One of the earliest and most important collections of its kind. Ron Goulart knew the hardboiled detective genre had lasting literary significance and popular appeal, and that the eight stories he selected for this volume represented "more than a nostalgic look at the past" (see his introduction). Raoul Whitfield's "China Man" (starring the unflappable Filipino detective Jo Gar) is a little anemic, but most of the other tales are top-notch. "Don't Give Your Right Name" is possibly the funniest, toughest story Norbert Davis ever wrote (and one of five featuring his Max Latin character), and there's plenty of action and gleeful violence as encyclopedia salesman Oliver Quade takes on an entire houseful of crooks in Frank Gruber's "Death on Eagle's Crag." The cream of the crop, however, is John K. Butler's novella "The Saint in Silver." Sure, the premise (ex-millionaire Steve Midnight toiling as an L.A. cabbie and, unofficially, a detective) is goofy, but it belies the author's ability to create deadly serious moments of dramatic tension. Butler's style was reminiscent of Raymond Chandler's, and it's too bad that he never wrote a full-length novel; he certainly had the chops for it.

The Hardboiled Dicks is ideal for those who have read Dashiell Hammett and Chandler and are interested in their more obscure contemporaries, but even if this is your first encounter with detective fiction from the pulps, you're bound to find something you like here. Four and a half stars. ( )

Another great edition of pulp mysteries by the masters. ( )