A Stab in the Dark
A Matthew Scudder Novel
The Matthew Scudder Series: Book #4
- By: Lawrence Block
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 5 hours 10 minutes
Description
Ninelong years have passed since the killer last struck—nine years since eighthelpless young women were brutally slaughtered by an icepick-wielding maniac.The trail grew cold, and the book was unofficially closed on a serial killerwho stopped killing. But now the “Icepick Prowler” has confessed—but only toseven of the killings. Not only does he deny the eighth but he also has anairtight alibi.
BarbaraEttinger’s family had almost come to accept that the young woman was the victimof a random killing. Now they must grapple with the shocking revelation thatnot only was her death disguised to look like the serial killer’s work but hermurderer may have been someone she knew and trusted.
MatthewScudder has been hired to finally bring her slayer to justice, setting therelentless detective on the trail of a death almost a decade old, searching fora vicious murderer who is either long gone, long dead—or patiently waiting tokill again.
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The Matthew Scudder Series Series

The Sins of the Fathers
By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: Alan Sklar
Length: 5 hours 2 minutes
Abridged: No
The hooker was young, pretty … and dead, butchered in a Greenwich Village apartment. The prime suspect, a minister’s son, was also dead, the victim of a jailhouse suicide. The case is closed, as far as the NYPD is concerned. Now the murdered prostitute’s father wants it opened again—that’s where Matthew Scudder comes in. But this assignment... Read more »
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In the Midst of Death
By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: Alan Sklar
Length: 4 hours 59 minutes
Abridged: No
JerryBroadfield thinks he’s a good cop. But now he’s been charged with extortion—andhis former buddies in the NYPD would like to see him laid out on a morgue slabfor squealing to a committee on police corruption. Suddenly, he’s got a lot ofenemies, and when a dead call girl turns up in his apartment, his troubles geteven bigger. Broadfield... Read more »
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Time to Murder and Create
By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: Alan Sklar
Length: 5 hours 3 minutes
Abridged: No
Small-time stoolie Jake “The Spinner” Jablon made a lot of new enemies when he switched careers from informer to blackmailer. And the more clients, he figured, the more money—and the more people eager to see him dead. So he’s greedy but scared, and he turns to his old acquaintance Matthew Scudder, who used to pay him for information back in... Read more »
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A Stab in the Dark
By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: William Roberts
Length: 5 hours 10 minutes
Abridged: No
Ninelong years have passed since the killer last struck—nine years since eighthelpless young women were brutally slaughtered by an icepick-wielding maniac.The trail grew cold, and the book was unofficially closed on a serial killerwho stopped killing. But now the “Icepick Prowler” has confessed—but only toseven of the killings. Not only does he... Read more »
Learn more
Eight Million Ways to Die
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 9 hours 5 minutes
Abridged: No
Battling the bottle one day at a time, ex-cop, sometime PI Matthew Scudder finds that next to staying sober, staying alive seems easy. But in the mean streets of New York City it never is. Not for the prostitute who wanted out and got her beautiful self slashed to ribbons. Not for a pimp named Chance who is betting his life that the broken-down... Read more »
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Out on the Cutting Edge
By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: Dan Butler
Length: 7 hours 45 minutes
Abridged: No
This is a city thatseduces dreamers—then eats their dreams.
Matthew Scudder understands the futility of his searchfor a longtime missing Midwestern innocent who wanted to be an actress in thevast meat grinder called New York City. But her frantic father heard thatScudder is the best, and now the ex-cop turned private investigator isscouring the... Read more »
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A Ticket to the Boneyard
By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: Joe Barrett
Length: 8 hours 11 minutes
Abridged: No
Matthew Scudder is about to face every cop’s worstnightmare: James Leo Motley, psychopath extraordinaire.
Twelve years ago Matthew Scudder lied to a jury to putJames Leo Motley behind bars. Now the ingenious psychopath is free, and thealcoholic ex-cop turned private investigator must pay dearly for his sins. Friendsand former lovers—even... Read more »
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A Dance at the Slaughterhouse
By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: Joe Barrett
Length: 8 hours 28 minutes
Abridged: No
There is no accolade or major mystery award that has notalready been bestowed upon Lawrence Block. His acclaimed crime novels are as intelligent,provocative, and emotionally complex as they are nerve-tighteningly intense.And perhaps the most respected of his myriad works are the Matthew Scudderbooks—masterworks of suspenseful invention featuring... Read more »
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The Devil Knows You’re Dead
By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: Joe Barrett
Length: 8 hours 44 minutes
Abridged: No
In New York City, there is little sense and no rules, and thosewho fly the highest often come crashing down the hardest.
