You Could Call It Murder The Classic Crime Library Book 12 edition by Lawrence Block Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks
Download As PDF : You Could Call It Murder The Classic Crime Library Book 12 edition by Lawrence Block Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks 
“A missing person case brings private eye Roy Markham to the remote winter-bound college town of Cliff's End, New Hampshire. But what began as a routine investigation quickly becomes dark and dangerous. Six pornographic photos and a tidy little blackmail scheme result in a brutal and baffling murder, and no one is safe - especially Markham himself.”
That’s the product description for Blackstone Audio’s excellent rendition of You Could Call It Murder, expertly voiced by Peter Berkrot, and we could leave it at that—but there’s an interesting backstory to the book, and the Classic Crime Library seems a good place to share it with you.
In 1961, Lawrence Block was living in New York and earning a living writing Midcentury Erotica and crime fiction. He’d just sold his first book under his own name, Grifter’s Game, to Gold Medal Books. (They insisted on calling it Mona, but the original title’s been restored by Hard Case Crime.) His agent got him an assignment to write a tie-in paperback novel for Belmont Books, linked to the TV series Markham, starring Ray Milland.
The book turned out well, and the young writer’s agent felt it was too good to be a Belmont tie-in. Knox Burger agreed, and Block changed the name of the hero from Roy Markham to Ed London, and Gold Medal published the book as Death Pulls a Doublecross. (Another unfortunate title; you’ll find the book in the Classic Crime Library with the author’s original title, Coward’s Kiss.)
But that left Block owing Belmont a book. You Could Call It Murder is what he wrote for them, and it turned out fairly nicely as well, but his agent sent it to Belmont all the same, where they published it as Markham The Case of the Pornographic Photos. (By the time it came out—surprise surprise—the TV series was canceled.)
Is everything clear?
This Classic Crime Library ebook edition of You Could Call It Murder includes as a bonus the opening chapter of the first book in the collection, After the First Death. Isn’t it nice how everything comes full circle?
You Could Call It Murder The Classic Crime Library Book 12 edition by Lawrence Block Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks
Vintage Lawrence Block, I liked this book. It kept my interest with the dialogue.Product details
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You Could Call It Murder The Classic Crime Library Book 12 edition by Lawrence Block Mystery Thriller Suspense eBooks Reviews
Early Block. Somewhat sexist and simplistic, but the writing is good.
The plot was okay and the story moved at a reasonable pace. The problem with this bopk is the same as all his works. Mr. Block spends to much time on the heros personal life thereby adding to many characters to the story.
Like practically everything else by Lawrence Block, I really liked this story. It is short, but for all of that it is complete. There is a good plot, credible story line and decent characters. I'd like to think of it as an interestng beginning. It is reminiscent of the noir genre. The writing is tight and crisp, and the denoument effective. I'd love to see more stories involving Ray Markham. Well, Mr. Block, how 'bout it?
I was as always with LB, pulled through this story as though through a wormhole, certain that I would soon come out the other side.
YOU COULD CALL IT MURDER is an incredibly short book; it's practically a novella. My copy clocks in at a slim 168 pages, has a slightly larger than average font, and greater-than-necessary spacing between the lines. The story itself is also fairly small in scale. It's a typical noir adventure, but told with enough spark to make it a reasonably enjoyable book.
The novel is so short that it's hard to discuss anything specific about it without potentially venturing into spoiler-territory, so I'll be brief. In short, this book is filled with the usual sort of stuff pertaining to this genre. There are tough guys, fast women, lots of boozing and smoking, a shootout with the baddie, murder, and blackmail; you get the idea. None of this material is in any way original, yet the story moves quickly enough for it to be a lot of fun.
YOU COULD CALL IT MURDER is definitely not the best noir novel ever published, but, luckily, it isn't the worst either. I didn't love the book; I just found it entertaining while I was reading it. I may never read it again, but it did provide me with a quick little shot of noir, which is exactly what I wanted. It's short enough that you can read it in a single, lazy afternoon, and there are much poorer ways you could spend that afternoon. If you like this kind of thriller, then you'll probably like this "lite" version.
You Could Call It Murder was one of the first few books Block published under his own name rather than under a pseudonym. In case you weren't aware, Block has been writing for well over 50 years and has published way too many books to count.
This book published in 1961 was originally written as a tie-in to a tv show.
It's a mystery tale typical of the pulp era of the late fifties and early sixties. It's not filled with surprises for today's well informed reader, but it's a damn good piece of writing. It is, without qualification, well worth your time. To top it off, it is easy to read and the pages ( even virtual pages) turn very quickly in your hands.
Roy Markham is a PI. A wealthy acquaintance wants Markham to find his college age daughter who disappeared from her exclusive college in a small New England town. Solving the riddle takes Markham into the small town and involves him with scandalous photos, blackmail, mobsters, and rescuing damsels in distress.
The book was quite enjoyable to read.
Great crackling lines. Block is one of the true great mystery/drama authors.
Vintage Lawrence Block, I liked this book. It kept my interest with the dialogue.
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