Search - Out on the Cutting Edge (Matthew Scudder)

Matt Scudder is trying to find a missing girl and over turning stones to see what he can stir up while continuing to try and stay sober. Very good story.

Classic Scudder.

The mystery and detective work in the Scudder books are great. They keep the story rolling along. But somehow they are secondary to the story of Scudder's life. You care about what happens to him. Every time he walks into a bar you hope he won't drink. Every time he meets a woman you hope he'll find happiness. Every time he goes to sleep you hope he'll wake up. "Out on the Cutting Edge" is the best in the series so far. But something tells me they just keep getting better from here.

Block is the master, and this Scudder installment is as enjoyable as the others.

Another good Scudder novel. I've liked them all.

Matt meets Mickey Ballou for the first time. Fun fast read.

From Publishers Weekly
The prolific author's humanity and the immediacy of his understated style are again evidenced in his seventh mystery related by Matt Scudder: ex-NYPD officer, recovering alcoholic, and now private detective ( When the Sacred Gin Mill Closes , etc.). This novel opens with Matt looking for Paula Hoeldtke, an aspiring actress who disappeared a short time after she arrived in Manhattan from Muncie, Ind. In an unrelated case, Matt investigates the apparent suicide of a fellow AA member, Eddie Dunphy, and becomes the lover of Willa Rossiter, who manages the apartment house where Eddie lived. The affair flourishes despite warnings from his AA sponsor about an involvement with Willa, a heavy drinker. Matt ignores the advice, as he does the anonymous phone calls ordering him to quit asking questions about the missing girl and Eddie's death. In time, the dogged investigator uncovers the appalling facts that close both cases. In this riveting mystery, Block's artistry creates a full complement of fully realized characters, each a real person regardless of his or her perhaps tenuous connection to the plot.

another in the series of Matthew Scudder books, this time he is looking for a lost actress from the midwest.