Hard Case Crime, Part 4
10-27-16, 03:02 PM
#426
Moderator
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
^ Awesome. 
Amazes me how many unpublished stories they're able to unearth. Cool cover art to boot. 
I assume this will be given the hardcover treatment.
Amazes me how many unpublished stories they're able to unearth. Cool cover art to boot. I assume this will be given the hardcover treatment.
04-03-17, 08:16 AM
#429
Moderator
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
A couple new releases for later this year.
October
THERE’S NOTHING MORE DANGEROUS
THAN A LOADED MAGAZINE
Memphis, 1975. "Raunchy" doesn’t begin to describe Max Climer’s magazine, Climax, or his all-hours strip club, or his planned video empire. Evangelists, feminists, and local watchdog groups all want him out of business. But someone wants more than that, and has hired a killer to end Max’s career permanently. Only another hit man—the ruthless professional known as Quarry, star of the acclaimed series on Cinemax—can keep Climer from becoming a casualty in the Sexual Revolution.
The longest-running series from Max Allan Collins, author of ROAD TO PERDITION, the Quarry novels tell the story of an assassin with an unlikely taste for justice. Once a Marine sniper, Quarry found a new home stateside with a group of contract killers. But some men aren’t made for taking orders…
November
COOL AND LAM RETURN—
IN THE CASE OF A LIFETIME
Erle Stanley Gardner was not just the creator of PERRY MASON—at the time of his death, he was the best-selling American author of all time, with hundreds of millions of books in print. Among those books were the 29 cases of the brash, irresistible detective team of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. Last year, Hard Case Crime brought out the first new Cool and Lam novel in decades, THE KNIFE SLIPPED, lost for 77 years after Gardner’s publisher refused it. Now, we’re bringing you the book Gardner wrote to replace it, often considered the best in the series: TURN ON THE HEAT.
"A remarkable discovery...fans will rejoice at another dose of Gardner’s unexcelled mastery of pace and an unexpected new taste of his duo’s cyanide chemistry."—Kirkus Reviews on THE KNIFE SLIPPED
Hired by a mysterious "Mr. Smith" to find a woman who vanished 21 years earlier, Donald Lam finds himself facing a sadistic cop, a desperate showgirl, a duplicitous client, and one very dogged (and beautiful) newspaper reporter—while Bertha Cool’s attempts to cut herself in on this lucrative opportunity land them both hip-deep in murder...
October
THERE’S NOTHING MORE DANGEROUS
THAN A LOADED MAGAZINE
Memphis, 1975. "Raunchy" doesn’t begin to describe Max Climer’s magazine, Climax, or his all-hours strip club, or his planned video empire. Evangelists, feminists, and local watchdog groups all want him out of business. But someone wants more than that, and has hired a killer to end Max’s career permanently. Only another hit man—the ruthless professional known as Quarry, star of the acclaimed series on Cinemax—can keep Climer from becoming a casualty in the Sexual Revolution.
The longest-running series from Max Allan Collins, author of ROAD TO PERDITION, the Quarry novels tell the story of an assassin with an unlikely taste for justice. Once a Marine sniper, Quarry found a new home stateside with a group of contract killers. But some men aren’t made for taking orders…
- First publication ever!
- A new Quarry novel set in the time of the hit Cinemax series
- Features a new cover painting by the legendary Robert McGinnis
November
COOL AND LAM RETURN—
IN THE CASE OF A LIFETIME
Erle Stanley Gardner was not just the creator of PERRY MASON—at the time of his death, he was the best-selling American author of all time, with hundreds of millions of books in print. Among those books were the 29 cases of the brash, irresistible detective team of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. Last year, Hard Case Crime brought out the first new Cool and Lam novel in decades, THE KNIFE SLIPPED, lost for 77 years after Gardner’s publisher refused it. Now, we’re bringing you the book Gardner wrote to replace it, often considered the best in the series: TURN ON THE HEAT.
