Hard Word Book Club takes on a Hard Case

I wanted our Hard Word Book Club to kick off the year in a spirit of fun, since I have several angsty novels in mind for the future. Getting Charles Ardai, the co-founder, editor, and sometimes author of the Hard Case Crime series, to call in for our discussion of his book Fifty-To-One, seemed the perfect choice.

Charles founded Hard Case Crime out of his love for the tough, sexy, and stylish paperback novels published by the likes of Gold Medal in the fifties and sixties.  He’s found and reprinted lost gems by Donald Westlake, Peter Rabe, and former Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt; as well as shining the light on new talent like Allan Guthrie and Christa Faust.

As an author, he has written two books under the pen name Richard Aleas.  Little Lost Girl and Songs of Innocence are about John Blake, a private eye who’s good intentions are even worse than Chinatown’s Jake Gittes. He has recruited several veteran artists to create the classic, lurid covers, and he tries to keep the price of the books as low as he can: “We wear our cheapness as a badge of honor.”

He decided to write Hard Case’s fiftieth book under his own name, calling it Fifty-To-One, with each chapter corresponding to the title of a book in the series. The two main characters are a con man turned publisher and a showgirl that wrote a false memoir about a mobster that robbed his bosses. When the heist actually occurs they find themselves between both sides of the law, bantering in a classic and comic style. It contains some cool action set pieces, brisk pacing, fun characters, appearances by writers Mickey Spillane, Donald Westlake, and Lawrence Block, and true affection for the books, style, and history of publishing Ardai so dearly loves. It’s a shame Howard Hawks isn’t around to make the movie.

When I saw Charles speak at Murder By The Book in Houston last year, I knew I wanted him for Hard Word. He was articulate, funny, full of insight and passionate about hard boiled fiction. I’m expecting our Fifty-To-One discussion to be just as fun, especially since Charles can talk about the book’s twist ending.

You’re all invited to come Wednesday, January 27th at 7PM on the third floor for The Hard Word Book Club’s discussion of Fifty-To-One with a call in by author Charles Ardai. Expect fun, insight, a few laughs, a chance to win a free book, and maybe even a knife fight… but no promises.