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 and banned in Bos...
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 ...
Ben Grace, a member of the organized crime gang that controls Lake City, leaks evidence implicating the leader in murder and tax evasion, leading to a violent struggle to maintain control of the city in face of a reforming mayoral candidate...
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 ...
A twisted tale of heinous crimes and hidden motives by the legendary author of Double Indemnity.Graham meets Sonya outside of his real estate office. She is sixteen, beautiful, and drops a bombshell -- she’s there because Graham’s half-brother, B...
For the love of a beautiful waitress, a meat salesman will turn butcher in this crime thriller by “one of the greats of American noir” (The Guardian).Clay Lockwood. is a top distributing executive with Grant’s Meats, and the contract with the ...
While searching for her real father, a runaway stumbles into a deadly mess in this gritty noir novel by the author of The Postman Always Rings Twice.With just seventy-four bucks in her pocket, Mandy packs her things and buys the bus ticket that will ...
ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME • James M. Cain, virtuoso of the roman noir, gives us a tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful story in Double Indemnity, an X-ray view of...
In these never-before-published interviews, the author of Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Mildred Pierce discusses his first notions to be a writer, his newspaper days, his Hollywood years, and Marilyn Monroe with brutal honesty...
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 en...
An academic looking for money finds a woman and trouble instead Professor Lloyd Palmer loves a good biography. His fantasy is to start an institute to teach young scholars the biographical arts, and it will take old money to make his dreams come t...
A salesman, a would-be divorce, and an insurance policy turn toxic in Reno Vegas is a city of lovers, but in Reno, the business is divorce. Six weeks in Reno can erase the darkest marriages, and the only question is how to pass the time -- craps ...
A Confederate spy risks his life to win the heart of a fallen woman 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 towards the Southe...
A hijacker and his hostage escape to a very strange, very dangerous farm Since his father died, every Saturday night has been the same for Dave and his mother. She starts by talking -- aimless, weird fantasies about get-rich-quick schemes that nev...
While slinging hash in a diner, a would-be Cinderella meets her Prince Charming Carrie Selden is not at all like the woman you've read about in the papers. Though she was raised in an orphanage, she isn't an orphan. She didn't finish high school ...
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 contrac...
From a famous tough-guy writer, a collection of shockingly funny stories Ever since she got married, Doris has regretted giving up her singing career. After years of domestic drudgery, she decides to take one last crack at becoming an opera singer...
A Bad Woman (originally titled Sinful Woman) is James M. Cain's little gem of a hard-boiled novel, set in the post-War 1940s of Reno, Nevada. Film star Sylvia Shoreham is wowing the dusty gambling town and is hell-bent on divorcing her conniving use...
Seventeen gripping tales from one of the toughest authors in the history of crime fiction They call him Lucky -- but he has never had a lucky day in his life. A nineteen-year-old hobo just starting to ride the rails, he is hiding in the coal car ...
A collection of hardboiled crime fiction from the author of Double Indemnity, “one of the greats of American noir” (The Guardian). They call him Lucky -- but he’s never had a lucky day in his life. A nineteen-year-old hobo just starting to ride...
A bank employee’s wife teams up with his boss -- with fatal results -- in this noir novella by the legendary author of The Postman Always Rings Twice.Despite an ulcer that requires surgery, workaholic Charles Brent doesn’t want to take time off f...