But now Hank is here, working as a bartender and taking care of a cat named Bud who is surely going to get him killed.It begins when Hank’s neighbor, Russ, has to leave town in a rush and hands over Bud in a carrier. But it isn’t until two Russians in tracksuits drag Hank over the bar at the joint where he works and beat him to a pulp that he starts to get the idea: Someone wants something from him. He just doesn’t know what it is, where it is, or how to make them understand he doesn’t have it.Within twenty-four hours Hank is running over rooftops, swinging his old aluminum bat for the sweet spot of a guy’s head, playing hide and seek with the NYPD, riding the subway with a dead man at his side, and counting a whole lot of cash on a concrete floor.All because of two cowboys, two Russian mafia men, and some of the weirdest goons ever assembled in one place. All because of Bud. All because once, in another life, in another world, the only thing Hank wanted was to take third base—without getting caught.

    This volume collects four complete stories from this groundbreaking series: A notebook, full of despair, plunges a detective into a bizarre kidnapping where the victim is just a lost and forgotten pawn in a story of blackmail and love. A stolen gun gives a best friend a chance to shine, and proves that a happy ending is only determined by where the story ends. A joyous reunion, full of balloons and cake, will signal the end of the salad days for a wealthy socialite unless swift and inhuman action is taken. They say you can't go home again, but the law says differently, and a young girl running from a 12-foot-tall, 800-pound Bazzloomis will be forced back into its salivating maw and be swallowed whole...

    Shares case information, articles, and recently discovered crime photos from the LAPD archives for dramatic cases that took place between the 1930s and 1960s, in a compilation that includes information related to such crimes as the Black Dahlia slaying, the Onion Field murder, and the deaths of The

    

    Evolved from lucha libre, the family gimmick is sacred, and the mask is the sole expression of one’s identity. Now, Hood prostitutes are turning-up murdered and worse, unmasked, and the ‘Skin’ establishment is as much help as a paid-off ref. Enter X, former luchadora with a bruised past, a bum knee and no time to play Santo. She’s no hero, but there’s nobody else to tag-in, as her hunt for a killer uncovers a conspiracy that could take down all of maskedkind. Like Casablanca with wrestling masks, Hoodtown is vintage pulp noir with a lucha libre pop culture twist.

    The largest metropolitan area in the country, home to an ever-changing population of the disillusioned and in close proximity to city, mountains, ocean, and desert, the City of Angels became a center of American film noir. This detailed discussion of nine films explores such topics as why certain settings are appropriate for film noir, why L.A. has been a favorite of authors such as Raymond Chandler, and relevant political developments in the area. The films are also examined in terms of story content as well as how they developed in the project stage. Utilizing a number of quotes from interviews, the work examines actors, directors, and others involved with the films, touching on their careers and details of their time in L.A. The major films covered are The Big Sleep, Criss Cross, D.O.A., In A Lonely Place, The Blue Gardenia, Kiss Me Deadly, The Killing, Chinatown, and L.A. Confidential.

    Every aspect is revealed of the film's development and production - casting, design, shooting, scoring, and editing - to the profound disappointment upon its release. This book is the result of over a decade of archival research and interviews with a dozen key people associated with the film, including Grubb, Gregory, actors Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish and cinematographer Stanley Cortez. Their oral histories, along with numerous artifacts and film stills, are here deftly assembled into an account that is as compelling as the movie it celebrates.

    Death stalks these streets in the form of a hired killer named Rawhead--a shadowy yet powerful figure desperate to control a ruthless mob family called The Priesthood. He will stop at nothing to invade their inner sanctum.Author Billy Dye has finally found success after years of struggle. But now Rawhead, his childhood friend turned maniacal assassin, has reentered his life and involved him in a plot to take over The Priesthood and wrest control of the Manchester underworld. Nobody is safe in this action-packed, violent, and often hilarious crime novel.David Bowker is the new voice of British crime and the most original author to burst on the scene in years.

