New Releases by Lawrence Block

Bernie Rhodenbarr is actually trying to earn an honest living. It''s been an entire year since he''s entered anyone''s abode illegally to help himself to their valuables. But now an unscrupulous landlord''s threat to increase Bernie''s rent by 1,000% is driving the bookseller and reformed burglar back to a life of crime -- though, in all fairness, it''s a very short trip. And when the cops wrongly accuse him of stealing a priceless collection of baseball cards, Bernie''s stuck with a worthless alibi since he was busy burgling a different apartment at the time . . . one that happened to contain a dead body locked inside a bathroom. So Bernie has a dilemma. He can trade a burglary charge for a murder rap. Or he can shuffle all the cards himself and try to find the joker in the deck -- someone, perhaps, who believes that homicide is the real Great American Pastime.

Sometime spy Evan Tanner has accepted impossible assignments for many reasons: money, thrills, to have something to occupy his waking hours (twenty-four of them every day, in fact, since battlefield shrapnel obliterated his brain''s sleep center). But this might be the first time he''s put his life on the line . . . for love. Tanner''s agreed to smuggle a sexy Latvian gymnast—the lost lady love of a heart-sick friend—out of Russia. With the Cold War at its chilliest and the Iron Curtain slammed shut, this will not be easy, especially since everybody in Eastern Europe, it seems, wants to tag along, including a subversive Slav author and the six-year-old heir to the nonexistent Lithuanian throne. But that''s not the biggest hurdle. The gymnast refuses to budge unless Tanner rescues her eleven delightfully limber teammates as well—and that might be raising the bar too lethally high for even the ever-resourceful Evan Tanner to clear.

The Cold War''s boiling over. Global tensions are near the breaking point. So what''s the perfect assignment for a super-spy who hasn''t slept since the Korean conflict? A fun-filled trip to the Montreal World''s Fair! The adorable little girl he''s escorting—who, under different circumstances, would be sitting on the Lithuanian throne—can hardly contain her excitement, but it isn''t all playtime for Evan Tanner. Some mysterious disappearances, apparently linked to the fair''s Cuban exhibition, need to be looked into. Keeping his mind on business, however, won''t be easy after an insatiable lovely in a tiger skin falls into Tanner''s arms, and a mother lode of dangerous drugs falls into his lap. But the biggest, deadliest suprise is the terrorist plot Tanner''s tumbling into, and he''ll have to think and act quickly to prevent the visiting queen of England from being blown to smithereens.

It''s a jungle out there. Literally. At least for Evan Tanner, eternally sleepless sometime superspy, who finds himself in Africa on the trail of the AWOL ruler of tiny Modonoland. It seems the petty despot''s gone missing, and he''s taken the state treasury along with him. No stranger to impossible missions and international peril, Tanner''s been in over his head before. This time, however, he''s in imminent danger of being buried alive. And it all has to do with the CIA, white supremacists, moderate revolutionaries . . . and a blond jungle bombshell named (no joke!) Sheena. Tanner''s always been a sucker for a pretty face and a curvaceous body, especially one that''s wrapped in leopard skin. But this red hot renegade daughter of a local missionary is a maneater. Which means this time Tanner''s goose is well and truly cooked.

In the era before he created moody private investigator Matthew Scudder, burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, sleepless spy Evan Tanner, and the amiable hit man Keller—and years before his first Edgar Award—a young writer named Lawrence Block submitted a story titled "You Can''t Lose" to Manhunt magazine. It was published, and the rest is history. One Night Stands and Lost Weekends is a sterling collection of short crime fiction and suspense novelettes penned between 1958 and 1962 by a budding young master and soon-to-be Grand Master—an essential slice of genre history, and more fun than a high-speed police chase following a bank job gone bad.

In the dark days, in a sad and lonely place, ex-cop Matt Scudder is drinking his life away -- and doing "favors" for pay for his ginmill cronies. But when three such assignments flow together in dangerous and disturbing ways, he''ll need to change his priorities from boozing to surviving.

Book description to come.

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.

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?

Introspective professional assassin John Keller, the anti-hero of Hit Man and Hit List, continues to ponder his life, the ethics of his lethal career, and his possible retirement as he returns in an all-new mystery adventure. 100,000 first printing.

Sometimes They Bite is a tantalizing collection of 18 darkly entertaining stories, including one Scudder gem.

