Hard Case Crime

[Ian Ascher]

Ive seen these books in the stores for the past few years and love the cover art but never picked one up to read. Now that i've really started to get into crime fiction (thanks in part to my father and in part to Ed Brubaker) I've been keeping my eye out for them in the local used books stores.

Anyone else read books from this publisher and anyone have any favs they can recomend?

[j giar]

I haven't read any of the books you mentioned....but enjoy a good crime novel.
I could recommend Sunset and Sawdust by Joe Lansdale and just recently I read and finished Elmore Leonards Killshot.

[Ian Ascher]

Check out the website here: http://www.hardcasecrime.com/index.shtml

The list of writers is really solid and they represent both new projects and reprints of some long out of print books.

I love the cover art and design on these paperbacks. Would love to get a few of them as posters.

I just picked up Two for the Money by Max Allan Collins and The Colorado Kid by Stephen King at the Half Price book store this evening.

[ponyrl]

Charles (publisher) is a good guy. The covers are all paintings he has commisioned for each book.

I published a short story of his that won best of and is being reprinted.

Ed Gorman's anthology should be coming out with it maybe next month.

BIG comic guy.

He's published a few novels under the name Charles Alessi.

[Ian Ascher]

I read the Colorado Kid by Stephen King over two nights. Its a short book (only 186 pages w/ an Epilogue by King)

Not at all what I expected. I understand exactly what he was trying to do. Still don't know if it was good or bad.

Only a chapter into Max Allen Collins Two for the Money.

Ponyrl: I think I saw Charles has two novels under this imprint. I don't know if these are the ones you're talking about under his actual name or different books all together. I plan on grabbing a lot of these over the next few months.

[ponyrl]

They're different books.

'Little Girl Lost' is his under the Alessi Name, one of the first I believe.

[Mark Bertolini]

I'm pretty sure Andrew Vachss did a Hard Case book....the Getaway Man (or something like that, read it a while ago). Vachss is the king of hardboiled crime stories, IMO.

[ponyrl]

I think that was published by Vintage.

Here's a list of HCC's books: (correction: Aleas is his pseudonym)

THE CORPSE WORE PASTIES
Jonny Porkpie
December 2009

QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE
Max Allan Collins
November 2009

