A longtime fan of noir, I'm a huge fan of Charles Ardai's brilliant publishing house, Hard Case Crime. It specializes in new releases from favorite authors like Max Allan Collins but includes a juicy lineup of books that haven't been on the shelves in decades from authors like Ed McBain and Mickey Spillane. And Ardai somehow unearths never-before-published material like Forever and a Death by Donald Westlake that will arrive in June 2017.
The house usually releases one title per month. This month's book is The Knife Slipped by Earl Stanley Gardner.
Here's its press release:
At the time of his death, Erle Stanley Gardner was the best-selling American author of the 20th century, and world famous as the creator of crusading attorney Perry Mason. Gardner also created the hardboiled detective team of Cool and Lam, stars of 29 novels published between 1939 and 1970—and one that’s never been published until now.
Lost for more than 75 years, THE KNIFE SLIPPED was meant to be the second book in the series but got shelved when Gardner’s publisher objected to (among other things) Bertha Cool’s tendency to "talk tough, swear, smoke cigarettes, and try to gyp people." But this tale of adultery and corruption, of double-crosses and triple identities —however shocking for 1939—shines today as a glorious present from the past, a return to the heyday of private eyes and shady dames, of powerful criminals, crooked cops, blazing dialogue, and delicious plot twists.
Donald Lam has never been cooler—not even when played by Frank Sinatra on the U.S. Steel Hour of Mystery in 1946. Bertha Cool has never been tougher. And Erle Stanley Gardner has never been better.
- First publication ever!
- Erle Stanley Gardner is one of the most popular American authors of all time, with over 100 million books sold
- Brand new cover painting by Robert McGinnis of modern-day pin-up icon Dita von Teese
- Brand new afterword by former Ellery Queen editor Russell Atwood about Gardner, Cool & Lam, and THE KNIFE SLIPPED
