The Club of the Dead
A review of the Telemachus Press eBook (February 15, 2012) of the original William Morrow & Co. hardcover (October 1, 1994).

“And the whole club isn’t some kind of a tom-tom?”
“Huh?”
“Wrong word,” she said. “A tom-tom’s a drum. Dammit, what’s the word I want?”
“Where are you going?”
“To look it up in the dictionary.”
“How can you look it up,” I wondered, “if you don’t know what it is?”
She didn’t answer.
“Ha!” she said, a few minutes later, and I looked up. “Tontine,” she said. “That’s the word. It’s an eponym.”

Investigator Matt Scudder is asked to look into the circumstances of an annual supper club of men whose members are inexplicably dying off at a fast rate. As the club isn't a tontine, there does not appear to be any monetary motive behind the deaths.

Although the situation seems rather implausible, I don't imagine anyone reads the Matt Scudder books for any true crime realism. The drawing interest is the lead character's evolution and his struggles to maintain his sobriety as he ages (now a fictional 55 years of age, in parallel with the real life author). The regular cast of supporting characters is set now and all make their cameo appearances, girlfriend/possible future wife Elaine, AA sponsor Jim Faber, criminal bar owner Mick Ballou, street kid TJ, inside man on the police force Joe Durkin, etc.


The front cover of the original 1994 William Morrow & Co. hardcover edition. Image sourced from Goodreads.

Scudder solves it of course and also continues to take his sobriety a day at a time.

“I was a cop, a detective. I drank myself off the police force.”
“Is that right?”
“I never got in trouble for it,” I said. “Not directly, but I would have the way I was going. I walked away from it, the job, my wife and kids, my whole life …”

Trivia and Links
I read a considerable number of Lawrence Block books in my pre-GR and pre-reviewing days. Probably 40 or so out of the 100+ that are available. That included all of the Matt Scudder books, several of the Bernie Rhodenbarrs, several of the Evan Tanners, several of the John Kellers, a dozen or so standalones and some of the memoirs. There were even a few of the earlier pulp novels which were originally published under pseudonyms. This re-read is a look back at some of those.

Lawrence Block (June 24, 1938 - ) considers himself retired these days, but still maintains an occasional newsletter with the latest issued in August 2024. He self-publishes some of his earlier works which have otherwise gone out of print, using his own LB Productions imprint.