Rating - 8.5/10

Summary - In the ninth installment in Ralph Dennis’ twelve-book Hardman series, Hardman’s friend Hump is cheated when he wins a bet on a Monday Night Football game. The scam leads Hardman and Hump into something much bigger and more evil. This is one of the best novels in this unfairly-forgotten series.

Review - From 1974 to 1977 Ralph Dennis penned twelve novels featuring an “unlicensed private investigator” in Atlanta named Jim Hardman. Though the books in the series are yellowing and forgotten at America’s thrift stores, they are well worth seeking out for some fun, hardboiled reading.

I bought all twelve novels online for about $40 and I’ve slowly been working my way through them. For The One-Dollar Ripoff my expectations were high, as Bill Pronzini’s massive review of mystery fiction, 1001 Midnights, mentioned that book was one of the best in the Hardman series. I wasn’t disappointed; The One-Dollar Ripoff has all of the virtues of the other books in the Hardman series (lots of action in gritty Atlanta settings) along with a good plot. (Plots can be “thin” in some of the other Hardman novels).

The Story

The One-Dollar Ripoff throws the reader a curve. The story starts with what seems to be a simple scam – Hardman’s friend Hump Evans wins a bet on a Monday Night Football game but cannot collect on it. Hardman agrees to help Hump track down the man responsible, and they find out that the man is involved with some evil people.

True, Dennis’ plot isn’t particularly original, nor is it entirely believable. But readers searching for fine literature are in the wrong place. What Dennis does accomplish will satisfy those who want an entertaining, gritty, action-packed read.

This is not to say that Dennis was a hack writer. In places, he shows a nice touch with prose. He even shows a bit of insight into “the human condition” for readers who pay attention. According to online sources, Dennis was an alcoholic. Consider then, this passage in which Hardman and Hump search skid row -

“It wasn’t a pleasant thought. That chance that, in a few years, we might be the ones waking with the dry, scratchy throats. The rest of the day would stretch out, measuring a hundred years, when we’d have to worry about getting enough wine to make it through the night. The begging and the lying and all of the sweat time that went with it” (p. 21).

As with all of the books in the Hardman series, The One-Dollar Ripoff takes the reader into a rough world. One respectable citizen checks on Hardman’s and Hump’s reputations and reports that “He said that you two have an old whore’s past and future. Nothing at all” (p. 65). That line says much about the tone of the Hardman series and the world it explores.

Though I recommend The One-Dollar Ripoff, the book has some “soft spots.” For instance, when Hardman is hired to work for a man named Temple (pp. 63-64), Dennis falls into the old trap of “telling, but not showing.” (In other words, rather than revealing the characters through their actions, Dennis simply tells the reader what to think of the characters). There is also a poorly-drawn scene at the end of the book in which Hardman confronts a wealthy man’s bodyguard. Both scenes could have been improved with minimal rewriting.

Closing Time -

Fans of ultra hardboiled fiction will enjoy the Hardman series. The books are a cut above most men’s adventure fiction. The One-Dollar Ripoff is one of the best in this neglected series.

Rating - 6/10

Summary - Hardman is back – again. In the sixth of twelve installments, unlicensed Atlanta private eye Jim Hardman investigates why an heir to a fortune has chosen to live on Atlanta’s skid row. The journey is a lot of fun and there is some strong prose in this one, but the plot seems patched together. This is an enjoyable book – as long as you have realistic expectations.

Review - Men’s action novels offer a lot of tawdry thrills, provided you can find a book that is worth reading. The problem with most of these books is that they are terribly written. So, when I find a good hardboiled series, I like to stick with it. The twelve Hardman novels, published from 1974 to 1977, are one of the best series in this déclassé genre.

The premise is simple and will be familiar to fans of hardboiled books – Jim Hardman is a disgraced, ex-Atlanta cop who teams with his partner, black, ex-pro football player Hump Evans to take on “unlicensed private investigations.” A lot of their jobs are pretty bad – at times, they even deal drugs. It sounds unpromising, but author Ralph Dennis manages to make these novels a lot of fun.

