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Matthew Scudder #Short Story
Buscando a David
«Me encanta la serie sobre Matthew Scudder, y me encantan los cuentos.»
––Otto Penzler, Los Angeles Times, Los diez libros más deseados del 2011
Lawrence Block ha escrito 17 novelas protagonizadas por Matthew Scudder, las cuales han conquistado corazones de lectores en el mundo entero, y de paso un tropel de trofeos, incluyendo el Premio Edgar Allan Poe (EUA), el Shamus (EUA), el Philip Marlowe (Alemania) y el Halcón Maltés (Japón). Y Matthew Scudder es en gran medida el responsable de los galardones a la carrera artística que le han sido otorgados a Block: el Premio Gran Maestro (Mystery Writers of America), el Premio The Eye (Private Eye Writers of America) y el Puñal de Diamante Cartier (UK Crime Writers Association, Reino Unido).
Pero Scudder es también la estrella en muchos relatos cortos, como lo recuerda Lawrence Block:
«Comencé a escribir acerca de Matthew Scudder a mediados de los años setenta. La primera novela, “Los pecados de los padres”, apareció en 1975 y “Una gota de algo fuerte” (la 17a y la más reciente) en 2011. Con el transcurso de los años, Scudder ha aparecido también en 11 narraciones breves.“Buscando a David” es la sexta de éstas; se publicó por primera vez en 1997, en “Whydunit”, una colección de cuentos por miembros de la asociación Escritores de Crimen de Canadá, y apareció el año siguiente en la “Revista de Misterio Ellery Queen”.
»La historia creció a partir de dos hilos: mis recuerdos del papel que jugaba la estatua de David en Búfalo, Estado de Nueva York, la ciudad donde me crié, y las observaciones de una mujer que vio la metamorfosis de su marido de dios griego en emperador romano. Ah, bueno. Estas cosas suceden…»
––Otto Penzler, Los Angeles Times, Los diez libros más deseados del 2011
Lawrence Block ha escrito 17 novelas protagonizadas por Matthew Scudder, las cuales han conquistado corazones de lectores en el mundo entero, y de paso un tropel de trofeos, incluyendo el Premio Edgar Allan Poe (EUA), el Shamus (EUA), el Philip Marlowe (Alemania) y el Halcón Maltés (Japón). Y Matthew Scudder es en gran medida el responsable de los galardones a la carrera artística que le han sido otorgados a Block: el Premio Gran Maestro (Mystery Writers of America), el Premio The Eye (Private Eye Writers of America) y el Puñal de Diamante Cartier (UK Crime Writers Association, Reino Unido).
Pero Scudder es también la estrella en muchos relatos cortos, como lo recuerda Lawrence Block:
«Comencé a escribir acerca de Matthew Scudder a mediados de los años setenta. La primera novela, “Los pecados de los padres”, apareció en 1975 y “Una gota de algo fuerte” (la 17a y la más reciente) en 2011. Con el transcurso de los años, Scudder ha aparecido también en 11 narraciones breves.“Buscando a David” es la sexta de éstas; se publicó por primera vez en 1997, en “Whydunit”, una colección de cuentos por miembros de la asociación Escritores de Crimen de Canadá, y apareció el año siguiente en la “Revista de Misterio Ellery Queen”.
»La historia creció a partir de dos hilos: mis recuerdos del papel que jugaba la estatua de David en Búfalo, Estado de Nueva York, la ciudad donde me crié, y las observaciones de una mujer que vio la metamorfosis de su marido de dios griego en emperador romano. Ah, bueno. Estas cosas suceden…»
41 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 6, 2012
8 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Block
766 books2,961 followersLawrence Block has been writing crime, mystery, and suspense fiction for more than half a century. He has published in excess (oh, wretched excess!) of 100 books, and no end of short stories.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
Born in Buffalo, N.Y., LB attended Antioch College, but left before completing his studies; school authorities advised him that they felt he’d be happier elsewhere, and he thought this was remarkably perceptive of them.
