Atlanta Deathwatch

<b>The first novel in the unforgettable, ground-breaking series by Ralph Dennis is finally back in print... after being coveted for years by collectors of the very best in hardboiled fiction. </b><br>It's Atlanta, 1974. Jim Hardman was a mediocre 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. <br>Hardman is hired by The Man, a black mobster, to investigate the murder of his white girlfriend, a college student. It's a case that plunges Hardman and Evans into the center of a violent street war that stretches from Atlanta's seedy back alleys to the marbled corridors of power.<br>This new edition includes an introduction by Joe R. Lansdale, the New York Times bestselling author of the Hap & Leonard crime novels. <br><b>Praise for the HARDMAN novels</b><br>"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." <i>Joe R. Lansdale, from his introduction</i><br>"Expert writing, plus good plotting and an unusual degree of sensitivity. Ralph Dennis has mastered the genre and supplied top entertainment. "<i> The New York Times</i><br>"The Hardman books are by far the best of the men's action-adventure series." <i>Mother Jones Magazine </i><br>"Ralph Dennis is an underappreciated master. His Hardman series is one of the finest in the P.I. genre." Robert Randisi, founder of the Private Eye Writers of America <br>"Among the best series books around. The dialogue is marvelously realistic." <i>Philadelphia Daily News </i><br>"Ralph Dennis and his Hardman series are finally getting the respect many readers and collectors feel they deserve... 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 several other genre-defying characteristics are what captures and holds our fascination with Hardman." <i>Bookgasm</i>