TIME TO MURDER AND CREATE by Lawrence Block

Finished Mo 2/13/12
This is the second in the Mathew Scudder series, and I love them all, especially the early ones where Matt is still in the depths of his addiction to alcohol. He drinks bourbon and coffee-a great way to get loaded, and stay awake. This edition had an introduction by Jonathan Kellerman and an afterward written by Lawrence Block.

Block's afterward was particularly revealing in that the he says that the title to this novel was taken from THE LOVE SONG OF J. ALFRED PRUFROCK by T.S. Eliot. And, he claims that he hadn't yet decided that all of the Scudder novels would have five-word titles. It just happened.

Plot:
An acquaintance of Scudder's asks him to keep an envelope, and in the event of his death, open it, and do what Scudder feels is necessary. The man, 'Spinner', is murdered, and Scudder learns that he had been blackmailing three individuals, and one of them must have killed him. Scudder feels that he must determine the murderer, and keep the secrets of the other two individuals. They paid for silence, and they should get it.
1) Pager- His daughter killed a three year old in a hit and run, and Pager bought off the police.
2) Ethridge- She is now in 'high society', and married to a very wealthy man, but she has a secret past as a porn star.
3) Huysendahl- A very wealthy individual who has dreams, and a real a real shot of being a future governor of New York. The envelope has proof that this man is a pedophile.

#1 Commits suicide by shooting himself in the head while Scudder waits in his office.

#2 Her boyfriend makes two attempts on Scudder's life. Once by running over the curb with a car, and once in a knife fight in which Scudder breaks his neck.

#3 Because of his pedophilia, Scudder keeps the information, and tells him that if he runs, Scudder will release the information.

The dialogue is vivid and succinct, and the setting of a Scudder novel is like 'time traveling' to the New York of the nineteen-seventies and early eighties. Block's writing style is elegant, yet short and to the point, and Block always conveys a sense of sulky melancholy. Block's Scudder series is one of the finest examples of the Fictional Crime genre.