Million

It took 12 nail-biting minutes and five eager bidders for Edvard Munch’s famed 1895 pastel of “The Scream” to sell for $119.9 million, becoming the world’s most expensive work of art ever to sell at auction.

Bidders could be heard speaking Chinese and English (and, some said, Norwegian), but the mystery winner bid over the phone, through Charles Moffett, Sotheby’s executive vice president and vice chairman of its worldwide Impressionist, modern and contemporary art department. Gasps could be heard as the bidding climbed higher and higher, until there was a pause at $99 million, prompting Tobias Meyer, the evening’s auctioneer, to smile and say, “I have all the time in the world.” Read the Full Story….

So Happy “10th Month” anniversary to a great granddaughter!!  Here’s Miss Zoe celebrating by doing a little dancing to the Minions singing “YMCA” and “Barbara  Ann”……

 

 

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More Walking Adventures of Oliver and Granddad!

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Oliver and Granddad Explore the Northern End of Beacon Avenue!

 

So yesterday was an interesting day of babysitting with our grandson, Oliver. The morning was rough because it rained most of the time. While the rain didn’t bother Oliver, granddad was not amused. The first walk which was shortened, because of the rain, was the better of the two, because the rain was lighter. On the second walk the rain was heavier, and I tried to push the stroller and hold the umbrella , which didn’t work out too well. The later walk would have been the one on which he should have fallen asleep, but as he was screaming, not in a bad way, when we were walking back up his street, I knew that was not to be!! He held out until almost noon, when he couldn’t go anymore and he rocked to sleep to “Uptown Funk”, but when I put him in his crib, he popped back up and I had to lay him on my chest until he fell more deeply asleep!!!

Oliver slept for about two hours. After he ate lunch, we were off on another walk. We passed all his favorite spots, Lillian and Gizmo the two little dogs, the house with the elephant statue, and the two dog statues. Then I got the idea in my head that we would go on Beacon Avenue and find the lighthouse at the north end of the street. What we first found out was the Beacon is a VERY LONG street. The second thing was that there is a house near the end of the street that will probably be a frequent stopping place in the future. Why, you ask, because this is what the front yard looks like……

Oliver's new favorite stop on his walks with Granddad

Oliver was awestruck!! We didn’t have time to even look at all the stuff, so another trip is certainly warranted!! Soon after we encountered the house of wonders, we discovered the Paulsboro Lighthouse……

Oliver visits the Paulsboro Lighthouse

 

From Wikipedia: The lighthouse is The Tinicum Island Rear Range Light……

is a lighthouse located in the Billingsport section of Paulsboro, Gloucester County, New Jersey, United States,[2] the rear of a pair of range lights marking a section of the channel in the Delaware River south ofPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania. The lighthouse, surrounded by ball fields next to the new marine terminal for the Port of Paulsboro, is still active for navigation on the Delaware River. It works in conjunction with the Tinicum Front Range Light, known as the Billingsport Front Light, situated on the banks of the Delaware River at the front of Fort Billings Park next to the Paulsboro Refinery.Front and rear range lighthouses guide sailors who, by aligning the two lights and keeping one light on top of the other, stay in its center and avoid Little Tinicum Island as they travel upstream Read More

Considering how close the tower is to the right field fence of the ball field, I wonder if you get any extra rums if you hit it!!

When we finally finished our walk, after 55 plus minutes,we had covered almost 2 and a half miles!! The best part was that there was no rain!!!

My son, Nick had stopped by and he had gone for the walk with us, then daughter Elizabeth visited after her workday was over. While Elizabeth and her mom were busy Oliver and I were in his playroom. I started to build with his Legos to keep him busy. Oliver had other ideas about keeping busy and Nick caught it all on his phone……..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIOmPURN20M

Evidently, riding in a stroller for an hour does not tire one out nearly as much as it does the old guy pushing the stroller!!! All in all, it was another Adventurous day with Oliver! Can’t wait for the next one…….well exactly I can my body needs the rest!!