His earliest work, published pseudonymously in the late 1950s, was mostly in the field of midcentury erotica, an apprenticeship he shared with Donald E. Westlake and Robert Silverberg. The first time Lawrence Block’s name appeared in print was when his short story “You Can’t Lose” was published in the February 1958 issue of Manhunt. The first book published under his own name was Mona (1961); it was reissued several times over the years, once as Sweet Slow Death. In 2005 it became the first offering from Hard Case Crime, and bore for the first time LB’s original title, Grifter’s Game.
LB is best known for his series characters, including cop-turned-private investigator Matthew Scudder, gentleman burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr, globe-trotting insomniac Evan Tanner, and introspective assassin Keller.
Because one name is never enough, LB has also published under pseudonyms including Jill Emerson, John Warren Wells, Lesley Evans, and Anne Campbell Clarke.
LB’s magazine appearances include American Heritage, Redbook, Playboy, Linn’s Stamp News, Cosmopolitan, GQ, and The New York Times. His monthly instructional column ran in Writer’s Digest for 14 years, and led to a string of books for writers, including the classics Telling Lies for Fun & Profit and The Liar’s Bible. He has also written episodic television (Tilt!) and the Wong Kar-wai film, My Blueberry Nights.
Several of LB’s books have been filmed. The latest, A Walk Among the Tombstones, stars Liam Neeson as Matthew Scudder and is scheduled for release in September, 2014.
LB is a Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America, and a past president of MWA and the Private Eye Writers of America. He has won the Edgar and Shamus awards four times each, and the Japanese Maltese Falcon award twice, as well as the Nero Wolfe and Philip Marlowe awards, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Writers of America, and the Diamond Dagger for Life Achievement from the Crime Writers Association (UK). He’s also been honored with the Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award from Mystery Ink magazine and the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement in the short story. In France, he has been proclaimed a Grand Maitre du Roman Noir and has twice been awarded the Societe 813 trophy. He has been a guest of honor at Bouchercon and at book fairs and mystery festivals in France, Germany, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Spain and Taiwan. As if that were not enough, he was also presented with the key to the city of Muncie, Indiana. (But as soon as he left, they changed the locks.)
LB and his wife Lynne are enthusiastic New Yorkers and relentless world travelers; the two are members of the Travelers Century Club, and have visited around 160 countries.
He is a modest and humble fellow, although you would never guess as much from this biographical note.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 18, 2022
Another short Scudder tale. This time he’s on holiday in Italy with his wife when he spots a face he recognises - he’s pretty sure it’s a man he once arrested. What follows is a rumination on the crime itself, a rather strange case I must say. This is not so much a mystery and an observation on human obsession. It’s interesting enough and well told, as always. Not the finest offering from this master of crime fiction but Block’s average is normally equal to many author’s best, so it’s still worth catching.
January 4, 2013
More proof, in very short form, that Lawrence Block can make anything interesting. There is no mystery, no action, and no suspense. The entire stories is told in dialogue over a few cups of coffee. All this working against it, and it is still more interesting reading than most short fiction I've read. Lawrence Block is a masterful writer, and he puts on another clinic in this brief vignette.
January 31, 2024
Several stories in this series look back from the time of their writing, with Scudder recounting events from his former life as a cop, first as a patrolman partnered with the legendary Vince Mahaffey, then as an NYPD detective leading a double life. In Looking for David, Matt and Elaine are on vacation in Florence, where they encounter a man Matt arrested decades earlier; now Matt finally learns the motive behind a brutal homicide.
They are on an extended holiday to Italy visiting the sites.
While in Florence, Scudder sees someone from his past.
What appeals to me is this romantic connection between Matt and Elaine. It sheds a different light on his character and upon meeting a criminal he helps bring to justice is also enlightening as it reveals the respect in which he is held and his non-judgemental nature.
