The Sins of the Fathers (Matthew Scudder Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Lawrence Block (Author) "He was a big man, about my height with a little more flesh on his heavy frame..." (more)
Key Phrases: Wendy Hanniford, New York, Richard Vanderpoel (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Block has been getting better and better in recent Matt Scudder novels, but as this first hardcover version of a 16-year-old paperback shows, he was pretty good from the start. King's admiring introduction is generous but by no means overstated. This tale, which introduced the then-hard-drinking ex-cop, is spare and lean and full of dark insights into lonesomeness and anguish. The father of murdered Wendy Hanniford comes to Scudder to try to find out more about his errant daughter--not to find her killer, who was apparently her living partner, a brittle young man who was found in the street raving and covered with her blood and who killed himself shortly after he was arrested. In his dour, methodical, oddly empathetic way, Scudder finds out a great deal, altering several lives in the process. As always in the Scudder books, New York City--its small-hours bars, its jokey, edgy encounters--is a major character; as in the later books, too, Block's style is admirable: free of gimmicks, plain but utterly telling in every line. This is a fine opportunity to get in on the start of what has become one of the most rewarding PI series currently in progress.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
The 1976 paperback that introduced Block's melancholy, alcoholic shamus Matt Scudder finally gets a well-deserved hardcover edition--as well as a charming fan letter of an introduction from Stephen King. King pinpoints why the nine-book Scudder series (A Dance at the Slaughterhouse, 1991, etc.) is among mystery's most popular and finest: ``The absence of cats,'' i.e., ``tricks.'' As King says, Scudder is a ``pure'' detective who ``is real because his milieu is real.'' The fascinating ordinariness of Scudder and the harsh realness of his New York City arrive full force here as the p.i. is hired by a distraught father to look into the recent stabbing murder of his estranged daughter. Not to solve it, because the apparent killer, the girl's gay male roommate, has already been arrested--and punished: he's hung himself in his jail cell; but to find out more about the girl and why anyone would want to kill her. Scudder accepts the job reluctantly, as is his dour way, and during the course of his brief digging exhibits the sort of brave yet flawed behavior that sets him apart from other literary p.i.s: doggedly following the victim's trail down unexpected alleys as he learns that she was a moderately happy hooker who in fact was loved like a sister by her alleged killer; as he tithes 10% of his earnings to random churches; casts a cynical yet kindly eye on his fellow citizens; seeks release from the evil he finds in some through booze, the hired love of call-girl Elaine, and stunning bursts of violence, particularly against a mugger whose fingers he carefully snaps one by one. And, of course, Scudder turns up the real killer. Not as richly textured as most of the later cases, but, still, as haunting and mournful as the baying of a hound at the moon--and a must for Block/Scudder fans. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Avon; Later Printing edition (September 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038076363X
• ISBN-13: 978-0380763634
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #70,663 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 1 in The Matthew Scudder Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Where It All Began, June 25, 2002

By	Untouchable (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This book serves as a means of introducing Matt Scudder to us. We learn that, while he works as a private detective, he's not licensed and will do investigative work in return for "gifts". We find out why he left the police force and the bulk of his personal life. We also find out that he's rarely without a drink in his hand. Apart from the character introduction, we are treated to a mystery that firstly, is more than it first appears, and secondly, displays Scudder's dogged determination perfectly.

To start off the Matt Scudder series, he is asked by a man to investigate why his daughter was murdered. Not how, not who, but why. Her killer was her male room-mate who subsequently hanged himself in his prison cell after he was arrested. The father just wants to know why she died to set his own mind at rest.

This is not a terrifically complex thriller that involves a lot of action sequences, rather it's a gritty hardboiled mystery that gradually uncovers facts while we get to know the protagonist. It serves it's purpose well as an introduction to the series and promises to hook you as a Matt Scudder fan.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first of 14 in the Matthew Scudder series...a winner!, December 22, 1998

By	Harold L. Laroff (Pembroke Pines, FL) - See all my reviews

. Matthew Scudder is Lawrence Block's remarkable private investigator. He's a former NYPD detective who left the force after an accident left a child dead in a crossfire. Because he is unlicensed you can't "hire" him. Instead he does you a favor by taking your case and solving the crime. In exchange for the favor the client returns the favor by giving him some cash. Scudder is an alcoholic. Rarely do you find him without a drink in has hand or at one of has favorite watering holes. "Sins of the Fathers" is the first in a series of books about Matthew Scudder. There are about a fourteen others as of this writing. Scudder is hired by a father to look into the murder of his daughter. The assignment is not to solve the crime because the girl's gay roommate has been arrested and was found dead in his cell. He has hung himself and this "proves" he did it. But did he really? We find the daughter is a hooker and was loved like a sister by the alleged killer. So who did it? Makes exciting can't put the book down reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Passing the mantle from Dashiell Hammett & John D. MacDonald, June 12, 2005

By	Johnny Lee - See all my reviews

If you're a fan of realistic, hard-boiled detective fiction, you've found a hew hero in Matthew Scudder. Scudder's character has all of the grit of Sam Spade, all of the finesse and cunning of Travis McGee, and all of the street smarts of Harry Bosch.

Block is perhaps the finest living writer of the series character in the mystery genre. His gift for dialog, characters, and credible plot lines are simply astounding. Block is really quite a discovery for those who appreciate a well crafted tale and read mysteries to steep themselves in a world where justice is always the ultimate outcome-regardless of the form it sometimes takes.

This title introduces the series character of Matthew Scudder. A former New York city police officer, Scudder has retired to a life of unlicensed private detection, where he will solve crimes as favors to newfound friends who return the favors with "gifts" of their choosing. Block's attention for detail grows with each passing episode in this series, and we watch Scudder as he develops as a detective, wrestles with chronic alcoholism, interacts with the underbelly of The Big Apple, and takes decisive-and sometimes questionable-action in the pursuit of the "solve."

This particular episode has Scudder hired by a father, who has recently lost his estranged daughter to a brutal murder. The likely suspect is incarcerated, but the father's quest is to learn *why* she was killed...not by whom. Scudder tackles the unusual assignment by means of a plodding determination and relentless pursuit of facts that reveals a credible story that invokes that most enjoyable of reading companions-the reader's own imagination.

_The Sins of the Fathers_ relies on few conventions in the genre outside of the bare minimum. It's as if Block, distrusting the currency, has coined his own, and Scudder represents one of the most wonderful discoveries for the avid mysery reader: a series character of pure gold. This first book is bound to sink the hook in deep, and that's a sweet trap for any reader to trigger. I unconditionally recommend Lawrence Block's Scudder series to anyone interested in mysteries or detective fiction. This is first-rate fiction, drafted by someone with a real genius for the written word.