Keller
Created by Lawrence Block

A riddle wrapped up in an enigma, and packing a rep as one of the best hitmen around, Lawrence Block's KELLER is always a fun read. Keller's an affable loner, a nice, easy-going kinda guy, with steady hands, cool nerves and perfectly honed professional skills, going through a bit of a midlife, midcareer crisis, who likes travelling to new places, meeting and getting to know interesting new people, and then killing them. Poor guy. He yearns for a girlfriend, a therapist or even a dog --really, just some semblance of a normal life.

Not a private eye, not by a long shot, but there's something in the ironic tone and confessional content, not to mention Keller's more whimsical moments, that make these stories so much fun. Or maybe it's Keller's (and Block's) dedication to his profession, that make me want to include him here. So there....

The first batch of Keller stories appeared mostly in Playboy, and proved popular enough to collect, and present as a rather episodic, but entertaining and engaging novel, Hit Man, in 1998. The success of that volume led, in turn, to the scheduled publication of Hit List in autumn 2000.

TRIVIA

• A nice little tip of the hat comes when Keller goes to Muscatine, Iowa to do a job on the same block where Max Allan Collins lives. Collins, of course, created the character of Quarry, the first series to be based on the exploits of a hired killer (if you don't count James Bond, I guess).

SHORT STORIES

• Answers to Soldier" (June 1990, Playboy)
• "Keller's Therapy" (May 1993, Playboy)
• "Dogs Walked, Plants Watered" (May 1994, Playboy)
• "Keller on Horseback" (1994, Murder Is My Business)
• "Keller's Karma" (February 1995, Playboy)
• "Keller in Shining Armor" (November 1995, Playboy)
• "Keller on the Spot" (November 1997, Playboy)
• "Keller's Choice (1998, Murder on the Run, The Adams Round Table)
• "Keller's Last Refuge (March 1998, Playboy)
• "Keller in Retirement" (1998)
• "Keller's Art" (Spring 2000, Modern Painters)
• "Keller's Designated Hitter" (2001, Murderer's Row)
• "Keller's Horoscope" (2001, Death by Horoscope)
• "Keller and the Rabbits" (April 14, 2003, Audiobooks Today)
• "Keller's Adjustment" (2005, Transgressions)
• "Keller the Dogkiller" (May 2008, EQMM)

COLLECTIONS

• Hit Man (1998) ..Buy this book ...Kindle it!
• Hit Parade (2006) .. Buy this book....Kindle it!

NOVELS

• Hit List (2000)..Buy this book
• Hit and Run (2008)..Buy this book....Kindle it!

RELATED LINKS

• Lawrence Block.com
  The official site, maintained for loyal Blockhead Maggie Griffin, irreverent as all hell, and fun as all git out, full of vital info about the author, his books, his short stories, his newsletter, his upcoming projects, his seemingly endless book tour and everything else. And you can also buy autographed copies here (credit cards gleefully accepted). Although, you know what they say -- the rare Block is the unsigned copy.