The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

Greetings fans of vintage crime fiction! I am Tom Graves, one of the publishers of a new imprint, Chalk Line Books, which is devoted exclusively to vintage crime fiction. I imagine many of you are fans of Black Lizard Press and the great reprints they brought back. We are hoping to be the ebook equivalent of Black Lizard. Our first two titles are Sharecropper Hell by the great Jim Thompson and The Secret Squad by David Goodis. Both books are humdingers, let me tell you.

All Chalk Line Books contain 10 evocative illustrations and we promise our fans and readers that each book is well proofread and edited so the reading experience is as pleasurable as possible. Coming this fall will be another Jim Thompson classis, The Killing by Lionel White which was made into a fine noir film by Stanley Kubrick, and many more. We'd love to hear from you and have you visit our web site at: http://chalklinebooks.weebly.com/ Say, don't forget to be added to our media list for updates on our new offerings, promotions, cool t-shirts, etc. We are so glad to know each of you!

P.S. -- Our books are also available as audiobooks, read by the esteemed voice actor Mike Dennis who does quiet menace as good as anyone. These titles can be found on the Audible web site. If you have trouble finding them, let us know and we'll help you

Thanks, Tom! As someone who's acquainted with Chalk Line books, I can definitely attest to the quality of your work. And you have the coolest t-shirt! I'm looking forward to reading the Lionel White book, for sure! The Salinger too!

Hi Tom,

I'm a little late here, but welcome to our Publishers' Corner and thanks for letting our members learn about your great books.

CHALK LINE BOOKS RELEASES ITS THIRD BOOK -- THE KILLING BY LIONEL WHITE




Greetings Chalk Line Books Posse:


How many of you are fans of the films of Stanley Kubrick? If you are, then you know one of his early films The Killing is one of the greatest film noirs of all time. It was the film that really launched Kubrick as an artist of cinema and was based on the book Clean Break by Lionel White.

Kubrick felt the book was one of the greatest heist tales of all time. We at Chalk Line agreed. Darrin Devault and me, Tom Graves, declare this one of the best crime novels of all time and most certainly at the top of caper stories. Lionel White may not have the fame of Jim Thompson or David Goodis (who were the authors of Chalk Line's first two releases) but we
personally guarantee you that if you like capers, this one will thrill you from beginning to end. It's just as good as Kubrick's film.

If you would like to receive a free Microsoft Word version of The Killing (we also might be able to get you mobi and epub versions for your electronic devices)
for review and publicity purposes (for your blog, web site, column, etc.) we will be happy to forward that to you. Remember, if you publicize us, we will
send you a free ultra-cool Chalk Line t-shirt.

Please email us if you'd like to receive a copy of The Killing or if you can help promote the book in any way to your readers.

Note: We are having a slight difficulty with Amazon.com and their very weird search engine. You might need to tell your readers to type in The Killing (Illustrated) when trying to find the Chalk Line version of The Killing. Please help us with this.

Also keep in mind that we can get you a free audiobook version of The Killing voiced by our great voice actor, Mike Dennis, who also did audiobooks
of our Sharecropper Hell by Jim Thompson and The Secret Squad by David Goodis. Please don't forget that our ebook is illustrated by Martha Kelly, who
does a splendid job with our Chalk Line Books.

We are trying very hard to build audience for Chalk Line Books and to "brand" ourselves as the new Black Lizard Press. Help us. Give us names of anyone
you can who is interested in vintage crime fiction. We try very hard to produce a better book, a better product.

And let us hear from you. We love our audience, our friends, our readers and like to receive your thoughts and messages.


Best,

Tom Graves
Chalk Line Books

I used the above link to your website and the link there to Amazon for the book. Found it just fine. Looking forward to reading it.

Thank you so much Jan C. Chalk Line Book loves you!

I'll be happy to read it as well. I'm in the mood for something excellent. Thank you!

I just bought a copy. I had to laugh, Tom -- I was reading a review where someone complained about the typos etc in another edition, and found a comment you'd made re the lack of proof reading errors in Chalk Line's edition. Then at the end of this comment, I see the following:

"This comment was written by Tom Graves of Chalk Line Books and I approved this message."

I don't know why that struck me as funny, but it did.

Nancy: Glad it brought a smile. I will be forwarding you the info on the audiobook hopefully today or tomorrow. Best, Tom Graves.

Tom wrote: "Nancy: Glad it brought a smile. I will be forwarding you the info on the audiobook hopefully today or tomorrow. Best, Tom Graves."

Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm laughing again.

Chalk Line Books has two new titles from two masters of crime fiction. The first is Murder at the Bijou by Jim Thompson (originally titled Nothing More Than Murder). This is the same ultra-tough Jim Thompson of The Killer Inside Me. This book has a setting I haven't seen before -- it is about chicanery and murder in the movie distribution business of the late 1940s early 1950s. One small town theater against another. The book gives all kinds of juicy details of the ins and outs of actually showing films in neighborhood and small town theaters. This book is available now in print and ebook editions. Next: We just published the ebook version of James M. Cain's great A Bad Woman (originally titled Sinful Woman). The king of murderous love and deception (Double Indemnity, The Postman Rings Twice) this is the tale of a movie bombshell trying to get a divorce in Reno, Nevada. But things go very, very wrong. The print version of the book will be available soon.

To group members: Don't forget we provide promo copies of our books and ebooks for those who review them or publicize them on blogs and web sites. Just ask us.

Tom wrote: "To group members: Don't forget we provide promo copies of our books and ebooks for those who review them or publicize them on blogs and web sites. Just ask us."

Hi Tom - when is the Cain book available in print? I am definitely interested.

Tom - are these promo copies just available to folks who live in the US of A or do you send to Canada or other countries? I'm interested in the Jim Thompson book in print copy and would be willing to mention on my Blog.

Tom: I am interested in print copies only.