Latest from Hard Case Crime

File000I love Hard Case  Crime. They harken back to the glory days of Gold Medal Paperbacks… not only are their books are great but so are their covers.  Their upcoming titles include WITNESS TO MYSELF by Seymour Shubin, 
BUST by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr, and THE LAST QUARRY by Max Allan Collins. They’ve also got reprints of Ed McBain ‘s  THE GUTTER AND THE GRAVE, Richard Stark’s  LEMONS NEVER LIE and Madison
Smartt Bell’s  STRAIGHT CUT in the pipeline (and, oh yes, an original noir novel by some writer named Stephen King).  I’ve been lobbying Charles to consider reprinting one of Richard Prather’s "Shell Scott" Gold Medal novels and some of Harry Whittington’s more obscure stuff. We’ll see what happens…

8 thoughts on “Latest from Hard Case Crime”

  1. I’m a great admirer of Hard Case Crime, too. Good people who love good books. What more can you ask for?
    I have really been impressed with the titles they’ve selected so far, both old and new. Just look at that line-up: early Block and Westlake, Wade Miller, Max Allan Collins, now Stephen King (the book is dynamite) and a Bruen/Starr collaboration… it’s amazing what they’ve accomplished in just a year.

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  2. I buy two of each book, one to read and one to save for later. I’m sure that these books increase in value as time goes on, especially if you have the whole series.

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  3. Don’t get me wrong, Graham. They are dated, sexist, and silly…but very, very funny. And believe it or not, beneath all that leering at “tomatoes,” there’s some pretty lean writing and strong plotting going on. At one time, Richard Prather was a hugely popular and had NINETY MILLION books in print…and yet he’s all but unknown now. Amazing, isn’t it?
    I had the pleasure of meeting Dick a few months back out in Sedona and wrote about it here on the blog. He’s a great guy.

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  4. I LOVE Shell Scott! I love the hideous way he describes himself in every book. Sure, it’s campy and over-the-top to readers today, but that’s part of its nostalgic charm. I got two of the books as e-books (available from an outfit online), but I’d rather have print copies, and you can’t print these e-books out, even when you get the PC reader version. Maybe someday we’ll get the chance to read them on paper again.

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  5. You can always find a Shell Scott book or two any decent used bookstore (those with vintage paperbacks from the 60s and 70s). Richard Prather’s books also show up regularly on ebay at reasonable prices…often as lots of several Shell Scott titles.

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