In Murder’s Not an Odd Job, Hardman and Hump are prowling Atlanta’s skid row on a night on the town. After getting caught up in a bar fight, they find themselves in the case of a missing heir from one of Atlanta’s “best” families. One of the best things about the Hardman novels is that Dennis knows skid row quite well. The book’s first two paragraphs set the scene and the tone -

“It wasn’t our kind of place. Not that Hump and I are snobs. Far from it. But this one belonged to the winos and their drinking doesn’t have a red hair’s worth of fun in it. It’s all business: get as much as you can and then get it down before somebody comes over and asks for part of it. That kind of place, with the bare bones of survival sticking out, the smells and sounds of it.

Hump and I had been doing part of town, the underside of Atlanta. The last stop had been the Fairmont, an old hotel that looks as if it might have been a movie theatre once. There’s a lounge in back. To get to it you’ve got to cross a parking lot that looks as if it might have been designed by a team of muggers. Nobody’d bothered us and we spent about an hour there. There were three topless dancers and we stayed as long as we did because we got interested in the games being played by two of them. From where we sat they looked like a bull dyke and her calf. Trying to figure it out kept us interested through three or four beers.” (p. 5).

While Dennis is not attempting to teach readers any lessons, occasionally one finds surprising insights. According to online sources, Dennis had a drinking problem. Therefore, the following passage – in which a man describes the winos at a seedy bar -  resonates -

“It’s not the way you always hear it. These men aren’t down on their luck. That’s what they’ll tell you. The truth is that they’ve given up on themselves” (p. 7).

Weak Plot & Other Issues

Murder’s Not an Odd Job, is very readable, but it’s not one of my favorite books in the series. Plotting can be a problem in the Hardman books and this one is particularly weak. Taken individually, the book has several strong, action-filled sequences. But the scenes feel “pieced together”; Dennis throws the reader several red herrings.

For instance, the book takes the reader through multiple settings, but the first hundred pages are so contain many passages that do little to advance the plot. Only after page 100 does Dennis stop leading the reader down blind alleys. Dennis wrote in a hurry – publishing seven Hardman novels in 1974 – so it’s unsurprising that a bit of editing could have improved this one.

A critic could also note that Hardman and Hump aren’t exactly enlightened in their attitudes toward women. Consider this description of a forty-ish woman-

“Beth entered from a bedroom beyond about the time we arrived. … Even in black she looked good. All that prime, aged meat. It was getting to me even though I knew that young was better and I knew that she probably hadn’t noticed that I had a fly or a zipper” (p. 59).

Redemption

Fortunately, Dennis manages to make this novel satisfying despite its many flaws. I don’t want to include any spoilers, so I will say only that Dennis concludes by setting up a dramatic shootout that makes good use of both the characters and the setting. The reader who seeks low-rent thrills goes away happy.

Seek Them Out

The Hardman books are cheap paperbacks and they are getting a bit old. I found a set of all twelve online for about $45. My copy of Murder’s Not an Odd Job is yellowing and even has a Kent cigarette ad in the center. For hardboiled junkies it’s worth ordering them over the ‘net, at least until some publisher decides to reissue them. While Murder’s Not is not my favorite book in the series, it’s still pretty good and will give first-time readers an idea of the Hardman series’ strengths and weaknesses.

Rating: 7/10

Summary: Hardman is back in a story of hookers, murder, and organized crime that is set on Atlanta’s mean streets. War and Peace it ain’t, but Pimp for the Dead is an easy-reading action story that is a cut above most pulp fiction.

Review: The largely-forgotten, twelve-novel Hardman series is better than one would expect. The series stars Jim Hardman, an Atlanta ex-cop turned unlicensed private eye. Hardman does dirty jobs with his buddy, Hump Evans – a black, ex-pro football player. It doesn’t sound promising, but these hardboiled books are pretty good.

In Pimp for the Dead, one of Hardman’s old Korean War buddies sends him to look into the disappearance of a woman from a small Georgia town. Hardman finds that she has become an Atlanta prostitute. Unsurprisingly, his search leads him into a complex case that involves all sorts of wrongdoing.

