Jim Hardman
Created by Ralph Dennis (-1988)
JIM HARDMAN's not such a hardman, after all. he's actually overweight and out of shape. Still, he's tough enough. He's a former Atlanta cop, currently working as an unlicensed private eye, assisted by his trusty black sidekick, Hump Evans, a former pro football player. Together, they roam the streets of Virginia-Highland, Ponce, all the way to the Stein Club on Peachtree, kicking ass and taking no names. A pretty decent series, well-written, with great use of the Atlanta setting, but more or less forgotten now. The fact that they were packaged as "Men's Adventures" paperback originals by Popular Library, right down to numbers on the covers. You know--The Executioner, The Destroyer, Mack Bolan et al. This probably hurt sales to traditional mystery readers, and the series faded away, no doubt too hip for the room. But they're worth tracking down. One of the great lost eyes..
Dennis was a continuation of the Spillane school of writing, but he had more character development and more plot than Spillane. The comparison and parallels to SPENSER are interesting as well. Dennis was a continuation of the Spillane school of writing, but he had more character development and more plot than Spillane. Dennis also started another series, based on a man named KANE, who finds himself working as a private eye in Atlanta.
NOVELS
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