Lawrence Block Books in Order

Carla escapes poverty through marriage to a wealthy man, but security does not satisfy her need for affection and passion. An affair with a filling-station attendant begins a series of betrayals that threaten the comfortable life she has gained.

Painter Ralph's relationship with Stella has become a source of torment in Greenwich Village. When Susan Rivers moves into their building and attracts them both, the uneasy balance of desire and resentment threatens to turn their entanglement destructive.

At Clifton College, Linda Shepard hopes to escape her sheltered past and becomes involved with student newspaper editor Don Gibbs. His drinking and reckless outlook draw her into a relationship that challenges her expectations about affection, independence and campus life.

Disowned by her parents, Honey builds a precarious life in sex work and shelters Richie, a young Air Force deserter. Their flight to New York becomes more complicated when a wealthy admirer wants her exclusively, placing dependence and jealousy in conflict.

Writer Dan Larkin loses his ability to work after a troubled relationship with Allison, then spirals into drinking and unemployment. Returning from Hollywood to New York, he searches for an idea that might revive both his career and his life.

Young widow Barbara vows to remain faithful to her late husband’s memory despite his wish that she move on. Courtship and new romantic experiences in Buffalo challenge that promise, forcing her to reconsider whether love must end with loss.

Finance-company employee Jeff Flanders lends money to Candy despite her lack of income or collateral. Their affair threatens his marriage and livelihood as her demand for financial support turns his fascination into an increasingly dangerous obsession.

Writing through the invented persona of Liz Crowley, Block presents a fictional account of a prostitute’s life as an apparent memoir. Its first-person narrative examines the experiences of a woman selling intimacy, blurring autobiography and imaginative storytelling.

Drifting worker Mark Taggert accepts a ride from wealthy Elaine Rice and moves into her Park Avenue life. Her help launches him into a successful job, but dependence on her money threatens the freedom that made his old life comfortable.

Sexually incompatible spouses George and Mona travel to Mexico planning to divorce, then encounter a guide whose introductions transform their journey. Their separate experiences pull them into increasingly dangerous situations, changing the meaning of the escape they sought.

A group of couples expands its sexual experiences by exchanging partners in this early novel published under Block’s Andrew Shaw name. Their experiment with consensual adultery explores the intimate arrangements behind a practice that became known as swinging.

Bored with her respectable future, Anita Carbone visits Greenwich Village and falls for troubled war veteran Joe Milani. His drug-dealing roommate brings a darker influence into their lives, turning her search for freedom toward violence and murder.

Reporter Ted Lindsay hopes New York will help him forget his failed marriage, but fugitive Cinderella Sims offers a more dangerous distraction. Her bag of cash and the men watching her apartment pull him into a world of crime.

Private investigator Ed London disposes of a dead mistress for a client, only to discover that dangerous people want something she possessed. With actress Maddy's help, he must untangle stolen jewels and espionage before the cover-up costs him his life.

Handsome Johnny reinvents himself as a gigolo, gaining education and sophistication through his clients. An unexpected crisis pushes him toward love and an advertising career, but his apparent transformation into a settled family man faces another turn of fate.

Con man Joe Marlin steals luggage and unexpectedly acquires a cache of heroin, then becomes involved with Mona Brassard. Desire and greed draw him into a scheme far more dangerous than his usual swindles, where murder threatens both profit and survival.

Five men accept twenty thousand dollars each to enter Cuba and assassinate Fidel Castro. Their different motives and the likelihood of failure complicate a mission that requires them to get close to a leader whose security makes escape uncertain.

Dave and Nancy’s comfortable suburban marriage conceals conflicting desires, while their teenage neighbor seeks experience of her own. Separate encounters draw the three toward people willing to satisfy their longings, revealing dangers beneath the appearance of ordinary domestic life.

Five lives converge around El Paso and Juarez: a gambler, a restless divorcee, a hitchhiker, a woman with her own agenda and a fugitive killer. Their search for excitement and escape draws them toward encounters that become violently dangerous.

