Lucky at Cards
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
AT CARDS AND WITH WOMEN, BILL MAYNARD KNEW HOW TO CHEAT…
On the mend after getting run out of Chicago, professional cardsharp Bill Maynard is hungry for some action – but not nearly as hungry as Joyce Rogers, the tantalizing wife of Bill's latest mark. Together they hatch an ingenious scheme to get rid of her husband. But in life as in poker, the other player sometimes has an ace up his sleeve…
When Lawrence Block wrote Lucky at Cards back in the 1960s, he published it under a pen name as a paperback original. Years later Hard Case Crime brought it back to life under Block's own name, and now we're able to include it in the Classic Crime Library.
"The plot twists here, then there, then back again, rooted in Block's strong characters and no-nonsense prose style," Publishers Weekly enthused, while Bill Ott in Booklist adds, "It's a doozy. Block unwinds his plot superbly, pointing toward a classic noir finale but then seeming to pull away--or maybe not. And, along the way, there is all the teasing sexuality and tongue-in-cheek noir style that a pulp devotee craves."
This Classic Crime Library ebook edition of Lucky at Cards includes as a bonus the first chapter of the next book in the series, Killing Castro.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The Hard Case Crime imprint has found a perfect partner in Block, as this gritty grifter's tale, in print for the first time in 40 years, goes to show. In a small town somewhere between Chicago and New York, down on his luck card shark Bill Maynard stops off to take care of his teeth, recently broken in a beating he took for fixing a game. Planning to stay only long enough to heal, Bill's plans change when his dentist invites him to join a friendly game of poker. Having fooled the locals and earned a bundle at the game, Bill's ready to leave town when he falls hard for his host's sexy young wife, Joyce, who isn't fooled by his card tricks. Indeed, she's got higher stakes in mind: after seducing him, she ropes Bill into that old scheme, helping her get rid of her hubby. The plot twists here, then there, then back again, rooted in Block's strong characters and no-nonsense prose style.