A deranged, derelict, crazed Vietnam vet has been arrestedfor gunning down successful young lawyer Glenn Holtzmann at a corner phonebooth on Eleventh Avenue—and the suspect’s brother wants unlicensed privateinvestigator Matthew... Read more »
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A Long Line of Dead Men
By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: Joe Barrett
Length: 8 hours 43 minutes
Abridged: No
An ancient brotherhood meets annually in the back room of aswank Manhattan restaurant, a fraternity created in secret to celebrate life bycelebrating its dead. But the past three decades have not been kind to the Clubof 31. Matthew Scudder—ex-cop and ex-boozer—has known death in all its guises,which is why he has been asked to investigate a... Read more »
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A Moment of Wrong Thinking
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 33 minutes
Abridged: No
After a night out with friends, Matthew Scudder is reminded of an enigmatic case he had while still working as uniformed policeman. The case in question involves the suicide of a devout Catholic man in front of his wife and children … or was it a murder? Read more »
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Mick Ballou Looks at the Blank Screen
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 4 minutes
Abridged: No
Lawrence Block’s seventeen Matthew Scudder novels have wonfans throughout the world—along with a bevy of awards, including the Edgar, theShamus, the Philip Marlowe (Germany), and the Maltese Falcon (Japan). ButScudder has starred in short fiction as well, and in this one, Matthew Scudderand his wife Elaine visit their good friend, Mick Ballou,... Read more »
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Out the Window
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 1 hours 10 minutes
Abridged: No
Matthew Scudder, a down-but-not-out-detective, is shocked by the apparent suicide of Paula, a waitress at Armstrong’s, one of Scudder’s hangouts. When Paula’s sister shows up and asks Matt to investigate what she believes to be a murder, Scudder agrees to take on the case. A number of clues don’t add up to suicide, and Scudder’s investigation... Read more »
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The Merciful Angel of Death
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 32 minutes
Abridged: No
Lawrence Blocks Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world—along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe (Germany), and the Maltese Falcon (Japan). But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and here’s one example! Read more »
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By the Dawn's Early Light
By: Lawrence Block
Narrated by: Lawrence Block
Length: 41 minutes
Abridged: No
Matthew Scudder gets hired by a fellow bar patron to prove his innocence. Salesman Tommy Tillary is a forty-five-year-old philanderer with a Manhattan girlfriend and a Brooklyn wife. So when Tommy becomes a suspect in the murder of his wife, it's up to Matt to find the real killer. Read more »
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Looking for David
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 34 minutes
Abridged: No
Lawrence Block’s seventeen Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world—along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe (Germany), and the Maltese Falcon (Japan). But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and here's one example!
A twenty-five-year-old cold case of art theft and... Read more »
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The Night and the Music
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 6 minutes
Abridged: No
Lawrence Block’s Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world—along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe (Germany), and the Maltese Falcon (Japan). But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and here’s one example! Read more »
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Let’s Get Lost
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 27 minutes
Abridged: No
LawrenceBlock’s seventeen Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readersthroughout the world—along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, theShamus, the Philip Marlowe, and the Maltese Falcon. But Scudder has starred inshort fiction as well, and here’s one example.
MatthewScudder reminisces of his uniformed days and of the night he... Read more »
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A Candle for the Bag Lady
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 1 hours 8 minutes
Abridged: No
Matthew Scudder investigates the brutal murder of a woman known as the “bag lady.” A seemingly homeless woman, she turns out to have distributed her substantial wealth in a complex will naming random strangers. Where did the money come from? Why was she living in such reduced circumstances? And why in the world did she choose these... Read more »
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One Last Night at Grogan's
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 28 minutes
Abridged: No
Lawrence Block’s seventeen Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world—along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe, and the Maltese Falcon. But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well. “One Last Night at Grogan’s” was the final nightcap story that Block penned for the... Read more »
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The Night and the Music
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 6 hours 30 minutes
Abridged: No
Lawrence Block's seventeen Matthew Scudder novels have won the hearts of readers throughout the world-along with a bevy of awards including the Edgar, the Shamus, the Philip Marlowe (Germany), and the Maltese Falcon (Japan). But Scudder has starred in short fiction as well, and it's all here, from a pair of late-70's novelettes (Out the Window... Read more »
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Batman's Helpers
By: Lawrence Block
Length: 32 minutes
Abridged: No
Step into the shoes of Matthew Scudder, one of the titular Batman’s helpers. And how does he help Batman? He’s part of a group of people hired by Warner Brothers to confiscate pirated Batman products from vendors selling them on the streets of New York. From the The Night and the Music collection Read more »
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