Aaron Diehl – Space Time Continuum

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Aaron Diehl Joins Generations on Space Time Continuum

 

Aaron DiehlWhen I first started to listen to jazz it was mostly the guitar of Wes Montgomery and the Hammond B3 of Jimmy Smith, but through the years I started adding other artists. Pianist like Thelonious Monk and Oscar Peterson were added to my music library, along with Miles, Gary Burton and Milt Jackson. One night a few years ago I put on The Bespoke Man’s Narrative from Aaron Diehl, while I was reading. After a few minutes I stopped reading and listened to some unbelievable piano! Along with Diehl’s piano on that album I also loved the vibraphone of Warren Wolf on the album. Anyway, a few weeks ago Diehl’s new album Space,Time, Continuum joined my music rotation and it’s another outstanding outing from a great pianist. What surprised me was the presence of some fine saxophone and trumpet, which I hadn’t heard on Diehl’s previous albums.

After listening to the album a few times I went to Aaron Diehl’s website where I learned that the saxophones that I heard belonged to a couple of jazz icons in their 80’s, 86-year-old tenor saxophonist Benny Golson and 85-year-old baritone saxophonist Joe Temperley. The trumpet that I heard belongs to an up and coming trumpeter Bruce Harris.

I also discovered that, Aaron Diehl says that the reason he chose to collaborate with Golson and Temperley was all about paying tribute to jazz’s history and two of the genre’s legends. The joining of the old guard with the new fits the theme of Space, Time, Continuum. In an interview Mr. Diehl said

“A lot of times we look at jazz in eras,” “How can we not keep those eras separate and think of the language as one complete continuum? It’s all interrelated and it’s all evolutionary.”

Aaron Diehl and Benny Golson’s paths have crossed previously. First in 2006 when Golson was asked by Julliard, to compose a piece for its centennial celebration. Mr. Diehl was the pianist and impressed Mr Golson. A couple of years later, Mr. Golson was appearing in Columbus, Ohio and found that Mr. Diehl also was on the bill. Mr. Golson says this about the music of Aaron Diehl

“When I think about Aaron, I think about surprises,” “He’s not dealing with musical arithmetic, he’s dealing with feelings and emotions, things that will move people emotionally, mentally and physically, make the head bob and the foot pat.”

While Aaron Diehl pays homage to jazz’s history on Space Time Continuum through his collaboration with Golson and Temperley, he modern jazz artists also appear on the album in a rhythm section composed of drummer Quincy Davis and bassist David Wong and another saxophonist Stephen Riley.

Joe Temperley’s baritone saxophone is featured on the track “The Steadfast Titan”, while “Flux Capacitor”, a salute to the Back to the Future film trilogy features Stephen Riley. Both are great tracks!

My favorite track is the 13 minute-long “Organic Consequence”. The piece an Aaron Diehl original was composed for Yale University’s Environmental Film Festival Benny Golson’s tenor sax stands out on the track along with Bruce Harris’ trumpet.

Two of my other favorites “Uranus” and “Broadway Boogie Woogie” feature Aaron Diehl at his rollicking best!! Then there’s “Kat’s Dance” oh, hell there I go again, all the tracks are great in their own way!

Bottom Line: Aaron Diehl’s Space Time Continuum is an outstanding addition to any jazz fan’s musical library. It combines the past with the future and isn’t that what jazz is all about!! The album just has great performances from a variety of jazz legends and legends to be!! Check it Out!! Rating:*****

Links for Further Explorations of the Music of Aaron Diehl and Space Time Continuum.

Artist’s Website
Facebook
Twitter
Walll Street Journal:Aaron Diehl, a Piano Prodigy, Taps Jazz Legends
AXS:Aaron Diehl releases ‘Space Time Continuum’ on Mack Avenue Records

Here’s the Aaron Diehl Quartet performing “Bag’s Groove” featuring Warren Wolf on vibes!

