Hard Case Crime Update from Charles Ardai

LOST GORE VIDAL CRIME NOVEL DISCOVERED

Hard Case Crime to Publish THIEVES FALL OUT in 2015 – 
First Publication in 60 Years, First Ever Under Author’s Real Name 

New York, NY; London, UK (August 14, 2014) – Hard Case Crime, the award-winning line of vintage-style crime fiction from editor Charles Ardai and publisher Titan Books, announced today that it has discovered a lost pulp crime novel by Gore Vidal, one that has been unavailable for more than 60 years and has never been published under the author’s real name. THIEVES FALL OUT, the story of an American trying to smuggle an ancient treasure out of Egypt on the eve of a bloody revolution, will be published in hardcover in April 2015.

In 1953, when he was 28 years old and already enjoying the combination of literary esteem and scandal that would mark his career as one of the major authors and intellectual figures of the 20th century, Gore Vidal wrote a pulp crime novel under the name “Cameron Kay” (the name of his great-uncle, a Texas attorney general).  THIEVES FALL OUT has never been reprinted. 

“This novel provides a delicious glimpse into the mind of Gore Vidal in his formative years,” said Charles Ardai. “By turns mischievous and deadly serious, Vidal tells the story of a man caught up in events bigger than he is, a down-on-his-luck American in Cairo at a time when revolution is brewing and heads are about to roll. THIEVES FALL OUT also offers a startling glimpse of Egypt in turmoil – despite having been written over half a century ago, it feels as current as the news streaming from that region today.”

Gore Vidal was one of America’s greatest and most controversial writers.  The author of twenty-three novels, five plays, three memoirs, numerous screenplays and short stories, and well over two hundred essays, he received the National Book Award in 1993.

THIEVES FALL OUT will feature a new cover painting by Glen Orbik, one of Hard Case Crime’s most acclaimed painters. Orbik’s previous covers for Hard Case Crime include JOYLAND by Stephen King and BINARY by Michael Crichton (writing as John Lange).