HONEY IN HIS MOUTH
Lester Dent
October 2009

LOSERS LIVE LONGER
Russell Atwood
September 2009

STOP THIS MAN!
Peter Rabe
August 2009

PASSPORT TO PERIL
Robert B. Parker
July 2009

FAKE I.D.
Jason Starr
June 2009

CASINO MOON
Peter Blauner
May 2009

HOUSE DICK
E. Howard Hunt
April 2009

THE CUTIE
Donald E. Westlake
March 2009

THE DEAD MAN'S BROTHER
Roger Zelazny
February 2009

KILLING CASTRO
Lawrence Block
January 2009

FIFTY-TO-ONE
Charles Ardai
December 2008

GUN WORK
David J. Schow
November 2008

THE FIRST QUARRY
Max Allan Collins
October 2008

THE MAX
Ken Bruen, Jason Starr
September 2008

BABY MOLL
John Farris
August 2008

NO HOUSE LIMIT
Steve Fisher
July 2008

SOMEBODY OWES ME MONEY
Donald E. Westlake
June 2008

THE MURDERER VINE
Shepard Rifkin
May 2008

SHOOTING STAR/SPIDERWEB
Robert Bloch
April 2008

ZERO COOL
John Lange
March 2008

MONEY SHOT
Christa Faust
February 2008

A DIET OF TREACLE
Lawrence Block
January 2008

DEADLY BELOVED
Max Allan Collins
December 2007

DEAD STREET
Mickey Spillane
November 2007

SLIDE
Ken Bruen, Jason Starr
October 2007

KILL NOW, PAY LATER
Robert Terrall
September 2007

FRIGHT
Cornell Woolrich
August 2007

SONGS OF INNOCENCE
Richard Aleas
July 2007

BLACKMAILER
George Axelrod
June 2007

THE WOUNDED AND THE SLAIN
David Goodis
May 2007

THE VENGEFUL VIRGIN
Gil Brewer
April 2007

ROBBIE'S WIFE
Russell Hill
March 2007

LUCKY AT CARDS
Lawrence Block
February 2007

THE PEDDLER
Richard S. Prather
December 2006

GRAVE DESCEND
John Lange
November 2006

THE LAST MATCH
David Dodge
October 2006

THE GUNS OF HEAVEN
Pete Hamill
September 2006

THE LAST QUARRY
Max Allan Collins
August 2006

LEMONS NEVER LIE
Richard Stark
July 2006

STRAIGHT CUT
Madison Smartt Bell
June 2006

BUST
Ken Bruen, Jason Starr
May 2006

WITNESS TO MYSELF
Seymour Shubin
April 2006

SAY IT WITH BULLETS
Richard Powell
March 2006

A TOUCH OF DEATH
Charles Williams
February 2006

NIGHT WALKER
Donald Hamilton
January 2006

THE GUTTER AND THE GRAVE
Ed McBain
December 2005

THE GIRL WITH THE LONG GREEN HEART
Lawrence Block
November 2005

THE COLORADO KID
Stephen King
October 2005

DUTCH UNCLE
Peter Pavia
July 2005

BRANDED WOMAN
Wade Miller
July 2005

PLUNDER OF THE SUN
David Dodge
May 2005

361
Donald E. Westlake
May 2005

KISS HER GOODBYE
Allan Guthrie
March 2005

HOME IS THE SAILOR
Day Keene
March 2005

THE CONFESSION
Domenic Stansberry
November 2004

TWO FOR THE MONEY
Max Allan Collins
November 2004

LITTLE GIRL LOST
Richard Aleas
October 2004

TOP OF THE HEAP
Erle Stanley Gardner
October 2004

FADE TO BLONDE
Max Phillips
September 2004

GRIFTER'S GAME
Lawrence Block
September 2004

[Ian Ascher]

My father read Vachss and gave me the books as he finished them. I've fallen behind but with the last Burke novel out I want to play catch up and see how his hard boiled hero goes out.

Its funny because there were several stores that carried the Hard Case paperbacks when they first came out and now that I'm looking for them, they dont. Bummer.

Would love to see a novel from Brubaker or Swerzierski(sp) someday in this line.

[RonaldMontgomery]

The Gutter and the Grave got me hooked. It was a fun book.

The Hard Case Crime Book Club is a great deal, and they'll occasionally have BOGO sales...right now it's 20% off and free shipping (on the back catalogue) for club members.

[Ian Ascher]

I've been very tempted to join since I found that...

Picked up Dead Street by Mickey Spillane, Top of the Heap by Erle Stanley Gardner, and Grifter's Game by Lawrence Block this weekend. 3-for-1 and the used book store.

[RonaldMontgomery]

Can't beat that deal!
I too wish some of the paintings would be issued as posters.

I'm a total freak purist. I read the books very gently, then bag them in mylar. I have the entire collection sitting in a cool, dry, dark closet. If I read a copy too hard, like #50, I'll buy another copy to bag up.
(I think it's a product of collecting comics in the '80s, and the obsessive grading used when back issues were money-makers.)

[Ian Ascher]

Can't beat that deal!
I too wish some of the paintings would be issued as posters.

I'm a total freak purist. I read the books very gently, then bag them in mylar. I have the entire collection sitting in a cool, dry, dark closet. If I read a copy too hard, like #50, I'll buy another copy to bag up.
(I think it's a product of collecting comics in the '80s, and the obsessive grading used when back issues were money-makers.)


Wow... that's insane but very cool. I've met book people like that and as a comic book junkie first, I understand 100% where you're coming from.

So far the copies I've bought have been in excellent condition.

I've found some of the artists issue prints of their covers on their own personal websites but its not the same without the trade dress and logos. Seeing those movie poster size would be awesome.