I'm updating this review in March, 2016, principally to change the edition. As I suggested in my original review, this is the first book in my favorite of all crime fiction series. My original copy is a reprint from 1991, which is when I first discovered the series. At the Left Coast Crime convention this week, I was browsing in the book room and discovered that one of the rare book dealers there had an excellent copy of the first edition from 1976. It's the one pictured here, and I was thrilled...

8.5/10Holy shit, this was good. Very good. Why did I leave this on my wish list for over 3 years. Because I'm an idiot. Scudder is a hard boiled detective in a world gone by before the Internet, mobile phones, openly bribing police. Although saying that, he's not a detective of sorts. He used to be in the police but there is a backstory there which I won't say about here.This was another foray into audiobook territory for me, with it being only 5 hours long and some great reviews from friends I

They tell me the Matt Scudder series starts slow, that it hits its stride with his fifth adventure, Eight Million Ways to Die. I don't know about that—at least not yet—but one thing I can say for sure: The Sins of the Fathers is plenty good enough.Scudder was once a cop. But then a seven year old girl is killed by a ricochet he fired in pursuit of a robber, and, even though he is exonerated—hell, they even give him a commendation—he finds he just doesn't have the heart to be a cop anymore. Now h...

The Sins of the Fathers: Lawrence Block's First Matt Scudder Novel Dell First Edition, 1976 "The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children."--William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act Three, Scene Five, Line One All right. I admit it. I'm turning 60 in two days. And I've never read Lawrence Block. How could this happen, all you Block fans ask?Lawrence Block introduced Matt Scudder to the world of detective fiction in 1976. No, I wasn't on an extensive Bi-Centennial celebrat...

It’s not that often I delve into the noir-ish side of crime, though it’s not because I have anything particular against it — the whole class of casually drinking, smoking and screwing detectives with cynical attitudes don’t repel me, whether it be Brandstetter, Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade. Or, in this case, Matt Scudder. It comes down to the individual detective, and in that sense, Scudder probably comes out neck and neck with Brandstetter. He’s involved in a case that seems sordid, yet he avoid...

My Conversation with Grand Master of Noir Lawrence Block On his writings, Matthew Scudder, and his anthology pipeline. Dead son and a dead daughter.Father and son, Father and daughter all have a dark past and all weigh up in the play of good and evil.Suicide is tragic and a last call out of turmoil and distress, it’s a sin even Scudder knows that otherwise he himself confesses to contemplating taking that road. Scudder ex-cop turned Private Investigator was on the force for almost sixteen years

As my first bit of book reviewing for the new year (being started seven minutes into the new year, yep another exciting new year's eve with me reporting on books here on goodreads), I'll admit that I was wrong in my opinion of Lawrence Block. For years I thought nothing of him, I thought he was another of those male macho writers, sort of a mystery version of say a Vince Flynn, or a Brad Thor, or some other preposterously monikered hack. Or I thought he was the type of writers old men read, like...

Everyone, I think, has their favorite P.I., whether they be the positively geriatric Mike Hammer or the more modern Cormoran Strike. My P.I. is, was, and always will be Matthew Scudder, although Scudder will be the first to tell you that he's not licensed. Like classy ladies of the night, he accepts gifts not payment. I think what I dig most about Scudder is how he treats others. He doesn't hit women. He doesn't bash gays (in fact, in later books, he has a transvestite friend, a relationship tha...

I've finally found my way to Matt Scudder. And ladies and gents? There ain't no going back. I'm intrigued, a little titillated, crushing for sure, maybe even falling in love. I had my reservations at first. I don't "do" hardboiled detective stories. I have a kink for classic noir films that has never translated into a love for that hyper-masculinized breed of pulp fiction. I chalked it up to "dick-lit" and moved on, assuming these stories were written for the menfolk, and would contain very litt...

