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When the Sacred Ginmill Closes (Matthew Scudder Mysteries Book 6) by [Lawrence Block]

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Lawrence Block

When the Sacred Ginmill Closes (Matthew Scudder Mysteries Book 6) Kindle Edition

by Lawrence Block (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

153 ratings

Book 6 of 17: Matthew Scudder

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In the dark days, in a sad and lonely place, ex-cop Matt Scudder is drinking his life away -- and doing "favors" for pay for his ginmill cronies. But when three such assignments flow together in dangerous and disturbing ways, he'll need to change his priorities from boozing to surviving.

Length: 384 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled

Book 6 of 17 in Matthew Scudder

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The prolific, Edgar Awardwinning Block has written many mysteries, most in assorted series with colorful protagonists. Featured here is Matt Scudder in his follow-up appearance to Eight Million Ways to Die. Scudder is a former New York cop, now an unlicensed private detective who does favors for friends. Divorced from his wife, who lives with their sons on Long Island, Scudder rooms in a West Side hotel. His real home, however, is any one of three or four local bars, and his family are their owners, staff and habitues. In the summer of 1975, Matt is busy with assorted favors. Tommie Tillary, an investment salesman in flashy clothes, whose wife has been murdered in Bay Ridge, needs to be cleared of suspicion. The real booksas opposed to those shown to the IRSstolen from Skip Devoe's bar must be ransomed, and the masked gunmen who robbed the Morrisey brothers' after-hours place have to be identified. Drinking steadily all summer, Scudder accomplishes all of the above, his intuition, doggedness and respect for a higher law sputtering through the alcoholic haze. Block is an accomplished storyteller, and Matt Scudder is a fine example of hero as human being. Mystery Guild selection.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Review

"Chilling"--" Washington Post""Ambitious and intense...A compelling and memorable novel."--" San Francisco Chronicle" --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

ASIN : B000FC14HQ
Publisher : HarperCollins e-books (October 6, 2009)
Publication date : October 6, 2009
Language: : English
File size : 439 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 384 pages
Lending : Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #238,419 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,612 in Hard-Boiled Mysteries (Kindle Store)
- #2,037 in Hard-Boiled Mystery
- #3,253 in Private Investigator Mysteries (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
153 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		64%
4 star		25%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Kindle Customer

A look to the past

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2020

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If you are reading the Matt Scudder stories in order this one will seem out of place. However by the end you will see that it is a look back to the days when Scudder was drinking heavily. There are three threads in this story of which two are connected to each other. The third thread is a separate story, but characters of all three play a role in the whole story. Scudder has to help a fellow drinker prove his innocence in the murder of his wife. The other two deal with a robbery of an after hours bad and theft of a set of ledgers from another bar. As Scudder works these cases we see the man as he slowly see his life change before his own eyes. I had to ask myself as I read this story are there truly heroes and villains or are we just victims of ourselves. By the end of this story I still wonder. This story is really not just a good whodunit, but it is one that can make you think about life. So dear reader take a walk into a man's last life and to d the demons he bears and enjoy.

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Stumbling Around New York City's Borroughs

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2014

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I first read the Lawrence Block novel A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES prior to seeing the movie. Movies made from well written novels tend to be letdowns. While the movie did have its bright spots, it has to be extremely difficult to condense such an intriguing story into a 114 minute motion picture.

This particular episode in the Matthew Scudder series takes place in New York City in 1975. Matt Scudder is a former Special Forces hero, an ex NYC cop, and a current and committed drinker who does favors for friends in exchange for money. Even though he and his friends spend most days and nights drinking heavily, none of them considers themselves to be alcoholics. All of them profess to be able to stop drinking at the drop of a hat, but somehow that never seems to happen. They just sort of stumble around together in sort of a "groundhog day", chasing their next drink and not much else.

Unfortunately (and surprisingly) a few of his friends get themselves into difficult situations, and Matt finds himself collecting three different paychecks while looking for answers. He is the type of (unlicensed) private eye who walks in circles and gathers countless bits of information until he hits that "Eureka" moment where everything falls together. Sometimes the smallest piece of information.....

Matt has his hands full with these cases and not everyone is who they seem to be. The problem is figuring out who is responsible for each crime and then extracting retribution without involving the local coppers. Not surprisingly, the Irish have their own way of balancing the scales. Innovative, tricky and effective.