 

The Poacher’s Son – Paul Doiron

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Paul Doiron – The Poacher’s Son – (Mike Bowditch #1) – Maine Game Warden

 

Paul Doiran - The Poacher's SonA while back I saw an ad on a sidebar at Goodreads.com for a book called The Precipice by Paul Doiron. I read that the book was part of a series that features Mike Bowditch who is a Game Warden in Maine. Since I am a big fan of another game warden Joe Pickett who resides out in the great state of Wyoming, I figured that this book would be right up my alley. When I went to Goodreads to find our more about Mike Bowditch, I discovered that The Precipice is the sixth book that features him as the main character. Since the series is not all that new i.e there are less than ten books in the series, I figured that it would be best to go back to the first book and start the series at the beginning and start reading the series with book one, The Poacher’s Son. So that’s what I did and I am glad that I did! The Poachers Son was a great read!

The plot of The Poacher’s Son begins when Mike misses a call from his father, who he hasn’t had contact with for two years. His father leaves a message that he needs Mike’s help! The next morning discovers that a police officer and a business man have been shot in the northern part of Maine, where Mike’s dad lives. His father is the prime suspect and when he was detained for questioning, he attacked the arresting officer and escaped into the woods, after crashing the police car and leaving the officer for dead. Mike is about the only person in the state that believes that his father is innocent and as he sets out to prove it his whole life starts to unravel!

The Poacher’s Son is an award-winning book among the awards it won were;  the Barry Award and the Strand Critics Award for Best First Novel, an Anthony Award, a Macavity Award, and a Thriller Award for Best First Novel, and the Maine Literary Award for “Best Fiction of 2010.”. It was nominated for an Edgar Award, and PopMatters named it to its Best Fiction of 2010 list.

Bottom Line: The Poacher’s Son was an outstanding novel dealing with not only the mystery surrounding the brutal murders, but also with Mike and his father Jack’s relationship. Andre Dubus III says this about the novel….

“With precise and evocative prose, Paul Doiron weaves a riveting tale set deep in the wilderness that can be the tenuous bond between father and son. This is a compelling, moving and utterly impressive debut”

and Nelson DeMille writes:

:The Poacher’s Son is one of the best-written debut novels I’ve read in years. The story has it all – a great plot. a wonderful Maine woods setting, a truly remarkable and believable cast of characters”

I liked everything about this book, the setting,  the main characters and the intricately woven tale of belief in a parent, that you feel guilt over not liking, but yet would do anything to save!! Rating **** plus!

So check it out! As for me I have to check out book #2 in the series The Trespasser!!  Move over Joe Pickett and make room for Mike Bowditch on my bookshelves!

Links for Further Explorations of Paul Doiron and Mike Bowditch

Authors’ Website
Twitter
Facebook
Amazon
Goodreads: Paul Doiron
Goodreads: Mike Bowditch

 

Book 31 for 2015 – 17 on a goal of 23 in my Clock and Dagger Reading Challenge!!

Oliver and Granddad Walk Around Paulsboro….

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Actually, Oliver Rides and Granddad walks and walks and walks……..

 

So, I pretty much think that when they say that you should walk 3 times a week for thirty minutes a walk,that they don’t mean do it all in one day!!  That’s what I did yesterday as grandson Oliver and I took five, count them, five walks around his Paulsboro neighborhood!

When the day started  Oliver seemed tired, and we made it all the way until about 8:30 before he wanted to go for a walk. My wife and I arrived at 8 by the way! So off, Oliver and I went. The walk lasted about thirty minutes and we visited the dogs both real and statues on Greenwich Ave, along with the house with the elephant statue in the front yard!

After breakfast and some reading etc Oliver appeared increasingly tired. So around 9:45 so we went out again thinking he surely will fall asleep in the stroller this time!! Wrong!! We did get to see the train on this walk though, so that was exciting.

The third walk, which was taken around 12:00,  was another 30 minute plus walk. Oliver finally feel asleep on this walk!. The only problem was, that I was about 10 minutes away from his house when he fell asleep, so by the time we reached home, made our way up to his room and laid him down, he popped right up!! He laid down, then popped up again and apparently that power nap worked wonders, because it got him through lunch and on in to the afternoon!! The fourth walk was a shorter walk, The walk included a street with no sites, specifically chosen for that reason, with hopes that the boredom would lull him to sleep, which it did. Luckily for me and him, he stayed asleep!! The fifth and final walk was taken because I had left the stroller up ater quickly bringing it in the house when a brief rainstorm came just after the end of the sleep induced walk! Once he saw the stroller, when he woke up from his nap, there was no way he was not going on his last walk!!