Atmosphere

The appeal of the Hardman series – as with many hardboiled books – is that it gives the reader a tour of Atlanta’s gutters. The following description of one Atlanta bar provides an example of Dennis’ tone -

“The Hollywood is for the lost ones, the ones who are barred from most of the other taverns in town. They sit over their bottle or pitcher like a man over his last meal. Make it last, taste every drop” (p. 41).

Adding to the mood are Hardman and Hump, two very imperfect heroes. They accept any type of work that comes along, including drug dealing. Hump is also very sexist. In Pimp, Hardman describes himself -

“Without the tie, I looked a little seedy. With it, I didn’t look much better” (p. 44).

Nice Touches

Though largely a conventional pulp novel, Pimp contains some aspects that set it apart from the pack. For instance, Dennis adds a coded diary that Hardman must decipher. Also, he disguises one character’s identity. Finally, Dennis includes a twist ending that works, even if it is a bit confusing. There are several other nice touches as well.

Odd Turns

Though Pimp is a good pulp novel, the book falters in places. When Dennis attempts to slow the pace and develop Hardman’s character, it can be jarring. This is the case in Pimp when Dennis creates subplots involving Hardman a) planting a garden and b) adopting some cats. The “gardening material” is OK, but the cat angle is misplaced. Another odd aspect is that one of the hookers is a dwarf. This adds nothing to the story and the reader wonders what Dennis was thinking.

Perhaps these odd notes arise because Dennis wrote the novels in a hurry – publishing seven Hardman novels in 1974 alone.

Final Thoughts

Pimp for the Dead is one of the better novels (of the six I’ve read) in this unfairly-neglected series. Hardboiled fans will want to check out Pimp – or one of the other novels in the series.

Rating - 8.5/10

Summary - The Golden Girl & All is one of the best books in this overlooked hardboiled series set in Atlanta. This book is a great introduction to the work of Ralph Dennis.

Review - Recently, the twelve novels in Ralph Dennis’ series have become my “go-to  books” when I need some nice, unchallenging beach reading. The series is little known and features a disgraced ex-cop-turned-unlicensed-private-eye named Jim Hardman and his friend, black ex-NFL star Hump Evans. Though the set-up sounds cliched, Dennis’ books are all good, and some are terrific.

The Golden Girl & All is the third of the twelve Hardman novels, and the fifth novel that I’ve read in the series. I recently bought the entire set of Hardman novels for $40 online; eventually, I will get to the seven that I have yet to read.

The Missing Femme Fatale

The Golden Girl relies on a classic “missing woman” plot. Peggy Holt, a young mother, grabs her daughter from a Chapel Hill, North Carolina, daycare and flees to Atlanta. Peggy’s ex-husband hires Hardman to track her down. Predictably, the search leads Hardman into Atlanta’s underbelly.

Hardboiled Atlanta

The Hardman novels are very hardboiled. Hardman and Hump are cynics and one finds no moralizing in the novels. Golden Girl is bleaker than most of the Hardman novels, as it takes place in a run-down Atlanta during a cold January -

At night you couldn’t see much of the damage that the ice storm a week back had done. Crossing the old bridge at the west end of the park my headlights played across a tree that had been uprooted and had fallen against the embankment. … Down in its center Orme Park was pitch black in shadows. The outer edges were lit by the street lights and the overflow cast by porch lights (pp. 128-129).

According to online sources, Dennis suffered with a drinking problem. Alcohol is prominent in the Hardman novels and also contributes to their mood. Of why he accepted the Golden Girl case, Hardman says “Getting so I needed a job or I’d turn into an alcoholic”.

Hump replies, “At your age it’s a little late to worry about it. Now it’s a race between skid row and the grave” (p. 71).

Stronger Plotting

A consistent weakness in the Hardman books is plotting. Dennis wrote in a hurry (publishing seven novels in 1974 alone); his quick drafting and the books’ short lengths sometimes detract from their plots. Though Golden Girl has many typos, its plot is pretty good.