4 people found this helpful

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Greggorio!

AN EPIC BUT MOURNFUL SOJOURN!!!!!

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2013

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This book opens with a bang. Literally. Matthew Scudder is sitting with some buddies in early July when a large explosion shatters the conversational tranquility that is enveloping the place and before peace is returned in full, the bar is held up and a small fortune is taken. Eventually (three chapters in) Matt agrees to take the job of finding out whodunit, and the whydunit, but before he makes much progress, the wife of a friend of a friend is killed and once more the task of finding the killer falls in the lap of our hero.

Some books contain a chapter or a phrase that is so extraordinary and so beautiful that it lifts the work above the realm of the ordinary and into the space or territory of the mythical. When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes is like this. Chapter twelve opens in a drab, samey manner (just like its preceding sibling chapters) with our man Scud drinking his way through the three simultaneous mysteries he is attempting to solve. After ensuring one of his clients gets home safely after a hard and depressing night on the booze, he leaves his own apartment at some insane hour and finds himself drinking bourbon at Armstrong's. Conversation with the owner takes precedence over drinking and before Scudder knows it, he is (we are) experiencing and learning about the heart-breakingly beautiful paralytic dancers from Dave Van Ronk's mournful jazz masterpiece, "When the sacred Gin Mill closes". I won't infringe copyright by quoting the text here but rest assured this section of the book is worth the cost of admission alone.

Back in the real world, days after the first listen, Scudder is helping his buddies solve a minor problem of extortion, and the song is still playing on his mind. Just like mine. And yours, too, when you read it. But this book is about more than Dave Van Ronk and his music. It is about friendship, and booze, and keeping your promises. And it is also about Ireland, and family, and home, and tradition.

But most importantly, it is about truth, and how beauty can be found in the most unlikely and unexpected of places. So hang in there. Just like Matt does.

One person found this helpful

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JM Harvey

Tightly drawn mystery

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2018

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Another winner, three crimes and a pair of betrayals. This is the fifth novel in the series but takes place sometime between the third and fourth, Matt is drinking but not out of control, a great entry in a great series. The mystery is intricate and the characters are well drawn and fully fleshed. A long step above the average mystery and though it is set in the seventies Block writes so cleanly that only the characters own nostalgia for the time period date it.

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Sharon Storm

No wasted words

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2020

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Best mystery I’ve read in awhile. The main character, Matthew Scudder, is flawed, but author Lawrence Block reveals Scudder’s morality in surprising ways. There is some violence, but it fit the plot. There is a reason for every word. I recommend this, and other Lawrence Block books, to fans of mystery/suspense novels.

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M. S. Lovett

Fine Author, Lawrence Block

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2020

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Recently found this author and am enjoying him quite a bit. I made an error and ordered this book - twice. Am I mistaken that at one time Amazon would "catch" such things and inform you that you've duplicated an order. Thankfully, I didn't pay a lot and I decided to donate the extra copy.

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Top reviews from other countries

Day to day life in a non-Patti Labelle-World

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2018

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I'll have to be careful that the review doesn't say more about me than the author or book or Whatever!!
First off, I'm a Patti Labelle fan with "Stir It Up", so nothing phases me. (I'll fall out with Lawre..nah...rry Block, so long as I don't with Madame Labelle.)
So, gettin' it from the wrong end of the sequence- to tax my brains- well I not goin' to do: but it was a good novel: but a bit Ingmar Bergman, for a long while. And serious drinkin'. And maybe It was all a forerunner to Typical Lonely Guy- The humour at the end was great.

Matt

Great story

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 16, 2016

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I very much enjoyed this Book. It takes a different format to the series up to now as it is told mainly as a flashback to to before Scudders Sobriety.
I got a sense of bleakness and waste from this book that I found quite deep and actually emotionally effecting.
Overall I think it is better to have read the other books before this one, but I do heartily recommend it!

One person found this helpful

I. R. Cowell

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 18, 2018

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Good read

Mr. Raymond Elliott

but a nice clean copy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2016

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Ex library book, but a nice clean copy. Very pleased

One person found this helpful

Paul Jeffels

A detective novel set in the 70's

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 3, 2013

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This novel is part of a series featuring the author's recurring character 'Matt Scudder'. It vividly portrays the 70's, and the culture of a group of alcoholics.

One person found this helpful