The last one I read was The Girl with the Long Green Heart, and I read Say It with Bullets right before that. Both were very enjoyable, although I'd probably give the edge to Say It With Bullets, but only slightly, and only because of its humor. I've taken a little break from the series to read a few other things (Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Max Brooks's World War Z, Woodward's State of Denial), but I'll return to the noir fold shortly... :)

Anyway you (or others in this thread) would be willing to post a top 5 or top 10 list from the series? You know, for those who are yet to be initiated.

I listed my faves thus far back in post #2.

To update it though, I'd include Max Allan Collins' The Last Quarry to be included in that list.

In general, I have been more impressed with their reprints than with their originals. So here are my Top 5 Reprints and Top 3 Originals (in no particular order):

Reprints:
361 by Donald E. Westlake
THE GIRL WITH THE LONG GREEN HEART by Lawrence Block
GRIFTER’S GAME by Lawrence Block
GRAVE DESCEND by John Lange
LEMONS NEVER LIE by Richard Stark

Originals:
THE COLORADO KID by Stephen King
BUST by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
LITTLE GIRL LOST by Richard Aleas

I haven't read all of them, but there are a couple of others that I expect are good (like the Max Collins books). There are also several that I didn't care for and didn't finish.

Okay, it's time for me to start buying these bad boys. But being a collector, I need first editions. Anyone know if they've started doing second prints on any of the books they've already published? If so, do they have a clear designation between printings so I can tell the difference?

Okay so which is everyone's favorite book so far?
my vote goes to little girl lost

They updated their site:

December
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books/bk27/cover_big.jpg
February
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books/bk28/cover_big.jpg
March
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books/bk29/cover_big.jpg
April
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books/bk30/cover_big.jpg
May
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books/bk31/cover_big.jpg
June
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books/bk32/cover_big.jpg
AND COMING IN JULY!!! :D:D :D :D :D
http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books/bk33/cover_big.jpg

We've been listing quite a few faves in the previous pages. Check 'em out! And in case no one noticed, that July title you're so excited about is the sequel to your own favorite, Little Girl Lost by Richard Aleas (Charles Ardai). Nice!

I tried emailing the publisher, Charles Ardai, and he was kind enough to quickly respond with the following information:

**************

Alas, telling which of our books is a first edition is not always easy (in fact, not always possible). But here are some clues:

* The first edition of our first dozen titles have no stiff card promoting the "Hard Case Crime Book Club" bound into the middle of the book.

* The first editions of books 13 through about 25, I think, have a card offering two books for the price of one; later editions offer one book/month for 43% off the cover price

* The first editions of our first six books have "Coming soon" on the page up front listing "OTHER HARD CASE CRIME BOOKS YOU WILL ENJOY"

* The first editions of our books sometimes have different ads in the back than later editions do

* The first editions of FADE TO BLONDE, LITTLE GIRL LOST, and THE CONFESSION make no mention on the front cover of winning the Shamus, being nominated for the Edgar, or winning the Edgar, respectively.

Other than that, I'm afraid it's a matter of guesswork. I apologize for not making it easier for hardcore collectors to be sure they have a first; it's mostly an artifact of the arrangement we have with Dorchester (we don't get to touch the books again before they go back to press for a second printing--that's all handled by Dorchester).

Here's an interesting biographical piece about Charles Ardai, and it includes a brief history of the Hard Case Crime line...

Man, that's either going to make it very fun to hunt down first editions, or a pain in the butt. What have I gotten myself into?

Of course, for a true collector, he'd want to get all variations. :D

So I guess this means I have first editions of little girl lost and grifters game and wait.............. I dont care. I can understanding wanting the whole collection to read and display on a bookshelf, but hard case crime is supposed to be paperback crime series, a dimestore novel, searching for first editions kind of misses the entire point of these.

Thanks for the link. I had known next to nothing about the man prior to reading this.

:lol:

Well, that's the life of a collector. Oh well.

I've got the whole set, all of which are first printings, so if anyone has a marker they'd like me to look for on a particular book, just holler.

I also have ARCs of the originals they've done, which would be the true first printings.

Charles is a great guy who LOVES these books. His knowledge of and enthusiasm for quality crime fiction is a reat treat. The success that HCC has had after only 2 years is pretty damn amazing.

Okay, I'm finally jumping on board. I'll start reading Block's GRIFTER'S GAME tonight. But after re-reading this thread, I noticed that there are lots of sequels. Anyone care to highlight which books are related to other books? I mean, if there are connections, I might as well read those titles back-to-back.

The new Richard Aleas book is a sequel, and the Max Allan Collins' books are entries in his series. But other than that, I don't think any of them are sequels.

I just got an advanced copy of the new Block book (LUCKY AT CARDS) yesterday. I'm still not sure what book it is, so I'm looking forward to reading it. (It's an old one, that was originally published under a different title, using one of Block's pseudonyms.)

You had me curious, so I did a bit of research. It was published under the pseudonym Sheldon Lord in 1964. Turns out, there were several books published under that name that were ghosted and the ones that LB did write, he collaborated with Donald Westlake(!)...not sure if that is the case with this one.

Just finished reading GRIFTER'S GAME. Holy cow, what a fantastic read. I had no idea. And that ending. That's one of the hardest, most enjoyable endings to a book I've read in forever. Fanbloodytastic.

If the other books in this series are this good or close, and if they're just as easy a read, then I'm hooked big time.

^ Welcome to the party. :)

Block is a great writer, Bishop. He has many books that -- good as GRIFTER'S GAME is -- would blow it away.

I finished David Dodge's The Last Match yesterday. My criticism of it is that it is overlong with too much filler. While not as good as Dodge's previous entry, Plunder of the Sun, it is still a solid addition to the HCC arsenal.

That was basically what I said in my review of THE LAST MATCH. It definitely needed cutting down, but since the author was dead and couldn't approve changes, HCC just published it as is.

Finished SAY IT WITH BULLETS last night. That was another good one. Started off a little slow, but the bulk of the book was pretty solid. Definitely had some nice, humorous banter between the Bill and Holly.

Glad you enjoyed Say it With Bullets (so did I). Powell has a great prose that you can't help but chuckle at.

I'm currently reading this month's entry, Grave Descend by John Lange (aka Michael Crichton). So far, so good...