This image is the cover for the book Hard City

Hard City

The searing novel of a brutal boyhood in 1940s Chicago—and a young man walking the knife’s edge between a life of crime and a brighter future.

The son of a single mother addicted to heroin, Richie grows up in poverty and hardship. His adolescence is a constant battle between hope—in the form of a kind boxing coach, a job in a bowling alley where he can sneak a nap, and a determination to track down his disreputable father—and brutality. Desperately lonely, Richie must contend with the criminal justice system, abusive foster homes, and a period of exile with his grandmother in Tennessee.

In this gritty, semiautobiographical novel by an Edgar Award–winning author, the fate of this young man hangs in the balance as he finds himself tested by want, war, and the ever-present temptation to give up on the possibility of something better.

“Strongly satisfying [and] frequently compelling.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Sustains a sense of tension, moving smoothly between flashbacks of the events of Richie’s early years and the traumatic experiences of his adolescence, then on to his return to Chicago.” —The New York Times

Clark Howard

Clark Howard (1932-2016) Born in Ripley, Tennessee, Howard was one of the most honored mystery writers in America and was a longtime favorite of readers of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and numerous other publications. A professional writer for over 40 years, he wrote sixteen novels, six books of non-fiction, and published two collections of short stories, in addition to more than 200 uncollected short stories. Howard was honored with the Edgar Allan Poe award for best short story of 1981 from the Mystery Writers of America. In 2009, Howard won the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Short Fiction Mystery Society.​  

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road