The explosive growth of digital books has spurred a lot of interesting trends, both in digital and print. One such trend is that many books previously out of print or with limited print runs are being made available again. Open Road Media is at the forefront of this particular trend, such as their new rerelease of Larry Beinhart’s No One Rides for Free, which won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel. The timely work takes brash, opinionated private eye Tony Cassella into the world of corporate corruption and Wall Street crime. Two of Beinhart's books, Wag the Dog and Salvation Boulevard were made into films, and he received the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award.
The Mysterious Press recently partnered with Open Road Media to release classic crime, mystery and suspense titles in digital reading formats. They've just reissued four of hard-boiled author Joseph Koenig's books in digital form: the Edgar-nominated Floater; Little Odessa; Smugglers Notch and the groundbreaking Brides of Blood, a police procedural set in Islamic Iran.
It's also nice to see publishers taking advantage of new global online book channels to reissue works as paperbacks. Soho Crime just announced it's publishing Stuart Neville's Irish noir Belfast Trilogy (The Ghosts of Belfast, Collusion, and Stolen Souls), which have won or been nominated for just about every major crime fiction prize. Each book will include new bonus material such as interviews, alternate scenes, never-before-published short stories, and previews of Neville's new series. Plus, the author is undertaking a rare U.S. tour in October, with a stop at Bouchercon.
Hard Case Crime also comes to mind, with a who's who list among its print reissues, including Harlan Ellison's first novel, Web of the City, and recently discovered unpublished gems from James M. Cain (The Cocktail Waitress) and Donald Westlake (The Comedy is Finished). As an interesting tie-in to the note about Joseph Koenig above, Hard Case Crime will release his newest novel, False Negative, a rollicking mystery about a journalist who, like Koenig once did, writes for true-crime magazines.
There are certainly plenty more where these come from, and if you know of noteworthy upcoming reissues, feel free to post them in the comments or drop me an e-mail.
