> Never read it but have always heard "You Play the
Black and the Red
Comes
> Up" by Richard Hallas to be a certifiable classic
and as far as I can
tell,
> long out of print.
>
> I think someone mentioned Donald Hamilton's "Death
of a Citizen" the
first
> in the Matt Helm series, but I think they may be
reprinted sometime
soon
> since the rights to the series were bought by
Dreamworks recently for
a new
> film adaptation.
>
> Brad
>
> --
YOU PLAY THE BLACK ... is an excellent book, well worth
the republishing. Apparently it was written as a
parody/pastiche of the hardboiled school but I found it to be
quite readable as a "straight" HB novel. I only found a
battered copy of the Black Lizard ed. in comparatively recent
times, managing to miss it when it was first reissued. Edmund
Wilson's quote, something along the lines of "a 1001 nights
on the screwy west coast" adorns the back cover, although he
wasn't being complimentary when he wrote it. Speaking of
ambivalent blurbs, hows this one from Anthony Boucher on the
back of a Nick Carter pb: "with a mastermind antagonist named
Mr Judas". I bet a ringing endorsement like that from Mr
Boucher helped shift a lot of copies! The Hamilton news is
particularly good if you have trouble picking up his books
although I have found them easy to find, no doubt reflecting
on Hamilton's great popularity back in his day. Still, it's
nice that he's still alive to pick up a few new royalties
(not to mention film rights).
Rene
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