When the Sacred Ginmill Closes

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Summary: A look at a "real" detective, from the bottom of the bottle!
Review: Matt Scudder's insight puts you right in the "bottle", whether it's bourbon or gin. Clarity escapes the sober, but using dogged determination and the most basic of PI principles, Matt finds the truth. And in doing so, he also sets the world right, again. Mike Hammer does a smashing job on the audio cassette version of this classic. Either way, it's a must for the "Shamus" minded.

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Summary: Scudder, alcoholic detective solves crime in his own milieu
Review: Matt Scudder, ex-NYPD detective, alcoholic, seeker, runs across crime on his own street. Starting with a holdup in an afterhours joint, continuing with the murder of a wife of a drinking friend and involving a tax avoidance scheme of some friendly bar owners the book's plot manages to tie up everything with rough justice for all. Block knows how to set a realistic scene among the second class bars of Manhattan and the losers that live in them. NOTE: The time of the book is set before "Eight Milion Ways to Die" in the same series, but the book was published later

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Summary: Matt Scudder, alcoholic detective in his own milieu
Review: Scudder, Lawrence Block's very New York detective, is faced with and solves several puzzles in his own backyard. Block delineates well the seedy New York bar scene that Scudder inhabits and portrays the residents with a realism that is startling. As usual thre are several plots going on at once, held together by the undoubted detective talents of the hero. The New York police train their men well for even after several years off the force Scudder knows how to put the pieces together.For followers of the series this book is set several years before "Eight Million Ways to Die" though published subsequently

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Summary: Scudder as you've never seen him...
Review: Still an alcoholic. Still a dark, cynical, unlicensed P.I. Still has a twisted, dry sense of humor. But this book is different. In this novel, you get to see Scudder hanging out with his closest friends and allies, not drifting the mean streets alone in search of obscure clues. He's on the scent of crime, taking on three cases and following them from different angles until each comes together and it all becomes suddenly clear: he's in too deep. Scudder as the socialite isn't something we're used to reading, but it seems strangely appropriate in this novel. We watch as Scudder joins his ginmill croneys on shady cash exchanges, planning for revenge, and just killing time. It's a new angle to the Scudder series, and I really liked the change. This is a good one.

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Summary: Incredible atmosphere
Review: While not the best of the Scudder series, the atmosphere of New York bars can be tasted throughout this unsettling novel, and it tastes like wood soaked in beer. The poem to which the title refers is pretty darn intense. Block is tough. He is a genius.