Thx for your message. I think it will be for rent. I'm just not sure when yet. We're working on it though currently.

Friends,

Bit by bit, we're getting closer to the re-launch of Hard Case Crime with our new publisher, Titan Books. Our backlist titles are already available for pre-order from bookstores and online booksellers such as Amazon.com and BN.com; copies will start shipping in February. And we've got new books on the way, too -- if you go to our Web site, www.HardCaseCrime.com, you'll find cover art and sample chapters for four upcoming titles, all of them brand new:

* GETTING OFF: A Novel of Sex and Violence by Lawrence Block (writing as Jill Emerson) -- The story of a beautiful young woman who sets off on a mission to kill every man she's ever slept with (and she's slept with quite a few). For this book, Lawrence Block is reviving a pseudonym he hasn't used in almost 40 years, under which he wrote seven particularly sexy books back in the day. When he saw how sexy this new one was coming out, he thought...that's the Jill Emerson in me coming out again...

* THE CONSUMMATA by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins -- In the late 1960s, Mickey Spillane announced he was writing a new novel featuring the star of his bestseller THE DELTA FACTOR, but after writing half the book, he set he manuscript aside. Twenty years later, he handed the unfinished manuscript to his friend Max Allan Collins, suggesting that Max might finish it someday. And twenty-some years after that...it's finally done. It's the story of one thief going after another against the backdrop of Miami's Cuban-American community, and it's classic Spillane. Anyone who misses the Good Old Stuff will find plenty to love here.

* QUARRY'S EX by Max Allan Collins -- This is one I know you've been waiting for a long time, the next story in the saga of the hit man known as Quarry (star of THE LAST QUARRY, THE FIRST QUARRY, and QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE). This time, Quarry sets out to protect a movie director who's been marked for murder...only to discover that the director is married to Quarry's ex-wife, the woman whose infidelity pushed him into a life of crime in the first place.

* CHOKE HOLD by Christa Faust -- Another long-awaited title, this is the follow-up to Christa's Edgar Award-nominated MONEY SHOT. Ex-porn star Angel Dare is back; when a old co-star is gunned down in front of her, it's up to her to get his 18-year-old son, a hotheaded MMA fighter, to Las Vegas in one piece while two separate groups of killers are gunning for them.

Lots to look forward to! Do check out the covers -- and if you're hungry for some great reading now, you can prepare for the new books coming out (which doesn't happen till September/October) by ordering any of the old ones you've missed. If you haven't met Quarry or Angel Dare yet, you're in for a treat -- grab yourself a copy of MONEY SHOT or the earlier Quarry books. For Spillane fans, there's DEAD STREET, Mickey's last novel. And we have five other books by Lawrence Block you can enjoy while waiting for GETTING OFF to come out: GRIFTER'S GAME, THE GIRL WITH THE LONG GREEN HEART, LUCKY AT CARDS, A DIET OF TREACLE, and KILLING CASTRO.

Other news...

Things are moving forward on the film adaptation of LITTLE GIRL LOST -- I spent an afternoon with the screenwriter who's penning the adaptation, showing him around some of the real-world locations where scenes from the book take place. (And scenes from its sequel, SONGS OF INNOCENCE. We checked out the tunnels under Columbia University, and the all-night tempura joint on Broadway, and FAO Schwarz...) No guarantee the movie will go before the cameras, but...every step we take makes it that much more likely.

And HAVEN, the TV series based (loosely) on our 13th book, Stephen King's THE COLORADO KID, is gearing up for its second season on SyFy. The writers are working in a white-hot storytelling heat, with filming scheduled to begin in a few months. I'm biased, but I think the show really hit its stride in the second half of the season last year, and there are some great stories coming up. We don't have a premiere date yet for the second season, but I'll let you know as soon as we do.

One final bit of news (if you'll forgive a bit of boasting by a proud father): the Ardai/Novik clan saw an addition in December, a baby girl named Evidence ("Evi" for short).

We'll add a photo of her to the Web site just as soon as she's old enough to wear a fedora.

Best,
Charles

If you're a Fan of Dorchester Publishing here on Facebook, how about dropping by their wall today and posting: "Dear Dorchester, why are you continuing to sell e-books that you do not have the rights to?"

Friends,

Now that Spring has sprung and June has bloomed, we're just three months away from Hard Case Crime's big re-launch.

Our last new title was Brett Halliday's MURDER IS MY BUSINESS back in August 2010, so we'll have been on hiatus for a bit over a year when our new books hit stores in September. But what a comeback we've got in store! Four books, all brand new, including an original novel by Lawrence Block called GETTING OFF (our first ever hardcover title); a new Quarry novel from Max Allan Collins, QUARRY'S EX; a new novel from Christa Faust, CHOKE HOLD, starring Angel Dare from her Edgar Award-nominated MONEY SHOT; and THE CONSUMMATA, the long-awaited second adventure of the hero of Mickey Spillane's bestselling THE DELTA FACTOR, which was begun by Spillane in the 1960s and finished by Spillane's long-time friend Max Allan Collins some four decades later. You can get a taste of each of these books at our Web site, www.HardCaseCrime.com.

While you're there you can also enjoy a glimpse of our big Spring 2012 title, a never-before-published novel by the late, great Donald E. Westlake. The book is called THE COMEDY IS FINISHED, and it's going to be our second hardcover ever. Don wrote it between the late 1970s and early 80s, but never published it because he found himself worrying that its premise -- the kidnaping of a famous television comedian -- was too similar to the movie "The King of Comedy," which Martin Scorsese released around the same time. He shouldn't have worried -- the book and the movie aren't similar at all outside of sharing that basic premise. It's a hell of a good book and one that very much deserves to be in print, and we're very excited to be bringing it out for the first time, with a fabulous cover by Greg Manchess.

If you would like a Westlake fix sooner than that, we'll be bringing out a trade paperback edition of SOMEBODY OWES ME MONEY at the start of July (you'll see it on the front tables at Barnes & Noble, among other places). It's our first book ever in the slightly larger trade paperback format, and as much as I like the smaller pocket-sized format we've used in the past, I have to say I love how this particular cover painting looks with a little more room to breathe. You can pre-order the new edition online already; you can also pre-order THE COMEDY IS FINISHED and all our September/October titles.

Meanwhile, all our old titles should be back in stores at this point, so if there are any holes in your collection you should be able to fill them now.

We're still waiting to hear from our new publisher, Titan Books, about whether or not they'll be able to offer a 'book club'-style subscription service of the sort our old publisher used to offer -- they'd like to, but it's a complicated thing to set up, and the jury's still out. (As soon as we have a final answer from them, we'll let you know.) But fortunately there are other ways to get both our old books and our forthcoming titles by mail if you want them that way -- you can find them on Amazon.com, BN.com, and numerous other sites. Or you can ask your local bookseller to get them for you. We'd encourage you to support your local brick-and-mortar bookstores if at all possible -- they need your business to stay in business. But you have a wide range of options, and we're grateful for your support no matter which option you choose.

Finally, note that HAVEN, the TV series inspired by Stephen King's Hard Case Crime title, THE COLORADO KID, returns to SyFy on July 15th. I'm not penning an episode myself this season but I'm still working on the show as a producer and consulting on all the scripts, and I can tell you we've got some good ones coming. (Plus a new character, Evidence Ryan, named after my newborn daughter. Has there ever been a better reason to watch a TV show than that...?)

Hope you enjoy HAVEN if you do check it out; our new books when they start coming; and the rest of what will no doubt be a long, hot summer.

Best,
Charles
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Charles Ardai
Editor, Hard Case Crime