Download or read book The Postman Always Rings Twice written by James M. Cain and published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. This book was released on 2010-11-03 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling sensation—and one of the most outstanding crime novels of the 20th century—that was banned in Boston for its explosive mixture of violence and eroticism, and acknowledged by Albert Camus as the model for The Stranger. The basis for the acclaimed 1946 film. An amoral young tramp. A beautiful, sullen woman with an inconvenient husband. A problem that has only one grisly solution—a solution that only creates other problems that no one can ever solve. First published in 1934, The Postman Always Rings Twice is a classic of the roman noir. It established James M. Cain as a major novelist with an unsparing vision of America's bleak underside and was acknowledged by Albert Camus as the model for The Stranger.

Download or read book Mildred Pierce written by James M. Cain and published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. This book was released on 2010-12-29 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Mildred Pierce, noir master James M. Cain creates a novel of acute social observation and devasting emotional violence, with a heroine whose ambitions and sufferings are never less than recognizable. Mildred Pierce had gorgeous legs, a way with a skillet, and a bone-deep core of toughness. She used those attributes to survive a divorce and poverty and to claw her way out of the lower middle class. But Mildred also had two weaknesses: a yen for shiftless men, and an unreasoning devotion to a monstrous daughter.

Download or read book THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE DOUBLE INDEMNITY MILDRED PIERCE AND SELECTED STORIES written by JAMES M. CAIN and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Postman Always Rings Twice Double Indemnity Mildred Pierce and Selected Stories written by James M. Cain and published by Everyman's Library. This book was released on 2003-07-22 with total page 602 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These three classics from the master of the noir novel, along with five otherwise unavailable short stories, are electric with the taut narrative voice, the suspense, and the explosive violence and eroticism that were James M. Cain’s indelible hallmarks. The Postman Always Rings Twice, Cain’s first novel–the subject of an obscenity trial in Boston, the inspiration for Camus’s The Stranger–is the fever-pitched tale of a drifter who stumbles into a job, into an erotic obsession, and into a murder. Double Indemnity–which followed Postman so quickly, Cain’s readers hardly had a chance to catch their breath–is a tersely narrated story of blind passion, duplicity, and, of course, murder. Mildred Pierce, a work of acute psychological observation and devastating emotional violence, is the tale of a woman with a taste for shiftless men and an unreasoned devotion to her monstrous daughter. All three novels were immortalized in classic Hollywood films. Also included here are five masterful stories–“Pastorale,” “The Baby in the Icebox,” “Dead Man,” “Brush Fire,” “The Girl in the Storm”–that have been out of print for decades.

Download or read book Double Indemnity written by James M. Cain and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2010-09-09 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A true crime masterpiece, and highly acclaimed 1940s movie 'DOUBLE INDEMNITY is among the finest of all American novels, regardless of genre or style' LA TIMES 'Cain is the master' Tom Wolfe DOUBLE INDEMNITY is the classic tale of an evil woman motivated by greed who corrupts a weak man motivated by lust. Walter Huff is an insurance investigator like any other until the day he meets the beautiful and dangerous Phyllis Nirdlinger and falls under her spell. Together they plot to kill her husband and split the insurance. It'll be the perfect murder . . .

Download or read book The Cocktail Waitress written by James M. Cain and published by Titan Books (US, CA). This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following her husband's death in a suspicious car accident, beautiful young widow Joan Medford is forced to take a job serving drinks in a cocktail lounge to make ends meet and to have a chance of regaining custody of her young son. At the job she encounters two men who take an interest in her, a handsome young schemer who makes her blood race and a wealthy but unwell older man who rewards her for her attentions with a $50,000 tip and an unconventional offer of marriage... The last, lost crime novel by one of the greatest noir novelists of all time, author of Mildred Pierce, Double Indemnity, and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Now published for the very first time - including an afterword by editor Charles Ardai!

Download or read book Dead Man written by James M. Cain and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2021-10-26 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this powerful tale of guilt, a short story from James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and Selected Stories, a desperate man is driven to the edge of madness after he accidentally kills a railroad detective. As the murderer works to get his alibi straight, he soon discovers that the prick of his own conscience is just as oppressive as the long arm of the law. A Vintage Short.

