Tarquin Hall's series about Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator, was recommended by Jeff Meyerson in a comment a while back. Since Jeff and I often agree on books, I decided to give one of Hall's a try. I'm glad I did.
The e-book revolution is breaking out all over. Writers are trying all sorts of different things. Some of the, like me, are making their backlist available. Others are branching out in new ways, and one of these others is Jack Cassidy. That's not his real name, but he's an established writer with dozens if not a hundred or so books to his credit in just about every genre there is. What he's done is to establish his own e-book press and publish novella-length fiction of his own. He's doing his own covers, too, and you must admit they're eye-catching. Nothing if not a guy with an eye for marketing, Cassidy's also selling t-shirts.
Tennessee man's plans for pool turn up ancient fossil that could be rare archaeological find - WHNT: "When Jim Leyden picked the site for his pool, he had no idea he hoped to go swimming where massive mammals once walked.
I really regret not having seen this movie in a theater showing it in 3-D. I could tell by watching the flat-screen version that the 3-D would have made it even better. Not that it's not a lot of fun even flattened. I got a huge kick out of it, maybe because I saw nearly every old monster movie referred to in it back in the days when those were the only kind of SF you could see in a theater.
61 Hours is a cold-weather book. I like those, especially in the summer. The setting is the small town of Bolton, South Dakota, in deepest winter. Lots of snow, temperatures well below freezing, the kind of thing that Alistair MacLean did so well. Friends,
The books Max Allan Collins has written for us about the hitman known as Quarry -- THE LAST QUARRY, THE FIRST QUARRY, QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE -- have been some of our most popular. One of them was even turned into a movie, "The Last Lullaby," starring Tom Sizemore as Collins' enigmatic killer.
When October comes around, we'll be adding a new entry to the list: QUARRY'S EX. This one puts Quarry in particularly hot water when, on a job, he runs into one of the few people in the world who know his true identity: his adulterous ex-wife. If you'd like to read the first chapter, you can find it on our Web site, www.HardCaseCrime.com.
Want more than a chapter? We're giving away a dozen free advance copies of the book. All you have to do is send e-mail to drawing@hardcasecrime.com (including your name and the address you'd like the book mailed to if you're selected). There's just one other thing we're asking this time: if you're chosen, we ask that you post a review somewhere online of one of the OTHER Quarry books -- it can be on your own blog if you have one, it can be a site like Amazon.com or BN.com, it can be anywhere you like. If you've already read the first three Quarry novels, that'll be easy -- just pick your favorite and tell people about it If you haven't read any of them yet, getting one (or all three!) is easy, too: just visit your favorite local or online bookseller, or order them directly from Dorchester Publishing by calling 1-800-481-9191.
All entries must be in by 5PM New York time on July 31; only one entry per person, please. Good luck!
Oh, and while I have you: We've also finally posted the first chapter of CHOKE HOLD, Christa Faust's upcoming sequel to MONEY SHOT, on our Web site, and I think you're really going to like it. Just click on the words "CHOKE HOLD" in the list of book titles on our home page, then on "Read A Sample Chapter." We're not holding a drawing for advance copies of this one yet -- but you can still enjoy a taste of what's coming...
And speaking of what's coming: At the end of this month you'll be able to find Brett Halliday's MURDER IS MY BUSINESS, the first appearance of famous detective Mike Shayne in bookstores in a couple of decades. The cover's a brand new painting by long-time Halliday illustrator (and Hard Case Crime favorite) Robert McGinnis, and the book even features a brief introduction from Hollywood screenwriter Shane Black (creator of "Lethal Weapon" and writer/director of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," which Shane based on two Mike Shayne novels).
If even the end of the month is too long for you to wait for some great summer reading, I can't urge you strongly enough to pick up a copy of the book we have in stores now, NOBODY'S ANGEL by Jack Clark. This is the book the Washington Post raved about recently, calling it "a gem" and "just about perfect." The Chicago Sun-Times called it "captivating...heartbreaking," saying "each page turn feels like real, authentic Chicago." And those are just two of the many raves the book has gotten. It's an amazing, amazing book, truly one of the finest we've ever published, and if you haven't read it yet, you should. Go get a copy and settle in for a great read.
Time for one more bit of Coming Attractions? This coming Friday -- July 9th -- is the premiere of Hard Case Crime's first ever TV series, "Haven" on SyFy. It airs at 10PM on Fridays in the U.S.; check your local listings for times and dates if you're in another country. The series is based on our bestselling book of all time, Stephen King's THE COLORADO KID, and I've been fortunate to get to work on it as a writer and producer. Yes, being a SyFy show it contains more supernatural elements that you'd normally associate with Hard Case Crime -- but it's also a mystery show at its core (the main characters are an FBI agent, a cop, and a criminal), and I promise we've got some great stories up our sleeves.
I'll be watching, popcorn in hand, when Friday night rolls around. Won't you join me?
Best,
Charles
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Charles Ardai
Editor, Hard Case Crime
Bob Randisi founded the Private-Eye Writers of America in 1981. The organization's purpose is to promote the reading and writing of private-eye fiction. Is it just an accident that p.i. fiction had a rebirth starting at about that time? Or is it just coincidence? I report, you decide. Oh, okay, if you insist, my theory is that those of us who love p.i. fiction owe Randisi a big debt. (By way of confession, I should add here that I've been a member of the organization from the start.)
One of the ways the group set about achieving its goal was to give annual awards to the best fiction written about private eyes. Known as the Shamus Awards, they've been given out to the biggest names in the field, and now the winners of the award for the short story have been collected in two big volumes edited and introduced by Mr. Randisi, himself.
Croc shock for Hessian cops - The Local: "German police were called to make an unusual arrest early on Thursday, seizing a crocodile peacefully going about its business on the streets of the small Hessian town of Groß-Rohrheim."
Blimps could replace aircraft in freight transport, say scientists | Environment | The Guardian: "Fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers and other foreign luxuries could be part of a global revolution by carrying cargo around the world in airships instead of planes, one of the UK's leading scientists has predicted.
I have two books by Peter Duncan, one a Dell First Edition called Sweet Cheat, and this one. Pat Hawk's great pseudonym book tells us that Duncan's a pen name for B. M. Atkinson, Jr., whose other major credit seems to be a nonfiction book called What Dr. Spock Didn't Tell Us, though you might find the occasional story by him in Collier's. Why someone who could sell to two of the best paperback publishers of his time would do only two novels for them is a puzzle.
