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It's welcome recognition of the rich body of American noir writing that the Library of America has decided to gather these novels and include them in it's collection. This volume, along with it's companion, "Crime Novels: American Noir of the '50s", is perhaps the definitive collection of this genre. While this volume is not as strong as the second volume collecting hard boiled writing from the '50s, it more than makes up for it with the inclusion of two seminal novels from the genre: "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "They Shoot Horses Don't They?" The themes that would be later expanded on by Jim Thompson, Charles Willeford, et al. are here: the uncertainty of reality, the indifference of fate, the allegories on the disfunction of mercantilist capitalism, the femme fatale as deus ex machina, the erosion of moral standards...themes that are that much more relevant today.

It's comforting in a way that these novels, which were considered (and still considered by some) as trash, disposable items of consumption, are collected along with the novels of Melville, James and Hawthorne...."elevated" to high brow lit.

Perhaps the original authors of these masterworks would disagree on the modern critical re-assessment, but to readers like myself, it's just confirmation of something we've known ever since we first discovered them.

The Library of America is a first-class organization. The LOA is consistently reprinting volumes of literary achievement by the most notable authors in American history. They have reprinted everything from political speeches to poetry to historical works. This volume is the first in a two volume set dedicated to American noir stories. The stories in this book were written in the 1930's and 1940's in what seems to be the golden age of the genre.

The first story is from James Cain, and it's a whiz-bang of a tale. I had heard of "The Postman Always Rings Twice" before, mainly in reference to the two film versions of the story. This is one dark read. Adultery and murder never seem to mix, and it sure doesn't here, either. Told in first person narration, a drifter gets himself mixed up with a washed up beauty queen who is tired of her Greek husband. The result is classic noir: a conspiracy to murder the poor schmuck and run off together. As usual, the murder brings about tragic consequences. This story has more twists and turns than you can imagine. The ending is especially atmospheric. This is certainly one of the best stories in the book. I always like to see a story where the blackmailer gets a good beating.

Horace McCoy's "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" is next in line. This is another great tale that was made into a film in the 1960's starring Hanoi Jane Fonda and Gig Young. The movie is soul shattering, with depictions of dehumanization in the neighborhood of "Schindler's List." The story is not quite as good, but it still packs a heck of a punch. The story is set in Depression-era America and depicts the horrors of a dance marathon. These marathons were apparently quite popular during the 1930's, until they were ultimately outlawed. Contestants were required to dance for hundreds of hours with only ten minute breaks every two hours. The couple that lasted the longest won a thousand or so dollars. The public would come and pay admission to watch this sorry spectacle. It's like poking sticks at animals in a cage. This story is loaded with dark depression and sexual innuendo. The conclusion is suitably depressing to merit a noir award.

"Thieves Like Us" was pretty substandard when compared to the other stories in this book. This one really didn't seem to have those noir elements that I like so much. Actually, it's more of a Bonnie and Clyde type story. A penitentiary break leads to a crime spree across Texas. Banks are robbed and cops are killed while the gang lives on the lam. A relationship between Bowie, the main character, and a girl named Keechie really doesn't add much interest to the story. There is some good dialogue and a bit of desolate atmosphere, but not enough to lift this to the level of noir. I don't know why this story is included here. Try and guess how the story ends (the clue is "Bonnie and Clyde"). I hope that Edward Anderson's other stories are better.

Kenneth Fearing's "The Big Clock" is excellent, and brings the level of the book back up to where it should be. Set in a magazine publishing house, this tale is sleek and smart. The story is told in first person narration, but Fearing shifts the narration to various characters in the story. These constantly changing viewpoints turn the story into a roller coaster ride of epic proportions. An editor at the company makes the mistake of sleeping with the boss's woman. When this lady turns up dead at the hands of same boss, all heck breaks loose. This story is riveting and has a great ending that is all suspense. A must read.

William Lindsay Gresham wrote "Nightmare Alley" after some discussions he had with some carnival workers. This story is the longest one in the book and is a decent addition to the volume. Full of unpleasant images of murder, swindle, cynicism and downright perversion, you won't be disappointed when this one comes to an end. A scheming magician decides to take his con to the big time by posing as a Spiritualist minister, and as usual, the end result is tragedy all around. This story is downright depressing, and if you don't feel sorry for Gyp, you have got a problem. I didn't really care too much for the (...) addition of the black Communist towards the end of the book. Gresham had a flirtation with the Redski movement, so this apparent insertion makes some sense in that context. It goes nowhere in the story, however. There are some other holes in the plot but overall this is an entertaining story.

