Lucky at Cards

Hard Case Crime publishes crime fiction (classic reprints and paperback originals) with gorgeous pulp-style covers. I read one last year, enjoyed it and subscribed. They send me a book almost every month, I guess. First one came yesterday: Lawrence Block's Lucky At Cards and I read it in three hours. It's a cardsharp (they call him a card mechanic) and conman story with a couple dames thrown in to mix things up. I thought it was fresh and devoid of clichés -- until the toothache sweet conclusion. It was the perfect thing to read while taking a night off from Dostoevksky and with a long Nixon bio looming.