PERFECT .38 is the first volume of an ambitious project by Ramble House to bring back all of the excellent hardboiled mysteries written by William Ard. It collects two of the earliest Timothy Dane novels, THE PERFECT FRAME and .38. Ard scholar Francis M. Nevins introduces the first book and Gavin L. O'Keefe provides the cover art. William Ard wrote like no one else -- when everyone was writing like Mickey Spillane -- and the charm of these first novels about the mild-mannered and somewhat inept PI Dane is evident from the opening paragraphs. It's 300+ pages of sheer nostalgic enjoyment.