Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories

Acknowledgments

All these individuals have, in one way or another, to a greater or a lesser extent, aided in the putting together of this volume. To them all, the editors extend heartfelt thanks: Bob Adey, Connie Aitcheson, Mike Ashley, the staff of the Bodleian Library in Oxford, England (in particular, Richard Bell, Head of Reader Services, and his deputy Alison Northover, Christine Mason, Jackie Dean, Rosemary McCarthy, and John Slatter of the Nuneham Courtney out-station), John Clute, Richard Coombs, Alastair Durie, Liza Ewell of Oxford University Press, Ed Gorman, Douglas Green, Martin H. Greenberg, E. R. Hagemann (who probably knows more about Black Mask, its contributors, and the hard-boiled movement in general than any other critic), Stephen Leadbeatter, Marcia Muller, Kim Newman, William F. Nolan, David Pringle, Roger Robinson, the late and much lamented Robert Sampson, Andy Sawyer, John F. Suter, Peter Tyas, and Gene Zombolas.

During the course of preparing this volume, Jack Adrian suffered a near-fatal heart attack, which added more than somewhat to the project’s timeline. He would like to acknowledge a debt of unusual gratitude to Oxford University Press’s Linda Morse and Liza Ewell for their lasting enthusiasm and enormous patience during trying times.