Forge Books is proud to present an amazing collection of novellas, compiled by New York Times bestselling author Ed McBain. Transgressions is a quintessential classic of never-before-published tales from today''s very best novelists. Featuring: "Walking Around Money" by Donald E. Westlake: The master of the comic mystery is back with an all-new novella featuring hapless crook John Dortmunder, who gets involved in a crime that supposedly no one will ever know happened. Naturally, when something it too good to be true, it usually is, and Dortmunder is going to get to the bottom of this caper before he''s left holding the bag. "Hostages" by Anne Perry: The bestselling historical mystery author has written a tale of beautiful yet still savage Ireland today. In their eternal struggle for freedom, there is about to be a changing of the guard in the Irish Republican Army. Yet for some, old habits-and honor-still die hard, even at gunpoint. "The Corn Maiden" by Joyce Carol Oates: When a fourteen-year-old girl is abducted in a small New York town, the crime starts a spiral of destruction and despair as only this master of psychological suspense could write it. "Archibald Lawless, Anarchist at Large: Walking the Line" by Walter Mosley: Felix Orlean is a New York City journalism student who needs a job to cover his rent. An ad in the paper leads him to Archibald Lawless, and a descent into a shadow world where no one and nothing is as it first seems. "The Resurrection Man" by Sharyn McCrumb: During America''s first century, doctors used any means necessary to advance their craft-including dissecting corpses. Sharyn McCrumb brings the South of the 1850s to life in this story of a man who is assigned to dig up bodies to help those that are still alive. "Merely Hate" by Ed McBain: When a string of Muslim cabdrivers are killed, and the evidence points to another ethnic group, the detectives of the 87th Precinct must hunt down a killer before the city explodes in violence. "The Things They Left Behind" by Stephen King: In the wake of the worst disaster on American soil, one man is coming to terms with the aftermath of the Twin Towers--when he begins finding the things they left behind. "The Ransome Women" by John Farris: A young and beautiful starving artist is looking to catch a break when her idol, the reclusive portraitist John Ransome offers her a lucrative year-long modeling contract. But how long will her excitement last when she discovers the fate shared by all Ransome''s past subjects? "Forever" by Jeffery Deaver: Talbot Simms is an unusual cop-he''s a statistician with the Westbrook County Sheriff Department. When two wealthy couples in the county commit suicide one right after the other, he thinks that it isn''t suicide-it''s murder, and he''s going to find how who was behind it, and how the did it. "Keller''s Adjustment" by Lawrence Block: Everyone''s favorite hit man is back in MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block''s novella, where the philosophical Keller deals out philosophy and murder on a meandering road trip from one end of the America to the other. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

It''s not easy to collect, in a single volume, the finest mystery and suspense fiction the world has to offer, but The World''s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Second Annual Collection rises to that challenge, inviting you to discover what Kirkus Reviews dubs " . . . the year''s anthology of choice." In his Second Annual collection, Ed Gorman once again brings together the year''s most powerful fiction by such outstanding authors as Lawrence Block, Stuart M. Kaminsky, Ed McBain, Joyce Carol Oates, Ian Rankin, and Donald E. Westlake. The volume also abounds with fresh new stories by newer authors, from U. S. publications, and also from sources on other shores, including England, Germany, and the Netherlands. Ed Gorman set benchmark for great mystery and suspense fiction with the First Annual Collection. Overflowing with award-winning authors and terrific stories, The World''s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Second Annual Collection also promises to be a treasure for anyone who loves a mystery. More than 200,000 words of superlative mystery and suspense fiction from around the world, with stories by: Lawrence Block Jan Burke Dorothy Cannell Clark Howard Peter Lovesey Joyce Carol Oates Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Ian Rankin And many others A Banquet of Mystery and Crime Fiction For those who love outstanding mystery and crime reading, award-winning author and editor, Ed Gorman, has once again collected the best stories of the year from around the world. Immerse yourself in stories that baffle, tantalize, and delight, by the following authors: Miguel Agustí Doug Allyn Noreen Ayres Robert Barnard Lawrence Block Jan Burke Dorothy Cannell Stanley Cohen Mat Coward Peter Crowther Brendan DuBois Jurgen Ehlers Pete Hamill Joseph Hansen Edward D. Hoch Clark Howard Stuart M. Kaminsky Richard Laymon Gillian Linscott Peter Lovesey John Lutz Christine Matthews Ed McBain Bob Mendes Denise Mina Joyce Carol Oates Gary Phillips Nancy Pickard Bill Pronzini Robert J. Randisi Ian Rankin Les Roberts Peter Robinson S. J. Rozan Kristine Kathryn Rusch Donald E. Westlake At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A gripping Matt Scudder novel from the author of A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES. Nine long years have passed since the killer last struck. Nine years since eight helpless young women were hideously slaughtered by an ice-pick wielding maniac. Now hard-drinking ex-cop and unlicensed investigator Matt Scudder has been hired to bring the murderer to justice at last. Relentlessly, Scudder follows an aging trail of blood towards a psychopath either long gone, long dead or very patiently awaiting the chance to kill again.