"A remarkable discovery...fans will rejoice at another dose of Gardner’s unexcelled mastery of pace and an unexpected new taste of his duo’s cyanide chemistry."—Kirkus Reviews on THE KNIFE SLIPPED
Hired by a mysterious "Mr. Smith" to find a woman who vanished 21 years earlier, Donald Lam finds himself facing a sadistic cop, a desperate showgirl, a duplicitous client, and one very dogged (and beautiful) newspaper reporter—while Bertha Cool’s attempts to cut herself in on this lucrative opportunity land them both hip-deep in murder...
- First appearance in bookstores in half a century!
- Erle Stanley Gardner remains one of the most popular American authors of all time
- Features a new cover painting by Laurel Blechman, working from reference photos shot by the legendary pulp illustrator Robert Maguire.
04-05-17, 10:56 AM
#430
DVD Talk Reviewer Emeritus
Thread Starter
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
And the most represented author in the HCC line gets another! By my count, that's #14 for Collins. Lawrence Block trails with 10.
I like that cover. Feels like a bit of a departure--the garishness of it.
I like that cover. Feels like a bit of a departure--the garishness of it.
Last edited by Jason Bovberg; 05-07-17 at 12:35 PM.
06-16-17, 10:07 AM
#432
Moderator
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
Yeah, my copy arrived yesterday. She's a beauty at 400+ pages.
Also, I see another Westlake title has been added to the catalog for a Feb 2018 release. This was last published in paperback in the late-80s by Mysterious Press. The original hardcover was published in the mid-70s and is difficult to find in good shape. I have the MP book and will likely pick this up being the HCC completest that I am.
Also, I see another Westlake title has been added to the catalog for a Feb 2018 release. This was last published in paperback in the late-80s by Mysterious Press. The original hardcover was published in the mid-70s and is difficult to find in good shape. I have the MP book and will likely pick this up being the HCC completest that I am.
11-16-17, 11:59 AM
#434
DVD Talk Reviewer Emeritus
Thread Starter
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
Here's an interesting excerpt from an interview with Charles Ardai, for those who are collecting the Hard Case Crime line. I've wondered why Hard Case doesn't include edition/printing details on the copyright page. It can make identifying first editions difficult. Here's the reason.
CA: Unfortunately for collectors, we don’t distinguish first editions in any obvious way, although in a few cases there are clues.
PS: It’s interesting that you don’t typically distinguish between later printings. Why is that, and in the case where you do, since it’s not in any obvious way, how would a collector identify a later printing?
CA: It’s mostly an artifact of the arrangement we had with Dorchester and currently have with Titan: Once we hand off a ready-to-print file to them, they can’t alter it. So if we wanted to make some change to the pages of the book later, I’d have to manually produce a new, changed ready-to-print file and get it to Titan. But Titan and Dorchester make the printing and reprinting decisions on their own without consulting me. It would have been a hassle for them to have to contact me before reprinting and have to wait for me to produce a new file to print, and it would have been a hassle for me to have to produce that new file. It was simpler on both them and me to just let them reprint whenever they wanted, without any change to the interior pages.
So, if there was no change to the interior pages, how can a collector identify a later printing? Well, often they can’t. But sometimes there were changes made. The biggest one came when we switched from Dorchester to Titan – at that point, we did supply new print-ready files for every book, and those new files have Titan’s name and address on the copyright page rather than Dorchester’s. So if you get a copy of one of our first 66 titles (the ones in mass-market format) but Titan’s name is on the copyright page, it’s not a first printing.
Then, too, there were some books that won awards, or got nominated for them, and for later printings we changed the front cover to say so – if you get a copy of FADE TO BLONDE, LITTLE GIRL LOST, or THE CONFESSION by Domenic Stansberry that mentions an award on the front cover, it’s not a first printing.
And in some cases we did tweak the interior pages slightly for other reasons. For instance, when we initially printed our first 4 titles (I believe), the “OTHER BOOKS YOU MIGHT ENJOY” page opposite the title page listed some upcoming titles with an asterisk saying “Coming Soon.” Once those books had been published, we changed the “OTHER BOOKS” page for later printings so that the “Coming Soon” designation was removed.