Kitty wants freedom from an empty marriage and considers divorce while beginning a relationship with Linc. Their conversations unfold within a novel of intersecting lives, where private desires challenge the security and expectations of an apparently settled small-town world.

A single turbulent weekend links the lives of several characters, including modern executive Jordan Flagg and prostitute Lily Merriman. Their changing viewpoints frame an early erotic novel that follows private pursuits beneath the appearance of professional and social respectability.

On a crowded block near Times Square, hotels, bars, and businesses form the setting for an early erotic novel. Life along the street once called Dream Street unfolds against a restless urban landscape of temporary rooms and competing desires.

Harvey feels trapped by his marriage, advertising job and suburban neighbors, while his connection to Jodi offers an escape. Photographs of their affair create a blackmail threat, exposing the frustrations and decisions that have brought him to this point.

Broadway producer Johnny Lane finds his leading actress murdered just before his new show's previews. With other cast members threatened, he searches through a crowded field of suspects, trying to identify the killer before his production and more lives are lost.

A missing-person assignment takes private investigator Roy Markham to a snowbound New Hampshire college town. Explicit photographs and blackmail lead to a baffling murder, turning an apparently routine search into a case that threatens the detective himself.

A young man’s coming-of-age experiences develop into a romance in this early novel published under the Andrew Shaw name. His journey anticipates elements Block later revisited in the Chip Harrison books, combining personal growth with the search for love.

Professional card cheat Bill Maynard stops in a small town after being driven out of Chicago. His attraction to a victim's wife, Joyce, leads them to devise a scheme against her husband, but another player's hidden advantages threaten their plans.

Con men Johnny Hayden and Doug Rance plan to swindle wealthy property entrepreneur Wallace Gunderman. They recruit his secretary and lover Evelyn Stone, whose resentment over a broken marriage promise offers access to their target but complicates the partnership.

Sleepless spy Evan Tanner is ordered to infiltrate a Prague castle and rescue a condemned Slovak Nazi. His distaste for the prisoner complicates an already dangerous assignment, with torture and execution awaiting him if the secret mission fails.

Unable to sleep after a wartime injury, Evan Tanner travels to Turkey in search of hidden Armenian gold. Soviet and American intelligence mistake him for an enemy agent, pulling his treasure hunt into espionage and the possibility of revolution.

David and Jill Wade witness a killing during their secluded honeymoon, then suffer a brutal attack by the murderers. Rather than turn to police, the newlyweds follow scant clues in a shared pursuit of the men responsible.

Evan Tanner agrees to smuggle a friend's beloved Latvian gymnast out of Russia, but she insists on bringing eleven teammates. Other fugitives join the journey, transforming one rescue into a crowded and dangerous crossing of Cold War borders.

A distraught mother asks Evan Tanner to find her daughter Phaedra, a former roommate abducted by traffickers in Afghanistan. Reaching her requires crossing hostile territory and surviving terrorists before he can attempt to bring her safely home.

Evan Tanner escorts a young Lithuanian royal heir to Montreal's World's Fair while investigating disappearances linked to the Cuban exhibition. Drugs and distractions complicate his assignment, but a terrorist plot against the visiting British queen makes quick action essential.

Disguised as a butterfly researcher, Evan Tanner searches Thailand for a missing singer turned jewel thief. Guerrillas capture him, and escaping with a young Thai ally sends him through a jungle threatened by bandits, soldiers and approaching war.

Recently released convict Alex Penn wakes after a drunken blackout beside a murdered woman, echoing the crime that first sent him to prison. Unable to remember what happened, he must choose between fleeing and investigating his own possible guilt.

Former Green Beret Paul Kavanagh accepts an offer to steal tactical nuclear weapons from the American government. Partnered with trained killer George Dattner, he undertakes a dangerous operation whose stakes extend far beyond the money promised for the theft.

Vietnam veterans and their former commanding officer reunite for carefully planned criminal operations. Drawing on skills learned in war, they aim to right wrongs through capers that put their loyalty and ability to work together under pressure.

