Hard Case Scores Again--Need I Say More?

The Cutie, by Donald E. Westlake. Publisher Hard Case Crime planned this reissue of Westlake’s very first book, The Mercenaries (1960), just before his death last New Year’s Eve. It’s a great way to remember the man and his genius: a classy new paperback with a new name and a jazzy cover by Ken Laager. Inside is a taut and terrific story about a mob enforcer trying to keep a connected idiot alive and coming up against a very determined young lady who wants the idiot dead. Due out in March.

Fake I.D., by Jason Starr. Another coup from Hard Case--the first publication in the United States of a tense chiller by the highly lauded Starr, much loved by George Pelecanos, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, and Megan Abbott. Originally issued abroad in 2000, Fake I.D. is about a New York bar bouncer who takes one bounce too many when he joins a horse-racing syndicate. Gregg Kreutz did a gorgeous cover for this paperback, which should reach bookstores in June.