And starting in October 2005 – when we published THE COLORADO KID, our 13th title – we launched a subscription service (the “Hard Case Crime Book Club,” I believe it was called), which was advertised by means of a stiff advertising card tipped into the book between signatures. If you get a copy of one of our first 12 titles that has such a card bound in, it must have been produced after October 2005, and thus is can’t be a first edition.
So those are some clues a collector can look for. But they’re only present in some cases, not all. And that means that identifying a true first printing of one of our books is a bit of a hit or miss proposition.
CA: Unfortunately for collectors, we don’t distinguish first editions in any obvious way, although in a few cases there are clues.
PS: It’s interesting that you don’t typically distinguish between later printings. Why is that, and in the case where you do, since it’s not in any obvious way, how would a collector identify a later printing?
CA: It’s mostly an artifact of the arrangement we had with Dorchester and currently have with Titan: Once we hand off a ready-to-print file to them, they can’t alter it. So if we wanted to make some change to the pages of the book later, I’d have to manually produce a new, changed ready-to-print file and get it to Titan. But Titan and Dorchester make the printing and reprinting decisions on their own without consulting me. It would have been a hassle for them to have to contact me before reprinting and have to wait for me to produce a new file to print, and it would have been a hassle for me to have to produce that new file. It was simpler on both them and me to just let them reprint whenever they wanted, without any change to the interior pages.
So, if there was no change to the interior pages, how can a collector identify a later printing? Well, often they can’t. But sometimes there were changes made. The biggest one came when we switched from Dorchester to Titan – at that point, we did supply new print-ready files for every book, and those new files have Titan’s name and address on the copyright page rather than Dorchester’s. So if you get a copy of one of our first 66 titles (the ones in mass-market format) but Titan’s name is on the copyright page, it’s not a first printing.
Then, too, there were some books that won awards, or got nominated for them, and for later printings we changed the front cover to say so – if you get a copy of FADE TO BLONDE, LITTLE GIRL LOST, or THE CONFESSION by Domenic Stansberry that mentions an award on the front cover, it’s not a first printing.
And in some cases we did tweak the interior pages slightly for other reasons. For instance, when we initially printed our first 4 titles (I believe), the “OTHER BOOKS YOU MIGHT ENJOY” page opposite the title page listed some upcoming titles with an asterisk saying “Coming Soon.” Once those books had been published, we changed the “OTHER BOOKS” page for later printings so that the “Coming Soon” designation was removed.
And starting in October 2005 – when we published THE COLORADO KID, our 13th title – we launched a subscription service (the “Hard Case Crime Book Club,” I believe it was called), which was advertised by means of a stiff advertising card tipped into the book between signatures. If you get a copy of one of our first 12 titles that has such a card bound in, it must have been produced after October 2005, and thus is can’t be a first edition.
So those are some clues a collector can look for. But they’re only present in some cases, not all. And that means that identifying a true first printing of one of our books is a bit of a hit or miss proposition.
11-16-17, 12:08 PM
#435
DVD Talk Reviewer Emeritus
Thread Starter
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
New Mickey Spillane for March 2018: THE LAST STAND.
ON MICKEY SPILLANE’S 100TH BIRTHDAY—
A BRAND-NEW NOVEL BY THE MASTER
When legendary mystery writer Mickey Spillane died in 2006, he left behind the manuscript of one last novel he’d just completed: THE LAST STAND. He asked his friend and colleague (and fellow Mystery Writers of America Grand Master) Max Allan Collins to take responsibility for finding the right time and place to publish this final book. Now, on the hundredth anniversary of Spillane’s birth, his millions of fans will at last get to read THE LAST STAND, together with a second never-before-published work, this one from early in Spillane’s career: the feverish crime novella A BULLET FOR SATISFACTION.
