Books by Ralph Dennis

The first 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. Includes an Introduction by Joe R. Lansdale.

The gritty, hard-edged novel of sex, crime, and corruption in 1970s Atlanta...and the man who is paid to hide it all... by Ralph Dennis, author of the legendary Hardman series of detective novels.Vince Gorman is a ruthless lawyer with flexible morality who makes problems go away for David Wardlaw, an Atlanta real estate developer and the owner of the city's pro basketball team. Wardlaw doesn't care how Vince fixes things...as long as it gets done. But now Vince is in over his head... covering up a possibly fatal hit-and-run by the team's hard-partying star shooter... and competing with Wardlaw's rivals to bribe, blackmail and intimidate the corrupt politicians who award the city's rich construction contracts...all while desperately scrambling to keep his own life of dark secrets, relentless womanizing, and soul-rotting compromises from crashing down around him. This is an edited and revised version of a book previously published in 1975 under the title Atlanta.Praise for Ralph Dennis:"Ralph Dennis has mastered the genre and supplied top entertainment." New York Times"His prose is muscular, swift and highly readable. " Joe R. Lansdale, author of the Hap & Leonard novels, the basis for the hit TV series."Exceptional characterization, strong and vigorous prose, and a glimpse into a place and time that has long since disappeared." Mystery Scene Magazine"An underappreciated master." Robert J. Randisi, founder of the Private Eye Writers of America."Straight-up, hardboiled crime fiction, written in a tight, evocative voice with a wicked, dark sense of humor." Lee Goldberg, #1 New York Times bestselling author of True Fiction and Lost Hills.

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 novelsWilton Drake's hip was shattered by a sniper's bullet in Lebanon...and his heart was ripped apart by the wife who left him as lay in a military hospital. Now, after fiteen years in the Navy, he's returned to Edgefield, North Carolina a broken man, looking for a way to hold himself together. He finds it in a bottle...and behind a badge as Webster County's newly elected Sheriff...but his forbidden attraction to a mysterious stripper and his harrowing investigation into a horrific string of child murders might destroy what's left of him, body and soul."Ralph Dennis has mastered the genre and supplied top entertainment." New York Times"His prose is muscular, swift and highly readable. " Joe R. Lansdale, author of the Hap & Leonard novels, the basis for the hit TV series."Exceptional characterization, strong and vigorous prose, and a glimpse into a place and time that has long since disappeared." Mystery Scene Magazine"An underappreciated master." Robert J. Randisi, founder of the Private Eye Writers of America. "Straight-up, hardboiled crime fiction, written in a tight, evocative voice with a wicked, dark sense of humor." Lee Goldberg, #1 New York Times bestselling author of True Fiction and Lost Hills.

For years, original copies of Ralph Dennis' Hardman novels, one of the best crime fiction series ever written, were the Holy Grail for collectors because they were nearly impossible to find and very pricey. But those days are over. Hardman is back! "The Hardman books are by far the best of the men's action-adventure series." Mother Jones MagazineIt's Atlanta, 1974. Ex-cop Jim Hardman and his drinking buddy Hump Evans, an ex-NFL player, will do just about anything short of a felony to make a buck...but even that rule is flexible. "Among the best series books around." Philadelphia Daily NewsIn their sixth adventure, Hardman steps into the middle of a bar fight and stumbles into a deadly but lucrative job -- protecting a guy who is next-in-line for a massive inheritance from being murdered by professional assassins. But as the body count rises, and killers just keep on coming, it becomes clear to Hardman that the motive is more than money... and that he may be fighting an adversary who will never stop, even after death. "Ralph Dennis has mastered the genre and supplied top entertainment." The New York TimesThis new edition includes an Afterword from author Cynthia Williams, who was one of Ralph Dennis' students.

Retired pro football star Ed Cross did most of his scoring between bed posts with other player's women, including Hump's ex-girlfriend. That was bad enough. Hump goes looking for blood... and finds it. Cross is murdered and Hump becomes the prime suspect.

The fourth novel in the series. A small-town farmer hires Hardman to find his teenage daughter who ran off to Atlanta to become a model...and ended up a hooker.

The third book in the acclaimed Hardman series. Jim Hardman is hired to find Peggy Holt, a drug dealer, stripper, and serial seductress who has kidnapped her six-year-old daughter from her ex-husband.

"Exceptional characterization, strong and vigorous prose, and a glimpse into a place and time that has long since disappeared." Mystery Scene Magazine"Dennis may not have made literature of Hardman, but he damn sure touched on it more than a time or two," Joe R. Lansdale, New York Times author of the Hap & Leonard series The eighth novel in the legendary Hardman series. Ex-cop Jim Hardman and ex-NFL player Hump Evans will do anything for a buck, short of murder. But this time, that's exactly the service that Hardman is offering. He's posing as a hitman in a sting being run by his only friend left on the Atlanta PD. The scam goes fatally wrong and Hardman becomes the guy with the target on his back..."A lightning-paced crime story packed with irreverence and loads of action." Publishers Weekly"Among the best series books around. The dialogue is marvelously realistic." Philadelphia Daily News "Ralph Dennis has mastered the genre and supplied top entertainment." The New York Times"Hardman is not your typical PI. He is not that good looking; a bit on the pudgy side in fact. His methods are unorthodox, and he often plays both sides of the law when working a case. But these and other genre-defying characteristics are what captures and holds our fascination." Bookgasm This new edition includes an Afterword from author Robert J. Randisi, founder of the Private Eye Writers of America

The second novel in the acclaimed, long-lost series. Hardman races to find the five kids who robbed a high-stakes gambling party before they are found, and diced, by a knife-wielding assassin.