    He was also one of world's most popular Black contemporary writers. Having published 16 novels, including Whoreson, Dopefiend, and Daddy Cool, Goines's unique brand of "street narrative" and "ghetto realism" mark him as the original street writer.Now, in the first in-depth biography of Goines's life, author Eddie B. Allen explores exactly how one man could make the transition from street hustler to bestselling author. With exclusive access to personal letters, treatments from unwritten books, photographs, and family members, Allen uncovers Goines's personal experiences with drugs, prostitutes, prison, and urban violence. Fans of Goines's novels will note a dramatic parallelism between his life and his fictional tales.

    The freelance rabbit business isn't going as well as it should. He's hung over. The rent's due. There's a knock at the door and a gun-wielding homicidal maniac barges into the room. That's when things start to go downhill!

    Populated by double-crossing, unsavory characters, this pioneering film style explored a shadow side of American life during a period of tremendous prosperity and optimism. Edward Dimendberg compellingly demonstrates how film noir is preoccupied with modernity—particularly the urban landscape.The originality of Dimendberg’s approach lies in his examining these films in tandem with historical developments in architecture, city planning, and modern communications systems. He confirms that noir is not simply a reflection of modernity but a virtual continuation of the spaces of the metropolis. He convincingly shows that Hollywood’s dark thrillers of the postwar decades were determined by the same forces that shaped the city itself.Exploring classic examples of film noir such as The Asphalt Jungle, Double Indemnity, Kiss Me Deadly, and The Naked City alongside many lesser-known works, Dimendberg masterfully interweaves film history and urban history while perceptively analyzing works by Raymond Chandler, Edward Hopper, Siegfried Kracauer, and Henri Lefebvre. A bold intervention in cultural studies and a major contribution to film history, Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity will provoke debate by cinema scholars, urban historians, and students of modern culture—and will captivate admirers of a vital period in American cinema.

    A closed world, isolated and alone.A world of contrasts and contradictions. The citizens live their lives in a tangle of technological obscurity.A world of pain, fear, longing and hatred. Where the basest human emotions rise to the surface, where men will cripple each other for a dull shilling.A world of superstition, folk tales, wild religion and rampant rumour. The Shift and The Bombardment are apocalyptic legends from the far past, feeding the nightmares and fantasies of current generations.A world of strangers and beings who do not belong. The Shifted, strange entities, whispered about in pubs and taverns, lest the very mention of their name summon them from the dark.You will never forget The City.But The City will forget you.a|state is set in The City. Isolated from the outside world, it is a place riven by horrors, plagued by inhumanity and crushed under the weight of its own population. Rotting concrete towerblocks and dank brick tenements house the millions who work, live and die in The City. Ghostfighters, Scops, Lostfinders and Flowghosts make their way along the winding streets and stinking canals. a|state is about hope in a dark place. It is about characters who bring hope to themselves, their families, their friends, even to the whole city.

     With stories by Michael Connelly, Peter Robinson, Robert Ferrigno, Laura Lippman, Max Allan Collins, Julie Smith, Craig Holden, John Lutz, John Harvey, Billy Moody, Ed Gorman, Martin Meyers, Les Roberts, and Christine Matthews.

    In the middle of the twentieth century, the Mary Pickfords of the movie world were replaced by a different sort of woman--drop-dead gorgeous, witty, not afraid to speak their minds, they could slay you with a look--and if that didn't work, look out for the pistol in the garter. These ground-breaking actresses helped change the course of movie history, charting a path for generations to come. These profiles of fifteen leading ladies--Lucille Ball, Lynn Bari, Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Gloria Grahame, Jean Hagen, Adele Jergens, Ida Lupino, Marilyn Maxwell, Mercedes McCambridge, Jane Russell, Ann Sheridan, Barbara Stanwyck, Claire Trevor and Marie Windsor--include overviews of their lives and careers, and excerpts from interviews. Five photos supplement each profile. Jane Russell (one of the actresses profiled) provides a foreword.