Publication Date: September 1, 2026
This debut novel from a former NFL player is a hard-hitting, heart wrenching crime novel that brilliantly blends elements of jazz, football, and a gritty portrait of a city divided-perfect for fans of S.A. Cosby and Walter Mosley.
Coltrane Davis is at once a knight and a hustler. He has risen to wealth and success, graduating from San Diego’s back alleys to the halls of power through his partnership with Saul Sollman, a crooked kingmaker among the city’s elite. Running multimillion dollar scams with Saul, he has been Saul’s fixer, but now he wants out of the hustle so that he can focus on his teenage daughter’s burgeoning tennis career and finally be the dad he has always wanted to be.
But when the Los Angeles Chargers’ star running back vanishes one evening before a big game, Coltrane is drawn into an investigation of what happened by Saul and his protégé, the player’s agent; the stakes escalate with a gut-punch when the trail leads into San Diego’s underworld of drugs and prostitution and reveals clues to the disappearance of his daughter’s best friend, whose loss has haunted him.
Torn by the unreconcilable demands of the life he can’t seem to quit and the fierce desire he has to protect his own, Coltrane brings himself and his loved ones to the brink of destruction in his quest to free himself once and for all of Saul’s control-and focus on what really matters: family.
A hustler trying to go straight takes one last job to help an NFL star escape a career-ending blackmail scheme in Andre Hardy’s debut novel Tear the City Down.
Hardy, a former professional football player, parlays his knowledge of the business into this gritty tale that introduces Coltrane Davis, a legendary San Diego fixer and all-around hustler. Named after the iconic jazz artist John Coltrane, Hardy’s protagonist is a skilled hustler under the employ of elite San Diego conman Saul Sollman. Longing to quit the multimillion-dollar scams they run together, Coltrane wants to focus on the people he loves: teenage daughter, Naima, whose tennis career is about to ignite; Mona, the woman he intends to marry; and Bobby, his “Day One” brother and best friend.
But when Anthony Riddell, the Los Angeles Chargers’ star running back, goes missing a day before a big game, Saul and a protégé call Coltrane in to investigate. The trail leads to the grimy, dark San Diego underworld rife with drugs, prostitution, and a sex trafficking ring that makes slaves of young girls. While trying to clean up the blackmail around Riddell, Coltrane is haunted by the memory of another girl—Naima’s best friend, Erykah, who disappeared into the abyss of that underworld. Suddenly, Coltrane finds himself trying to save another girl being swapped around to the highest bidder. Can her redemption help heal him from his failure to find Erykah? And will this last hustle cost him the family he has now?
The intricate plot and authentic, diverse characters pop off the page. Coltrane is an enigmatic force of nature whose street savvy is a wanted commodity among the crooked kingmakers in “Daygo,” or what the locals call San Diego. Collaborating with Bobby, he tracks down leads that lead into dark corners where perversion dwells. Promising Mona no more late-night calls that take him away from their bed, he has forty-eight hours to solve Riddell’s blackmail and mete out punishment to those who use and abuse Black girls for their twisted pleasure.
The quantity of people, places, and names can be hard to follow at times, but consider it an embarrassment of riches in Hardy’s deft hands. Authenticity drips off every page, as San Diego comes alive: neighborhoods, landmarks, coffee houses, and clubs are lit up with million-megawatt prose that places the reader deep in Coltrane’s shoes. References to jazz, especially the music of John Coltrane, provide a soundtrack that elegantly matches the gritty meter of corruption, crime, and cold-blooded greed.
As the professional and personal spheres of Coltrane’s life bleed into each other, the story hits the gas and speeds toward a blind-siding denouement. Will Coltrane be able to escape the hustling life and start anew with the ones he loves? Readers can only hope that Hardy has another story up his sleeve, because this is one character crime fiction fans will want to see again. And again.
Tear the City Down is an unflinching debut noir thriller that serves up the magnetic Coltrane Davis whose flex can bend the moral arc. Must read!
Andre Hardy has written across multiple genres, including creative nonfiction, essays and short stories, screenwriting, and long-form narrative. Andre’s essays, interviews, and critical analysis have been published in L.A. Tribe Magazine, Lunch Ticket, Antioch University’s cutting-edge literary and visual arts journal, and The Los Angeles Review of Books. His short story, “Negro in a Hot Tub,” is featured in Made in L.A.: An Anthology of Stories Rooted in the City of Angels, written by Los Angeles-based writers. Andre was the fourth pick of the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1984 National Football League draft. He is a member of the NFL Retired Players Association and the NFL Legends Community, and he earned his MFA through the NFL Players Trust tuition reimbursement program. Andre resides in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife, renowned Buddhist meditation teacher JoAnna Hardy.
