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ericbuscemi's review
3.0
Another solid short-story from the perspective of part-time detective/full-time drunk Matthew Scudder. At first, the detective's actions not factoring directly into the solution of the murder mystery bothered me, but after thinking about it, his tertiary involvement and self realization about his role in the case made more sense, and was more realistic, in a certain way.
usbsticky's review
4.0
Spoilers ahead:
This is the second Scudder short story I've read. A bag lady is savagely murdered in the streets. Scudder is drawn into the mystery when he finds out that the woman is an heiress and has left him a bequest of $1200 for reasons unknown since he doesn't know her any more than as a local denizen of the streets.
Because of this bequest he decides to look into it. The bag lady does have a room in a rooming house (RSO) and he questions the landlady and as many of the boarders that he can find. He next questions the attorney handling the estate and finds out that the lady had given out 32 bequests and he also undertakes to question as many of those as he can find.
But most of the people he questions don't have a beef with her or even know her well. In fact, most of the people don't even understand why she left them money. The word gets out on the street that Scudder is investigating her murder but he is at an impasse.
Finally one night out of the blue, someone comes into Armstrong's out of the blue, sits at Scudder's table and just confesses.
There isn't really a whodunit in this short story as Scudder's investigations lead to a dead end and the killer just confesses. But I still like the book as it's a brief revisit to one of my favorite crime solvers and maybe Block wanted to write about the homeless denizens that populate our streets and tell us that they are people too and have their stories.
This is the second Scudder short story I've read. A bag lady is savagely murdered in the streets. Scudder is drawn into the mystery when he finds out that the woman is an heiress and has left him a bequest of $1200 for reasons unknown since he doesn't know her any more than as a local denizen of the streets.
Because of this bequest he decides to look into it. The bag lady does have a room in a rooming house (RSO) and he questions the landlady and as many of the boarders that he can find. He next questions the attorney handling the estate and finds out that the lady had given out 32 bequests and he also undertakes to question as many of those as he can find.
But most of the people he questions don't have a beef with her or even know her well. In fact, most of the people don't even understand why she left them money. The word gets out on the street that Scudder is investigating her murder but he is at an impasse.
Finally one night out of the blue, someone comes into Armstrong's out of the blue, sits at Scudder's table and just confesses.
There isn't really a whodunit in this short story as Scudder's investigations lead to a dead end and the killer just confesses. But I still like the book as it's a brief revisit to one of my favorite crime solvers and maybe Block wanted to write about the homeless denizens that populate our streets and tell us that they are people too and have their stories.
ericwelch's review
4.0
A novella in the classic Block mold, read by the author, who, unlike most authors, does an excellent job portraying the humdrum, rather ordinary, plodding existence that is Matt Scudder.
Matt is visited by a lawyer who gives him a check for $1200 from a bag lady who Matt barely knew and for whom he had done nothing remarkable. He learns she had been murdered and had been quite wealthy, revising her will regularly to make bequests to people she didn't know and barely had any interaction with.
Matt, in his inimitable way, after tithing from the bequest and sending some to his ex-wife and sons, decides to assume the money was to discover who and why she had been murdered. The result is utterly banal (intentional reference to Hannah Arendt.)
It's interesting to feel the undercurrent of danger and lawlessness attributed to New York. The book was written many decades ago in 1977. New York is now considered one of the safer cities so from that sense it feels somewhat anachronistic.
It's a marvelous listen/read, nevertheless, very short but a great character study. Block has been reissuing many of his earlier works for Kindle and audio, much to my delight. Not to mention we get to hear Block sing in this audiobook. Well, we'll overlook that.
Matt is visited by a lawyer who gives him a check for $1200 from a bag lady who Matt barely knew and for whom he had done nothing remarkable. He learns she had been murdered and had been quite wealthy, revising her will regularly to make bequests to people she didn't know and barely had any interaction with.
Matt, in his inimitable way, after tithing from the bequest and sending some to his ex-wife and sons, decides to assume the money was to discover who and why she had been murdered. The result is utterly banal (intentional reference to Hannah Arendt.)
It's interesting to feel the undercurrent of danger and lawlessness attributed to New York. The book was written many decades ago in 1977. New York is now considered one of the safer cities so from that sense it feels somewhat anachronistic.
It's a marvelous listen/read, nevertheless, very short but a great character study. Block has been reissuing many of his earlier works for Kindle and audio, much to my delight. Not to mention we get to hear Block sing in this audiobook. Well, we'll overlook that.
skinnypenguin's review
3.0
Like how Scudder considers the money he inherited as a reason to find out why the woman was killed even if she was a bag lady.
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