I'm very happy to have David Cranmer on My Dark Pages today for many reasons. First, because we worked together lately on BEAT TO A PULP: HARDBOILED and found out how amazing of an editor he was and also because he's behind the killer western series of Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles. Both collections are ninety-nine cents only for Kindle. You can buy them here.
The Adventures Of Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles
The Adventures Of Cash Laramie & Gideon Miles Vol. II
When Ben asked me to highlight the book that most influenced me, I would have to go back to 1980. I was just a kid reading The Hard Boys and The Secret of the Lost Tunnel by Franklin W. Dixon for the first time—but not the last. I read it over and over and over, as evidenced today by the book’s worn spine, more so than any of the other books in the series.
In Lost Tunnel, the Hardy boys follow Brigadier General Jack Smith to Rocky Run Battlefield where they set out to investigate the legend and clear the name of a long-dead, disgraced Civil War Confederate general who had been accused of stealing gold from a bank.
The appeal of The Hardy Boys was simple: two brothers, only a few years older than me, embarking on thrilling adventures around the world. Half a decade later, I would graduate to more mature reading like Robert B. Parker’s Valediction and Chandler’s The Big Sleep which would have a profound impact on my writing aspirations. But my love for all things detective and mystery really began with Frank and Joe Hardy and book number twenty-nine in the popular series.