Erle Stanley Gardner's The amazing adventures of Lester Leith Book

Lawrence Block has written almost exclusively in the field of crime fiction for sixty years. This collection of 84 stories'comprised of almost his entire output of short fiction from 1960 to 2002'showcases the variety of styles possible within the genre. This may be one of the best short story collections of the last 25 years.

Block can be funny ("One Thousand Dollars a Word", "Nothing Short of Highway Robbery"). He can write gritty noir ("Looking for David", "By the Dawn's Early Light"). His stories can be dry and witty ("The Ehrengraf Nostrum", "Collecting Ackermans") or serious and literate ("A Blow for Freedom", "With a Smile for the Ending").

He can make you root for the bad guy ("Answers to Soldier") or shudder at the evil of human nature ("Like a Bug on a Windshield"). He can use crime to offer insightful social commentary ("Batman's Helper", "The Merciful Angel of Death"). He even wrote one of the best baseball stories of all time ("Almost Perfect").

In addition to many previously uncollected pieces, this collection includes the complete contents of several previous short story collections, including:

1. Like a Lamb to Slaughter (1984)
2. Sometimes They Bite (1992)
3. Some Days You Get the Bear (1994)
4. Ehrengraf for the Defense (1994, first edition only)
5. The Collected Mystery Stories (1999, UK publication only)