So here are two of the highlights of our walks
Elephant House

 

This is the house with the elephant statue, that is now right about where the pumpkin is on the right side of the lawn!

Two Dogs

He also loves these two dog statues! Typically when we leave them Oliver is not amused and often screams to go back!! Sometimes I give in and other times I say “let’s go find the elephant!!! What’s that elephant say?”

Needless, to say after all that walking, granddad was just a ;little tuckered out last night, but there’s bad tired and good tired and I bet you can guess which one last night was, eh??

Featured Image: Oliver prepares for a walk – note the family cat Zack in the netted basket in the bottom of the stroller trying to be a stowaway!

Terence Blanchard – Breathless

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Terence Blanchard

Terence Blanchard’s – Breathless – leaves me just that way!

 

One of the  albums that has spent considerable time in my music rotation over the last few weeks is Breathless the latest release from Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective. Terence Blanchard’s music career started in the 1980s first touring with Lionel Hampton and then replacing Wynton Marsalis in Art Blakey‘s Jazz Messengers. Since then he has been a prominent force in the jazz community.with 5 career Grammys out of his 13 career Grammy nominations, Terence has released twenty albums since his debut in 1984. Blanchard has probably reached his widest audience through his work as a film composer. His trumpet can be heard on nearly fifty film scores; with more than forty of the films scores were composed by Blanchard. As if all that was not enough to do, since 2000, Blanchard has served as Artistic Director at the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.and in August of 2011, he was named the Artistic Director of the Henry Mancini Institute at the University of Miami Frost School of Music! Some people can do it all!.

Throughout the majority of his career Terence Blanchard has been recognized  as a straight-ahead artist in the hard bop tradition but has recently developed an African-fusion style of playing. i believe that his unique style has been fully developed in Breathless. Back in the 70s one of my favorite jazz albums was Miles Davis‘ Bitches Brew, Breathless has captured me the same way that album did, The two tracks I love are “See Me As I Am” and :”Everglades” with the later really reminding me of Miles!

The inspiration for Breathless was the killing of Eric Garner  by New York City police officers.  Blanchard decided to put together an album using Garner’s death as the focus. To help with the album he surrounded himself with some young and hungry talent including:: drummer Oscar Seaton, keyboardist Fabian Almazan, bassist Donald Ramsey, guitarist Charles Altura. The album’s title Breathless was based on Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe.”

Blanchard explained in a Cuepoint blog:

“That chant has become a very poignant message, creating a very powerful metaphor that explains a lot about how a certain segment of our society feels right now,”  “If you think this is a minority, a small crowd of disgruntled citizens, you have no idea what’s coming down the road. To see the reports that came out of Ferguson, to see a police department deliberately target people in a country that puts ‘the land of the free’ on everything it can print. You know it’s a lie. It feels like every week there’s another YouTube video going viral of police brutality, or civil rights being sent back to the 1800s.

“Breathless is my attempt to draw more attention to that. This is our E-Collective version of a protest album, without the firebrand lyrics of Phil Ochs, but in mood and purpose. Much in the same way John Coltrane’s tune ‘Alabama’ captured the immense pain and suffering of a nation as it mourned the death of those four little girls lost in the firebombing of that Birmingham Church. Coltrane’s melody made me cry and made me feel the hurt of an event that happened decades before, when I was too young to understand what the hell was really going on. As well, there’s Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Power of Soul’ as another example. That track holds the cries of that generation who wanted desperately to move away from war, racism and sexism. You can feel Hendrix’s lyric — ‘with the power of soul, anything is possible’ — rippling through Breathless as an undercurrent.” Read more at AXS

You can watch  Terence Blanchard discuss his inspiration for Breathless – here

Bottom Line: Terence Blanchard’s Breathless is an amazing album and may well be my favorite jazz album of 2015. The tracks are all consistently interesting with Blanchard’s trumpet setting just the right tone throughout each track! Sometimes the beginning of an album sets the tone for the whole album and with the great Les McCann and Eddie Harris Harris’ “Compared to What” leading off, followed by :”See Me As ‘I Am” and “Everglades” a great tone is set and the high tone and quality doesn’t stop until the closing tracks :”Cosmic Warrior” and “Midnight” So Check t Out!!

