Hard Case Crime -- The Nwah thread

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

As I've posted elsewhere, I recently joined the Hard Case Crime book club. Hard Case Crime books are short crime novels in the classic noir style, with classic pulp style covers. They feature either new novels from modern masters, or reprints of the classics.

I read where Ed Brubaker subscribes to their monthly book club, whereby you get their new novel each month for 2.99 (plus 2 bucks shipping, still cheaper than cover). So I did it, too. I love to just hold these books, and I'll work them into my reading somehow.

My first one arrived today -- it's the brand new one for October 2008.

http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bios ... t%20Quarry

More news and reviews to follow in this thread. Post away with your thoughts and favorites from the crime/noir genre.

Monk · 19 Jun 2006

I really wish I had the time or money for this.

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

It's basically the cost of one comic book each month, and you get this beautiful paperback. They commission all new paintings for the covers, but in the old style.

Just browse these beautiful covers -- http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bios.cgi

And it looks like an easy read -- mine is 204 pages with large print and lots of spacing. I'll get around to them for breaks.

Monk · 19 Jun 2006

I'm reading at a rate of a book every two or three months.

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

Maybe you need to read thinner books.

Monk · 19 Jun 2006

I'm thinking it's only reading for about ten minutes when I go to bed.

I really need to read more often.

Paulie Walnuts · 31 Jul 2007

This looks like lots of fun. I might look into it a bit more...

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

Another cover I like from the cover gallery, but I don't have this book yet - - don't you just love these?

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

I do have this one, it's the first one I got. Funny story -- they asked Stephen King just to do a cover blurb for the whole Hard Case Crime line. They sent him a letter, explaining how the line of books works, and explained it seemed like something he would like and could endorse.

He responded something to the effect of "I'm well aware of what you're doing, I'd like to write one!" And I think he did it for their regular rate.

This one was pretty good, but it does not fit the mold. King purposely plays with the rules of a mystery, and breaks them.

Rob Steinbrenner · **Joined:** 05 Jun 2006 **Posts:** 49778

so basically porn without the pics

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

Li'l Jay wrote:

My first one arrived today -- it's the brand new one for October 2008.

http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bios ... t%20Quarry

I took a break this weekend from Magic Mountain (I'm half way through a slow and ponderous read) and read this book, The First Quarry by Max Allen Collins.

A nice, easy read -- these books are going to be easy to read one each month.

This one is the first "assignment" of a hitman -- it's 1972, and he's a Vietnam vet tasked to kill a Professor in Iowa City. When he's not watching his prey, he's getting "romantically" involved with the Professor's wife and the daughter of his Mafia client (the Professor's student).

Simpler times.

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

By the way, Max Allan Collins (author of the above book) is the author of the graphic novel Road to Perdition, among other works.

Chris · **Joined:** 11 Sep 2006 **Posts:** 21258

I see there is a Ms. Tree novel in there as well!

I may have to join this book club.

These look super.

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

Yesterday when I arrived home from work -- Amazon box on the porch!

I enjoyed The First Quarry (discussed above), so I ordered The Last Quarry to round out a $25 purchase and get free shipping. I'll read it if and when I get a chance and maybe post about it.

It's about the last hit job that hit-man "Quarry" is hire for. As opposed to the first one.

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

I got my next regular monthly book (the one for November 2008) in the mail. Looks pretty good.

http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bios.cgi?entry=bk49

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

I read the above-posted Gun Work last week. It was very good -- more of a "payback" tale -- "they left him for dead, now his aim is dead on!"

Notice his hand on that gun in the cover painting -- no that's not a Byrne commission. That's three fingers and a thumb on that hand, and it's based on the story!

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

This one came about two weeks ago, and I started it this morning. I couldn't put it down today!

This one is the best one yet. It's a clever take on the whole Hard Case line, written by the editor of the line. In the book, Hard Case crime novels are an actual brand in the 1950's, and a dame gets caught up in mafia danger when she writes a paperback heist novel that seems to true to life to the local mafia don.

Tuna · 21 Dec 2007

I had missed this thread before now.

That is some interesting looking stuff! Love the cover art, too. Especially the rather ripe woman in the first one. And the bit with the finger.

I just may have to track these down after the first of the year.

Marcus · 27 Nov 2004

Yes, these look cool and something I would read.

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

I finished up Fifty-to-One tonight and it was a good old-fashioned crime story. It was also a real treat for those of use following this line. It's clear that the founder considers that guy on the cover to be based on himself. And those covers on the paperbacks he has spread out before him on the desk match up with some of the real life covers of these books.

I don't know when the next new monthly one will come. I have one extra purchased (The Last Quarry) to read. But I'll turn to something else to cleanse the palate.

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

I don't ever post in this thread, though I continue to get my semi-monthly shipment of Hard Case Crime paperbacks. I love the covers, but I don't stay caught up with reading them all.

Anyway, kind of interesting development -- I just received my copy of the latest "issue," and it's the final book and never before published novel of Donald A. Westlake called Memory.

Kind of cool when they can pull in a first-time-published book by a big name, and this one being the final book of DAW is awesome.

http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bios ... tle=Memory

Quote:

THE CRIME WAS OVER IN A MINUTE—
THE CONSQUENCES LASTED A LIFETIME

Hospitalized after a liaison with another man’s wife ends in violence, Paul Cole has just one goal: to rebuild his shattered life. But with his memory damaged, the police hounding him, and no way even to get home, Paul’s facing steep odds—and a bleak fate if he fails...

This final, never-before-published novel by three-time Edgar Award winner Donald E. Westlake is a noir masterpiece, a dark and painful portrait of a man’s struggle against merciless forces that threaten to strip him of his very identity.

First publication ever!
This is the final unpublished novel by best-selling novelist Donald Westlake, who died on January 1, 2009
Westlake was nominated for an Academy Award for the screenplay of "The Grifters," and was named a Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America, the organization’s highest honor
Raves for the Work of Donald E. Westlake...
"One of the great writers of the 20th Century."
— Newsweek
"The novel’s deeper meditations will keep you thinking long after you’ve closed the book."
— USA Today

Li'l Jay · 28 May 2006

Just popping in -- I still read these books, some are really good, some are so-so. But my favorite are the "Quarry" books by Max Allen Collins. Quarry is a hit man protagonist, who sort of turns semi-good, at least as heroic as a hit man can be and still be a hit man.

The September 2011 book was the 4th Quarry book under the Hard Case Crime series (MAC wrote some in the 70's that are out of print). It was set in 1980, and deals with dangling sub-plot about Quarry's first wife.

I'll still be reading these from time to time.

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