ON MICKEY SPILLANE’S 100TH BIRTHDAY—
A BRAND-NEW NOVEL BY THE MASTER
When legendary mystery writer Mickey Spillane died in 2006, he left behind the manuscript of one last novel he’d just completed: THE LAST STAND. He asked his friend and colleague (and fellow Mystery Writers of America Grand Master) Max Allan Collins to take responsibility for finding the right time and place to publish this final book. Now, on the hundredth anniversary of Spillane’s birth, his millions of fans will at last get to read THE LAST STAND, together with a second never-before-published work, this one from early in Spillane’s career: the feverish crime novella A BULLET FOR SATISFACTION.
12-29-17, 12:45 PM
#436
DVD Talk Reviewer Emeritus
Thread Starter
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
A Charles Willeford novel called UNDERSTUDY FOR DEATH is set for July 2018.
AN UNFORGIVABLE CRIME.
AN UNFORGETTABLE NOVEL.
Why would a happily married Florida housewife pick up her husband’s .22 caliber Colt Woodsman semi-automatic pistol and use it to kill her two young children and herself? Cynical newspaper reporter Richard Hudson is assigned to find out—and the assignment will send him down a road of self-discovery in this incisive, no-holds-barred portrait of American marriage in the Mad Men era.
On the 30th anniversary of the death of the masterful novelist the Atlantic Monthly called the "father of Miami crime fiction," Hard Case Crime is proud to present Charles Willeford’s legendary lost novel, unavailable since its original publication by a disreputable paperback house in 1961. One of Willeford’s rarest titles (copies of the original edition sell for hundreds of dollars), Understudy for Death still has the power to disturb, half a century after its debut.
AN UNFORGIVABLE CRIME.
AN UNFORGETTABLE NOVEL.
Why would a happily married Florida housewife pick up her husband’s .22 caliber Colt Woodsman semi-automatic pistol and use it to kill her two young children and herself? Cynical newspaper reporter Richard Hudson is assigned to find out—and the assignment will send him down a road of self-discovery in this incisive, no-holds-barred portrait of American marriage in the Mad Men era.
On the 30th anniversary of the death of the masterful novelist the Atlantic Monthly called the "father of Miami crime fiction," Hard Case Crime is proud to present Charles Willeford’s legendary lost novel, unavailable since its original publication by a disreputable paperback house in 1961. One of Willeford’s rarest titles (copies of the original edition sell for hundreds of dollars), Understudy for Death still has the power to disturb, half a century after its debut.
01-02-18, 12:23 PM
#437
DVD Talk Reviewer Emeritus
Thread Starter
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
A debut novel called CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL is coming in September.
AN INGENIOUS DEBUT NOVEL
INSPIRED BY A REAL UNSOLVED CRIME!
1946: A group of criminals pulls off the heist of the century, stealing a dozen priceless works of art from a Boston museum. Some of the thieves are captured, some are killed—but the loot is never found.
Forty years later, a college student finds himself on the trail of the missing art—and the multi-million-dollar reward.
But three decades after that, the art is still missing, and as his classmates return to Boston’s notorious Charlesgate Hotel for their big 25th reunion, dead bodies keep turning up. Will the stolen masterpieces be discovered at last?
A breathtakingly clever, twist-filled narrative that moves from 1946 to 1986 to 2014 and back again—and is steeped in Boston lore, including three unforgettable seasons of Red Sox baseball—CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL establishes Scott Von Doviak as a storyteller of the first order, and will leave you guessing until the final page.
AN INGENIOUS DEBUT NOVEL
INSPIRED BY A REAL UNSOLVED CRIME!
1946: A group of criminals pulls off the heist of the century, stealing a dozen priceless works of art from a Boston museum. Some of the thieves are captured, some are killed—but the loot is never found.
Forty years later, a college student finds himself on the trail of the missing art—and the multi-million-dollar reward.
But three decades after that, the art is still missing, and as his classmates return to Boston’s notorious Charlesgate Hotel for their big 25th reunion, dead bodies keep turning up. Will the stolen masterpieces be discovered at last?
A breathtakingly clever, twist-filled narrative that moves from 1946 to 1986 to 2014 and back again—and is steeped in Boston lore, including three unforgettable seasons of Red Sox baseball—CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL establishes Scott Von Doviak as a storyteller of the first order, and will leave you guessing until the final page.
