-
The Charleston Knife Is Back in Town
- Hardman, Book 2
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 5 hrs and 33 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Golden Girl and All
- Hardman, Book 3
- By: Ralph Dennis
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Golden Girl and All, Hardman is hired to find Peggy Holt, a drug dealer, stripper, and serial seductress who has kidnapped her six-year-old daughter from her ex-husband. Peggy has disappeared into an Atlanta underworld populated by the dirty cops, crooked lawyers, and violent mobsters that she's bedded and betrayed...and who keep coming back for more.
-
-
A great from the seventies
- By Rayc on 03-26-19
By: Ralph Dennis
-
A Talent for Killing
- By: Ralph Dennis
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this brutal, fast-moving thriller from Ralph Dennis, the author of the legendary Hardman series of crime novels, Kane finds himself caught between the mob, Cuban revolutionaries, and his own government as he seeks retribution for a man murdered for uncovering small-town corruption...and justice for another man on death row, falsely convicted of raping and murdering a child.
-
-
A bit disjointed but action packed
- By Laura on 11-26-19
By: Ralph Dennis
-
Quarry
- A Quarry Novel, Book 1
- By: Max Allan Collins
- Narrated by: Christopher Kipiniak
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Quarry doesn't kill just anybody these days. He restricts himself to targeting other hitmen, availing his marked-for-death clients of two services: eliminating the killers sent after them, and finding out who hired them…and then removing that problem, as well. So far he's rid of the world of nobody who would be missed. But this time he finds himself zeroing in on the grieving family of a missing cheerleader. Does the hitman's hitman have the wrong quarry in his sights?
-
-
The great Max Allan Collins
- By Bradley Paul Valentine on 09-25-16
-
The Old Woman with the Knife
- A Novel
- By: Gu Byeong-mo, Chi-Young Kim - translator
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At sixty-five, Hornclaw is beginning to slow down. She lives modestly in a small apartment, with only her aging dog, a rescue named Deadweight, to keep her company. There are expectations for people her age—that she'll retire and live out the rest of her days quietly. But Hornclaw is not like other people. She is an assassin.
-
-
best geriatric assassin EVER!
- By Barbara S on 04-10-22
By: Gu Byeong-mo, and others
-
Celtic Empire
- A Dirk Pitt Adventure
- By: Clive Cussler, Dirk Cussler
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The murders of a team of United Nations scientists in El Salvador.... A deadly collision in the waterways off the city of Detroit.... An attack by tomb raiders on an archaeological site along the banks of the Nile.... Is there a link between these violent events? The answer may lie in the tale of an Egyptian princess forced to flee the armies of her father 3,000 years ago.
-
-
Like a mission impossible movie but a book!
- By Taliesin De Launey on 07-20-19
By: Clive Cussler, and others
-
The Rescue
- Ryan Decker, Book 1
- By: Steven Konkoly
- Narrated by: Thom Rivera
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Former CIA operative turned mercenary for hire Ryan Decker’s specialty is rescuing kidnap victims. Hired by an influential US senator to liberate her daughter from a human-trafficking ring, Decker never anticipated sabotage or that the assault could go so disastrously wrong. The hostage is dead. His team is wiped out, and so are their families, including Decker’s own wife and son - eliminated one by one by the Russian mafia. And he’s survived to take the fall.
-
-
It's an okay book
- By dr Frank on 08-19-19
By: Steven Konkoly
-
The Golden Girl and All
- Hardman, Book 3
- By: Ralph Dennis
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Golden Girl and All, Hardman is hired to find Peggy Holt, a drug dealer, stripper, and serial seductress who has kidnapped her six-year-old daughter from her ex-husband. Peggy has disappeared into an Atlanta underworld populated by the dirty cops, crooked lawyers, and violent mobsters that she's bedded and betrayed...and who keep coming back for more.
-
-
A great from the seventies
- By Rayc on 03-26-19
By: Ralph Dennis
-
A Talent for Killing
- By: Ralph Dennis
- Narrated by: Shawn Compton
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this brutal, fast-moving thriller from Ralph Dennis, the author of the legendary Hardman series of crime novels, Kane finds himself caught between the mob, Cuban revolutionaries, and his own government as he seeks retribution for a man murdered for uncovering small-town corruption...and justice for another man on death row, falsely convicted of raping and murdering a child.
-
-
A bit disjointed but action packed
- By Laura on 11-26-19
By: Ralph Dennis
-
Quarry
- A Quarry Novel, Book 1
- By: Max Allan Collins
- Narrated by: Christopher Kipiniak
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Quarry doesn't kill just anybody these days. He restricts himself to targeting other hitmen, availing his marked-for-death clients of two services: eliminating the killers sent after them, and finding out who hired them…and then removing that problem, as well. So far he's rid of the world of nobody who would be missed. But this time he finds himself zeroing in on the grieving family of a missing cheerleader. Does the hitman's hitman have the wrong quarry in his sights?
