Posts Tagged: Ralph Dennis

Brash Books is republishing the 12 Hardman novels by Ralph Dennis.... a brilliant series of crime novels long sought-after by collectors and beloved by crime writers. Very little is known about the author, who died in 1988. So we sought out some of the people who knew him best to tell us about him. Ben Jones was one of Ralph's oldest friends and became famous as an actor (he was "Cooter" on Dukes of Hazzard) and later as a Congressman from Georgia in the House of Representatives. His remembrance of Ralph below appears as the Afterword in the Brash edition of the Hardman novel Down Among the Jocks. If, on a late summer afternoon in 1973, you had walked into George’s Deli on Highland... more

Read More of Ben Jones: My Friend HARDMAN

RICHARD A. MOORE is a former reporter, a retired public relations executive, and the author of various short stories published by Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock and other mystery magazines and anthologies. He played a big role in making it possible for Brash Books to acquire the rights to the published and unpublished works by Ralph Dennis, an author perhaps best known among crime writers for his 12 legendary Hardman novels...which we will begin re-releasing today. This essay has previously appeared, in various forms, on an array of crime fiction blogs... and is reprinted in the Brash edition of THE GOLDEN GIRL AND ALL, the third book in the Hardman series.  Ralph Dennis... more

Read More of The Literary Life of Ralph Dennis

The holiday season is upon us, and it's that time of year for gratitude and reflection. In this edition of the Brash Books newsletter, we share our fond remembrance of a beloved Brash author, along with another amazing award, a fresh new story, a rave review—and an abundance of upcoming releases for your reading pleasure. DOUBLE WIDE WINS AGAIN! The awards keep coming for DOUBLE WIDE and Leo W. Banks! Banks' debut thriller just received the 2018 Best Mystery Novel award from the New Mexico Book Co-op, announced at a gala awards banquet in Albuquerque on November 16th. Along with this latest honor, DOUBLE WIDE also has received two Western Writers of America 2018 Spur Awards and Best... more

Read More of A Brash Holiday Season is Coming

We're excited to announce that we've acquired the rights to all of Ralph Dennis's work -- his published and unpublished novels. Brash Books will be re-releasing his 12 Hardman novels, starting with the first four in December, and the rest through 2019. The Hardman books include a terrific introduction by Joe R. Lansdale. The first two titles in the series, Atlantla Deathwatch  and The Charleston Knife is Back in Town are already available for preorder in paperback and ebook on Amazon, iBook, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. We'll also be re-releasing in 2019 a substantially revised version Ralph's WWII thriller MacTaggart's War, which we've retitled The War Heist. It was his... more

Read More of You Can’t Keep a Hardman Down

Whenever long term mystery fans gather there is often talk of obscure private eye series still considered to be gems of the hardboiled genre, like Jack Lynch's Bragg novels. These long out of print, usually paperback original series, are learned about by word of mouth from one mystery fan to another. This action often causes mini-tsunamis on Internet used book sites as the new fan seeks out the titles to which they have been referred.  Tattered copies often change hands for ridiculously high prices for what are slim volumes with bad ‘70s cover art. However, it is the words between those tattered covers that keep readers rediscovering the series again and again. Other series falling... more

Read More of Bragg: Credit Due