Hard Case Crime

[Diabolical]

After reading the interview with Charles Ardai, the publisher of Hard Case Crime, in the back of Criminal Vol. 2 #4, I decided to give it a shot. Or two.

Wikipedia describes the books better than I can:

Hard Case Crime is an American publisher of paperback hardboiled crime novels founded in 2004 by Charles Ardai, and Max Phillips. The series recreates, in editorial form and content, the spirit of the pulps of the 1940s and '50s. The covers feature original art done in pulp style by artists such as Robert McGinnis and Glen Orbik.

The collection includes both hard-to-find books from the pulp era (typically labeled Complete and unabridged on the cover), and new novels written specially for the collection (typically labeled First publication anywhere).

I played it fairly safe first and picked up The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (probably the most well-known book in the series). Since it was a short novel I also picked up another: The Murderer Vine by Shepard Rifkin (both seen above).
I breezed through The Colorado Kid pretty fast (176 pages) and I'm now almost half way through The Murderer Vine (254 pages). Both are pretty darn entertaining.

I'm also thinking of signing up for their book club - Two books a month (the newest one and an old one) for only $6.99 ($8.99 if you include shipping). Plus, you can cancel at any time.

I know this is probably a longshot, but has anyone else read any Hard case Crime?

[jjreason]

No, but I didn't know Stephen King had done one. I used to be a pretty big fan but have fallen off in the last few years. I'm quite sure I haven't seen those books around anywhere, though..... I'll have to check Chapters for them the next time I'm in there.

[Diabolical]

The Stephen King book is where I originally noticed this series on the shelves (which I think was the big push the publisher wanted), but I didn't consider picking anything up until I read the article in Criminal.

Not long after posting this I found two more in the series at Big Lots for $2 each; "Straight Cut" by Madison Smartt Bell and "Top of the Heap" by Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of Perry Mason).

I've now finished three of the four books, the two above and "Straight Cut," which I struggled through (it wasn't bad, but just not as entertaining or well-written as the first two).

I don't want to burn myself out on these do I'm going to read a few other different books before I get to the last one I have.

[anarky]

I saw The Colorado Kid today at Big Lots for $2 and picked it up. I'll probably get to read it over the weekend. Is the other stuff good? I like good crime stories, but bad ones are about as much fun as eating a booger sandwich... made of someone else's boogers.

(Not that a sandwich made of one's own boogers is good, but I'd prefer my own over someone else's any day.)

[Diabolical]

I liked The Colorado Kid.
Of the other 2 I've read, one, The Murderer Vine (by Shepard Rifkin), was pretty good and the other, Straight Cut (Madison Smartt Bell), was kind of on the booger sandwich side.
I've got one more, Top of the Heap by Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of Perry Mason) that I've yet to get to.

[anarky]

Saw three more today at Big Lots for $2 each. Was about to get them, but the line was insane.

[Diabolical]

Yeah, I see some every now and then. I usually type a note on my phone of the titles and research them online before I buy any.
I picked up 3 a while ago but haven't gotten to them yet, as I have 2 or 3 other books waiting to be read first.