Wikipedia describes the books better than I can:
Hard Case Crime is an American publisher of paperback hardboiled crime novels founded in 2004 by Charles Ardai, and Max Phillips. The series recreates, in editorial form and content, the spirit of the pulps of the 1940s and '50s. The covers feature original art done in pulp style by artists such as Robert McGinnis and Glen Orbik.
The collection includes both hard-to-find books from the pulp era (typically labeled Complete and unabridged on the cover), and new novels written specially for the collection (typically labeled First publication anywhere).
I played it fairly safe first and picked up The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (probably the most well-known book in the series). Since it was a short novel I also picked up another: The Murderer Vine by Shepard Rifkin (both seen above).
I breezed through The Colorado Kid pretty fast (176 pages) and I'm now almost half way through The Murderer Vine (254 pages). Both are pretty darn entertaining.
I'm also thinking of signing up for their book club - Two books a month (the newest one and an old one) for only $6.99 ($8.99 if you include shipping). Plus, you can cancel at any time.
I know this is probably a longshot, but has anyone else read any Hard case Crime?