Superficially, John Keller - the urban lonely guy of assassins - leads a normal life despite his profession. He has an office manager, the breezily efficient Dot, who organises his ¿jobs¿ and who reassures his grumbling conscience. He is an obsessive stamp collector. In a blackly comic twist, he even gets called for jury service. Laid back, couldn¿t care less, morally distanced from his vocation, Keller is an intriguing character. A visit to an astrologer tells him, and us, that he is a gentle man who is simply surrounded by violence rather than being a perpetrator of it. His professional satisfaction, we learn, comes from ¿solving a problem¿. Taking lives causes him no real anxiety. And then Keller¿s jobs start to go wrong. Targets die before he can get to them. Gradually he realises that he is being stalked. Another hitman is trying to weed out the competition and kill him. Keller and Dot try to turn the tables but how many innocents will get caught in the crossfire before Keller is truly safe?

Complications ensue when Bernie''s second entry into Onderdonk''s apartment finds the Mondrian missing, a dead body in its place, and a voluptuous stranger with designs of her own hiding in the dark.

In this city, there is little sense and no rules. Those who fly the highest often come crashing down the hardest -- like successful young Glenn Holtzmann, randomly blown away by a deranged derelict at a corner phone booth on Eleventh Avenue. Unlicensed p.i. Matt Scudder thinks Holtzmann was simply in the wrong place at the worst time. Others think differently -- like Thomas Sadecki, brother of the crazed Vietnam vet accused of the murder, who wants Scudder to prove the madman innocent. But no one is truly innocent in this unmerciful metropolis --including Matther Scudder, whose curiosity and dedication are leading him to dark, unexplored places in his own heart...and to passions and revelations that could destroy everything he loves.

Bernie Rhodenbarr, bookseller by day and burglar by night, is hired to steal back the letters of a reclusive author from his former agent, who now wishes to sell them at auction. Seems like an easy enough job, until Bernie discovers the letters missing and the agent dead.

Accused of a murder he did not commit, a master thief is determined to prove his innocence.

The second in a new series of 7 Lawrence Block titles featuring Evan Micheal Tanner. He is 34 years old and hasn''t slept a wink since a piece of shrapnel destroyed the sleep centre in his brain during the Korean War. Tanner, enlisted by an undercover agency, so secret it doesn''t have a name, heads for Czechoslovakia where he must engineer the kidnap of a dying man. But first he finds himself leaping from a moving train, tangling with an amourous blonde and trying to act convincing as the key speaker at a Nazi rally.

While on his first caper, Bernie Rhodenbarr comes across a dead body in the bedroom which keeps him on the run until he can figure out who set him up and why.

Nobody knows better than Matthew Scudder how far down a person can sink in this city. A young prostitute named Kim knew it also—and she wanted out. Maybe Kim didn''t deserve the life fate had dealt her. She surely didn''t deserve her death. The alcoholic ex-cop turned p.i. was supposed to protect her, but someone slashed her to ribbons on a crumbling New York City waterfront pier. Now finding Kim''s killer will be Scudder''s penance. But there are lethal secrets hiding in the slain hooker''s past that are far dirtier than her trade. And there are many ways of dying in this cruel and dangerous town—some quick and brutal ... and some agonizingly slow.

Offers aspiring novelists guidelines for developing plot ideas, characters, and the story line as well as rewriting the manuscript, finding a literary agent, and getting works published.

The pretty young prostitute is dead. Her alleged murderer-a minister''s son-hanged himself in his jail cell. The case is closed. But the dead girl''s fatherhas come to Matthew Scudder for answers, sending the unlicensed private investigator in search of terrible truths about a life that was lived and lost in a sordid world of perversion and pleasures.