Dust jacket by Glen Orbik

Celebrating 50 Years of Hard Case Crime!

Okay, not really. But what if, instead of having been founded 50 books ago, Hard Case Crime had been founded 50 years ago, by a rascal out to make a quick buck off the popularity of pulp fiction? Such a fellow might make a few enemies—especially after publishing a supposed non-fiction account of a heist at a Mob-run nightclub, actually penned by an 18-year-old showgirl. With both the cops and the crooks after them, our heroes are about to learn that reading and writing pulp novels is a lot more fun than living them…

Fifty-to-One will feature a full color signature page, plus full color endsheets depicting the 49 previous books in the Hard Case Crime Series,

In addition, each chapter of Fifty-to-One bears the title of a previous Hard Case Crime book, including such gems as Lucky at Cards (Lawrence Block), Lemons Never Lie (Richard Stark), The Colorado Kid (Stephen King), and Gun Work (David J. Schow), among others.

Fifty-to-One will be available in two unique editions: 500 cloth bound copies signed by the author, Charles Ardai, and a deluxe limited edition of 50 lavishly bound copies, housed in a handmade traycase, with over twenty full-color signature pages for most of the Hard Case Crime Authors, each hand-tipped in front of the chapter that bears the title of one of their books.

Limited: 500 numbered copies, fully bound in cloth, signed by the author
Deluxe: 50 copies, custom bound in a different cloth, housed in a handmade traycase

Thus far the following authors have agreed to sign the fifty copy deluxe edition:

-- Richard Aleas/Charles Ardai
-- Lawrence Block
-- Ken Bruen
-- Max Allan Collins
-- John Farris
-- Christa Faust
-- Allan Guthrie
-- Pete Hamill
-- Russell Hill
-- Stephen King
-- John Lange
-- Peter Pavia
-- Max Phillips
-- David J. Schow
-- Seymour Shubin
-- Domenic Stansberry
-- Donald Westlake
-- Jason Starr

One final note: Half of the profits from the deluxe edition will be donated to The Haven Foundation.

From Publishers Weekly:
“High-speed action and nonstop thrills highlight the 50th novel from Hard Case Crime... Ardai sets an impressive standard for the new wave of pulp crime fiction... Breathless action and entertaining characters make this a page-turner from start to finish.”