The final tale comes from the sumptuous pen of Cornell Woolrich. "I Married a Dead Man" becomes instantly familiar within a few pages, mostly due to the numerous films that have copped the plot. The writing here is far superior to any of the other stories in the book. I'd say it's far superior to most writing in general. The metaphors are extraordinary. Look for the description of Bill lighting his cigarette in the doorway. Wow! The story centers on a case of mistaken identity with a strong dose of blackmail thrown in for good measure. Of course, there's also a murder. This story is outstanding.

Overall, if you are just starting to read noir, start with these two volumes. It is good to see some of the best noir has to offer, and you will find some of it in these pages. The book clocks in at 990 pages, but it reads really fast. There is also a nice summary concerning the careers of each author at the back of the book. Recommended.

I was surprised at how modern the themes and writing of this compendium were. I read "Thieves Like Us" just when the Texas 7 episode was happening and was amazed at how little the views of crime and punishment, justice and desperation have changed since that writing, especially in Texas where the story takes place.

"They Shoot Horses..." was my favorite of the bunch for it's depiction of deperate people doing desperate things to survive in the form of a Dance Marathon. But are they doing this out of deperation (even the winner of the prize money, after months of physical torment , will end up having made less than a dollar a day)? Or becuase there is nothing else to do? What is futile and what is meaningfull, the story seems to be asking.

"Nightmare Alley" brought the Tyrone Power movie back home, only the ending seems more poignant. The author organzies each chapter along the 22 minor arcana of the Tarot, a device used by later authors like Robert Anton Wilson and Umberto Eco.

"The big clock", filmed at least twice with variations on themes, uses a unique writing style of shifting narratives from the main characters' points of view and has an awfully modern motive for the murder (probably a little too modern for that period).

"The Postman.." and "I Married a Dead Man" story were also very dood. The Noir theme of "Crime Does Not Pay" runs through most of theses stories, but when you read them, you realize that it's not as simple as that. In the end, who really wins and loses and does it matter?

I don't think one can do better for reading the greats of American Literature than through the Library of America seri

It's inevitable that most readers should go into this book with the excellent film version starring Joan Crawford in their minds. However, the two are quite different beasts, which is a credit to the strength and originality of both.

This is not a crime novel as the film implied, but a tough Depression era story of a woman determined to get by in a world of snobbery and class prejudices that even she herself cannot deny that she holds. When she becomes a single mother, Mildred is ashamed to have to take on a job as a waitress to keep her children in the relatively wealthy lifestyle to which they are accustomed. With nothing more than determination, she becomes the mistress of a restaurant empire and a wealthy businesswoman. But none of this is enough to endear her to her spitfire daughter Veda, whom she both dislikes and passionately admires.

It comes as a surprise that the Mildred of Cain's novel is more a Veronica Lake than a Crawford, a short-skirted coquette who uses her physical as well as mental assets to achieve what she needs. More complex is Mildred's relationship with Veda, and the character of Veda herself, a swaggering, overbearing, thoroughly nasty piece of work. If you thought Ann Blyth's Veda was unlikeable, meet this one! It's even more clear here that Mildred's motherly love has turned into unhealthy obsession. Unlike the film, the monster that is Veda is never really exorcised here.

It's the ending of the book which lets the rest down. The final quarter seems hasty - it smacks of an author who is getting a little tired of his characters and has run out of hoops for them to jump through. And while the book closes on a bleak sort of denouement, no real sense of conclusion or capitulation is gained. It should be noted that the ending is considerably different to that of the film, which, to my mind, ended things in a more satisfying matter - which admittedly had a classic crime story structure to its advantage.

Nevertheless, Cain's plain-spoken, tough-minded style and his talents as a storyteller make this a worthwhile read.

This book covers the rise of Mildred Pierce -- a struggling, single mother during the Depression who opens a chain of successful restaraunts. Mildred's relationship with her spoiled daughter, Veda, is detailed and the focal point of the story. In addition, the various men that Mildred encounters in the book, are described as they alter the course of her life.

All in all, this book was good. It isn't your typical Cain hard-boiler... in fact to think so is extremely misleading. I'd classify this book as more literature than anything to do with crime. The movie was also WILDLY different from the book. Their endings differ greatly.

Mildred Pierce is one of those 'tough as nails, heart of gold' mothers who should an inspiration to all women. She kicks out her dead-beat husband, works her tail off to keep food on the table and her daughters happy, and has the guts/brains to start her own successful business. So what's wrong (and why did James M. Cain bother to write about her)?