-
-
The great Max Allan Collins
- By Bradley Paul Valentine on 09-25-16
-
The Old Woman with the Knife
- A Novel
- By: Gu Byeong-mo, Chi-Young Kim - translator
- Narrated by: Nancy Wu
- Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At sixty-five, Hornclaw is beginning to slow down. She lives modestly in a small apartment, with only her aging dog, a rescue named Deadweight, to keep her company. There are expectations for people her age—that she'll retire and live out the rest of her days quietly. But Hornclaw is not like other people. She is an assassin.
-
-
best geriatric assassin EVER!
- By Barbara S on 04-10-22
By: Gu Byeong-mo, and others
-
Celtic Empire
- A Dirk Pitt Adventure
- By: Clive Cussler, Dirk Cussler
- Narrated by: Scott Brick
- Length: 10 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The murders of a team of United Nations scientists in El Salvador.... A deadly collision in the waterways off the city of Detroit.... An attack by tomb raiders on an archaeological site along the banks of the Nile.... Is there a link between these violent events? The answer may lie in the tale of an Egyptian princess forced to flee the armies of her father 3,000 years ago.
-
-
Like a mission impossible movie but a book!
- By Taliesin De Launey on 07-20-19
By: Clive Cussler, and others
-
The Rescue
- Ryan Decker, Book 1
- By: Steven Konkoly
- Narrated by: Thom Rivera
- Length: 10 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Former CIA operative turned mercenary for hire Ryan Decker’s specialty is rescuing kidnap victims. Hired by an influential US senator to liberate her daughter from a human-trafficking ring, Decker never anticipated sabotage or that the assault could go so disastrously wrong. The hostage is dead. His team is wiped out, and so are their families, including Decker’s own wife and son - eliminated one by one by the Russian mafia. And he’s survived to take the fall.
-
-
It's an okay book
- By dr Frank on 08-19-19
By: Steven Konkoly
-
The Cold, Cold Ground
- Detective Sean Duffy, Book 1
- By: Adrian McKinty
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Adrian McKinty was born in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. He studied politics and philosophy at Oxford before moving to America in the early 1990s. Living first in Harlem, he found employment as a construction worker, barman, and bookstore clerk. In 2000 he moved to Denver to become a high school English teacher and it was there that he began writing fiction.
-
-
What a stunning book
- By Alan on 01-17-12
By: Adrian McKinty
-
11-22-63
- A Novel
- By: Stephen King
- Narrated by: Craig Wasson
- Length: 30 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? In this brilliantly conceived tour de force, Stephen King - who has absorbed the social, political, and popular culture of his generation more imaginatively and thoroughly than any other writer - takes listeners on an incredible journey into the past and the possibility of altering it.
-
-
Great! Boring. Good again... Boring. Too long.
- By Taxvictim on 06-04-12
By: Stephen King
-
Rules of Prey
- A Lucas Davenport Novel
- By: John Sandford
- Narrated by: Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The "maddog" murderer who is terrorizing the Twin Cities is two things: insane and extremely intelligent. He kills for the pleasure of it and thoroughly enjoys placing elaborate obstacles to keep police befuddled. Each clever move he makes is another point of pride. But when the brilliant Lieutenant Lucas Davenport, a dedicated cop and a serial killer's worst nightmare, is brought in to take up the investigation, the maddog suddenly has an adversary worthy of his genius.
-
-
I love this series
- By Don Gilbert on 08-31-11
By: John Sandford
-
The Hunter
- By: Richard Stark
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You probably haven't noticed them. But they've noticed you. They notice everything. That's their job. Sitting quietly in a nondescript car outside a bank making note of the tellers' work habits. Lagging a few car lengths behind the Brinks truck on its daily rounds. Surreptitiously jiggling the handle of an unmarked service door at the racetrack. They're heisters.
-
-
It was fun. It was different.
- By Jane on 04-12-13
By: Richard Stark
-
361
- A Hard Case Crime Novel
- By: Donald E. Westlake
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The men in the tan-and-cream Chrysler came with guns blazing. When Ray Kelly woke up in the hospital, it was a month later, he was missing an eye, and his father was dead. Then things started to get bad. From the mind of the incomparable Donald E. Westlake comes a devastating story of betrayal and revenge, an exploration of the limits of family loyalty and how far a man will go when everything he loves is taken from him.
