Free Download | Time to Murder and Create | Lawrence Block, Jonathan Kellerman

The second in this series of 14 mysteries, soon to be 15, finds our unlikely hero Matthew Scudder further along on his trek to alcoholism, mixed up in unsavory mahem, and trying to get by day to day. It's an interesting case: A blackmailer posthumously hires Matt to determine which of his three pidgeons killed him. So the quasi-detective sets himself up as the blackmailer's replacement to entice the murderer to strike at him so he can solve the case. Matthew, because his mind is becoming benumbed by booze or maybe he just isn't a very good detective, bumbles this case every step of the way, and comes to a less than satisfactory conclusion -- the type of ending only Block has the nerve to create.