Keller's Greatest Hits

For almost three years, novelist and short-story writer Lawrence Block’s monthly column, “Generally Speaking,” was one of the most popular features in Linn’s Stamp News. A general collector of pre-1940 issues, Block had the entire world of stamps as his subject, and he turned in 33 columns before he decided it was time to stop.

In this brand-new novella, Keller, everyone’s favorite assassin for hire, is Chicago-bound on Amtrak's City of New Orleans, ready to do what he does best.

Keller is your basic urban Lonely Guy. He makes a decent wage, lives in a nice apartment.Works the crossword puzzle.

Keller is a regular guy. He goes to the movies, works on his stamp collection. Call him for jury duty and he serves without complaint. Then every so often he gets a phone call from White Plains that sends him flying off somewhere to kill a perfect stranger.

Like the rest of us, Keller's starting to worry about his retirement. After all, he's not getting any younger. (His victims, on the other hand, aren't getting any older.)

Keller's a hit man. For years now, he's had places to go and people to kill. But enough is enough. He's got money in the bank and just one last job standing between him and retirement.

A man named Nicholas Edwards lives in New Orleans renovating houses, doing honest work and making decent money at it. Between his family and his stamp collection, all his spare time is happily accounted for. Sometimes it's hard to remember that he used to kill people for a living.

Keller on the Spot is the eighth story about Keller, your basic Urban Lonely Guy and wistful assassin for hire.

Keller, an introspective fellow, was always your basic Urban Lonely Guy. He collects stamps. He used to have a dog, until the dog walker walked off with him. Then he soldiered on alone.

Right around the turn of the century, Otto Penzler invited me to write a story with a baseball theme for an anthology, MURDERER'S ROW.

It seems pretty straightforward. Keller's hired, dispatched to Des Moines, and given the particulars on an assignment.

From the beginning, dogs have played a role in Keller's story.

Keller's a Gemini. He has a murderer's thumb.

This novella continues the story of Keller, after the wistful stamp-collecting hit man retired in New Orleans at the end of Hit & Run. A phone call and an economic downturn is all it takes to put him back in business.

Keller in Dallas, a Kindle bestseller, serves too as the opening episode of Lawre...

After Keller's first appearance I never expected to write more about the wistful hit man. But time passed, and I got to thinking about him. I figured he was just the sort of Urban Lonely Guy to find himself on a psychotherapist's couch.

Keller, an introspective fellow, is your basic Urban Lonely Guy. He collects stamps. He used to have a dog, until the dog walker walked off with him. Now he soldiers on alone.

It's his profession that sets him apart. He's a hit man. He kills strangers for a living.

And he's a Guilty Pleasure for ...