A good short story, but valuable to any fan for all the additional insights into Matthew Scudder it provides.
They are on an extended holiday to Italy visiting the sites.
While in Florence, Scudder sees someone from his past.
What appeals to me is this romantic connection between Matt and Elaine. It sheds a different light on his character and upon meeting a criminal he helps bring to justice is also enlightening as it reveals the respect in which he is held and his non-judgemental nature.
A good short story, but valuable to any fan for all the additional insights into Matthew Scudder it provides.
April 26, 2022
Spoilers ahead:
Elaine and Scudder visit Florence. While at a cafe Scudder sees someone from one of his old cases. An American who murdered his lover, got convicted and went to an asylum for the criminally insane, got out and with his money is retired in Italy.
The man invites Scudder to lunch at his villa. Elaine opts out and when Scudder goes, the man (Pollard) explains his whole story. Pollard grew up in a regular middle class childhood. He got married and had kids, got tenure at a university and became relatively well off from royalty rights from a text book.
He had always had relationships with men, but thought nothing of it until he met his David (as in the Italian statue). Once he met David, he knew that he had found his life's goal. He quit his job, divorced his wife and bought a townhome in New York when he spent his days with David. It was a great life, eating at fine restaurants and going about town.
But after awhile he became the spoiler of his own destiny. David became coarse and fat from the good food, drink and life he led. One night Pollard just lost it and took a kitchen knife, killed David and tried to carve away the fat to get to the beautiful David underneath. And that's how Scudder found the scene when he arrived, a dead body which was carved like a turkey.
I'm not sure what the point of the short is, or maybe there's no point, or maybe you don't know your destiny until you see it. But Scudder cleared a mystery he didn't know that existed.
Elaine and Scudder visit Florence. While at a cafe Scudder sees someone from one of his old cases. An American who murdered his lover, got convicted and went to an asylum for the criminally insane, got out and with his money is retired in Italy.
The man invites Scudder to lunch at his villa. Elaine opts out and when Scudder goes, the man (Pollard) explains his whole story. Pollard grew up in a regular middle class childhood. He got married and had kids, got tenure at a university and became relatively well off from royalty rights from a text book.
He had always had relationships with men, but thought nothing of it until he met his David (as in the Italian statue). Once he met David, he knew that he had found his life's goal. He quit his job, divorced his wife and bought a townhome in New York when he spent his days with David. It was a great life, eating at fine restaurants and going about town.
But after awhile he became the spoiler of his own destiny. David became coarse and fat from the good food, drink and life he led. One night Pollard just lost it and took a kitchen knife, killed David and tried to carve away the fat to get to the beautiful David underneath. And that's how Scudder found the scene when he arrived, a dead body which was carved like a turkey.
I'm not sure what the point of the short is, or maybe there's no point, or maybe you don't know your destiny until you see it. But Scudder cleared a mystery he didn't know that existed.
January 16, 2020
Subtle
The third party story and lack of emotion
highlighted the authors ability to describe a terrible deed.
Thoughtful and interesting
The third party story and lack of emotion
highlighted the authors ability to describe a terrible deed.
Thoughtful and interesting
December 21, 2020
A short story in the Matthew Scudder series. Quick and entertaining.
January 1, 2023
3 Mr Block is, imo, a really good writer and this is a great little story with some great lines. Highly recommended
January 1, 2013
Looking for a story, January 1, 2013
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Looking for David (A Matthew Scudder Story) (Kindle Edition)
Okay...maybe I was a little too harsh considering this is Matt Scudder but-I need a Matt Scudder book not just a short story. The price was right, the author is always (for me anyway) the best and I've been a fan of Matt Scudder for years. This just wasn't enough for me.
Matt & Elaine are having a leisurely meal in Italy when Matt thinks he recognizes a man from his past. That man turns out to be a murderer he helped put away. Elaine soon leaves the scene as that man comes over to Matt's table to acknowledge their past dealings. Matt is still curious after all these years as to why such a heinous murder was committed in the first place.
