Drake

Just a heads up for everyone if you go over to the Dorchester Publishing website they are having a 35% off back to school sale.
I picked up the last remaining Hard Case Crime books I needed, 10 books for $29 !...that's a pretty good deal. They even threw in one book for free.

Geofferson

Thanks for the heads-up.

Jason Bovberg

New at the Hard Case Crime site:



NOBODY'S ANGEL
Jack Clark
June 2010
First professional publication ever!

TWO KILLERS STALK THE STREETS OF CHICAGO—CAN ONE TAXI DRIVER CORNER THEM BOTH?

Eddie Miles is one of a dying breed: a Windy City hack who knows every street and back alley of his beloved city and takes its recent descent into violence personally. But what can one driver do about a killer targeting streetwalkers or another terrorizing cabbies? Precious little—until the night he witnesses one of them in action...

A former Chicago cabbie himself, Jack Clark self-published an earlier version of this book in an edition of 500 copies and sold them to his fares from the front seat of his cab. Clark was a finalist for the Shamus Award in 2003.

xmiyux

So is the break in their publishing from January until that title in June?

Drake

No, they are releasing Memory by Westlake in April of next year.

I really love that cover of Nobody's Angel!

Sean O'Hara

There's a note with this month's book that they're going to be publishing bimonthly next year. :-(

However, they also mention one of the books will be by Brett Halliday.

Jason Bovberg

Just picked this one up yesterday. Watch for it!

Jason Bovberg

Some news from the Hard Case Crime website:



Ten years ago, private eye Mike Shayne did a job for one of the richest men in El Paso, digging up dirt on a boy courting the tycoon’s daughter. Now the daughter’s back, all grown up and dangerous. And so’s Shayne--but this time it’s to investigate murder...

First publication in 20 years!
One of the most popular detectives of all time, Mike Shayne starred in more than 70 novels, a dozen movies, a TV series, radio dramas, comic books, and the long-running Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.

Filmmaker Shane Black, creator of Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, on the work of Brett Halliday...

"In this age of private eyes with cats, funny neighbors, and relationship woes--here’s to 40s thriller writer Brett Halliday, whose baffling, bullet-paced capers have come to light again. Halliday’s books were marvels of misdirection. Red herrings, skewed motives, mistaken identities--he did everything but come to your house and bang cymbals. Halliday’s plots are byzantine gems. This is back when mystery writers were so much smarter than you and me. Want an engrossing read? Pick this one up. Never heard of this book? No matter. It’s been waiting patiently, poised to dazzle you with raw, ingenious storytelling. Halliday is the king of the baffler novel. Pure pleasure. How long can Halliday’s best-selling books remain dormant, undiscovered...? The answer: not a minute longer, thanks to Hard Case Crime."

xmiyux

Just got this in the mail today so i assume it will be hitting stores soon.

xmiyux

Maybe it is just you and i caring about this line but i started reading this book this afternoon. So far it has hooked me. A nice hook from the very beginning and a good setup. Hopefully it keeps up the quick pace the whole way through.

Jason Bovberg

Yeah, if the activity in this thread is any indication, interest has waned. I'm hoping it's only this thread and not the line that people have lost interest in. Because I would hate to see this line go away. Hard Case Crime remains the most exciting line of paperbacks I've seen in a looooong time. I continue to buy (if not read) every single title.

xmiyux

I know i got burned out on them after reading like 10 in a row but i am extremely happy to subscribe to the line and stack them up on a shelf. Then every so often i pull out a couple and enjoy them. It is nice to have a whole little collection of stories like these.

It is especially nice to have them without needing to hunt down the out of print titles like i used to.

So far though i haven't tried out the new line they are doing. Perhaps i am missing out.

Geofferson

I'm still here too guys. I find that I'll wait for a few of the HCC titles to pile-up before I start reading them. As a result, I'll dig into them every few months or so. Recent titles have been hit-or-miss for me -- Fake I.D. was the last good one I read I think.

xmiyux

So what have been some of your favorites in the line so far?

Of what I have read, i would probably put Money Shot at the top of the heap. It was a really good story imo. I also enjoyed the two Aleas books.

Geofferson

Pun intended?

I liked both Crichton (ie, John Lange) books. The Westlake and Block books are a given (was surprised I ended up liking Killing Castro). I thought Say it With Bullets was a blast as well as Gardner's Top of the Heap and the Bruen/Starr books.

xmiyux

I read one of the Crichton books and enjoyed it. I haven't read the other.

I was extremely disappointed in the King novel. I don't think it should have been in the HCC line at all.

Killing Castro didn't hook me and i ended up sitting it aside. One of these days i will go back and finish it.

wmermine

I guess I'll jump in (eventhough I mostly lurk here) to say that I also love these books. I think I have all but maybe 4 of them and have read just over half of them. I've really liked them all. The only ones I put down without finishing were Branded Woman and Dead Street - it wasn't bad, I just needed a change of pace.

I really liked the Bruen/Starr series, all of Max Allan Collins's entries, and The Vengeful Virgin. I wish they'd print some more Gil Brewer as most/all of his books seem to be out of print.

I do think it's smart for HCC to go to printing every other month, though, if for nothing else than to give me a chance to catch up!

I've also read the first Gabriel Hunt book and really liked it. I've got the next one ready to go, but Jim Butcher's books are occupying most of my time right now!

xmiyux

It isn't HCC but....

Has anyone read the Harlequin reprints? Just last night i was at Borders and saw they had reprinted some books that looked like classic pulp noir. They had old school covers and even the edges of the pages were dyed red.

Jason Bovberg

I hadn't heard of that. Man, from the NFL to Harlequin, everyone's going retro.

xmiyux

Here is one i almost picked up:



They all have a little thing on them saying they were being reprinted for Harlequin's 60th Anniversary. The line is called the Harlequin Vintage Collection.

Sean O'Hara

Something that's been popping up in my Amazon recommendations that might interest HCC readers is the "Pulp Lesbian" line of books:

Sean O'Hara

Something that's been popping up in my Amazon recommendations that might interest HCC readers is the "Pulp Lesbian" line of books:

Jason Bovberg

Yes please!

Geofferson

I stumbled upon these at my local independent bookstore this past Sunday actually. Pretty poor marketing from Harlequin, IMO. Anyway, here are the first 6 titles:

* I’ll Bury My Dead by James Hadley Chase
* Virgin with Butterflies by Tom Powers
* You Never Know with Women by James Hadley Chase
* No Nice Girl by Perry Lindsay
* Kiss Your Elbow by Alan Handley
* Pardon My Body by Dale Bogard

Nth Power

I'm still getting the monthly book (well, not monthly anymore), but am taking a break and reading some other stuff. Last one I read was Stop This Man! I thought the plot was thin, but enjoyed it.
The top ones have probably been :
- the two Lange books
- the two Aleas books
- Bruen/Starr (only read the first one.)
- Money Shot