In a message dated 1/18/03 4:02:32 AM Eastern Standard Time,
owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca writes:
<<
Some guy is selling all 12 of the Hardman books on
eBay. No
takers so far, but at under 3 bucks a book, this is a
pretty
good deal. I know that Richard Moore met Dennis a time
or
two. Here's what the seller has to say:
"Ralph Dennis (died 1988) was an excellent writer, who
was
poorly marketed and never developed the following
he
deserved. I've read that Dennis worked at a used book
store
in Atlanta (Oxford Books) and died broke in his sleep
on a
cot in the back room of a bar. He was a serious drinker
who
knew the streets from his own down-and-out life. That
may
explain why his stories are so good - he knew the alley
life
and it helped him make his story backgrounds
absolutely
authentic."
Bill Crider
- -- >>
Actually, I only met Ralph Dennis one time but I feel like my
life intertwined with his more than once. I would give
anything if I had had a chance to bend an elbow with Ralph
and swap a few stories. He knew the old Atlanta like I did
and we could have spent many a happy alcoholic hour together.
All I had to do was to make the offer and I am certain that
such a happening would have happened. But I didn't, for no
particular reason, and he was dead before I could follow
up.
I first heard of Ralph Dennis from Jud Sapp, who was a
principal of an elementary school in Atlanta, and a huge Rex
Stout fan and collector. He is a coauthor of the Rex Stout
bibliography. I lived in Atlanta at the time and he found my
name among Stout fans and called every Richard Moore in the
phone book until he found me. He then invited me to be a part
of an Atlanta
"Wolfe Pack" with regular meetings of Stout fans. At one of
our gatherings, which featured Nero Wolfe radio programs and
dishes from the Wolfe cookbook, Sapp gave me a copy of a
Ralph Dennis novel PIMP FOR THE DEAD, which is number four in
the Hardman series.
I was struck by the oddness of having this primary school
principal giving me such a book. Sapp was also a member of a
group calle DAPA-EM and urged me to join. When we last met
after I moved to the Washington DC area, he again urged me to
join. Finally I did join and met Bill Crider and so many
other dear friends. Alas, Jud never knew he was successful in
his recruiting as he died of a quickly moving cancer between
my joining and the next mailing of DAPA-EM. And what is
DAPA-EM? It is the Trilateral Commission of mystery fandom.
What else can I tell you.
So I read PIMP FOR THE DEAD and loved it. Yes, it displayed
signs of hurried writing but it also had a winning lead
character, interesting secondary characters and most of all,
a very precise knowledge of Atlanta--the same city I roamed
and mined for detail. I could see through all of his name
changes and when he described a block, I knew it down to the
last brick.
At some point during the 12 book run of the Hardman series,
the Atlanta Constitution ran a feature on him that included a
picture. To me, struggling young writer, he was a comrade who
had made it. He had the paperback series going and he had a
nice hardback book coming out. Breakthrough!
Well, friends, I recommend MacTAGGART'S WAR (Holt Rinehart,
Winston 1979) to you but it was not the breakthrough novel
Dennis hoped for. In fact, it was damn near the end for him
as a published writer but he could not have known that at the
time.
Oxford Books was a great bookstore. I began going to the
original in a shopping center on Clairmont and continued when
they moved to the Peachtree Battle Shopping Center.
Eventually, they went from being a new book store to
including used books. Even better for me. So after I moved to
Washington, I would include Oxford Books on my stops. One day
I thought the guy behind the counter at the used section
looked familiar. It clicked eventually that this was Ralph
Dennis and I recognized him from the picture in the Atlanta
newspaper story.
I introduced myself and he was taken aback to be recognized
but pleased at the same time. I did a writeup of this meeting
for DAPA-EM and was then asked by Mystery Scene to reprint
it. I was shocked because I didn't think anyone beyond the
members read my submissions. Eventually I gave my permission
to reprint with the omission of one fact. Behind the counter
where Ralph stood, there was an open bottle of Ten High
Bourbon.
But back to my one meeting with Ralph. He noticed that there
were several novels by Richard Stark about the thief Parker
in what I was buying. He made a comment and I then asked if
he was Ralph Dennis. Flattered, he said yes. Then he told me
that he had written a novel with a hero that would make
Parker seem like a pussy but after first being accepted was
now rejected. He told me about several unpublished novels
that were better than anything he had published before.
We had a nice long talk and he was full of the near misses
and other rejections of recent years. All of this took place
as other store personnel buzzed about us with censoring
looks. I felt guilty for taking up his time and perhaps
getting him in trouble as other staff members had hovered
hear us during our conversation.
Some months later I went back and he wasn't there. At the
cash register there was a Ralph Dennis memorial sign and I
was shocked to learn of his death.
Time passed and some years later an evening came when I was
drinking and thinking and I picked up the phone and put my
old reporter instincts to work.
I tracked down Ralph's sister in Michigan in a UP town
where she owned and ran a restaurant. She loved her brother.
As his situation and his health deteriorated, she begged him
to come live with her. She felt she owed him that much for he
had meant so much to her growing up. He refused out of pride.
He died. There was a memorial in his honor at an Atlanta
bar.
The day will come when I get the energy and the motivation to
track the number again but anyone else is invited to beat me
to it. You guys have no idea how many boxes of memories I
would have to sort through to find these.
Richard Moore
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