**Block, Lawrence. Hit and Run.
Morrow. . . . He leads a sedate
life-bounded by his own apartment
with its state-of-the-art TV and
TiVo, the newsstand with the Times
every morning, and his stamp albums
all arranged on their shelves. When
his neighbors come to be questioned
by the police-and they will-he'll be
described as "a quiet kinda guy. He
kept to himself." The life of a hit
man's not an easy one, and it's
never seemed tougher than in this
latest appearance (following Hit
Parade) of premier hit man Keller.
Although he's looking forward to a
well-deserved retirement, Keller
just can't say no to a job in Des
Moines, of all places. While he's
there, the governor of Ohio is
assassinated in town, and the
evidence points to Keller. He's been
set up, and despite having millions
in a bank account, he doesn't have
the cash to buy clean underwear and
has to drive a hot car toward New
Orleans with a Homer Simpson cap
pulled down over his face. What a
way to spend the golden years.
Before it's all over, though, the
old guys (both Keller and Block)
show they've still got what it takes
to teach the youngsters a thing or
two in this brisk, suspenseful, and
funny romp. A sure bet for all
public libraries. -Bob Lunn,
Kansas City (MO) Public Library
As I said, too nice for this old guy
to keep to himself. And I was going
to write anyway, as I've a couple of
things to tell you. First off,
several of you who've ordered the
Philatelic Edition of HIT & RUN
have asked about the promised
"philatelic enhancement" of the
companion offer of three signed
Keller paperbacks. Each will carry a
U.S. postage stamp from the 1938
Presidential series---a 1¢ stamp on
the first book, Hit Man, a 2¢
stamp on Hit List, a 3¢ stamp
on Hit Parade. (Keller
collected these stamps as a boy,
you'll recall; that's how come he
can name the presidents in order.)
Each stamp will be tied to the title
page by what stamp collectors call a
"killer" cancel---although we'd
rather call it a Keller Cancel. And,
of course, they'll be signed, and
ready to ship in early May, not late
June when the new book comes out.
(The idea was to give those new to
Keller an advance chance to meet
him.) Here's a link:
http://www.lawrenceblock.com/content_shopping.htm.
I also need to tell you that the
bookstore shelves are overflowing
with new listings. David Trevor,
having nagged me into letting him
put a slew of new items on offer,
has greatly expanded the sections of
Audio Books and For the
Collector, added a section
called Odds & Ends with
anthologies and ARCs, and sprinkled
in new titles throughout the store's
other sections. I was reluctant to
list some of these because we only
own one or two copies, but he
convinced me that's no reason to
withhold them from you---so have a
look, and if you spot something you
want, well, don't dawdle.
In the meantime, this old guy's in
Utah, watching the clock tick down
before the start of the Salt Lake
City marathon. I’ll be racewalking
it, and I'll try to keep the
dawdling to a minimum.
LB
www.lawrenceblock.com
