"Hard Cash" author Charles (5)
I believe the answer is:
reade
'hard cash author charles' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
This is the entire clue.
(Other definitions for reade that I've seen before include "Charles -, The Cloister and the Hearth author" , "Charles --, wrote The Cloister and the Hearth" , "Charles --, English novelist" , "Victorian author" , "Roman name for York" .)