Lawrence Block: Lucky at Cards (2022)

From the Publisher:
We're happy to announce we'll be publishing three of Lawrence Block's classic early novels as signed limited editions. The trio was out of print for decades, until being resurrected by Hard Case Crime.

AT CARDS AND WITH WOMEN, BILL MAYNARD KNEW HOW TO CHEAT
On the mend after getting run out of Chicago, professional cardsharp Bill Maynard is hungry for some action -- but not nearly as hungry as Joyce Rogers, the tantalizing wife of Bill's latest mark. Together they hatch an ingenious scheme to get rid of her husband. But in life as in poker, the other player sometimes has an ace up his sleeve...

Limited: 500 signed numbered hardcover copies

Lawrence Block: Lucky at Cards. Illustration By Chuck Pyle. Subterranean Press, ISBN: 9781645240686 (May, 2022), Hardcover, 168 p., $50.00.

Lawrence Block: Lucky at Cards (2016)

From the Publisher:
AT CARDS AND WITH WOMEN, BILL MAYNARD KNEW HOW TO CHEAT...yntY On the mend after getting run out of Chicago, professional cardsharp Bill Maynard is hungry for some action but not nearly as hungry as Joyce Rogers, the tantalizing wife of Bill's latest mark. Together they hatch an ingenious scheme to get rid of her husband. But in life as in poker, the other player sometimes has an ace up his sleeve...

When Lawrence Block wrote Lucky at Cards back in the 1960s, he published it under a pen name as a paperback original. Years later Hard Case Crime brought it back to life under Block's own name, and now we're able to include it in the Classic Crime Library.

"The plot twists here, then there, then back again, rooted in Block's strong characters and no-nonsense prose style," Publishers Weekly enthused, while Bill Ott in Booklist adds, "It's a doozy. Block unwinds his plot superbly, pointing toward a classic noir finale but then seeming to pull away -- or maybe not. And, along the way, there is all the teasing sexuality and tongue-in-cheek noir style that a pulp devotee craves."

This Classic Crime Library ebook edition of Lucky at Cards includes as a bonus the first chapter of the next book in the series, Killing Castro.

Lawrence Block: Lucky at Cards. LB Productions (The Classic Crime Library), ISBN: 9781524272449 (January, 2016), eBook, 1096 KB (ca. 224 p.), $2.99, £1.99.

Lawrence Block: Lucky at Cards (2011)

From the Publisher:
AT CARDS AND WITH WOMEN, BILL MAYNARD KNEW HOW TO CHEAT
On the mend after getting run out of Chicago, professional cardsharp Bill Maynard is hungry for some action -- but not nearly as hungry as Joyce Rogers, the tantalizing wife of Bill's latest mark. Together they hatch an ingenious scheme to get rid of her husband. But in life as in poker, the other player sometimes has an ace up his sleeve...

Lawrence Block: Lucky at Cards. Titan Books (?) / Hard Case Crime, ISBN: 0857683411 (March, 2011), 220 p., $6.99.

Lawrence Block: Lucky at Cards (2007)

From the Publisher:
He handled cards like a master... BUT COULD HE HANDLE HER?
On the mend after getting run out of Chicago, professional cardsharp Bill Maynard is hungry for some action -- but not nearly as hungry as Joyce Rogers, the tantalizing wife of Bill's latest mark. Together they hatch an ingenious scheme to get rid of her husband. But in life as in poker, the other player sometimes has an ace up his sleeve...

Lawrence Block: Lucky at Cards. Dorchester Publishing Company / Hard Case Crime, ISBN: 0843957689 (February, 2007), 220 p., $6.99.

Sheldon Lord: The Sex Shuffle (1964)

From the Publisher:
He broke the card-shark's prime rule - never make a play for the sucker's wife...
I was busy dealing when I first saw her. The body was perfect, with queensized breasts and a belly that had just the right bulge. The hair was the color of a chestnut when you pick the husk from it. You could imagine how she'd look with her hair down, all spread out over a pillow-slip. "My husband's not much for social graces," she said to me. "He hasn't introduced us yet..." That's when Bill Maynard smelled trouble. This was the sucker's wife ... Joyce . . . ready for anything and worth any risk!

HERE IS A BREATHTAKING TRIP INTO THE WORLD OF CARD-SHARPS LIKE BILL, WHO HAS THE HANDS OF A MAGICIAN AND A HEART LIKE A CROOKED DECK. TO HIS KIND, SEX IS FOR BETWEEN GAMES -- AND LOVE FOR LATER.

Sheldon Lord: The Sex Shuffle. Beacon Signal Sixty No. B757X (January, 1964), 220 p., $0.60.