In addition to the standard drugs, sex, and violence common to hard-boiled novels, Dennis adds some nice touches -
- in Chapter 10, Hardman and Hump attempt to track down the missing child by following a man through Atlanta. This is a terrific chase scene that vividly evokes the city. The chase covers a lot of ground, but Dennis’ explanation allows the reader to follow events.
- Dennis attended graduate school at the University of North Carolina and a small part of the novel takes place in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. These scenes provide a nice break from Atlanta and help sustain the reader’s interest.
- Golden Girl also has a strong, hardboiled finish. I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll say that Dennis again makes the setting vivid

An underdeveloped thread in the novel is Hardman’s deteriorating relationship with his lover, Marcy. The problems reinforce the “hardboiled” mood. At one point, Hardman notes of the relationship “It was falling apart and the heavy sad blues were playing in my head” (p. 96)

In Conclusion…

The Golden Girl & All is of the strongest Hardman novels. The Hardman books have long been out of print, but they’re easy to find over the ‘net. Hardboiled fans who take the time to track down Golden Girl will not regret it.

NOTE - Previously, I’ve reviewed two Dennis novels on this site – Atlanta Deathwatch (Hardman #1) and Deadman’s Game, a novel that was supposed to be the start of a new series for Dennis featuring an ex-CIA assassin named Kane. Sadly, only one Kane novel made it in to print. Links to these two reviews follow -

Atlanta Deathwatch: Hardman #1

http://mobilemojoman.wordpress.com/2012/02/26/book-review-hardman-1-atlanta-deathwatch-by-ralph-dennis/

Deadman’s Game

http://mobilemojoman.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/book-review-deadmans-game-by-ralph-dennis-the-only-published-novel-ralph-dennis%E2%80%99-kane-series/

Rating - 7/10

Summary - In Atlanta Deathwatch, Ralph Dennis sets the pattern for the twelve-book Hardman series: flawed characters enmeshed in sex, violence, and greed on Atlanta’s meanest streets.

Review - A few years ago, I got a copy of Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller’s 1001 Midnights, which is a book that reviews hundreds of mystery novels. They mention the Hardman series by Ralph Dennis and recommend it. On their recommendation, I tracked down three of the Hardman novels (#2 – The Charleston Knife’s Back in Town, #5 – Down Among the Jocks, and #11- The Last of the Armageddon Wars) and I thought that they were great, light reading.

The other day, I was loafing on EBay when I came across a great deal – all twelve Hardman books for $40 (including shipping). I bought them right away. When the books arrived, there was no doubt that I would read Atlanta Deathwatch first.

Readers can enjoy the Hardman novels in any order. (Certainly, we are not discussing “fine literature” here – thank goodness). But Atlanta Deathwatch definitely sets the tone for the series and provides some background and character development that are lacking in the other books (at least those that I have read).

Jim Hardman is the title character, a disgraced Atlanta cop who works as an “unlicensed private investigator”; in other words, he picks up whatever shady work he can find. His sidekick is Hump Evans, a towering, black ex-pro football player. The relationship between Hardman and Hump is well written, and Dennis devised his characters long before the black partner became a cliche.

Atlanta Deathwatch has a basic plot that includes a few twists – a white Georgia politician’s daughter falls in love with a black criminal; then she ends up a murder victim. The criminal hires Hardman to find out what happened. In the Hardman novels, plot is often secondary to enjoying Dennis’ vivid descriptions of Atlanta’s underbelly.

Even if one judges Atlanta Deathwatch against other pulp novels, there are a few drawbacks. First, the novel is almost too hardboiled; Hardman and Hump aren’t always likable, as they:
- deal drugs,
- make sexist remarks (women are “trim”),
- spend much of their time drunk,  etc.
(In later novels, Dennis made both characters more engaging).

Also, Dennis wrote in a hurry – publishing seven Hardman novels in 1974. Unsurprisingly, the books can read like rough drafts in places. For instance, in Atlanta Deathwatch, Hardman says “I felt like somebody had crapped on me, and then turned off the water so I couldn’t take a shower” (p. 190).

While not War and Peace, the Hardman novels are fast-paced with lots of sex, violence, drugs, and other bad behaviors – all of the things that guys like. These forgotten paperbacks are terrific beach reads – and Atlanta Deathwatch is a great place to start.