02-27-18, 10:37 AM
#438
DVD Talk Reviewer Emeritus
Thread Starter
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
An Erle Stanley Gardner coming in October...
A DOUBLE-LOCKED ROOM...
TWO STOLEN JADE IDOLS...
POISONED BLOWGUN DARTS FROM BORNEO...
—CAN EVEN COOL & LAM UNTANGLE THIS MYSTERY?
Erle Stanley Gardner was not just the creator of PERRY MASON—at the time of his death, he was the best-selling American author of all time, with hundreds of millions of books in print, including the 29 cases of the brash, irresistible detective team of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. Gardner was also one of the most ingenious plot-spinners in the field, coming up with stunning twists and reveals—and THE COUNT OF 9 is Gardner at his twistiest.
Hired to protect the treasures of a globe-trotting adventurer, Bertha and Donald confront an impossible crime: how could anything be smuggled out of a dinner party when the guests were X-rayed coming and going—least of all a 6-foot-long blowgun? But that’s nothing compared to the crime they face next: an impossible murder...
A DOUBLE-LOCKED ROOM...
TWO STOLEN JADE IDOLS...
POISONED BLOWGUN DARTS FROM BORNEO...
—CAN EVEN COOL & LAM UNTANGLE THIS MYSTERY?
Erle Stanley Gardner was not just the creator of PERRY MASON—at the time of his death, he was the best-selling American author of all time, with hundreds of millions of books in print, including the 29 cases of the brash, irresistible detective team of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. Gardner was also one of the most ingenious plot-spinners in the field, coming up with stunning twists and reveals—and THE COUNT OF 9 is Gardner at his twistiest.
Hired to protect the treasures of a globe-trotting adventurer, Bertha and Donald confront an impossible crime: how could anything be smuggled out of a dinner party when the guests were X-rayed coming and going—least of all a 6-foot-long blowgun? But that’s nothing compared to the crime they face next: an impossible murder...
02-28-18, 09:18 AM
#439
Moderator
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
Does HCC still send out periodic newsletters? I don't think I've received one in more than a year or so. This thread has been very helpful for updates.
Glad to see another C&L mystery being released. I recently picked up a pile of several HCC titles released over the last year or so. I've got some catching up to do.
I was actually able to keep current more efficiently when they were released in the smaller format and on a more frequent (i.e., monthly) basis. I think because I'd plan for it and it became routine. The current release schedule is more random and I've fallen behind.
Glad to see another C&L mystery being released.
I recently picked up a pile of several HCC titles released over the last year or so. I've got some catching up to do.I was actually able to keep current more efficiently when they were released in the smaller format and on a more frequent (i.e., monthly) basis. I think because I'd plan for it and it became routine. The current release schedule is more random and I've fallen behind.
03-01-18, 04:33 PM
#440
DVD Talk Reviewer Emeritus
Thread Starter
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
Does HCC still send out periodic newsletters? I don't think I've received one in more than a year or so. This thread has been very helpful for updates.
Glad to see another C&L mystery being released. I recently picked up a pile of several HCC titles released over the last year or so. I've got some catching up to do.
I was actually able to keep current more efficiently when they were released in the smaller format and on a more frequent (i.e., monthly) basis. I think because I'd plan for it and it became routine. The current release schedule is more random and I've fallen behind.
Glad to see another C&L mystery being released.
I recently picked up a pile of several HCC titles released over the last year or so. I've got some catching up to do.I was actually able to keep current more efficiently when they were released in the smaller format and on a more frequent (i.e., monthly) basis. I think because I'd plan for it and it became routine. The current release schedule is more random and I've fallen behind.
I haven't seen an email update in a long time, either. I just check the HCC site now and then. Agreed on the schedule, tough to keep up on.
06-27-18, 03:58 PM
#442
DVD Talk Reviewer Emeritus
Thread Starter
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
Lookee what I found on Amazon. It's not on the HCC site yet, so more info to come. At first I thought the author was Michael Chabon, and I got all excited. Anyway, coming in November.
