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A review by usbsticky
Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block
4.0
I read this book because I read book 1 and liked it. This series has a very gumshoe noir feel to it, very 70's. The series background is that Scudder is an ex-cop. Ex because he accidentally shot and killed a little girl. Exonerated by the police board but he still can't get over it. In the series he is an unlicensed PI type guy who does favors for people.
Spoilers: the plot for this book is something I hadn't come across before and give it full marks for a different story. A small time crook (the Spinner) comes to Scudder and gives him an envelope. He says open it and follow the directions if I die and gives him some money for the "favor".
Well Spinner dies and he opens the envelope. It turns out that the Spinner has been blackmailing 3 different people. If he dies, then one of them will have killed him. He wants Scudder to find who the killer is and expose him. At first Scudder wants to turn the whole thing over to the police but if he does, the back stories of all people will be known. And he doesn't want the backstories of the 2 innocent people to be known to the world, he figures that they paid the Spinner and their secret deserves to be kept a secret, whereas the killer's secret should be exposed.
These books are quick to read and I finished it in a couple of days. I like them because I like Scudder and his story. As it is now, he's a very troubled individual, troubled because of what he did and I would like to see him eventually come to grips with it.
Spoilers: the plot for this book is something I hadn't come across before and give it full marks for a different story. A small time crook (the Spinner) comes to Scudder and gives him an envelope. He says open it and follow the directions if I die and gives him some money for the "favor".
Well Spinner dies and he opens the envelope. It turns out that the Spinner has been blackmailing 3 different people. If he dies, then one of them will have killed him. He wants Scudder to find who the killer is and expose him. At first Scudder wants to turn the whole thing over to the police but if he does, the back stories of all people will be known. And he doesn't want the backstories of the 2 innocent people to be known to the world, he figures that they paid the Spinner and their secret deserves to be kept a secret, whereas the killer's secret should be exposed.
These books are quick to read and I finished it in a couple of days. I like them because I like Scudder and his story. As it is now, he's a very troubled individual, troubled because of what he did and I would like to see him eventually come to grips with it.