Synopsis
The Club of 31, a group of prosperous gentlemen, has been meeting in secret for years to celebrate life and its departed members. But suicides and suspicious accidents have been plaguing the club, and now private investigator Mathew Scudder searches the city for a relentless and painstakingly patient serial killer.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1999-04-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 289 pages | | Height: | 8.3 in | | Width: | 5.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 9.6 oz |
Publisher's Note
An ancient brotherhood meets annually in the back room of a swank Manhattan restaurant -- a fraternity created in secret to celebrate life by celebrating its dead. But the past three decades have not been kind to the Club of 31 Matthew Scudder -- ex-cop, ex-boozer -- has been asked to investigate a baffling, thirty-year run of suicides and suspiciously random accidents that has thinned the ranks of this very select group of gentlemen. But Scudder has mortality problems of his own. For this is a city that feeds mercilessly on the unsuspecting -- and even the powerful and those who serve them are easy prey. There are too many secrets here and too man, places for a maddeningly patient serial killer to hide...and wait...and strike.
The winner of multiple Edgar, Shamus, and Maltese Falcon Awards, Mystery Writers of America Grand Master LAWRENCE BLOCK has elevated the detective novel to high art - combining grit with intelligence, suspense with stunning emotional complexity and power. And in unlicensed private investigator Matthew Scudder, he has created a character whose depth and stark humanity is unrivalled in contemporary fiction. An ancient brotherhood meets annually in the back room of a swank Manhattan restaurant - a fraternity created in secret to celebrate life by celebrating its dead. But the past three decades have not been kind to the Club of 31. Matthew Scudder - ex-cop, ex-boozer - has known death in all its guises. Which is why he has been asked to investigate a baffling, thirty-year run of suicides and suspiciously random accidents that has thinned the ranks of this very select group of gentlemen. But Scudder has mortality problems of his own. For this is a city that feeds mercilessly on the unsuspecting - and even the powerful and those who serve them are easy prey. There are too many secrets here - and too many places for a maddeningly patient serial killer to hide...and wait...and strike.
Industry Reviews
"Mr. Block has never--except, perhaps, in an earlier Scudder novel, 'When the Sacred Ginmill Closes'--been in better form. His portrait of a man who has reached the age when he turns first to the obituary page and becomes depressed over his own life choices is letter perfect. His decidedly dark sense of humor has never been more in focus."
David Willis McCullough
"Block has never been in better form....his decidedly dark sense of humor has never been more in focus."
Lehmann-Haupt
"Fiendishly clever...a welcome visit from an old friend...Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series is one of the sure things in crime fiction and 'A Long Line of Dead Men' carries it forward with a fine flourish."
Lehmann-Haupt
"Ingenious...satisfying...consistently strong...it's a good one."
Lehmann-Haupt
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