Tag / Hard Case Crime

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Prolific Authors – Fourteen Books

It is time once again to take a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, I’m once again on pace to set a new record for books read in a year, so I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August of this year. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 114 books, so there should be some movement over the past two years.  Without further ado, it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much over the years.  We continue today with the sole author I’ve read fourteen times, although under two names.

Erle Stanley Gardner

I’ve been aware of Gardner as the creator of Perry Mason for years but had never read any of his work until 2015, when Hard Case Crime released the first of their republishing of his Cool and Lam series, written under the penname A.A. Fair.  Since that time, six entries of the series have been released.

Erle Stanley Gardner – The Case of the Lonely Heiress

Thanks to the new HBO interpretation of Perry Mason, six of those books have also been republished, all of which I read between 2020 and 2022. In addition to those, I’ve stumbled across a few other editions over the years, including the most recent book of his I’ve read, The Case of the Howling Dog.  Since HBO cancelled the show after two seasons, I may be stuck with the earlier editions of the remaining books.

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Prolific Authors – 15 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Today, we continue with the two authors I’ve read fifteen times, up one from 2021.

Richard Castle

Debuting in 2009, the television series Castle follows the lives of Richard Castle, a best-selling novelist, and Kate Beckett, a New York homicide detective, as they solve various unusual murders.  As Castle, portrayed by Nathan Fillion, wrote and released Nikki Heat novels on the show, those novels were released in the real world as well, the first of which, Heat Wave, was released in 2009.  The two most recent efforts, Heat Storm and Crashing Heat, were released after the cancellation of the show, though it appears unlikely that there will be any future installments.

Frozen Heat – Richard Castle

The first seven books in the series were eventually revealed to have been ghost-written by Tom Straw.  It is unknown if Straw wrote the final entries, though I highly doubt he was responsible for the last one, which had a much different feel to it.

Stephen King

I first read King’s work during my freshman year of high school.  In fact, I remember reading Pet Sematary after finishing my Biology final at the end of freshman year, waiting for the class to be dismissed.  My total reached nine novels by 1993, but then college and other pursuits got in the way and King fell out of my favor.

Joyland – Stephen King

That changed in 2012, when the release of 11/22/63 brought me back in to the King fold.  I’ve added six of his more current work, half of which has been through the Hard Case Crime imprint, which limited, but did not completely remove, the horror elements.

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Prolific Authors – 14 Books

4Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through October. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 118 books, so there could be some movement over the past two years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  We continue today with the author I’ve read 14 times, down one from two years ago.

Erle Stanley Gardner

I’ve been aware of Gardner as the creator of Perry Mason for years but had never read any of his work until 2015, when Hard Case Crime released the first of their republishing of his Cool and Lam series, written under the penname A.A. Fair.  Since that time, six entries of the series have been released.

Fools Die On Friday – Erle Stanley Gardner

Thanks to the new HBO interpretation of Perry Mason, six of those books have also been republished, all of which I read between 2020 and 2022.  In addition to those, I’ve stumbled across a few other editions over the years, including the most recent book of his I’ve read, The Case of the Howling Dog.

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Book 9 (of 52) – Fools Die On Friday

Fools Die On Friday – Erle Stanley Gardner

When the firm is hired to stop a woman from poisoning her husband, Lam inadvertently sets in motion the exact thing he was trying to stop.  With multiple corpses and leads that don’t line up, he has to try and put everything together before the police, and Bertha, place the blame on him.

Fools Die On Friday, originally published in 1947, was the eleventh installment of the Cool and Lam series Erle Stanley Gardner wrote under the pseudonym of A. A. Fair, and the sixth republished by Hard Case Crime.  These pulps bring you back to a different, simpler time, where the world wasn’t wired (in more ways than one) the way it is today.  It’s been nearly three years now between installments, and I don’t know if that was due to the pandemic and associated problems or if the imprint is moving on to other endeavors.  But, if they re-publish more, I’ll be waiting.

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Book 2 (of 52) – Billy Summers

Billy Summers – Stephen King

A contract killer takes one last job, one which has him decamping in place for months prior to the hit.  After the job is complete, he realizes that he was part of the contract and was not meant to survive.  As he plots his revenge, he makes a new friend, a young woman chewed up and spit out by life, who accompanies him on his travel west.  Can Billy get what is owed him while keeping his new friend safe and out of the life?

Billy Summers, the latest from Stephen King, is a straight crime story, aside from one instance of mystical nonsense which could have been dropped completely without impacting the story at all, which is a departure from his work.  This is a side of King that I have not had much experience with, aside from his work for the Hard Case Crime imprint, but I like it and I’ll certainly be on the lookout for more if it.

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Prolific Authors – 14 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 60 books from 54 different authors. There shouldn’t be much movement over the past 2 years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  We continue today with the two authors I’ve read 14 times.

Jeffery Deaver

In 1999, the first entry of Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series, The Bone Collector, was adapted into a film starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.  Around that time, I picked up a paperback copy, which I read in 2000.  I slowly added additional titles as I would find them as remainders, picking up new hard covers for $3 or $4.

The Vanished Man – Jeffery Deaver

Things increased in 2015, when I started picking up titles on deals through the Amazon Kindle store, leading to 10 additional books added to my read bookshelf, with The Cold Moon being the most recent prior to the start of this countdown.

Stephen King

I first read King’s work during my freshman year of high school.  In fact, I remember reading Pet Sematary after finishing my Biology final at the end of freshman year, waiting for the class to be dismissed.  My total reached 9 novels by 1993, but then college and other pursuits got in the way and King fell out of my favor.

Stephen King – 11/22/63

That changed in 2012, when the release of 11/22/63 brought me back in to the King fold.  I’ve added 5 of his more current work, most of which has been through the Hard Case Crime imprint, which limited, but did not completely remove, the horror elements.

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Prolific Authors – 9 Books

Way back in December of 2011 (and again every other December since), we’ve taken a look at the authors I have read the most, dating back to high school.  This year, since I’ve far surpassed my reading output of any year on record, I thought it would be nice to take a deeper dive into those books I’ve read through August. Since our last check-in, I’ve read an additional 60 books from 54 different authors. There shouldn’t be much movement over the past 2 years, but it’s time to take another look and see if my “favorite” authors have changed much in that time span.  Today, we continue with the two authors I’ve read 9 times.

Michael Jan Friedman

Known primarily for licensed works, Friedman first entered my world in 1990, thanks to a trio of Star Trek: The Next Generation novels.  There were another two in 1992 and then he reappeared in 1996 with another trio of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman tie-ins.  That was it until he reappeared on my radar earlier this year, with yet another Next Gen entry.

Erle Stanley Gardner

I’ve been aware of Gardner as the creator of Perry Mason for years, but had never read any of his work until 2015, when Hard Case Crime released the first of their republishing of his Cool and Lam series, written under the penname A.A. Fair.  Since that time, five entries of the series have been released.  Thanks to the new HBO interpretation of Perry Mason, a number of those books have been republished as well, four of which I’ve read over the past 2 years.

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Book 10 (of 52) – Later

Later – Stephen King

Later, Stephen King’s third effort for the Hard Case Crime imprint, tells the tale of a young man who has the ability to see and interact with the dead, at least for a few days after their passing.  Unfortunately for him, when he is forced to use his “talents” to help his mother save her struggling business, he exposes himself to her girlfriend, an unstable cop with IA on her tail.  As he grows up, she twice kidnaps him, looking to use him to her advantage, first to stop a serial bomber who had just committed suicide and, finally, to set herself up with a huge drug score after killing her dealer.

The horror elements that one usually associates with Stephen King mostly take a back seat here, although there is a mysterious ghost/demon that shows up from time to time, as King once again uses this imprint to tell a different kind of story.  I’ve enjoyed this side of King’s work in the past and will look forward to more of it in the future.

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Book 20 (of 52) – Shills Can’t Cash Chips

Shills Can’t Cash Chips – Erle Stanley Gardner

Originally published in 1963, Shills Can’t Cash Chips was the 22nd installment of the Cool and Lam series Erle Stanley Gardner wrote under the pseudonym of A. A. Fair, and the 5th republished by Hard Case Crime.  When Cool and Lam are hired for a seemingly legitimate job to help investigate an insurance claim, things take a turn and Lam finds himself wanted for murder.  In order to clear his name, Lam must figure out the secret of the car accident at the center of the insurance claim and how all of the different players tie together.

These pulps bring you back to a different, simpler time, where the world wasn’t wired (in more ways than one) the way it is today.  Reprinting episodes from this series still appears to be a yearly event, so I look forward to the next installment sometime next year.

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Book 13 (of 52) – The Colorado Kid

The Colorado Kid – Stephen King

The Colorado Kid, a short novel by Stephen King, is a mystery about a mystery in a small, New England town.  A young intern at the town’s small paper, finally earning the trust of her 2 bosses, is told the tale of a body that had washed up and was found by two local kids.  The man, eventually identified, was from Colorado, where he was seen the day before.  How did he get back east without anyone noticing he had left Colorado?  How did he die?  Why did he come?

The questions abound, and are not to be found within the pages of King’s first contribution to Hard Case Crime.  It’s an interesting mystery, and there probably isn’t a satisfying answer to be found.