《蝙蝠俠的幫手》集結了十篇馬修．史卡德的短篇探案，從中，你可以回味《酒店關門之後》的故事源頭，可以回到《刀鋒之先》寶拉自17層高樓墜下的現場，還有他和老長官馬哈菲處理一樁舉槍自殺意外的插曲，以及其他各色各樣，揭開馬修．史卡德序幕的原點，是一本進入史卡德、重溫史卡德的最佳選擇。
「我喜歡透過馬修．史卡德的眼睛來看這個世界，喜歡通過馬修．史卡德的感受來說這個世界。」
──勞倫斯‧卜洛克
■本書目錄
窗外
給袋婦的一支蠟燭
黎明的第一道曙光
蝙蝠俠的幫手
慈悲的死亡天使
夜晚與音樂
尋找大衛
夢幻泡影
一時糊塗
立於不敗之地

《作废的捷克人》：伊凡•谭纳是世界各地隐秘组织的积极拥护者。朝鲜战争中的碎弹片让闹钟成了他最用不着的玩意——睡眠中枢被破坏，根本不用睡觉。人人皆欲诛之的纳粹余孽——雅诺斯•库塔切克被捷克政府拘禁，而且要因他在二次大战期间的罪行被押上绞刑台。但对于谭纳偶尔效命的超机密情报单位来说，雅诺斯•库塔切克活着比死了要更有价值。谭纳的任务很简单：只身去布拉格——突袭一座城堡——救出已丧失行动能力的罪犯。当然这只是最轻松的部分。谭纳还需要保住自己和俘虏的性命，顺利穿过重重铁幕下破碎的东欧。

"I would urge other writers, at whatever point in their careers, to take the time to read this indispensable handbook.... Telling Lies for Fun & Profit should be a permanent part of every writer's library."-- From the Introduction by Sue Grafton Characters refusing to talk? Plot plodding along? Where do good ideas come from anyway? In this wonderfully practical volume, two-time Edgar Award-winning novelist Lawrence Block takes an inside look at writing as a craft and as a career. From studying the market, to mastering self-discipline and "creative procrastination," through coping with rejections, Telling Lies for Fun & Profit is an invaluable sourcebook of information. It is a must read for anyone serious about writing or understanding how the process works.

《杀人排行榜》讲述了：约翰•凯勒是人人最爱的杀手，是一种新类型的英雄。他冷静、可靠，是杀手中的杀手。碍事的妻子、老去的运动球星、生意合伙人、有庞大遗产的退休人士，他全都可以解决掉，安静又有效率。尽管凯勒是个务实的顶尖杀手，但他不时会感到疑惑与寂寞。尽管他有一位爱说笑的经纪人，还有那批宝贝的邮票收藏，但现在，这些好像不够了。
或许是收手去沙漠里找个小房子的时候了。唯一的问题是，要有钱才能退休。而为了要得到钱，他就得去干活儿……

Bookseller Bernie Rhodenbarr's in love--with an exotic Eastern European beauty who shares his obsession with Humphrey Bogart movies. He's in heaven, munching popcorn with his new amour every night at a Bogart Film Festival--until their "Casablanca"-esque idyll is cut short by his other secret passion: "burglary." When he's hired to pilfer a portfolio of valuable documents from a Park Avenue apartment, Bernie can hardly refuse. But the occupant's early return forces Bernie to flee empty-handed--and he soon finds himself implicated in a murder. Before you can say "who stole the strawberries?" he's hunting for a killer, up to his neck in the outrageous intrigues of a tiny Balkan nation . . . and menaced by more sinister fat men and unsavory toadies than the great Bogie himself butted heads with in pursuit of that darn bird

Twelve years ago, Matthew Scudder lied to a jury to put James Leo Motley behind bars. Now the ingenious psychopath is free. And the alcoholic ex-cop-turned-p.i. must pay dearly for his sins. Friends and former lovers -- even strangers unfortunate enough to share Scudder's name -- are turning up dead. Because a vengeful maniac is determined not to rest until he's driven his nemesis back to the bottle...and then to the boneyard.

<center>This is a city that seduces dreamers...then eats their dreams.</center><p align="left">Matthew Scudder understands the futility of his search for a longtime missing Midwestern innocent who wanted to be an actress in the vast meat-grinder called New York City. But her frantic father heard that Schudder is the best -- and now the ex-cop-turned-p.i. is scouring the hell called Hell's Kitchen looking for anything that might resemble a lead. And in this neighborhood of the lost, he's finding love -- and death -- in the worst possible places.</p>

<P align=left>Louis Pinell, the recently apprehended "Icepick Prowler," freely admits to having slain seven young women nine years ago -- but be swears it was a copycat who killed Barbara Ettinger Matthew Scudder believes him. But the trail to Ettinger's true murderer is twisted, dark and dangerous...and even colder than the almost decade-old corpse the p.i. is determined to avenge.</P>

Bernie Rhodenbarr, bookseller-by-day, burglar-by-night is back in action in his ninth outing. Our burglar finds himself in a jam when he agrees to break into the Paddington Hotel and steal the letters of a famous novelist. Once he arrives, he finds the letters gone, and the agent's dead body...and the police fast on his trail.