Unable to face reality, Mildred is the victim of her own blindness to her rotten eldest daughter's ways. Not only is her daughter unappreciative, she actually ridicules her mother as being some uncouth and ignorant embarassment. Mildred's toughness melts when confronting her monster daughter, much to her detriment. While a heartbreaking story overall, the ending is especially moving ... have your hankies ready.

Perhaps many folks reading this review has seen the famous film adaption (starring Joan Crawford) of Mildred Pierce. While the film generally carries the intent of James M. Cain's written word, there are several differences. Obviously Hollywood wanted to over-dramatize, or simply invent scenes. As much as I like the movie I enjoyed the book more; I found it to be more personal , intense and believable.

Bottom line: required reading by all mothers, strongly recommended to everyone else.

This story is vey interesting and unbelievable. It's about a man name Jess who was separated from his own daughter when she was just a baby. After many years have past, they both met each other by his house having a conversation. Jess fell in love with her without knowing that she's his own daughter, and goes for her. I rate this boo an "8" because of it's uncommon story that can never be accepted in our society.

You must read this book for the last sentence. It is the best ever written. Don't skip ahead, just take the time, read it and get to that beautiful, perfect sentence. You won't be diasapointed.

Compared to his earlier and much better The Postman Always Rings Twice, which tells a story as taut and inevitable as a Greek tragedy, James M. Cain's Serenade offers a plot as giddily rococo and improbable as the grandest of operas. I suppose that's appropriate, as this is the only hard-boiled novel I know of that features an opera singer hero/narrator; he may sing Rossini, but he talks like the sort of tough guy Bogart and Mitchum used to play. The settings have an operatic range as well, running the gamut from a verismo account of Depression-era Mexico to a phantasmagorically high-camp vision of New York's 1930s gay bohemia.

Unfortunately, I'm afraid I'm making this book sound like more fun than it is. The last third of this relatively short novel explores an intense, unusual (and, I suppose, daring for its time) sexual triangle leading to a crime and its ultimate punishment. The first two-thirds, however, are slow-going, as we follow John Howard Sharp, a down-and-out opera singer in Mexico, as he falls in love with Juana, an Aztec princess variant on the prostitute-with-a-heart-of-gold theme. After a brief romantic idyll in an empty church on the way to Acapulco, during which Sharp displays the sort of wilderness survival skills not seen since the heyday of James Fenimore Cooper (and at the same time regains his singing voice), the pair flee north to Los Angeles, where Sharp becomes the overnight star of Nelson Eddy-esque Hollywood musicals.

Then the story gets good. Dissatisfied with his success in movies, Sharp comes to New York to sing at the Met (Juana comes along to take night school classes in English) and reencounters his old mentor/tormentor Winston Hawes, a fabulously wealthy composer, conductor and apostle of the love that dared not speak its name (at least back in 1937). While the plot from here is riveting without being particularly surprising, I don't want to give anything away.

If the whole novel were as good as this last section, it would merit at least another star. However, if you are easily offended by outmoded social attitudes toward Mexicans and gays (in other words, if you don't read anything that borders on the racist or homophobic), please deduct a star or avoid this book altogether. For my part, I certainly think Serenade deserves to be in print, although I'd say anyone new to Cain would do well to read Postman and Double Indemnity first.

If not in the top 10, certainly among the top 100 best books I have ever read. Absolutely stunning images, an entirely unique plot, and a whole new meaning to the song "Cielito lindo."

"Postman" was OK, but I think "Serenade" was Cain's masterpiece. It compares favorably with Charles Willeford's "The Way We Die Now", which is high praise indeed.

One of the greatest love stories ever written, in my mind. Full of aggression, cynicism, pace but also of passion. His picture of pre-War Mexico is magical, if somewhat seedy. It is a tragedy that it is out of print - the Postman Always Rings Twice shadowed this more sophisticated, but just as readable novel, due to the Film.

When I was 12 I climbed on board something called The Texas Cliffhanger at Six Flags Over Texas. It was a small four or five person bench with a cage around it that lifted us something like five stories into the air. Then it pushed us forward and dropped us. The entire ride lasted maybe a minute, but I never forgot it and I by God knew I’d had a thrill. The Postman Always Rings Twice is no different. It is wild and one of the shortest novels I’ve ever read. But believe me, I know I’ve read a novel.

