The Charleston Knife is Back in Town by Ralph Dennis
The second novel in the unforgettable, long lost series by Ralph Dennis is finally back in print… after being coveted for years by collectors of the very best in hardboiled fiction.
Jim Hardman was a mediocre Atlanta cop until he was wrongly accused of corruption and thrown off the force. Now he works as an unlicensed PI, trouble-shooter and bodyguard…often partnered with his drinking buddy Hump Evans, a black, ex-NFL player who supports his playboy lifestyle by working as hired muscle.
Five kids rip off a gambling party attended by Hump Evans and some of Atlanta’s criminal and political elite. Hardman is hired to recover the loot and find the kids before they are caught and butchered by a hitman from Charleston with a very sharp knife.
This new edition includes an introduction by Joe R. Lansdale, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hap & Leonard crime novels.
Books by Ralph Dennis
Hoop Noir
Two gritty, fast-moving novels set in the world of basketball by legendary crime writer Ralph Dennis.
Tales of a Sad, Fat Wordman
This collection of some of Ralph's early short stories and poetry, framed with excerpts from articles about him and by essays from authors who knew him well.
Dust in the Heart
There's a killer stalking children in a small, North Carolina town...and the only one who can stop him is the local Sheriff, a man crippled physically and emotionally by a war that he's still fighting within himself. The haunting, powerful new thriller by Ralph Dennis, author of the legendary Hardman series of crime novels
All Kinds of Ugly
The recently discovered, long-lost, 13th and final Hardman adventure sends the unlicensed PI to London to find a missing man...where he becomes embroiled in an ugly case of embezzlement and murder.
Reviews For The Charleston Knife is Back in Town
His prose was muscular, swift and highly readable. Like Chandler and Hammett before him, Dennis was trying to do something different with what was thought of as throwaway literature.
Expert writing, plus good plotting and an unusual degree of sensitivity. Ralph Dennis has mastered the genre and supplied top entertainment.
Among the best series books around. The dialogue is marvelously realistic.
The Hardman books are by far the best of the men’s action-adventure series.
Ralph Dennis is an underappreciated master. His Hardman series is one of the finest in the P.I. genre.
