Hard Case Crime Update

Friends,

As the year winds to a close, we've got one last holiday treat for you: We've just added a new book to our Web site -- www.HardCaseCrime.com -- with our first ever horizontal cover. The book (which will come out next year) is LOSERS LIVE LONGER by Russell Atwood, a terrific new private eye story, and the cover is by the great Robert McGinnis. What does it mean to say that the cover is "horizontal"? Well, you'll understand when you see it. The book will be printed and bound the ordinary way, but in order for you to read the cover properly you'll need to hold the book sideways. (There are a few examples of sideways covers back in the pulp days, and we thought it would be fun to do one in our line.) To see the cover, just go to our Web site and click on the picture on the home page. You'll also find a description of the book and a sample chapter, which should whet your appetite for more.

Meanwhile, our big "50th anniversary" title, FIFTY-TO-ONE, is in stores now, and it'd make a perfect stocking stuffer for someone who enjoys old-fashioned crime stories. Reviewers have been very generous -- the Seattle Times called it "a doozy," Bookhound called it "simply the best kind of potboiler," and The Complete Review called it "[a] very enjoyable pulp ride -- almost a best-of collection in a single story." In addition to the story, the book contains a "best-of collection" in another sense, since it includes an 8-page full-color insert section featuring miniature reproductions of all 50 of our covers! Whether or not you pick up a copy or two for friends and family, I think you'll definitely want one for yourself. You should be able to find it at your favorite local bookstore -- but if you can't, for whatever reason, you can always get a copy directly by calling 1-800-481-9191.

Also in stores now you'll find David J. Schow's GUN WORK, Max Allan Collins' THE FIRST QUARRY, and Ken Bruen and Jason Starr's THE MAX, every one a brand new tale and every one a great read.

Coming in January: KILLING CASTRO by Lawrence Block. This is one I guarantee you've never read (it hasn't been published in almost 50 years and was never published under Block's real name) and the early copies we've sent around have been exciting reviewers as well. You can see what some of them have said on our Web site -- just click on "KILLING CASTRO" in the list on the front page.

And after CASTRO? We've got books by Roger Zelazny, Donald Westlake, E. Howard Hunt, Peter Blauner, Jason Starr, Robert B. Parker, Peter Rabe, and more...including a very special Christmas surprise.

But that's next Christmas. This one has to come and go first, and it will, all too soon. We wish you a merry and a happy, a great holiday season, and a terrific 2009. We have some wonderful dark yarns to spin next year and we hope you'll join us for them.

Warmly,
Charles
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Charles Ardai
Editor, Hard Case Crime