General Information
===================
 Title:                  Hope to Die
 Author:                 Lawrence Block
 Read By:                George Guidall
 Copyright:              2001
 Audiobook Copyright:    2004
 Genre:                  Mystery - Matthew Scudder
 Publisher:              Recorded Books Inc
 Series Name:            Matthew Scudder
 Position in Series:     15
 Abridged:               No

Original Media Information
==========================
 Source:                 Library CD's
 Condition:              Good

File Information
================
 Number of MP3s:         9
 Total Duration:         9:56:31
 Total MP3 Size:         273.17
 Parity Archive:         YES
 Ripped By:              Indy
 Ripped With:            jetAudio
 Encoded At:             CBR 64 kbit/s 44100 Hz Mono
 ID3 Tags:               Set, v1.1, v2.3

Posting
=======
 Posting Plan:           alt.binaries.mp3.audiobooks

Book Description
================
Unlicensed PI Matthew Scudder returns after a three-year absence to 
investigate the murder of a wealthy couple savagely slain in their Manhattan 
townhouse. Matt's now 62, and his age shows in this relatively sedate 
outing. There's less violence than in many cases past, and the urban 
melancholy that pervaded his earlier tales has dissipated, replaced 
by a mature reckoning with the unending cycle of life and death. The 
mystery elements are strong. To the cops, the case is open-and-shut: 
the perps have been found dead, murder/suicide, in Brooklyn, with loot 
from the townhouse in their possession. Matt enters the scene when his 
assistant, TJ, introduces him to the cousin of the dead couple's daughter; 
the cousin suspects the daughter of having engineered the killings for 
the inheritance. At loose ends, Matt digs in, quickly rejecting the 
daughter as a suspect but uncovering evidence pointing to a mastermind 
behind the murders. Block sounds numerous obligatory notes from Scudder 
tales past the AA meetings, the tithing of Matt's income, cameo appearances 
by Matt's love interest, Elaine, and his friend, Irish mobster Mick 
Ballou and he adds texture with some familial drama involving Matt's 
sons and ex-wife. His prose is as smooth as aged whiskey, as always, 
and the story flows across its pages. It lacks the visceral edge and 
heightened emotion of many previous Scudders, however, and the ending 
seems patly aimed at a sequel. This is a solid mystery, a fine Block, 
but less than exceptional.