Download or read book Ripley Under Ground written by Patricia Highsmith and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2008-09-17 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Ripley is an unmistakable descendant of Gatsby, that 'penniless young man without a past' who will stop at nothing."—Frank Rich Now part of American film and literary lore, Tom Ripley, "a bisexual psychopath and art forger who murders without remorse when his comforts are threatened" (New York Times Book Review), was Patricia Highsmith's favorite creation. In these volumes, we find Ripley ensconced on a French estate with a wealthy wife, a world-class art collection, and a past to hide. In Ripley Under Ground (1970), an art forgery goes awry and Ripley is threatened with exposure; in The Boy Who Followed Ripley (1980), Highsmith explores Ripley's bizarrely paternal relationship with a troubled young runaway, whose abduction draws them into Berlin's seamy underworld; and in Ripley Under Water (1991), Ripley is confronted by a snooping American couple obsessed with the disappearance of an art collector who visited Ripley years before. More than any other American literary character, Ripley provides "a lens to peer into the sinister machinations of human behavior" (John Freeman, Pittsburgh Gazette).

Download or read book Sinful Woman written by James M. Cain and published by Overamstel Uitgevers. This book was released on 2013-01-15 with total page 123 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A starlet comes to Reno to start a new life—and end her old one forever Sylvia Shoreham’s Hollywood dreams came true long ago. Critically beloved for her beauty, talent, and style, she was on her way to international stardom when a bad contract committed her to seven years of trashy comedies and half-baked melodramas. Her marriage to her producer husband has become a rotten, loveless sham, so Sylvia’s silver screen life verges on a nightmare. To escape her celluloid hell, she’s got only one option: Forget Hollywood. It’s time for a Reno vacation. She comes to Nevada hoping for a divorce from her husband, Vicki, and an end to her contract, but the ugly side of the business follows her. To protect herself from Vicki, she enlists Nevada’s biggest Sylvia Shoreham fan. He’s six feet tall, strong as a mule, and just happens to be Reno’s sheriff. When her divorce turns into a war, this Hollywood icon will be glad to have him on her side.

Download or read book The Moth written by James M. Cain and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2024-05-21 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A novel of a privileged young man’s twisting, troubled journey through Depression-era America: “A great book by a great author.” —Los Angeles Daily News Jack Dillon has been a golden child since birth. Blessed with blond locks, glittering eyes, and a perfect voice, he is the most popular child singer in Baltimore. But when puberty robs him of his voice and the stock market wipes out his family fortune, Jack is forced to rebuild. Over the next fifteen years, Jack will see it all. From Maryland to California and back again, he will become a football star, a soldier, and a tramp. Despite all that life throws at him, he never loses his eye for beauty, or his hunger for a woman he has known since childhood. But to find happiness in the face of the Depression, Jack must learn that no matter how the world has changed him, part of his soul remains as pure as the first note he sang. “James M. Cain is one novelist who has something to teach just about any writer, and delight just about any reader.” —Anne Rice, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Interview with a Vampire

Download or read book Three by Cain written by James M. Cain and published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard. This book was released on 2011-04-27 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All three books are written with an enduring view of the dark corners of the American psyche. Cain hammered high art out of the crude matter of betrayal, bloodshed, and perversity.

Download or read book Past All Dishonor written by James M. Cain and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2024-05-21 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A naïve young man follows a fallen woman to a Nevada mining town and risks his life to win her: “Entertaining . . . Cain [has a] flair for realistic detail.” —The New York Times Early in the Civil War, the Confederacy sends Roger Duval to Sacramento to keep an eye on the situation in California in hopes of turning the Western territory toward the Southern cause. It’s a plush assignment, well out of the line of fire, but he hasn’t been there long before he comes into mortal danger.Duval nearly drowns in the Sacramento River but is saved by Morina, a quick-witted sex worker, who tosses him a rope. Suffocated by instant, irresistible love, Roger follows Morina to Virginia City, Nevada. For the silver miners, gamblers, and gunfighters who populate this hardscrabble town, her price is negotiable. But for a man in love, she charges a thousand dollars. Roger will sacrifice body, mind, and soul to get that money—but will any sacrifice be enough to make her love him? “A classic.” —Newsweek “[Cain is] one of the greats of American noir.” —The Guardian