In “A Diet of Treacle” Lawrence Block detailed the depths to which young adults fleeing to the city in the early sixties had reached. That books showed a world of drugs, prostitution, depravity, and bloody apartments. A decade later, Block introduced the world to the character of Matthew Scudder in “The Sins of the Fathers” and, in many ways, revisited the idea of what happened to kids who left college and sank into the netherworld of New York City in the early seventies. In particular, this is

Straightforward, clean and classic, The Sins was the perfect book for a lazy afternoon in the sun. Decent characterization, a serviceable investigation and the seedy side of 1970s New York all contribute to a fast read.The first book in a long-running series introduces Matthew Scudder, a 15 year veteran of NYPD who retired after an accidental shooting of a seven-year-old girl. That incident became a breaking point, an emotional trauma that is shared with the reader in bits and pieces. Now living...

When call girl is murdered and her roommate/killer hangs himself in prison, the girl's wealthy stepfather hires Matthew Scudder to investigate the girl's past and find out why her life ended the way it did. Scudder's investigations lead him through a web of sex and lies...Wow. Lawrence Block always keeps me entertained but this was one hell of a read. It's less than 200 pages but one of the more powerful pieces of detective fiction I've read in years. I figured Scudder would unearth some bad thi...

”He had a daughter in a cold steel drawer in the city mortuary.”Two dead kids. One, the daughter of a successful businessman, and the other, the son of a reverend. How they ended up living together and why everything turned to murder and suicide is going to be the crux of this case. The cops aren’t really interested in the why. They have a brutally slashed body and a guy muttering crazy things covered in blood. Guy hangs himself in his cell. High fives all around...open and shut case. The father...

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a Matt Scudder book. The previous one was Eight Million Ways to Die, which was made into a horrible movie starring Jeff Bridges. I don’t know if watching this botched cinematic attempt to capture Lawrence Block’s character tempered my desire to pursue the books, but I can honestly say I’m sorry I waited so long to re-boot my interest in the series.Although the plot is a good one (it revolves around Scudder’s attempt to bring some closure to the brutal murder of g...

Standing among the crowd of burned out, “ex-cop,” morally suspect private investigators inside the dingy, cluttered, dimly lit literary bar called "Mysteries," Matt Scudder manages to stand out and sparkle shine, despite his seeming overabundance of unassumingness. Well appearances deceive and depth takes time to appreciate. Trust me when I say you haven’t met Matt Scudder before. This guy is an original. Scudder isn’t the macho, “steely-eyed” superior type. He doesn’t gruffly walk around badass...

On the surface, Matt Scudder would appear to be something of a lowlife.As a cop in New York in the 1970s, he wasn’t above taking bribes or framing someone. After he accidentally shot and killed a child while trying to break up a robbery, he quit the cops and left his wife and two sons to live in a hotel in Manhattan. He makes his living as an unlicensed private detective who refuses to keep records or file reports, and he gets information by bribing various cops and government workers. He drinks...

“I was looking for something, but I didn’t know what it was.”I first read John Snyder’s comics adaptation of Lawrence Block’s Six Million Ways to Die, then read Block’s original novel, and thought I would make my way through the series, beginning with this first volume. Block is a hard-boiled detective writer, focused on the hard-drinking Matthew Scudder, who is separated from his wife, having quit his job on the police force, in large part because, while off-duty, he had accidentally killed a 7...

Once upon a time I picked up a Lawrence Block book. I liked it, so I tried another. The next one was from his Matthew Scudder series. Now I'm hooked.Scudder debuted in 1976's The Sins of the Fathers as an alcoholic ex-cop who had recently quit the NYPD and left his family after accidentally causing the death of a young girl. Living in a rent-controlled hotel room in Hell's Kitchen, he earns his living as an unlicensed private investigator—or, as he puts it, "doing favors for friends." - Wikipedi...

It seems that lately, everywhere I turn, Lawrence Block's name comes up. This is probably due to some of the company I keep here on this site. But in my opinion, that's a good thing. It led me here and intrigued me to read this book. I imagine that the Scudder series is one of those that just keeps getting better with each book. I hope that's the case, anyway - not because the first book wasn't great, but rather because it gives me something to look forward to as I read through them. I really li...

I needed a hole to fill the VOID left by my consumption of the John Connolly Charlie Parker series. Luckily, Connolly has a new book coming out in September, The Burning Soul. Until then, I needed a detective series of substance. A character so cool, so awesome, that I could branch out from Charlie Parker into another series. I've actually had this book on my to-read list for several months now. I have no idea what took me so long to pick it up. I mean, it's not like Kemper, Dan or Stephen had b...