After losing his parents and being expelled from school, Chip Harrison drifts through jobs and dubious opportunities. His account follows homelessness, exploitative employers and repeated misadventures as he tries to survive and find a place in the world.

Presented as a detailed case history, this book examines suburban couple Paul and Sheila Gordon's participation in partner swapping. Their account explores entry into the practice, connections with other couples and its effects on marriage and personal happiness.

Writing as John Warren Wells, Lawrence Block examines relationships involving three people through case histories of sexual behavior. The book explores threesomes and ongoing partnerships, mixing material drawn from life with fictionalized accounts.

A discarded wallet gives Chip Harrison a bus ticket to Bordentown, South Carolina, and he decides to use it. A job at the town's only brothel launches another round of comic misadventures for the drifting young narrator.

Magazine editor Larry loses his job just as his second wife leaves and empties his bank account. Told through letters sent and received, his response to mounting debts and personal upheaval becomes a comic exercise in manipulation.

A shy young woman living alone in the city records fantasies under the name Jennifer Starr. Answering a mysterious man's personal advertisement turns those private imaginings into real encounters, pushing her beyond the limits of her secluded life.

Written under the John Warren Wells name, this book presents accounts of eight airline stewardesses' intimate lives. The profiles explore the contrast between a glamorous public image and the relationships and personal choices described behind that professional role.

Presented through interviews and case material, this John Warren Wells title explores therapists' unconventional approaches to sexual difficulties. Accounts from practitioners and patients examine the methods used inside clinics and the claims made about their effects on personal relationships.

Retired assassin Miles Dorn accepts a series of political killings intended to push America toward dictatorship. As unrest creates openings for the plot, his growing connection to an idealistic civilian complicates his commitment to the men directing the murders.

This fictional script and production diary follows the making of an imagined adult film. Written under the John Warren Wells name, it presents invented performers and behind-the-scenes events as a supposed account of working in the movie business.

Working for eccentric detective Leo Haig, Chip Harrison investigates his girlfriend Melanie's apparent heroin overdose. Her sisters have also suffered suspicious accidents, leaving the pair to examine a wealthy family's secrets before another woman becomes the next victim.

Jimmie John Hall and Betty Dienhardt fall in love and begin a cross-country killing spree, stealing what they need to keep moving. As police close in, their growing attachment sustains a flight that threatens everyone they encounter.

Andrea returns from New York to Buffalo to marry a dependable lawyer, hoping home can provide the fulfillment she has pursued elsewhere. Seven significant days across her married life trace the tensions between independence, belonging, and lasting commitment.

Chip Harrison and his detective employer, Leo Haig, investigate trouble surrounding a dancer at a Times Square club. When a performer is killed in front of witnesses, they must sort through the suspects and competing explanations.

Police officer Jerry Broadfield plans to expose corruption, then finds himself accused of murdering a call girl. Matthew Scudder believes he may be innocent, but investigating means facing cops who have little interest in helping.

A young prostitute is murdered, and the man blamed for killing her dies in his jail cell. Her father hires Matthew Scudder to learn who she really was, reopening questions the police consider settled.

Burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr accepts a stranger's commission to steal an item from a wealthy man's apartment. Police arrive while he's still inside, and a corpse nearby leaves him hunting a murderer to clear his name.

An informer turned blackmailer pays Matthew Scudder in advance to investigate if he's murdered. When his body turns up in the East River, Scudder follows the promise into the dangerous lives of the man's targets.

Bernie Rhodenbarr breaks into a dentist's ex-wife's apartment to steal her jewelry, then hides when she returns. Someone murders her and takes the diamonds, leaving Bernie to identify the killer before he takes the blame.

Roberta Jardell sees a woman and baby appearing at night in her Charleston home. As her adopted daughter Ariel grows distant after the arrival of a new baby, Roberta struggles to separate frightening visions from real danger.

Florence Ackerman turns away a stranger claiming to deliver a telegram, then is attacked the next day. As police investigate, deaths linked by the name Ackerman raise unsettling questions about a killer's choice of victims.

