Fifty-To-One

Fifty-to-One is a creative way to celebrate Hard Case Crime's fiftieth publication. The basic premise is that Hard Case Crime was started fifty years ago instead of fifty months. Also it uses the titles of all the previously published titles as chapter titles. However, it is far more than a gimmick book. The story is well thought out and develops at a great pace. There is plenty of action, but more importantly there is a lack of unnecessary information or lecturing. The characters are flushed out to the degree necessary for their role in the story through interactions with the protagonist. There isn't an attempt to fabricate back-stories for characters that are best as two-dimensional. The story is a tight well-written successor to the legacy of guys like Donald Westlake, Lawrence Block and Mickey Spillane. This isn't "Neo-Noir" it is a rollicking revisit of all that is great about the heyday of pulp fiction with a comedic twist. Of the twenty plus Hard Case Crime books I have read this one sits firmly in the top five. Charles Ardai (a.k.a Richard Aleas) continues to carve out his own legacy as one of the better authors in the storied history of pulp fiction.

The time by Charles Ardai. You know him and love him, the man (along with Max Phillips) behind Hard Case Crime. He's written a couple novels under his other name, Richard Aleas, but for this one, he used his own name. Folks, this book is so damn clever. Now, usually, I do not like what I would call clever books. Especially ones that both cute and clever. But I really enjoyed Fifty-To-One. Like I said, cute and clever, but it's also a hardboiled crime story, and punches all the right buttons with seeming ease, which, when it comes off like that, usually means the writer had to work extra hard to get it down just right. Ardai has written an excellent story that manages to encompass all the titles of the first 50 Hard Case Crime books, and does so in a way that actually works and makes sense without stretching into "Oh, give me a break, will ya?" territory. Like I said, it's clever. Our lead gal Tricia/Trixie is a lot of fun, somewhat of an innocent in late 1950s New York City, but she's a firecracker, too. As she navigates the city trying to save her friends and get herself out of trouble with a nasty gangster who likes people to call him "Uncle Nick", you really come to like this girl, but, at the same time, you want her to keep getting in trouble, because Ardai makes the getting out of trouble so much fun to read.

For those fans of Hard Case Crime, the series of pulpy mysteries, either from the 1950s or simulating that period, Fifty-to-One is a thank you note by the publisher Charles Ardai, in the form of the series' fiftieth novel. Using the titles of all fifty Hard Case Crime books as chapter headings, Ardai has constructed a comic thriller filled with inside jokes. The plot follows Tricia Heverstadt, a naïve (but beautiful, of course) 18 year old from South Dakota who has just arrived in 1958 New York City, hoping to live with her sister Coral and get a decent job. Coral, however, is unwilling to take Tricia in, and within moments, Tricia is also conned out of her small amount of money. Fortunately, she is able to get a semi-legitimate modeling job and a place to live; furthermore, she has found the man who scammed her: Charley Borden, who's actually a small-time publisher of cheap crime novels. The name of the publishing house: Hard Case Crimes. Tricia is commissioned by Borden to write a true crime story, but lacking sources, she makes one up: the anonymously written memoir of a minor hood who worked for mobster Sal Nicolazzo and ripped him off for $3,000,000. The book is a hit, but unfortunately, it's truer than expected. Sal has actually been ripped off, and for the exact amount (and using the exact method) that Tricia described. Now she and Charley are both in trouble with Nicolazzo and the law, neither of whom are likely to believe Tricia's version of the events. This leads to blackmail, murder and other assorted crimes. I think most readers will be able to figure out the actual thieves long before they're actually revealed, but the fun is less with the destination than the journey. Constructing a novel with just fifty chapter headings as a starting point can be rough, but Ardai does the job well. Although I think anyone could enjoy the book, this is - as stated before - a thank you note to Hard Case Crime's readers, who not only get a nice caper novel, but also a special insert with the covers of all fifty books (and the covers are a treat; in an era when most book covers are pretty boring, Hard Case Crime brings back the better covers of yesteryear). It's not a perfect book, but it's still a very good one.

Fifty-to-One by Hard Case Crime editor, Charles Ardai is stuning! Hard Case Crime has been one of my favorite series since it first arrived with Grifters Game. Publishing companies traditionally pay homage to a series with 'special' numbers like 50, 100, and so on. So, how, in a novel series, do you do honor to the series? I think Mr Ardai, with his clever use of each book title in the chapters, and the plot device of placing the main character as a writer trying to make it in New York, hit on the perfect vehicle. I loved the interplay between the cameo characters (Spillane et al) and Tricia Heverstadt, the writrix. Packed with snappy dialogue, and a plot that educates readers on the short (but illustrious) history of Hard Case Crime, the book is more Twain than Shakespeare, more O'Henry than Shelley, and more Thin Man, than Gone With the Wind. As good as the book is, the ending brings back memories of the end of Casablanca as Bogey walks away... BONUS: The photo spread of the 50 covers and checklist is so very cool! Tim Lasiuta

Series editor Charles Ardai carved himself a nice piece of real estate by deciding to write Hard Case Crime's fiftieth book. On the outside looking in, a lot of people might think this move was merely an ego trip. But that will change the instant they start turning pages in FIFTY-TO-ONE. Ardai expertly hooks readers with the story of a small-town girl, Tricia, who comes to New York in the 1950s with stars in her eyes. Unexpectedly left to her own devices by her older sister, Tricia promptly gets swindled by a street con artist. Desperate, she tries to make the best of things and ends up getting hired on as a dance at a mob-run night club. Then she discovers that the guy that conned her is actually a small press publisher of crime and porn fiction who's currently down on his luck. Pressuring Charles Borden, Tricia finds herself drawn into the crime fiction trade by penning a best-selling "nonfiction" tell-all book about the night club. She describes a robbery that takes place in the club, giving away details that enable an actual robbery to take place after the book comes out. (This attention to detail was one of the things that affected the publishing world several times as writers strove for reality.) Admittedly, some of the plot twists Ardai takes are self-serving, but they're fun, and they allow him to stay on top of a tightly spun, multi-faceted plot that ultimately satisfies. Tricia, named Trixie at the night club, has the best and worst runs of luck, but they never fail to keep readers turning pages. FIFTY-TO-ONE is simply the best kind of potboiler. Nothing, no character or situation, remains static for long. As in any good noir tale, loyalties and perspectives change with the wind. For the most part, it is Tricia against the world as she struggles to sort out the mystery of who truly stole the mobster's money and bloody secrets. The dialogue is shot full of snappy one-liners that would have been at home on Old Time Radio. Ardai hits the lingo on the head, and he throws scenes out at his readers that are at once visceral and real. As I read the book, the movie played in my head. I forgot that the interface was words on a page and simply followed the story through the blindingly quick twists and turns. Ardai also has a lot of fun sticking in period references to writing and writers. Mickey Spillane (thinly cloaked) puts in an appearance that is at once slapstick. Long-time mystery writers Lawrence Block and Donald Westlake also have small roles that lend to a lot of the history of the paperback market at that time as well as some great humor. Adopting an added challenge, Ardai uses a title from each of the line's published books as a chapter heading. As a writer myself, I was intrigued by Ardai's choices to pull the chapters into line with the book titles. Plotting is tricky, especially when you're trying to pull off a tightly-knit novel. Some of those chapters work better than others, but they all work. Fans of t