Ralph Dennis-The Hardman Books

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Ed here: One of the real thrills of the 70s was reading the Hardman series of original paperbacks by Ralph Dennis. I always thought of them as the workingman's version of Spenser. And a few of them were as good or better than Spenser (he spared Hardman from being a gourmet and he didn't know Susan Silverman). I wasn't alone. A small cult developed around the books. But as it turned out the writer Ralph Dennis was as luckless as many of the street people in his novels.

Richard A. Moore is a fine mystery novelist himself so he brought real skills to his piece on Dennis, which he published in Alan Guthrie's great website some years ago. Paul Bishop published a fine piece on Dennis today. I thoughtI'd add to it with an excerpt from Moore's take on Dennis' work and life.

Richard A. Moore:

Back to his heyday of the 1970s, I do wonder that I did not seek him out as I began writing mysteries. The Atlanta Constitution ran a feature on Dennis shortly after I began reading him and at that time Dennis had moved back to Chapel Hill. I might have looked him up but for that. Skip forward a few years. I moved to Washington in 1981 but made twice a year returns to Atlanta. Oxford Books was always one of the places I visited especially after they opened an Oxford II that featured used books. One day as I looked around Oxford II, I noticed this bald, middle-aged guy at a counter going through the new arrivals and pricing them. He looked familiar. Then I remembered the feature in the Constitution that included a picture of Ralph Dennis. I wandered his way and introduced myself. He did a double-take at being recognized but never asked me how it happened.

We chatted for several minutes. I wondered why I had not seen anything by him in several years. He pointed to a Richard Stark novel about the tough crook Parker that I had in my pile. Dennis said he had written a novel with a lead character that made Parker look like a sissy. His editor was enthusiastic and Dennis thought it was his best work. Unfortunately, the editor was let go by the publisher and his replacement did not care at all for the novel. It was the old story of the orphaned novel and writer. A publisher intended to reprint all the Hardman novels and oddly started with the second The Charleston Knife's Back In Town (alas, the reprinting did not extend to the others as planned: it just wasn't to be).

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 near 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.

for the rest go here:
http://www.allanguthrie.co.uk/pages/n...