As TIRBD comments, “The debut of Hard Case Crime books in September 2004 was one of the most exciting developments for crime fiction fans in years. It was the kind of thing that, in hindsight, probably sparked everyone in a certain demographic to say, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’”
I’d take that even further: when you put September 2004 in perspective, it’s just a minute ago. And yet, those of us with our heads deeply buried in mystery fiction can barely imagine a world without Hard Case in it.
Part of this has been the magnitude of some of the projects Hard Case has taken on. Debuting, for instance, with Grifter’s Game, a Lawrence Block novel from 1961. Early on, Hard Case published--and did well with--an original Stephen King novel, The Colorado Kid. As Ardai says, “if every book could sell like the book Stephen King wrote for us, we’d be in clover; that’s sadly not the case.”
Even so, on reading the interview, one gets the feeling that everything is going pretty well in the Hard Case world.
Are there dream projects we haven’t done yet? Sure. Alan Furst wrote three pulpy comic crime novels before he became famous for his spy stories, and I’d love to bring one of them back. When I called him to ask him about this, he turned to someone who was in the room with him and said, “Can you look out the window to see whether pigs are flying?” So I’m not betting that’s going to happen any time soon.With some exciting books (not to mention industry excitement) under their belt and great stuff in the pipeline, the future looks as bright as a Hard Case cover. You can read the interview (and see a photo of Detective Ardai at age five) here.
READ MORE: “Monday Interview: Charles Ardai” and “Hard Case Crime’s Charles Ardai: The Monday Interview,” by John Kenyon (Things I’d Rather Be Doing).
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