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The Sounds Of Crime
A collection of five short stories by some of the best crimewriters around.
Audible Audio
First published January 1, 2010
51 people want to read
About the author
Lawrence Block
760 books2,996 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 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 30, 2018
Being short stories they were a nice easy listen. Mostly rather predictable, especially the first one. The last story was the best - more unexpected, and fully fitted the brief of being to do with sound.
April 15, 2019
3 1/2 stars. Some of the stories were better than others.
I liked Dolly's Trash and Treasures (the first one), Happy Holidays (third one) and The Deceivers (last one). I'm glad the stories had different narrators, too, as it helped to differentiate the stories.
I liked Dolly's Trash and Treasures (the first one), Happy Holidays (third one) and The Deceivers (last one). I'm glad the stories had different narrators, too, as it helped to differentiate the stories.
January 10, 2025
A mediocre collection of crime stories, some of which aren't really even "crime" fiction. If I told you that Lawrence Block's story steals the show, you wouldn't be surprised at all because Block is the master, so I won't say it. But Block's story is comprised entirely of dialogue--wonderful Block-ian dialogue--and he does amazing things with it. Even his story feels a bit incomplete, but it's still good and miles ahead of the others.
September 14, 2025
3.5 stars. The last story by Christopher Fowler was the creepiest and by far the best representation of the theme of 'sound'. I'll definitely be looking up his other work. The other stories in this collection were okay, with the crematorium one my least favourite.
March 15, 2018
All the stories were extremely well written. Some were just not to my taste. Especially liked Val McDermid's Tony Hill story
November 19, 2019
Listened to these as I love be Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May series. Did not like any of these stories.
February 2, 2020
Each story is so different from the other and I found them all so gripping that I had to stop what I was doing to focus on each one. The narrators did a brilliant job bring these stories to life.
January 6, 2021
Some good short stories.
May 12, 2021
Audio book- This was so good I wish there were more stories on it! I liked all the stories,and the narrators were all very good.
October 4, 2022
I enjoyed a couple of the stories, but some of the others were nothing I would look up the authors to read further works.
July 9, 2023
I enjoyed all stories in this book. The stories were well written and suspenseful; character development well done and narrators spot on. I researched the authors and will read their books.
November 16, 2023
I listened to this series of short crime stories on audio. The one about hoarding was my favourite. Light and entertaining stories.
January 22, 2025
Only really decent story was the last one by Christopher Fowler, what a talent he was!
August 5, 2025
Uniformly very high quality both in terms of stories and reading.
February 9, 2020
These short stories were incredibly enjoyable and haunting.
Only available as an audiobook and not published elsewhere, it was a great opportunity to hear stories from some great authors.
Highly recommended.
Only available as an audiobook and not published elsewhere, it was a great opportunity to hear stories from some great authors.
Highly recommended.
July 11, 2013
Cinco historias cortas. Todas excelentes, escritas por expertos en el género. Mis favoritas: "Los tesoros y la basura de Dolly" (tensión que va en aumento. Uno sospecha lo que va a pasar, pero no por eso la sorpresa golpea con menos fuerza), "Felices fiestas" (un misterio de Val McDermid con su psicólogo Tony Hill. Si saben de quien hablo, no necesito dar más explicaciones) y "Los Embaucadores" (una trágica parodia que no deja de sonar a la realidad de nuestros días). Me gustaron. Recomendada.
October 16, 2015
I adore a good story.... I especially adore a good story that is so chilling/moving/compelling that it stays with you for awhile. I'm a massive Val McDermid fan and that's why I initially read this collection of short stories written especially for this publication. Now that I've read it all I have to say - the story I enjoyed most was not even by the author who made me read this....
Let me just be very clear - there is NO bad story in this collection and I'll read them all over and over and OVER again!
Let me just be very clear - there is NO bad story in this collection and I'll read them all over and over and OVER again!
December 8, 2016
c2010: Apparently only available as an audible book, this was a fairly quick listen. As with most anthologies, some stories were better than others but I think the story set in America was the best of the lot. None of the stories had a twist that you couldn't see coming for miles but perhaps that in itself was the twist. Anyway, I enjoyed it well enough to be able to recommend to the normal crew.
April 7, 2014
This was a fun book of short crime stories that were rather enjoyable. An easy read, idea for a short to medium length flight or a sunny afternoon on the hammock.
May 21, 2015
Easy listening selection of crime stories - heard as an audio book.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews