Thursday, September 16, 2004


The first two Hard Case Crime books are on the stands around here, and I like the way they look. The first one, GRIFTER'S GAME, is a reprint of Lawrence Block's first Gold Medal Book, MONA. The one pictured above is the line's first paperback original. I started reading it last night, and from the very first paragraph I knew I was going to like it. It's set in the 1950s, with a tough-talking narrator and an untrustworthy blonde. Right there you've got something. And of course the throwback cover is a nice touch. One of the next books, LITTLE GIRL LOST by Richard Aleas (get it?) has a new McGuinniss cover. I'll probably wind up buying these books just to collect them. Posted by Hello

2 comments:

Mystery Dawg said...

Bill,
I read them both. I love them both!

Unknown said...

I read MONA many years ago. It was one of the hardest Block books for me to find. I bought one copy and discovered when I started to read it that about 50 pages were missing in the middle. Then I found a copy in San Antonio, but it was in Spanish. Later I finally ran across an intact Gold Medal. This was all well over 30 years ago, mind you.