Lawrence Block: A Drop of the Hard Stuff (USA 2012)

From the Publisher:
Matthew Scudder is finally on the straight and narrow when he runs into "High-Low" Jack Ellery, a childhood friend from the Bronx. In Scudder, Jack sees the moral man he might have become. In Jack, Scudder sees the hard-won sobriety he hopes to achieve.

Then Ellery, following to the letter the dictates of Alcoholics Anonymous' infamous twelve steps, is shot down while attempting to atone for past sins, and Scudder is drawn into a murder investigation that threatens to upset his path toward recovery--and get him killed in the process.

Exploring themes of loss, nostalgia, and redemption, for Lawrence Block, A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF circles back to how it all began, reestablishing why the Matthew Scudder series is widely regarded as one of the pinnacles of American detective fiction.

Lawrence Block: A Drop of the Hard Stuff. A Matthew Scudder Novel. Mulholland Books, ISBN: 9780316127318 (February, 2012), 336 p., $14.99.

Lawrence Block: A Drop of the Hard Stuff (UK 2011)

From the Publisher:
Matt Scudder and Jack Ellery were at school together but never exactly friends. Twenty years later, when Scudder was a detective and Jack was standing the other side of the one-way glass in a police line-up, it was clear their lives had taken very different paths. What they shared, however, was a battle with alcohol. Now Jack is on the ninth step of the AA program and it's time to make amends to the people he's wronged over the years because of his addiction. But when he ends up shot in the head, and it's clear that stirring up the past was maybe not such a good idea, it's up to Scudder to find the killer.

Detective Matt Scudder is on the trail of a killer - but solving the case might be his undoing...

Lawrence Block: A Drop of the Hard Stuff. A Matt Scudder Mystery. Orion Books, ISBN: 9781409124818 (September, 2011), 304 p., £18.99.

Lawrence Block: A Drop of the Hard Stuff (USA 2011)

From the Publisher:
Grandmaster Lawrence Block brings his greatest character, Matthew Scudder, back into action in his most personal case.

Matthew Scudder is finally on the straight and narrow when he runs into "High-Low" Jack Ellery, a childhood friend from the Bronx. In Scudder, Jack sees the moral man he might have become. In Jack, Scudder sees the hard-won sobriety he hopes to achieve.

Then Ellery, following to the letter the dictates of Alcoholics Anonymous' infamous twelve steps, is shot down while attempting to atone for past sins, and Scudder is drawn into a murder investigation that threatens to upset his path toward recovery--and get him killed in the process.

Exploring themes of loss, nostalgia, and redemption, for Lawrence Block, A DROP OF THE HARD STUFF circles back to how it all began, reestablishing why the Matthew Scudder series is widely regarded as one of the pinnacles of American detective fiction.

Lawrence Block: A Drop of the Hard Stuff. Mulholland Books/Little, Brown and Co., ISBN: 9780316127332 (May, 2011), 319 p., $25.99.