Hard Case Crime discussion

Anyone have any suggestions? We could probably do two group reads a month.

# TWO FOR THE MONEY by Max Allan Collins
# HOME IS THE SAILOR by Day Keene
# FADE TO BLONDE by Max Phillips
# GUN WORK by David J. Schow


Those books sound interesting to me. I have read only two of the series so far and i can get any of the books i listed from the shelfs of my local bookstore.

Day Keene,Max Phillips books sounded most interesting to me.

I have 4 or 5 of the Hard Case Crime books on their way to me now. Home Is the Sailor is one.

I'm reading Money Shot right now. I found out about these books because The Dead Man's Brother is by my favorite fantasy/SF author, Roger Zelazny.

(yes, Dan. I gave in...)

I've got Zelazny's Dead Man's Brother and Westlake's The Cutie at home and unread at the moment.

How about we give everyone a few days to give their opinions and then start a poll? We can take the two highest vote-getters among the titles people throw out there.

Thats a good idea. We vote and read the the winning votes.

Hi. It's only an opinion but Two For The Money was (to me) the lamest Parker knock off attempt in history. The book is residing in my garage with other books to be given away. I also hated Money Shot although I'm not sure why.

I'm a hard boiled crime fan but not particularly Hard Case Crime publishers works. However, the two John Lange reprints (Grave Descend, Zero Cool) are both quite good.

My problem with Hard Case Crime books is probably not enough people get killed and the good guys win. I'm just a Parker guy at heart.

Jed wrote: "Hi. It's only an opinion but Two For The Money was (to me) the lamest Parker knock off attempt in history. The book is residing in my garage with other books to be given away. I also hated Money Sh..."

Heh im a big fan of Parker books, the only reason i want to read Two For The Money.

I agree HCC has too many traditional Noir type stories. Not enough criminal Noir.

It needs more books of Richard Stark,Jim Thompson type.

Jed, it's only an opinion, but it's one I wholeheartedly share with you.

Cool. Another Parker fan!

OK, I can help.

Caught Stealing, Six Bad Things and A Dangerous Man by Charlie Huston.

Hard Case, Hard Freeze, Hard As Nails by Dan Simmons.

These will satisfy your Parker bloodlust.

Thanks for the recommendations, Jed! I've heard of Dan Simmons's "Parker-esque" novels, but Charlie Huston is a new name for me. I'll add "Caught Stealing" to my to-read list.

Caught Stealing, Six Bad Things and A Dangerous Man are really one novel broken into three sections. Even in total, it's not too long and it's an utter whirlwind. I'll be interested in seeing your future comments.

Anybody else have some "Parker" suggestions?

Jed wrote: "... I also hated Money Shot although I'm not sure why..."

I just finished it & will review it today. I didn't like it as well as I thought I should nor understand why either. I'll have to think about that, but it's interesting that you had a similar opinion.

I originally thought it was the heroine's motivation, then thought not, but I'm back to thinking so again. She took the betrayal & rape to heart in an unbelievable way, I think. I didn't care for the last murder scene, either. Unbelievable.

everybodys read Parker I would assume

as for me I'd prefer a writer I haven't read
so I'd go for CAUGHT STEALING etc by Huston

Will we be needing a Hard Case and a non-Hard Case poll for the group reads?

Yeah we will need that.

Personally i want to read only HCC books. Since they are cheap and full of many interesting writers,books both old greats,new authors.

This should be may group for HCC books then there can be another may thread for others.

After all this is Hard Case Crime group.

Are there any differences between the reprinted HCC books & the originals? I have some of the HCC titles by other publishers. For instance, Night Walker by Donald Hamilton.

I've heard some of them have minor changes. Grave Descend by John Lange (aka Michael Crichton) is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

Also can we decide which book we read before May starts?

I will have to get HCC book before we start reading it.

I only have Charles William one at home unread at the moment.

I've created the Hard Case poll. It's set to close on Saturday so everyone who wants to participate will have the 26th through the 30th to pick up the top two.

I voted for Home is the Sailor,sounded interesting.

Heh typical The Cutie by my favorite crime writer is leading so far. When i thought it was time to try a new author with HCC :P

How do you guys want to handle things in the event of a tie?

if neither too long, just read both with shorter one to be read first

I propose a cage match. We find two contestants who enter Thunderdome armed only with a copy of the book. They proceed to slap each other with their respective paperbacks until one drops. Last one standing wins.

Or we could just go alphabetically and roll the last one to next month's.

Im with choosing one of them for june group read.

I cant get two HCC this month, i have already bought several crime books this month.

The Cutie by Donald Westlake is the winner of the poll with The Dead Man's Brother and Lemons Never Lie tied for second.

Heh The Cutie it is then.

Im hoping its written in Richard Stark,361 mode and not like Someone Owes Me Money.