Lawrence Block

Hailing from Buffalo, N.Y. Lawrence Block would attend and fail to graduate from Yellow Spring’s Antioch college, having come to agree with the school authorities that he would be happier elsewhere. His first foray into the literary world found Lawrence pseudonymously testing the waters of porn, along with fellow apprentice Donald E.

The best place to start is The Classic Crime Library series, the earliest of Lawrence Block's multi-book series: it opens with Sinner Man (1960) and runs to 18 books across 1960–1979, ending with Ariel (Classic Crime Library Book 16) (1979). Lawrence Block's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

Lawrence Block has 503 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1958 and 2025. 303 of them belong to 20 named series — the largest being the Matthew Scudder series with 29 books — and 200 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Lawrence Block's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are The Classic Crime Library (1960–1979, 18 books), Lou Largo (1960, 1 book) and Evan Tanner (1966–1998, 8 books), plus 13 more.

This guide splits Lawrence Block's 503 books into 20 named series and 200 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: Matthew Scudder (29 books, 1976–2023); John Keller (23 books, 1998–2021); Bernie Rhodenbarr (18 books, 1977–2022); The Classic Crime Library (18 books, 1960–1979); The Men's Adventure Library Journal (16 books, 2013–2023), plus 15 further series.