Winner of the 2019 H.R.F. Keating Award for the best biographical or critical book related to crime fiction

Originally published by Gryphon Books in 1993, Difficult Lives was one of the earliest attempts to track the legacy of original paperback writers such as Jim Thompson, David Goodis and Chester Himes. The individual essays on these three first appeared in literary magazines.

Difficult Lives visits a rare moment when daylight was showing around the seams of American society and visions quite in contrast to the sanctioned version drifted to the surface in books one bought off racks in drugstores and bus stations -- stark, bonelike, disturbing books.

We're pleased to make Difficult Lives available again, doubling your pleasure by pairing it with Hitching Rides, an equal volume of new essays on other crime writers including Derek Raymond, Jean-Patrick Manchette, Patricia Highsmith and Shirley Jackson.

"His enthusiasm is generous; his taste impeccable" - Crime Club, The Sunday Times

"Erudite and informative these essays may be, but they are also crafted with love. Love of an art form that I share. If noir is your Driver, this is for you" - Nudge