Good Things Come in Small Packages

There are so many comings and goings in the publishing world, it's hard to keep track of them all. Still, I'm always interested to hear of new indie publishers in the crime fiction realm, and three of those young whipper-snappers have crossed my desk recently. They're worth keeping your eye on, and I hope they can bring forth many interesting new (or reissued) titles in the genre, whether it's novellas, classics, or pulp.


If you like your crime on the short side, Number 13 Press has your number. They are an e-publishing company whose stated aim is to "build a list of 13 quality crime titles, to be published consecutively on the 13th of each month, starting in November 2014." They've kept that pace so far, with seven titles available, starting with Of Blondes and Bullets by Michael Young (with "a touch of David Goodis’s everyman-noir, a dash of Brit Grit, and a whole lot of hardboiled") up through Redbone by Matt Phillips, a "captivating murder ballad-noir."


Chalk Line Books specializes in republishing vintage crime fiction classics with ten evocative illustrations in each book. Their goal is to become the best publisher of vintage crime fiction by bringing you a high-quality selection of "Books to die for!" (a la Black Lizard Books). The first novels out of the starting gate were Jim Thompson's Sharecropper Hell and David Goodis' The Secret Squad, with newer titles and more to come from James M. Cain, Charles Williams, Ed McBain, Peter Rabe, and more.


Bitter Lemon Press has been around since 2003, making it the "oldest" of these three publishers. The London-based press was established to bring readers high quality thrillers and other contemporary crime fiction books from abroad and explore the "dark, sexy and often humorous novels that expose the seamier side of society." Bitter Lemon Press recently signed a series of deals for female crime writers from around the world, including Brazil's Patrica Melo, Turkey's Esmahan Aykol and Argentina's Claudia Piñeiro.