File Updated: 01/04/00

New Crime & Mystery Fiction Titles From Serpent's Tail JULY-SEPT 1998
Horace McCoy No Pockets in a Shroud Pbk published August 1998 by Serpent's Tail at £6.99 ISBN: 1 85242 434 6 Artwork by: Cover design: Rex Ray
In the city of Coltron, Mike Dolan wages a lone war against corruption. Surrounded by lies, he wants to print the truth in his paper. Mike's friends try to stop him with words, but his enemies - the society abortionist, the discredited baseball player, and the neo-fascist 'Crusaders' – try lead pipes and bullets. But Mike's not after a Pulitzer Prize; he's after a clean city and a clearer conscience - no matter what the cost.

About Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye:
'A great book' Crime Time
'Bristles with hatred, corruption and full-on prose. Dig it, hepcats.' Tour
'A vicious, hardboiled gangster chronicle' Neon

Horace McCoy was born near Nashville, Tennessee, in 1897. He worked as a salesman, taxi-driver, reporter, sports editor, bodyguard to a politician, bouncer, a double for a wrestler and finally, writer for films and magazines. He wrote several novels including They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. Horace McCoy died in 1955.

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George Pelecanos King Suckerman Pbk published July 1998 by Serpent's Tail at £8.99 ISBN: 1 85242 610 1
‘This book smokes' Kirkus Reviews
'Packed with Pelecanos's usual, meticulous details of pop life...comparisons to Pulp Fiction are inevitable. But Pelecanos is more than merely slick; there's heart behind the Tarantino-esque ephemera..' Publisher's Weekly
'...wonderfully evokes both the real and mythic 1970s in all their sleazy glory. King Suckerman is down. King Suckerman is nasty. King Suckerman is outta sight.' Peter Blauner
King Suckerman is a sizzling thriller that weaves the blaxploitation films, the drug deals, the soul music and the racial tensions that defined the '70s into a story of natural-hem killers and two men who risk everything to bring them down.
Dimitri Karras and Marcus Clay are old friends, involved in small time business and drug dealing. But when they cross paths with Wilton Cooper, they enter a world where merciless, unpredictable violence is the only certainty.
Set in Washington, D.C. King Suckerman is an unforgettable novel of morality, friendship and unexpected consequences. It confirms Pelecanos as one of the great original talents in crime fiction.
George P. Pelecanos is the author of several crime novels. King Suckerman is his break-out novel. Pelecanos lives and works in Washington, D.C.

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Daniel Evan Weiss Hell on Wheels Pbk published September 1998 by Serpent's Tail at £7.99 ISBN: 1852424397
Comic, disturbing, moving, Hell on wheels tells the story of virile, handsome Marty, a champion tennis pro until forced to give up his sport after a hit-and-run accident. Now he's a champion wheelchair racer instead and in pretty good shape considering he lost both his legs. And when Lucy brings him food, company and sex great sex - he almost feels like the old Marty again. But when ex-lover Esther turns up and takes Marty back to the day his legs got smashed, Marty begins a terrifying journey of discovery.

Hell on Wheels is a tense thriller, a poignant black satire and a moving human portrait. It confirms Daniel Weiss as a great, original, comic and literary talent.

'Shockingly funny, intelligent and even brave... Kafka meets Lenny Bruce' lain Banks
'The best book I've read for ages.... brilliantly bitter, ferociously funny'Fay Weldon
'Good fun in bad taste' Sunday Times

Daniel Evan Weiss was born in New York City in 1953. His first novel, The Roaches Have No King, was called 'the most revolting book of the decade' by Fear magazine, heralding both a storm of controversy and widespread acclaim.

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