The short story was L.B. at his best (or the best he could accomplish in such a short story) with creating the most devious mind boggling reason for that crime.
I have enjoyed Matt Scudder for so long that I may need to lay off the short stories since they just don't do it for me.
Read on my kindle
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Looking for David (A Matthew Scudder Story) (Kindle Edition)
Okay...maybe I was a little too harsh considering this is Matt Scudder but-I need a Matt Scudder book not just a short story. The price was right, the author is always (for me anyway) the best and I've been a fan of Matt Scudder for years. This just wasn't enough for me.
Matt & Elaine are having a leisurely meal in Italy when Matt thinks he recognizes a man from his past. That man turns out to be a murderer he helped put away. Elaine soon leaves the scene as that man comes over to Matt's table to acknowledge their past dealings. Matt is still curious after all these years as to why such a heinous murder was committed in the first place.
The short story was L.B. at his best (or the best he could accomplish in such a short story) with creating the most devious mind boggling reason for that crime.
I have enjoyed Matt Scudder for so long that I may need to lay off the short stories since they just don't do it for me.
Read on my kindle
January 2, 2013
This is an interesting Matt Scudder story, where Scudder, on a trip to Italy, runs into a man he'd arrested years before for the murder of the man's lover. The old gentleman had served his time and come to Italy to live his remaining years. When he sees Scudder, he invites the ex-cop to his home, and there tells his own story, the story of why he'd committed his heinous crime.
The story is mostly conversation, but still retains the wit of other Block tales. There is less of Scudder himself talking, but that's okay. It was nice to hear this side.
The story is mostly conversation, but still retains the wit of other Block tales. There is less of Scudder himself talking, but that's okay. It was nice to hear this side.
January 2, 2013
This is an interesting Matt Scudder story, where Scudder, on a trip to Italy, runs into a man he'd arrested years before for the murder of the man's lover. The old gentleman had served his time and come to Italy to live his remaining years. When he sees Scudder, he invites the ex-cop to his home, and there tells his own story, the story of why he'd committed his heinous crime.
The story is mostly conversation, but still retains the wit of other Block tales. There is less of Scudder himself talking, but that's okay. It was nice to hear this side.
The story is mostly conversation, but still retains the wit of other Block tales. There is less of Scudder himself talking, but that's okay. It was nice to hear this side.
May 1, 2013
A novella which is the definition of mystery.
Matthew and Elaine are on an ideal vacation in Italy. Sitting at an outdoor cafe in Florence, enjoying a perfect time.
Then Matthew recognizes and is recognized by a man from his past. This is a man who committed murder.
I will not tell any more, after all this is a novella.
This is a trip into motive and history and love.
I think that anyone who is a fan of Matthew Cutter will enjoy this book. As is to be expected, this is written beautifully.
But, then, this is a novella by Lawrence Block, what else would one expect.
Matthew and Elaine are on an ideal vacation in Italy. Sitting at an outdoor cafe in Florence, enjoying a perfect time.
Then Matthew recognizes and is recognized by a man from his past. This is a man who committed murder.
I will not tell any more, after all this is a novella.
This is a trip into motive and history and love.
I think that anyone who is a fan of Matthew Cutter will enjoy this book. As is to be expected, this is written beautifully.
But, then, this is a novella by Lawrence Block, what else would one expect.
December 12, 2012
A great short story. Matthew and his wife Elaine are in Florence on vacation when he sees a man he arrested many years ago. The man invites Matthew and Elaine to his home for lunch the following day. Elaine visits but does not stay for lunch. After the meal the man tells Schudder the reason behind his crime all those years ago.
January 15, 2017
Short story about Matthew Scudder meeting up with a person he arrested years ago. He is in Italy and the guy invites him to his home basically to explain why he did what he did to get arrested.
A good quick read.
A good quick read.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews