The Colorado Kid

Blurb

On an island off the coast of Maine, a man is found dead. Theres no identification on the body. Only the dogged work of a pair of local newspapermen and a graduate student in forensics turns up any clues, and its more than a year before the man is identified.And thats just the beginning of the mystery. Because the more they learn about the man and the baffling circumstances of his death, the less they understand. Was it an impossible crime? Or something stranger still...?No one but Stephen King could tell this story about the darkness at the heart of the unknown and our compulsion to investigate the unexplained. With echoes of Dashiell Hammetts The Maltese Falcon and the work of Graham Greene, one of the worlds great storytellers presents a moving and surprising tale whose subject is nothing less than the nature of mystery itself...Listen to an excerpt from the Simon Schuster audiobook Read our press release about The Colorado Kid:NEW BOOK BY STEPHEN KING TO KICK OFF HARD CASE CRIMES SECOND YEAR2005-2006 Lineup Also Includes Lawrence Block, Donald Hamilton, Ed McBain and Donald E. WestlakeNew York Winterfall LLC, creator of the celebrated Hard Case Crime line of pulp-style paperback crime novels, today announced that a new book by Stephen King will be the lead title of the lines second year. The Colorado Kid tells the story of two veteran newspapermen and their investigation into the mysterious death of a man on an island off the coast of Maine. The book was written specifically for Hard Case Crime and has never previously been published. One of the most beloved storytellers of all time, Stephen King is the worlds best-selling novelist, with more than 300,000,000 books in print.Launched in September 2004 by novelists and pulp mavens Charles Ardai and Max Phillips (and recently nominated for two Edgar Allan Poe Awards by the Mystery Writers of America), Hard Case Crime revives the storytelling and visual style of the great pulp paperbacks of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. The line features an exciting mix of lost pulp masterpieces from some of the most acclaimed crime writers of all time and gripping new novels from the next generation of great hardboiled authors, all with new painted covers in the grand pulp style. Authors range from current best-sellers such as Lawrence Block, Max Allan Collins, Ed McBain, and Donald E. Westlake to Golden Age stars like Erle Stanley Gardner (creator of Perry Mason), Donald Hamilton (creator of Matt Helm), Wade Miller (author of Touch of Evil), and David Dodge (author of To Catch a Thief).Cover artists include the legendary Robert McGinnis, creator of the posters for the original Sean Connery James Bond movies, as well as other award-winning painters chosen for their ability to work in the vivid and dramatic style that made pulp paperbacks so memorable. After seeing samples of Hard Case Crimes books, Mickey Spillanecreator of Mike Hammer and one of the best-selling paperback writers of all timewrote, Those covers brought me right back to the good old days. The Colorado Kid will be published in October 2005 in the classic pocket-sized mass-market paperback format in which hundreds of millions of books were sold during the heyday of pulp fiction. The book will be published through Winterfalls ongoing collaboration with Dorchester Publishing, the oldest independent mass-market publisher in the United States. The book will also be available in audiobook and e-book editions from Simon Schuster, publisher of Stephen Kings work since 1998.Steve is an extraordinary writer, and as much a fan of classic paperback crime fiction as we are, said Charles Ardai, Hard Case Crimes editor. We originally contacted him to see if hed be willing to write a blurb for our line, and he decided that what he really wanted to do was write a book for us instead. Were thrilled that he wanted to be part of Hard Case Crime and were very excited to get to introduce the world to the baffling mystery of The Colorado Kid.This...