Not only is the book short, its pace rarely relents. There is not an overabundance of description or other literary devices. It slams the door, straps you in and drives you to the end. And you get there fast with no detours and no fluff and nothing extra, just the point. You rip right through piles of mistrust and angst and murder and love and passion and lies and truths and you end in reality. And for Cain, reality is a cold floor and a long walk and a knotted rope swinging in the wind.

I believe this novel started a whole line of fiction and movies that continues to this day. First and most obvious, the noir genre has its roots here. The colloquial speech, the first person narrative, the looker dames who are in where they ought not be – it’s all here. Second, the love triangle involving a drifter and a young woman married or indentured to an older, wealthy man....

I’d recommend this one wholeheartedly. Not just for its place in literary history, but for the pure joy of a good read. Lie back and let it take you for a quick thrill.

This novel was another stunner from Cain. Set out in a then country area of California, outside of LA in the early 1940s, most of the action takes place at a diner on the main highway. This too involves a wife very unhappy with her husband, Cora with Nick. She finds a possible way out of her life with this brutish husband when drifter Frank comes into the diner and hangs around doing odd jobs for them. The couple plot to kill Nick so that they can end up with the diner and each other. There was one movie version done by John Garfield and Lana Turner in the 1940s that was absolutely faithful to the book. There was a 2nd version in the 1980s with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange that deviated somewhat from the novel, especially towards the end. I enjoyed both film versions equally and would highly recommend them. A Cain novel is very hard to put down once you've started and the man used no excess words. He too was an expert at looking at the best and worst of people as brought out by crime and its punishment.

I just came upon The Postman Always Rings Twice by chance from traversing the Modern Library's top 100 novels of the 20th Century and then checked it out on Amazon. So I decided to read it and came away plesantly surprised. It's laconic, short, dark, and undoubtedly a ground-breaking novella. This is the bad boy that started the whole roman noir and existentialism genre back in 1934. Albert Camus, the author credited with fully developing existentialism and the depiction of characters devoid of conscious, credited Cain as his inspiration for his very similar masterpiece, The Stranger, after having read The Postman.

The two leading enigmatic characters, Frank and Cora, as does Meursault in The Stranger, assume ultimate responsibility for their heinous acts of free will without any knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad. Being a novel noir genre fan, I recommend the once-banned Postman to anyone who has the stomach for some mild eroticism, violence, and moreover, clever writing.

Murphy Lee
May 22, 2002
Double Indemnity
By James M Cain

The book Double Indemnity, by James M Cain is a mystery about an old man, Mr. Nirlinger, who is murdered by his second wife, Phyllis Nirlinger, and insurance agent, Mr. Huff. Mr. Nirlinger's daughter, Lola, was just an innocent person who has many suspicions about Phyllis. This story has many twist's and one is when we find out the truth about the first Mrs. Nirlinger's death. This book is brain candy for those who love mysteries, as for those who like regular novel's I would not recommend this book. If you are looking for an interesting twist on what you would normally read than read this book because if you are very open minded you will consider this book somewhat worth the read. As for me I did not like the book but I would recommend it for people who like mysteries and those who just want to open there spaces, you might just enjoy it.

James Cain is not a mystery writer. There are no mysteries in his books, we know who did everything almost from the beginning. However, as a thriller writer he is unsurpassed. The action in his stories moves at breakneck pace, which is one reason, incidentally, why they are so short. I can't think of any other writer who exploited story length to the level that he did.

Cain's characters live in a world where a maleficent fate sooner or later overtakes them. There are no heroes; there are only ugly people. The protagonists in his stories are all ugly; the really unsettling thing is that you can usually find something of yourself in them. Walter Huff (he's renamed Walter Neff in the movie, for some reason) is an insurance agent who teams up with a woman to knock off her husband and collect on his accident policy. He's not a sympathetic character. We watch Huff go into a long slide, and become a pawn in the hands of people that he doesn't even know before the end - maleficent fate.

The movie, while very good, does not tell quite the same story as the book. Although Cain wrote the novel, the screenplay was written by Raymond Chandler, with an additional credit to Billy Wilder, who directed the movie. Chandler managed to turn Walter into a sort of Philip Marlowe gone wrong, right down to the snappy internal dialogue that was Chandler's trademark. Chandler also added an element of morality into the tale that it didn't have in the book. And why does Walter kill Phyllis in the movie? I don't think I'm giving anything away by saying that this doesn't happen in the book.

If you're hooked on hardboiled fiction you should read this book. And although a lot of years have passed, maybe you'll appreciate why Cain was considered such a racy writer in his day, too.