Anyway, coming in November.
08-11-18, 02:26 PM
#445
DVD Talk Reviewer Emeritus
Thread Starter
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
Good eye! This is what Ardai says in the latest newsletter: "The icing on the cake is the stunning cover art, which is the first ever collaboration -- posthumously! -- between the two greatest painters of paperback cover art, Robert McGinnis (who executed the painting) and the late Robert Maguire (who shot the reference photos the painting was based on)."
08-22-18, 10:18 AM
#447
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
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Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
There are certain events that are referenced in each book, so I would probably recommend reading them in order if you can. But they are mostly self-contained, so you wouldn't have much difficulty following along if you read them out of order.
09-19-18, 09:58 AM
#449
DVD Talk Reviewer Emeritus
Thread Starter
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL is in stores now, and available at Amazon for a good price, last I checked. This one is getting some great buzz!
A debut novel called CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL is coming in September.
AN INGENIOUS DEBUT NOVEL
INSPIRED BY A REAL UNSOLVED CRIME!
1946: A group of criminals pulls off the heist of the century, stealing a dozen priceless works of art from a Boston museum. Some of the thieves are captured, some are killed—but the loot is never found.
Forty years later, a college student finds himself on the trail of the missing art—and the multi-million-dollar reward.
But three decades after that, the art is still missing, and as his classmates return to Boston’s notorious Charlesgate Hotel for their big 25th reunion, dead bodies keep turning up. Will the stolen masterpieces be discovered at last?
A breathtakingly clever, twist-filled narrative that moves from 1946 to 1986 to 2014 and back again—and is steeped in Boston lore, including three unforgettable seasons of Red Sox baseball—CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL establishes Scott Von Doviak as a storyteller of the first order, and will leave you guessing until the final page.
AN INGENIOUS DEBUT NOVEL
INSPIRED BY A REAL UNSOLVED CRIME!
1946: A group of criminals pulls off the heist of the century, stealing a dozen priceless works of art from a Boston museum. Some of the thieves are captured, some are killed—but the loot is never found.
Forty years later, a college student finds himself on the trail of the missing art—and the multi-million-dollar reward.
But three decades after that, the art is still missing, and as his classmates return to Boston’s notorious Charlesgate Hotel for their big 25th reunion, dead bodies keep turning up. Will the stolen masterpieces be discovered at last?
A breathtakingly clever, twist-filled narrative that moves from 1946 to 1986 to 2014 and back again—and is steeped in Boston lore, including three unforgettable seasons of Red Sox baseball—CHARLESGATE CONFIDENTIAL establishes Scott Von Doviak as a storyteller of the first order, and will leave you guessing until the final page.
11-05-18, 10:29 AM
#450
DVD Talk Reviewer Emeritus
Thread Starter
Re: Hard Case Crime, Part 4
New Donald Westlake coming in February 2019.
"FORGIVE ME, FATHER, FOR I HAVE RENTED."
What will a group of monks do when their century-old monastery in New York City is threatened with demolition to make room for a new high-rise? Anything they have to. "Though Shalt Not Steal" is only the first of the Commandments to be broken as the saintly face off against the unscrupulous over that most sacred of relics, a Park Avenue address.
Returning to bookstores for the first time in three decades, BROTHERS KEEPERS offers not only a master class in comedy from one of the most beloved mystery writers of all time but also a surprisingly heartfelt meditation on loss, temptation, and how we treat our fellow man.
"FORGIVE ME, FATHER, FOR I HAVE RENTED."
What will a group of monks do when their century-old monastery in New York City is threatened with demolition to make room for a new high-rise? Anything they have to. "Though Shalt Not Steal" is only the first of the Commandments to be broken as the saintly face off against the unscrupulous over that most sacred of relics, a Park Avenue address.
Returning to bookstores for the first time in three decades, BROTHERS KEEPERS offers not only a master class in comedy from one of the most beloved mystery writers of all time but also a surprisingly heartfelt meditation on loss, temptation, and how we treat our fellow man.