P.S. anyone who mentions Phil Ochs is tops in my book!!

Here’s is a live Terence Blanchard and the E-Collective performance of “Everglades”  I know it’s long – just turn down the lights and drift…….

 

Lawrence Block “A Walk Among the Tombstones” Plus…

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Lawrence Block – Mystery Writer’s Grand Master – Born June 24, 1938

 

Lawrence BlockA few weeks ago when we were visiting with Peter, Missy and Zoe, Missy’s mom was looking for a movie to watch. She said to Peter we don’t want A Walk Among the Tombstones because it wasn’t very good. I commented that the books was really good! She looked at me quizzically and said “there’s book” Yeah, I said by the great Lawrence Block. I bring this up today because today is Lawrence Block’s birthday. Block was born in Buffalo, New York on June 24th in 1938.

A Walk Among the Tombstones features one of the mystery genres best characters, Matt Scudder. From Wikipedia

….Block’s most famous creation, the ever-evolving Matthew Scudder, was introduced in 1976’s The Sins of the Fathers as an alcoholic ex-cop working as an unlicensed private investigator in Hell’s Kitchen. Originally published as paperbacks, the early novels are interchangeable; the second and third entries—In the Midst of Death (1976) and Time to Murder and Create (1977)—were written in the opposite order. 1982’s 8 Million Ways to Die (filmed in 1986 by Hal Ashby, with unpopular results) breaks from that trend, concluding with Scudder introducing himself at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

During the 80s and the early 90s I read many of the Matt Scudder books. Looking at the list of Matt Scudder books I think that A Walk Among the Tombstones was the last one I read!! Hope to Die the 15th Matt Scudder book released in 2001 is on my TBR shelf. Maybe it’s time to get back into the series!! Oh, by the way A Walk among the Tombstones was book 10 in the series.

In addition to the Matt Scudder novels, Lawrence Block wrote several other series. My favorite was The Burglar series that feature the lovable Bernie Rhodenbarr There are eleven books in that series and I have again read many of them. The first book Burglars Can’t Be Choosers is also on my TBR pile! Maybe I’ll flip a coin??

His other series feature Evan Tanner, Chip Harrson and Keller. I think one of the Keller books is buried somewhere among my books! LOL!! Block has also written books using nine different pen names!!

Here is a list of the Edgar Awards that Lawrence Block has won.in addition, Block was named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America in 1994.

Edgar Awards
1978, Best Paperback Original, Time to Murder and Create[5]
1983, Best Novel, Eight Million Ways to Die
1985, Best Short Story, “By Dawn’s Early Light”
1991, Best Short Story, “Answers to Soldier”
1992, Best Novel, A Dance at the Slaughterhouse
Best Short Story, “A Blow For Freedom”
1994, Grand Master Award
Best Short Story, “Keller’s Therapy”
1995, Best Novel, A Long Line of Dead Men
1998, Best Short Story, “Keller On the Spot”
1999, Best Short Story, “Looking for David”[6][7][8]
Shamus Awards[edit]
1982, Best Novel, A Stab in the Dark
1983, Best Novel, Eight Million Ways to Die
1985, Best Short Story, “By the Dawn’s Early Light”
1987, Best Novel, When the Sacred Ginmill Closes
1990, Best Novel, Out on the Cutting Edge
1991, Best Novel, A Ticket to the Boneyard
1992, Best Novel, Dance at the Slaughterhouse
1994, Best Novel, The Devil Knows You’re Dead
Best Short Story, “The Merciful Angel of Death”
1995, Best Novel, A Long Line of Dead Men
2002, Lifetime Achievement Award (“The Eye”)
2009, Best Character Award (“The Hammer”) for Matt Scudder

So if you’ve never read any Lawrence Block you should. Here are some……

Links for the Further Exploration of the Books of Lawrence Block

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Wikipedia
Amazon
Goodreads