20 Years of Hard Case Crime!

When I was working on The Man from Mittelwerk I would sometimes create fake book covers, as one does when procrastinating from actual work. I created covers in homage to classic paperbacks by Ian Fleming, Len Deighton and Philip Kerr. But the most fun was creating something in the style of Hard Case Crime.

I remember reading about Hard Case Crime when it launched. I picked up Lawrence Block’s Grifter’s Game and I was hooked from the start. Over the last twenty years HCC released a helluva catalogue of vintage books as well as originals from some of my favorite authors including Stephen King, Max Allan Collins, Mickey Spillane and Michael Crichton.

Charles Ardai, publisher of Hard Case Crime is also a well-respected author, editor and mensch. He gave me great feedback on the early chapters of The Man From Mittelwerk, even though I was working with a different indie publisher, Inkshares. He’s that kind of a guy!

Some of my favorite books in the series include: Scott Von Doviak’s Charlesgate Confidential, Steven King’s Joyland, Ariel S Winter’s The Twenty Year Death and James Kestrel’s Five Decembers. Each is a masterpiece.

In honor of the 20th anniversary, Ardai has collected twenty of his own short stories in Death Comes Too Late which he was kind enough to inscribe for me on a recent trip to New York. These are absolutely riveting noir stories, many of which appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and various crime anthologies.

Hard Case Crime books are available in local bookstores and online. There are some absolute killer books in the collection.