在线阅读本书
It's not that used bookstore owner and part-time burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr believes the less legal of his two professions is particularly ethical. (It is, however, a rush, and he is very good at it.) He just thinks it's unfair to face a prison term for his legitimate activities. After appraising the worth of a rich man's library -- conveniently leaving his fingerprints everywhere in the process -- Bernie finds he's the cops' prime suspect when his client is murdered. Someone has framed Bernie Rhodenbarr better than they do it at the Whitney. And if he wants to get out of this corner he's been masterfully painted into, he'll have to get to the bottom of a rather artful -- if multiply murderous -- scam.

This is the fourth novel of the Hit Man Keller Series by Lawrence Block.
Keller's a hit man. For years now he's had places to go and people to kill.
But enough is enough. He's got money in the bank and just one last job standing between him and retirement. So he carries it out with his usual professionalism, and he heads home, and guess what?
One more job. Paid in advance, so what's he going to do? Give the money back? In Des Moines, Keller stalks his designated target and waits for the client to give him the go-ahead. And one fine morning he's picking out stamps for his collection (Sweden 1-5, the official reprints) at a shop in Urbandale when somebody guns down the charismatic governor of Ohio.
Back at his motel, Keller's watching TV when they show the killer's face. And there's something all too familiar about that face. . . .
Keller calls his associate Dot in White Plains, but there is no answer. He's stranded halfway across the country, every cop in America's just seen his picture, his ID and credit cards are no longer good, and he just spent almost all of his cash on the stamps.
Now what?

A man in a Virginia prison awaits execution for three horrific murders he must have committed but swears he didn't . . . An aging investigator in New York City has seen too much and lost too much -- and is ready to leave the darkness behind . . . But a nightmare is coming home -- because a brilliant, savage, patient monster has unfinished business in the big city . . . and a hunger that can be satisfied only by fear and the slow, agonizing death of Matthew Scudder and the woman he loves.

A philosophical yet practical gentleman, Bernie Rhodenbarr possesses many admirable qualities: charm, intelligence, sparkling wit, and unwavering loyalty. Of course, he also has this special talent and a taste for life's finer things. So he's more than willing to perform some vengeful larceny for a friend -- ripping off a smarmy, particularly deserving plastic surgeon -- for fun and a very tidy profit. But during a practice run at another address, Bernie's forced to hide under a bed when the lady of the house returns unexpectedly with the worst kind of blind date in tow. In no time, Bernie's up to his burgling neck in big trouble. Again. And this time it includes his arrest, no less than four murders, and more outrageous coincidences than any self-preserving felon should ever be required to tie together.

When Byrne and Susan Hollander are killed in a brutal home invasion, the whole city catches its collective breath. A few days later the killers turn up dead behind a locked door in Brooklyn. One has killed his partner, then himself. The city sighs with relief. The cops close the case.</p>Matt and Elaine Scudder were in the same room with the Hollanders hours before their deaths. In spite of himself, Scudder is drawn to the Hollander case. The closer he looks, the more he senses the presence of a third man, a puppet master who manipulated his two accomplices, then cut their strings when he was done with them.</p>The villain who looms in the shadows is one of Block's most inspired creations, cold and diabolical, murdering for pleasure and profit. Nobody but Scudder even suspects he exists -- and he's not done killing.</p>He's just getting started....</p>

马修决定退休了，只参加戒酒聚会、与妻子伊莱恩过着悠闲的生活。但他还是同意接手最后一宗调查。露易丝终于遇到一个自己喜欢的男人，但她总觉得他对自己有所隐瞒，雇马修调查真相。
在马修查出这个人的真正身份之前，发生了一起谋杀案，杀手的目标似乎是伊莱恩……

Matthew Scudder is finally on the straight and narrow when he runs into "High-Low" Jack Ellery, a childhood friend from the Bronx. In Scudder, Jack sees the moral man he might have become. In Jack, Scudder sees the hard-won sobriety he hopes to achieve.
Then Ellery, following to the letter the dictates of Alcoholics Anonymous' infamous twelve steps, is shot down while attempting to atone for past sins, and Scudder is drawn into a murder investigation that threatens to upset his path toward recovery--and get him killed in the process.
Exploring themes of loss, nostalgia, and redemption, for Lawrence Block, A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF circles back to how it all began, reestablishing why the Matthew Scudder series is widely regarded as one of the pinnacles of American detective fiction.

A successful socialite's beautiful wife was raped and murdered in her own home -- and Matt Scudder believes the victim's "grieving" husband was responsible for the outrage. But to prove it, the haunted p.i. must descend into the depths of New York's sex-for-sale underworld, where young lives are commodities to be bought, perverted...and destroyed.