Collectibles

by Lawrence Block, Dennis Lehane (Contribution by), Joyce Carol Oates (Contribution by)

Overview

A COLLECTION... OF COLLECTIONS What leads one person to collect stamps and another coins, one fine art and another butterflies? Who can say? But one thing is certain: those who've got the collecting bug care passionately-sometimes violently-about the objects of their obsession. No one covets like a collector; and as you will find in the pages of this brand new anthology from MWA Grand Master Lawrence Block, a truly dedicated collector will ignore the other nine commandments, too, in his quest for his personal Holy Grail. From Joyce Carol Oates' tale of the ultimate Marilyn Monroe collectible to Dennis Lehane's bookseller with a penchant for other people's tragic correspondence, from Lee Goldberg's Hollywood hustler with a collection of unaired TV shows to Joe R. Lansdale's stylish foray into noir, culminating in Lawrence Block's own classic story of a killer with a unique approach to choosing his victims, Collectibles illustrates the range of the collecting impulse and the lengths people will go to in their hunger to possess the perfect piece.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781954762084
Publisher:	LB Productions
Publication date:	05/17/2021
Pages:	298
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

The winner of multiple Edgar, Shamus, and Maltese Falcon Awards, Lawrence Block (b. 1938) is one of the most acclaimed mystery authors writing today. Best known for his Matthew Scudder and Bernie Rhodenbarr series, Block has published more than 100 books and numerous short stories. His novel A Drop of the Hard Stuff was adapted into the Liam Neeson film A Walk Among The Tombstones. He lives in New York.

Editorial Reviews

Standouts include Dennis Lehane's gilt-edged chiller, 'A Bostonian (in Cambridge), ' in which a wealthy collector of letters of abandonment falls prey to wily blackmailers, and Joe R. Lansdale's 'The Skull Collector, ' a gangster yarn featuring gun-toting female grave robbers. Overshadowing everything, though, is Lee Goldberg's 'Lost Shows, ' a delightful shocker about a fanatical collector of short-lived and unaired TV shows who has turned his Hollywood home into a mausoleum of lost dreams.

-Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

03/29/2021

Villainy, paranormal goings-on, and cold-blooded murder turn up time and again, with varying degrees of success, in this mixed bag of a theme anthology centered on compulsive collectors, compiled by MWA Grand Master Block. Standouts include Dennis Lehane’s gilt-edged chiller, “A Bostonian (in Cambridge),” in which a wealthy collector of letters of abandonment falls prey to wily blackmailers, and Joe R. Lansdale’s “The Skull Collector,” a gangster yarn featuring gun-toting female grave robbers. Other stories, like David Rachel’s “Devil Sent the Rain Blues,” in which greed, paranoia, and excitement hinder a trader’s attempts to acquire an extremely rare 78 rpm record, seem tame by comparison. Overshadowing everything, though, is Lee Goldberg’s “Lost Shows,” a delightful shocker about a fanatical collector of short-lived and unaired TV shows who has turned his Hollywood home into a mausoleum of lost dreams. Extracts from Otto Penzler’s memoir, Mysterious Obsession, add some real-life perspective on book collecting. Not every entry from the 17 contributors is a winner, but this volume offers enough superior material to make it worth the reader’s while. Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International. (May)

Publishers Weekly