Download or read book The Baby in the Icebox written by James M. Cain and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2013-08-13 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of stories, both early and late, that show how Mystery Writers of America Grand Master James M. Cain made his name There is a hungry tiger loose in the house, and that is not good news for anyone. A jealous husband let the animal out of his cage hoping he would eat his wife alive, but tigers aren’t used to taking orders. This jungle cat will get his meal, and he doesn’t care where it comes from. “The Baby in the Icebox” begins with a murdered wildcat and ends with a dead human—and what comes in between is some of the most striking prose James M. Cain ever put to paper. It is one of the first stories this master of crime fiction ever wrote, and it shows all the hallmarks of the novels that would later make him famous—namely Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice. The tales in this collection are short, but Cain never needed more than a few pages to thrill.

Download or read book Sunburn written by Laura Lippman and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-02-20 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Every time Laura Lippman comes out with a new book, I get chills because I know I am back in the hands of the master. She is simply a brilliant novelist, an unflinching chronicler of life in America right now, and Sunburn is her dark, gleaming noir gem. Read it." -Gillian Flynn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Gone Girl New York Times bestselling author Laura Lippman returns with a superb novel of psychological suspense about a pair of lovers with the best intentions and the worst luck: two people locked in a passionate yet uncompromising game of cat and mouse. But instead of rules, this game has dark secrets, forbidden desires, inevitable betrayals—and cold-blooded murder. One is playing a long game. But which one? They meet at a local tavern in the small town of Belleville, Delaware. Polly is set on heading west. Adam says he’s also passing through. Yet she stays and he stays—drawn to this mysterious redhead whose quiet stillness both unnerves and excites him. Over the course of a punishing summer, Polly and Adam abandon themselves to a steamy, inexorable affair. Still, each holds something back from the other—dangerous, even lethal, secrets. Then someone dies. Was it an accident, or part of a plan? By now, Adam and Polly are so ensnared in each other’s lives and lies that neither one knows how to get away—or even if they want to. Is their love strong enough to withstand the truth, or will it ultimately destroy them? Something—or someone—has to give. Which one will it be? Inspired by James M. Cain’s masterpieces The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, and Mildred Pierce, Sunburn is a tantalizing modern noir from the incomparable Laura Lippman.

Download or read book The Butterfly written by James Mallahan Cain and published by . This book was released on 1947 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Picture written by Lillian Ross and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2019-04-30 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A classic look at Hollywood and the American film industry by The New Yorker's Lillian Ross, and named one of the "Top 100 Works of U.S. Journalism of the Twentieth Century." Lillian Ross worked at The New Yorker for more than half a century, and might be described not only as an outstanding practitioner of modern long-form journalism but also as one of its inventors. Picture, originally published in 1952, is her most celebrated piece of reportage, a closely observed and completely absorbing story of how studio politics and misguided commercialism turn a promising movie into an all-around disaster. The charismatic and hard-bitten director and actor John Huston is at the center of the book, determined to make Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage—one of the great and defining works of American literature, the first modern war novel, a book whose vivid imagistic style invites the description of cinematic—into a movie that is worthy of it. At first all goes well, as Huston shoots and puts together a two-hour film that is, he feels, the best he’s ever made. Then the studio bosses step in and the audience previews begin, conferences are held, and the movie is taken out of Huston’s hands, cut down by a third, and finally released—with results that please no one and certainly not the public: It was an expensive flop. In Picture, which Charlie Chaplin aptly described as “brilliant and sagacious,” Ross is a gadfly on the wall taking note of the operations of a system designed to crank out mediocrity.

Download or read book Serenade written by James Mallahan Cain and published by . This book was released on 1938 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hårdkogt amerikansk roman fra 30'erne om en sanger, der indvikles i intriger, hver gang han mister stemmen