Title: Double Indemnity

Author: James M. Cain

Key Moment: When Miss Nirdlinger (Lola) tells Mr. Huff of her suspicion of Phyllis being a murderer because it reveals how Ms. Nirdlinger (Phyllis) really is and shows Lola's decieving style.

Plot: Mr. Huff is an insurance sales agent who purposely frames a client (Mr. Nirdlinger) by killing him, making it look like an accident, and collecting the 'accidental-death' money by teaming up with the client's wife, Phyllis. But Mr. Huff is in for more than that.

This book should be mainly for adults but still ok for younger readers because some of the technical details is hard to follow for teenagers but still a good book for adults and adolescents.

Opinion: This novel was really good , full if thrills and suspense . It keeps the reader guessing everytime and keeps them attached to the book till it's over.

The Magician's Wife is a mediocre rendition of some of Cain's classic novels such as The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity. Although it starts off slowly, it does build up a head of steam and if you ignore some of the unbelievable actions of the protagonist, the charismatic meat-magnate, Clay Lockwood, it is a hard book to put down. More or less the plot is a fellow (this time a successful executive) has an affair with a married woman and after much arm-twisting chooses to help her murder her husband for money. The magician's wife is clearly not someone worth murdering for and at the same time Clay carries on an affair with her mother, Grace, which is one of the absurd elements of this novel. Like a magician, Cain works out interesting plot twists around these incongruencies and somehow makes it a compelling read. Nonetheless he is not in great form, for a key scene where Clay scopes out the magician whom he is plotting to kill and sees him performing tricks for some kids in his neighborhood would by Cain's standards be rendered in grand fashion as the potential killer feels remorse and anguish in discovering that his victim is a regular and decent guy. Somehow in The Magician's Wife this scene is barely sketched out leaving out, so to speak, The Mark of Cain.

This 'Magician's Wife' is not Moore's story set in France/Europe. It is, instead, a story of lust, adultery, and wish fulfillment set 1940's Virginia.

A master of American noir, Cain spins a suspense-filled that reminds you to be careful what you wish for.

The Magician's Wife is set in mid-nineteenth century France. The first part takes place in the palace of Versailles where the magician and his wife are invited for the weekend. The setting is a enjoyable history lesson. Versailles and its grandeur come alive as the magician and his wife stay there as guests of the king. The author describes the daily living at the palace in delicious detail.You can imagine what it was really like at Versailles.The wife is content with their modest circumstances but the magician is seduced by the attentions of the royal court. He has always been obsessed with his magic tricks, inventing marvelous stunts. When he comes to the attention of the king, their lives change drastically. It is the conflict of the wife, who doesn't want her life changed and her husband, who has the chance to be famous and important. Besides an unusual historical setting is the timeless conflict of a man obssessed with his art and his rise in society. His wife is intimidated by the rarified circles she is thrown into as a result of her husband's sucess. This is a problem that occurs in many relationships. Wive's either cope with their husband's success or are replaced nowadays. The struggling graduate student becomes the rich and famous surgeon. The poor aspiring actor becomes a star. How does a spouse cope? In addition to an engrossing story about relationships, I loved the particular historical setting of 19th century France,one which is not often used.

Although the story line of this book is Pres. Harding's administration in the early 1920s, there is a relevance to today's presidential political scene. For example, Harding engaged in illicit sexual affairs which the author exemplifies by Harding's "jollying" of a young women in a White House broom closet. Pres. Clinton did his in the oval office. Also Harding was not one of this nation's most intelligent presidents. And in the current presidential election there is a question about the intelligence of one of the candidates. The author chose a real person,H. L. Mencken to conduct a fictionalized investigation of the corruption in Harding's administraion. The author also tries to depict Mencken as he revealed himself in his writings and as he was depicted in his biographies. Mencken, perhaps the nation's most famous iconoclast who had an opinion on everything in American society, relishes his role in this book of observing and commenting on the morons and clowns in Harding's administration known as the "Ohio Gang" who Harding brought with him to Washington. They are also real people who appear in the book. Harding's attorney general was tried twice for his misdeeds. His secretary of the interior and his director of the the Veterans Bureau were imprisoned. Mencken is paired with another real person, James Cain, who is best know for his hard-boiled crime fiction. This duo takes the reader on an entertaining tour of Harding's corrupt Washington. And along the way readers will meet such literary notables as Henry Luce and Sinclair Lewis. There is also a fictionalized sexual affair by Cain and a real woman who was the darling of the Washington press corp when she testified in real life against Harding's attorney general at a senate hearing. The entertaining part of this novel are Mencken's conversatins which permeate the book