For My First Trick...

These two terrific mysteries (written by Charles Ardai, the founder and editor of the amazing Hard Case Crime line) are the best thing since bread sliced with a bloody knife.

Ardai/Aleas writes with genius about a former cop turned private investigator named John Blake, who keeps on losing the people around him -- especially women he loves. He also takes savage beatings which slow him down but never stop him. Snap these up: they rank with the best of the masters that Hard Case publishes...