Big Lots Cinema – Pauly Shore is Dead

I've previously written a series of reviews of Hard Case Crime books I found in a pile at the nearby Big Lots store.  I dig Big Lots because you can usually find interesting things at a clearance price.  Really clearance.  Down to the bare concrete pricing (that's for all my Louisiana peeps...WHO DAT!). They've recently …

The Colorado Kid – the review

On an island off the coast of Maine, a man is found dead.  There's no identification on the body.  Only the dogged work of a pair of local newspapermen and a graduate student in forensics turns up any clues, and it's more than a year before the man is identified. With The Colorado Kid we …

Straight Cut – the review

It's been a while since we visited the stash of bargain priced Hard Case Crime books I found at Big Lots. It must be time for another review then. This entry's book is Straight Cut by Madison Smartt Bell. Let's take a look at the blurb on the back of the book shall we? A …

“A Touch of Death” – the review

  It began as a burglary...AND ENDED AS A NIGHTMARE! This is the third Hard Case Crime book from my Big Lots score a few months back.  It is also my favorite so far. It is a simple idea, exercised perfectly from beginning to end. Seeing print for the first time in over 40 years, …

2008 – My Year in Books

  I never got around to writing any year end "best of lists."  There are plenty of those out there.  Just Google your favorite thing and I'm sure someone has compiled as list. Instead, what I've decided to do is share my year in books. I'm a steady if not voracious reader.  I've always got …

“The Vengeful Virgin” – the review

They burned bright - till the flames consumed them! Back in March, I wrote about my appreciation of Hard Case Crime and my find of five of their books at a deep discount at a local Big Lots. I'd only made it through 1 of the 5 books in that buy until today.  Before the …

“Top of the Heap” – the review

A while back, I wrote a post about stumbling upon a batch of Hard Case Crime books in a local Big Lots.  I also promised to review said books.   Better late than never I always say. "Top of the Heap" was written by Erle Stanley Gardner of Perry Mason fame under the pseudonym A.A. Fair.  It …

Now with Extra Pulp

Earlier this year, I picked up "Slide" because I had previously read "Lights Out" by Jason Starr and really enjoyed it.  The co-author Ken Bruen keeps showing up on my recommendation list so this seemed right up my alley. Its a tale of violence, sex, and double crosses.  Everything good noir should be. I'd been …