Charles Ardai is probably best known for creating Hard Case Crime, a retro-styled line of crime novels that revives the look of the pulp fiction of the 1940s and 50s, and GUN HONEY and HEAT SEEKER, a pair of sexy action thriller comics inspired by James Bond and Modesty Blaise.  We caught up with them to find out more about their new book, Heat Seeker : Exposed. 

How would you pitch Heat Seeker to someone who thinks a hardboiled detective is a kind of candy?

HEAT SEEKER is the story of a very beautiful female criminal who, for a price, will help you disappear if you’ve been marked for death. She uses elaborate techniques of deception to get you out of danger, taking all the heat onto herself. She’s reckless, a thrill-seeker, and her high-octane adventures find her constantly on the edge of disaster – like a cross between the Now You See Me heist movies and Mission Impossible.

And how would you pitch it to a fan of the Maltese Falcon?

Dahlia Racers, a gorgeous femme fatale who lies for a living, threads her way through a web of fellow criminals, persistent cops, dirty reporters, and shadowy European conspirators, trying to turn a dishonest buck while risking her life at every turn.

What’s your personal favourite thing about the hardboiled genre?

I love the atmosphere, the cynical voices, the way there are no good guys, only varying shades of gray; I love the twists and betrayals, and the velocity at which the stories race forward, leaving you breathless. A good hardboiled novel really is like a movie, just one that plays in your head.

If you could have coffee with any one character from your novels, who would it be and why?

From my novels? Probably Susan Feuer, the former stripper turned private eye in the books LITTLE GIRL LOST and SONGS OF INNOCENCE that I wrote under the pen name “Richard Aleas.” She’s whip smart and can see through all your bullshit, but she’s fiercely loyal and cares about the people in her life. She’d be an awfully good friend to have in your corner in a crisis. Now, if I could have coffee with someone from one of my comics it would be pretty hard to turn down a date with Dahlia Racers from HEAT SEEKER.

And which character really needs to calm down?

Dahlia. When she’s not leaping out of a crashing plane without a parachute or from the top of one racing New York City subway car to another, she’s getting into gunfights on nude beaches – all exciting stuff, to be sure, but damn, this lady needs a nice cup of tea and some Me Time on the sofa.

How long does it take you to get to a first draft?

Pulp writers don’t know from “first” drafts. There’s only one draft – the words go straight from your brain to your typewriter to the printer’s press and on to the spinner rack in your neighborhood drugstore. And you write that one draft in a white heat. I wrote my fastest book in just 27 days. My longest, FIFTY-TO-ONE, probably took three months.

What’s your favourite funny thing about the genre?

How so many people stubbornly refuse to take it seriously. Sure, crime novels are fun, they’re entertainment, no question – but the best of them ask tough questions and cast a bitter lens on the world we live in, and they’ll break your heart as well as any Pulitzer winner. Hell, THE GREAT GATSBY is a crime novel. OF MICE AND MEN is pure noir. But those books get taught in schools, and Raymond Chandler’s THE BIG SLEEP and THE LONG GOODBYE don’t, and why not? It’s funny when you think about it. Not funny ha-ha, though.

What does the first day working on a book like this look like compared to the last day?

The first day? Desperation. The last day? Relief. “Can I do this…?” “I can’t possibly do this.” “Dear god, I did it.”

Doctor Who or Doctor No?

I grew up on science fiction (Tom Baker was my Doctor), but I also grew up watching James Bond movies and film noir on TV, and in the end it was Bond and Bogie that won my heart. So I have to give the edge to Dr. No.

Murder on the Orient Express or Death on the Nile?

I’m more a train guy than a boat guy, plus that twist – that brilliant, brilliant twist! Orient Express all the way.

Truth or Beauty?

It’s a false dichotomy. Read your Keats: “Beauty is truth, truth beauty — that is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.” Or as Star Trek asked, “Is There in Truth no Beauty?”  They’re a pair, friend, conjoined twins, and you get ’em both or you get neither. Beauty may be the bally that lures you behind the curtain, but truth is waiting there with a club to knock you cold and pick your pockets. All you can hope is that there’s a smile on your face when you go down.

Heat Seeker : Exposed can be pre-ordered here.