Bernie Rhodenbarr steals a rare Kipling volume, but the handover goes wrong when he's drugged. He wakes beside a dead woman with a gun in his hand and must recover the book while clearing himself.

Lawrence Block walks writers through creating a novel, from choosing ideas and developing characters to revision and publication. This expanded guide also addresses ebooks and self-publishing, presenting different approaches rather than a single required method.

A valuable coin disappears amid overlapping burglaries at the same brownstone, and a woman is found dead. Bernie Rhodenbarr's own theft puts him under suspicion as he untangles the robberies and the violence surrounding them.

A serial killer admits to seven old murders but insists he didn't kill Barbara Ettinger. Matthew Scudder investigates the exception, reopening a nine-year-old case that may conceal a separate murderer behind the original pattern.

American Ted Campbell runs an aircraft factory in Germany and tries to stay neutral as war spreads. British and German intelligence both want his help, but a Gestapo officer's brutality gives him a personal reason to act.

Lawrence Block examines fiction writing as both a craft and a working life. His advice covers ideas, plots, characters, discipline, markets, and rejection, helping writers address the practical obstacles between starting a story and submitting it.

A prostitute named Kim hires Matthew Scudder to help her leave her life behind, then is murdered. Struggling with his own drinking and the failure to protect her, Scudder searches for the secrets behind her death.

A woman interrupts Bernie Rhodenbarr while he's burglarizing an office and explains that she wants to retrieve work samples after resigning. Bernie agrees to help, unaware of how useful his skills may prove to her.

Bernie Rhodenbarr appraises a wealthy client's library through his legitimate bookselling business, leaving fingerprints throughout the apartment. When the client is murdered, Bernie becomes a suspect and must unravel a scheme involving art and further killings.

Salesman Tommy Tillary has a girlfriend in Manhattan and a wife in Brooklyn, making him an obvious suspect when his wife is murdered. He hires fellow bar patron Matthew Scudder to establish his innocence and find the killer.

These crime stories follow people whose ordinary lives turn murderous, including a vengeful accountant and a boy discovering destructive power. Matthew Scudder also investigates a murdered bag lady after receiving an unexpected inheritance from her.

Eighteen stories explore murder, deception, and revenge through encounters between strangers and criminals. A visitor disturbs an isolated fishing trip, two men devise a movie-inspired murder, and an aspiring assassin meets the killer he admires.

Sleepless spy Evan Tanner travels to Africa to track a missing ruler who has taken his country's treasury. Competing political forces and a jungle adventurer named Sheena complicate an assignment that puts his own life at risk.

During his drinking years, Matthew Scudder accepts paid favors from friends in New York bars. Three assignments begin to overlap in disturbing ways, drawing him away from familiar routines and into a fight to stay alive.

Adapted from Lawrence Block's seminar for writers, this book focuses on the mental obstacles that interfere with writing. It encourages writers at different stages to get out of their own way and put their work on paper.

An Oregon bartender leaves his job and walks east, attracting companions and unexplained events along the way. Meanwhile, a Kansas real estate professional discovers an appetite for murder and travels the country seeking more victims.

Lawrence Block offers advice on building fiction that holds a reader's attention, alongside the habits needed to sustain a writing career. Topics include creativity, characters, structure, rejection, and finding an environment that supports the work.

This anthology brings together stories in which sexual attraction and obsession meet horror. Edited by Jeff Gelb and Lonn Friend, it explores the dangerous space between ordinary human desire and encounters with violence or the inhuman.

The father of a missing aspiring actress hires Matthew Scudder to find his daughter in New York. Searching Hell's Kitchen for a slim lead, Scudder encounters new relationships and deaths that complicate an already uncertain investigation.

James Leo Motley is released from prison twelve years after Matthew Scudder's false testimony helped convict him. The killer targets people connected to Scudder, forcing the detective to confront a revenge campaign that threatens his sobriety and life.

Matthew Scudder is hired to establish whether Richard Thurman arranged the murder of his pregnant wife. The investigation leads into New York's sexual exploitation underworld, where another young victim's suffering may connect to the case.

