A Long Line of Dead Men

A Long Line of Dead Men:: A Matthew Scudder Mystery by Lawrence Block
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A club of 31 meets every year to observe the deaths of its members. Only someone is making sure the members don't die of old age and it's up to Matthew Scudder to find out who is behind the killings. Can he stop the murders while there are still club members left?

While it wasn't my favorite Matthew Scudders story, A Long Line of Dead Men was still very enjoyable. I figured out who the killer was about halfway through. The rumplestilskin clue clinched my earlier hunch.

Lawrence Block's writing is very underrated. I found myself writing down phrases I liked, like "orphans of the storm" and "I come from a long line of dead men." I also liked that Matt's AA membership storyline advanced a bit when he took Jim Short as a sponsee and tried to get him into AA. I also liked that his relationship with Elaine progressed a bit. Mick Ballou, as always, made me want to pester Lawrence Block to write some books about him. That's one thing that separates Matthew Scudder from a lot of series characters. Things progress and develop rather than stagnate.

If you like detective fiction and the idea of a recovering alcoholic detective pleases you, give old Matthew Scudder a shot. You shan't be dissappointed.

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