-
-
Numbers mean violence
- By Ryan on 03-23-21
-
Killing Man
- By: Mickey Spillane
- Narrated by: Stacy Keach
- Length: 2 hrs and 41 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The image of bloodshed in his office remained etched in Mike Hammer's mind forever - his secretary sprawled on the floor and a stranger sitting dead and mutilated at his own desk. In one moment a storm of madness entered the private eye's life. As he starts hunting for the killer, Hammer is haunted by the message left on his desk: "You die for killing me." Suddenly, he is in too deep with a lethal blonde who has big ideas, a CIA secret, and another set of murders.
-
-
Great listening!
- By Kindle Customer on 03-19-21
By: Mickey Spillane
-
The Town
- A Novel
- By: Chuck Hogan
- Narrated by: Donnie Wahlberg
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Four masked men - thieves, rivals, and friends from the tough streets of Charlestown - take on a Boston bank at gunpoint. Holding bank manager Claire Keesey hostage and cleaning out the vault were simple tasks. But career criminal Doug MacRay didnt plan on one thing: falling hard for Claire.
-
-
Interesting Concept; Wooden Characters
- By Maggie Mac on 01-04-11
By: Chuck Hogan
-
Shaft: The Original Novel
- By: Ernest Tidyman
- Narrated by: Will Dixon
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Shaft is a private eye. John Shaft is a black man made of muscle and ice, and he has no prejudices. John Shaft will kill anyone...black or white. When the cloistered daughter of Harlem's crime boss discovers the true nature of her father's work, she runs off to be as bad as dad. By the time she disappears, she's into sex, liquor, dope, and a few other scenes. Now, Big Daddy wants Shaft to get his baby back.
-
-
Shaft's The Name, Shaft's The Game
- By JAMARR GREENE on 01-20-21
By: Ernest Tidyman
-
My Gun is Quick
- By: Mickey Spillane
- Narrated by: Stacy Keach
- Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
He called her Red. She called him in from the cold. For one short moment in the big, hard city they were friends--and then the girl turned up dead. Mike Hammer will walk through walls to find out who she was and why she died, even if he doesn't like the answers he gets. Even if they are all about a seamy network of call-girls, blackmail, and hoods. Hammer owes something to Red, and he plans to make good-because in this town a friend is hard to find.
-
-
Mistakes
- By William G on 08-06-20
By: Mickey Spillane
-
I, the Jury
- By: Mickey Spillane
- Narrated by: Mike Dennis
- Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here's Mickey Spillane and Mike Hammer in their roughest and readiest—a double-strength shot of sex, violence, and action that is vintage Spillane all the way. It's a tough-guy mystery to please even the most bloodthirsty of fans!
-
-
Mike Dennis is perfect for this period gem.
- By PerryMartinBookReviews on 02-12-16
By: Mickey Spillane
-
Setup on Front Street
- Key West Nocturnes Series, Book 1
- By: Mike Dennis
- Narrated by: Mike Dennis
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Key West, 1991. Don Roy Doyle is back in town. Tough and quick-witted, he's fresh out of prison, where he served three years for a diamond swindle. Now he's back to collect his share of the proceeds, about $200,000, but the money has vanished. A local family dynasty which has controlled the island's politics for generations, a cop with a grudge, the FBI, and the Russian mob all have a stake in the action.
-
-
Believable characters and unexpected twists.
- By Yleana on 09-15-13
By: Mike Dennis
-
Night Life
- By: David C. Taylor
- Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
New York City, 1954. The Cold War is heating up, Senator Joe McCarthy is running a witch hunt for communists in America, the newly formed CIA is fighting a turf battle with the FBI to see who will be the primary United States intelligence agency, and the bodies of murdered young men are turning up all over the city.
-
-
Terrific noir mystery
- By Jeremy D. Cohen on 05-07-16
By: David C. Taylor
Publisher's Summary
The second novel in the unforgettable, long-lost series by Ralph Dennis is finally back in print...after being coveted for years by collectors of the very best in hardboiled fiction.
Jim Hardman was a mediocre Atlanta cop until he was wrongly accused of corruption and thrown off the force. Now he works as an unlicensed PI, troubleshooter, and bodyguard...often partnered with his drinking buddy Hump Evans, a black, ex-NFL player who supports his playboy lifestyle by working as hired muscle.
Five kids rip off a gambling party attended by Hump Evans and some of Atlanta’s criminal and political elite. Hardman is hired to recover the loot and find the kids before they are caught and butchered by a hitman from Charleston with a very sharp knife.
This new edition includes an introduction by Joe R. Lansdale, the New York Times best-selling author of the Hap & Leonard crime novels.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Charleston Knife Is Back in Town
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Dee
- 02-22-19
I. Love. This. Series.
This is only the second book in the series but I am professing my undying love nonetheless. This series rocks!!!!
