A dance at the slaughterhouse

What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.

What this book is about

Scudder is hired by a man who believes his brother was murdered by his wife and her lover. The investigation leads to an underground boxing event, where Scudder sees two men he will later encounter when a video surfaces that suggests a child was harmed. Lawrence Block's ninth Scudder novel — winner of the Edgar Award — connects two investigations through a network of exploitation that runs through New York's underworld, and the revelation of what the video shows and who made it is handled with restraint that makes it more disturbing than graphic description would.