Preface
(Photo & signature courtesy of his wife Eileen Hendrick)
William Ard has been one of the most elusive writers in the collecting world.
Odd for a man who was one of the most popular hardboiled writers of the 1950s. He was praised by critics from the St. Louis Dispatch to the New York Times.
Few imagined the dark side of the city and the entertainment business better than William Ard. When he turned his gaze west, he gave life to one of the genre’s most enduring heroes.
Today his name is all but forgotten. His hardboiled titles are scarce. His paperback titles in fine condition are nearly impossible to find.
While he went by many names, he is essentially a man of two faces. Ard was the creator of hard-hitting detective Timothy Dane of New York and an even harder living and loving detective, Lou Largo, of Florida.
Under the pseudonym of Jonas Ward, Ard gave birth to the friendly and deadly western drifter Tom Buchanan.
When Ard died, so did Dane. Largo lived on in a couple more books written by a ghost writers, one of whom who went on to become very famous in his own right.
Ard’s friendly, deadly, reluctant western hero, Tom Buchanan, grew stronger with each reincarnation by successive authors and numerous printings.
Ard wrote more than 30 novels in 10 years. Then he was gone. Who was William Ard?
My journey began with that question.
February 14, 2008 at 10:42 am |
When I was 7 years old, I spent a great deal of time in Bill Ard’s house in Bellaire, Florida, where my family moved from New Jersey. Because the Ards had come from the east coast too, our families were briefly close as we lived on the top of Evonaire Circle and the Ards lived on Rosary Road which served as the bottom of the circle. Every boy child in our small city was inspired by Bill to become writers one way or the other. A few of us did. I have based a character in my second, unpublished novel, Cheap Tricks, on Bill Ard. I believe his daughteer Eileen has contacted you with how to access it. Of course, I am a writer, five books in print, one novel coming March 31 – Under the Gun. I can remember being inspired to write science fiction and westerns as early as the age of eight due to Bill’s presence. He and was wife Eileen were very gracious people, and Bill was exceptionally smart. I believe he had been in the Marines during World War II.
February 15, 2008 at 1:11 am |
Tim,
Thanks for your note and insight. If you have any other memories, please send them on. Also, if you have a website for your books, send me the url and I’ll share it with readers. I would, as is obvious, love to know everything I can about William Ard to share with others around the world who may be interested.