The two main characters, one Black and one White, are a messed up version of a dynamic duo but they work. Set in the backdrop of the still very racist America of the 70's, Hump and Jim go about righting the wrongs (sorta.)
The narrator has this flow and way of being that just helps you settle comfortably into the story. This book was easily a 10 out of 10!!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- ssimon2000
- 02-25-19
Outstanding Atlanta Noir

My Books
Browse ▾
Community ▾
Steve Simon rated a book it was amazing
8 minutes ago

The Charleston Knife is Back in Town (Hardman Book 2)
by Ralph Dennis
Read
Read in February 2019
I received this from AudioBookBoom and the publisher, Brash Books, in exchange for an honest review.
This really is an outstanding series, and is so much more than the "Men's Action Adventure" that is was marketed as back when it was first published in the mid-70s. So glad that Brash Books is rereleasing these long-lost books!
Just like the first one, Jim Hardman and Hump Evans get wrapped up in some violent shenanigans, this time involving a group of kids who set up a robbery of some high-rolling gamblers; of course, it goes wrong, and they are hunted by the Atlanta gang bosses, along with a hired assassin. Hardman and Hump are hired by the grandmother of one of the boys, and immediately run afowl of the assassin and an Italian mafioso.
As expected, Shawn Compton does an outstanding job narrating, and I can't wait to listen to the next one!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Abby Martin
- 04-03-19
1970's vintage mystery
The Hardman series is a re-release of a 1970's era series. Like the other reviewer says, the book is a product of it's time. Listeners are made aware that some aspects of the book are not P.C. by contemporary standards.
Hardman is a disgraced Atlanta cop doing his best to navigate the line between legitimate private investigation and the rougher parts of Atlanta. The mystery is tight and the characters are well written (flawed, yet well intentioned).
If you like a gritty, urban setting and rough around the edges characters, you'll like this story. This book is well written and definitely worth a listen.
The narration is excellent.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Rayc
- 03-05-19
A 5* read/listen.
The Charleston Knife Is Back in Town: Hardman, Book 2. I read these books many many years ago, now listening to them is a real pleasure. A simpler style of writing then than now, the violence language & sex is less graphic - definitely NOT politically correct by today's standards.
It is a great read/listen, sometimes similar to "Shaft" in it's style.
I highly recommends this step back in time for anyone who remembers this series. Also for anyone who wants a taaste of the crime genre of that era.
I was given a free copy of this audiobook at my own request, and voluntarily leave this review.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Peterack
- 03-05-19
Great Entry In A Series that has returned.
Ralph Dennis wrote a number of "Hardman" books back in the day and they are back! Having never read them, I am excited to be finally doing so. I liked the first one, but his second surpasses that entry by far. Hardman and his sidekick, Hump (a former football player) attend a boxing match. Following that Hump is invited to a party which he attends only to discover that it was a set up.
When the mother of one of the robbers comes to Hardman to get her son out of the gang and to safety, he and Hump take the case. What begins as a by the numbers adventure mystery soon becomes complicated when an assassin for hire - The Charleson Knive - is hired to kill the gang members. This begins a race between the two elements to locate the gang first.
What a well plotted story. The author does not waste words, and yet conveys the location, characters so well that the plot absolutely moves swifter than a hot knife through melted butter. Narrator Shawn Compton, not a "showy" narrator, still conveys individual voices for the characters and guides the reader through this taught tale.
Hopefully each book in the series is better than the previous. In short time I will be reading and listening to the 3rd in the series. Note: you do not have to read the first entry to enjoy this one. Though there is some linking of characters, the plot of the previous one is referred to so a reader who begins with this will not be lost. Grab these books and listen/read as soon as you can. You will not be sorry!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Laura
- 03-04-19
Series Keeps Getting More Enjoyable
I received this book for free. I am voluntarily leaving this review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.
This book was originally published in the 1970's and has the vernacular of that era. This is the second book in the Hardman series. It is a standalone story with no cliffhanger ending. However, this series is great [and thanks to Brasch Books is being re-released, hopefully to the larger audience it deserves], so I highly recommend that you start with the first book. You also gain some additional insight into the MCs - their relationship and background by starting with the first book.
Here, Hump attends a party of high rollers where all of the partygoers are robbed. Hardman is hired by the grandmother of one of the robbers to find him before he is killed by a hitman seeking some retribution. Hardman and Hump, loosely working with the Detective, work to right some wrongs in their own way.
This is so well written - the investigation has some great twists and turns but the relationship between Hump and Hardman is absolutely worth the price of admission. I really enjoy the humor - both situational and in their conversations.
The narrator, Shawn Compton, does a great job. His tone and pace completely compliment this series.