Hoop Noir by Ralph Dennis
Two gritty, fast-moving novels set in the world of basketball by legendary crime writer Ralph Dennis.
THE BROKEN FIXER
A hard-edged novel of sex, crime, and corruption in 1970s Atlanta…and the man who is paid to hide it all. Vince Gorman is a ruthless lawyer with flexible morality who makes problems go away for David Wardlaw, an Atlanta real estate developer and the owner of the city’s pro basketball team. Wardlaw doesn’t care how Vince fixes things…as long as it gets done. But now Vince is in over his head… covering up a possibly fatal hit-and-run by the team’s hard-partying star shooter… and competing with Wardlaw’s rivals to bribe, blackmail and intimidate the corrupt politicians who award the city’s rich construction contracts…all while desperately scrambling to keep his own life of dark secrets, relentless womanizing, and soul-rotting compromises from crashing down around him.
This is an edited and revised version of a book previously published in 1975 under the title Atlanta.
THE NEW FIVE
A lost, previously unpublished manuscript discovered decades after Ralph Dennis’ death. The legendary crime novelist takes “police procedural” approach to 1980s college basketball, tracking a struggling, but ambitious team through a tumultuous season, approaching each game like a decisive battle in a bloody war.
Timothy McCarren is the tough, hard-charging new sports director at a small North Carolina university. To him, the basketball court is a battlefield, the players are his soldiers, and he is their cunning General, leading them into war…and showing no mercy. He will do whatever it takes, bend any rule, and push his players to their physical and emotional limits to make them champions.
Books by Ralph Dennis
Hoop Noir
Two gritty, fast-moving novels set in the world of basketball by legendary crime writer Ralph Dennis.
Tales of a Sad, Fat Wordman
This collection of some of Ralph's early short stories and poetry, framed with excerpts from articles about him and by essays from authors who knew him well.
Dust in the Heart
There's a killer stalking children in a small, North Carolina town...and the only one who can stop him is the local Sheriff, a man crippled physically and emotionally by a war that he's still fighting within himself. The haunting, powerful new thriller by Ralph Dennis, author of the legendary Hardman series of crime novels
All Kinds of Ugly
The recently discovered, long-lost, 13th and final Hardman adventure sends the unlicensed PI to London to find a missing man...where he becomes embroiled in an ugly case of embezzlement and murder.
Reviews For Hoop Noir
"THE BROKEN FIXER is a forerunner of THE WIRE in its insight into the way the city really works. It's a story that ropes you in. Dennis displays an impressive scope and great characterisations. This is cool noir and the story is perfectly pitched. An ambitious and insightful read."
"Ralph Dennis has mastered the genre and supplied top entertainment."
"His prose is muscular, swift and highly readable. "
"Exceptional characterization, strong and vigorous prose, and a glimpse into a place and time that has long since disappeared."
"An underappreciated master."