Drug dealer Kenan Khoury hires Matthew Scudder after his wife is abducted and murdered, unable to seek police help himself. Scudder hunts the killers through New York before another woman becomes their victim.

This short-story collection ranges from a thief entering Graceland to a psychiatrist troubled by a patient's nightmare. Other tales follow a young passenger experimenting with terror and a dangerous woman wearing a red scarf.

Matthew Scudder investigates the killing of lawyer Glenn Holtzmann and finds gaps beneath his respectable image. Questions about Holtzmann's past, expensive lifestyle, and presence on Eleventh Avenue make the death harder to explain than it first appears.

A secret Manhattan club asks Matthew Scudder to examine decades of suicides and suspicious accidents among its members. As the pattern threatens the surviving men, he searches for a patient killer hiding behind apparently unrelated deaths.

This fourth Hot Blood anthology gathers fourteen stories combining desire with terror, including work by Lucy Taylor, Edward Lee, Jack Ketchum, and Max Allan Collins. Its varied tales place sexual encounters alongside disturbing threats and grotesque discoveries.

Bernie Rhodenbarr's world expands when a cat named Raffles enters his life. This short story follows that arrival and is extracted from the longer mystery The Burglar Who Traded Ted Williams, rather than a separate novel.

A steep rent increase sends bookseller Bernie Rhodenbarr back to burglary. Accused of stealing valuable baseball cards, he can't safely explain his whereabouts because the apartment he was actually robbing contained a body locked in the bathroom.

Lawrence Block discusses his writing life and work in recorded conversations with Ernie Bulow, including the question of his pseudonymous books. Essays, his first published short story, and a bibliography accompany the interviews.

Nineteen stories explore the darker consequences of desire in the fifth Hot Blood anthology. Roadside pickups, sexual fantasies, and unsettling encounters turn dangerous, with contributions from writers including Bentley Little, Ronald Kelly, and Edward Lee.

The sixth Hot Blood anthology gathers eighteen stories that combine erotic encounters with horror. Contributors including Ramsey Campbell, Brian Lumley, and Graham Masterton explore dark desires, placing attraction alongside the possibility of fear, danger, and disturbing revelations.

Bernie Rhodenbarr's evenings at a Humphrey Bogart film festival are interrupted by a job stealing documents. When the burglary goes wrong and murder follows, the bookseller must untangle Balkan intrigues while trying to clear his name.

A vigilante calling himself the Will of the People announces murders before committing them, targeting people the law hasn't stopped. Matthew Scudder investigates the killer's impossible-looking successes while confronting the troubling appeal of punishment outside the justice system.

Seventeen erotic horror stories make up the seventh Hot Blood anthology, including tales by P. D. Cacek, Graham Masterton, and Alan Brennert. Forbidden appetites and dangerous fantasies connect the collection's different approaches to desire and terror.

Fourteen stories blur attraction and danger in this ninth Hot Blood anthology, edited by Jeff Gelb and Michael Garrett. Contributions from Joyce Carol Oates, Lawrence Block, Ramsey Campbell, and others explore desires that lead toward horror.

This eighth Hot Blood anthology contains sixteen stories combining erotic fantasy with horror. Contributors including Nancy Holder, Graham Masterton, Max Allan Collins, and Brian Hodge follow dangerous desires into situations where pleasure and fear become difficult to separate.

A waitress dies after falling from her apartment window, and police conclude she killed herself because the room was locked from inside. Her sister hires Matthew Scudder to investigate, unwilling to accept the apparently straightforward explanation.

Bernie Rhodenbarr visits a country inn hoping to steal a valuable first edition from its library. A corpse, a snowstorm, and severed contact with the outside world leave him trapped among guests while more deaths follow.

Matthew Scudder investigates an attack on his friend Mick Ballou's criminal business after stolen liquor and two murders unsettle their lives. When Scudder becomes a target himself, a reluctant favor turns into a fight to survive.

Keller lives quietly in New York until assignments send him across the country to kill strangers. These linked adventures follow a professional assassin whose attempts at therapy, romance, and companionship complicate his search for an ordinary life.