Review of The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain (Alfred Knopf, 1934)

Frank Chambers drifts through life, hustling here and there, always moving on from trouble. And he finds it with Cora Papadakis, a woman’s who dream of a good life in Hollywood has ended with her being married to a Greek garage and roadside cafe owner, Nick. Nick hires Frank as a mechanic and it doesn’t take long for Frank and Cora to start a torrid affair, and not much longer for them to start plotting the perfect murder of Nick. But committing murder is not as straightforward as it seems in theory …

The Postman Always Rings Twice is the second of the classic crime fiction curriculum challenge books I’ve read. While the story is quite short (89 pages in the edition I read), it packs a powerful punch. It’s a long time since I’ve read a novel, where my first action on finishing it is to go back to the beginning and start again. It really is that good and certainly one the best stories I’ve read since Hans Fallada’s, Alone in Berlin (my favourite read last year). And it has much in common with Fallada’s masterpiece, having a small cast of principal characters, a very well plotted, credible and clever story, and a noir sensibility that leaves the reader emotionally drained by the end. The writing is tight, thin on thick description, and proceeding through a series of nicely judged scenes that documents a fatal attraction and its consequences. And it’s clear as to why readers of this blog voted it an essential classic crime fiction read. A powerful book, that’s worth reading twice.

Review of The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (org. Alfred A. Knopf, 1930)

Sam Spade runs a detective agency in San Francisco with his partner Miles Archer. He’s hired by the beautiful Miss Wonderly to track down her seventeen year old sister, who has fled from New York with the married, no-good Floyd Thursby. Whilst trailing Thursby Archer is shot dead and not long after Thursby is also gunned down in front of his hotel. The police initially suspect Spade since he was having an affair with Archer’s wife. On confronting Miss Wonderly it’s clear that she’s afraid and not who she says she is, but is also unwillingly to reveal her secrets. Shortly afterwards Joel Cairo enters Spade’s office demanding to search the premises, looking for a valuable black enamel bird. Whoever Wonderly is, she’s wrapped up in a much bigger game of hunter and hunted that now includes Spade.

This is the first book I’ve read from the Classic Crime Fiction Curriculum and within half an hour’s reading it was clear why it was voted onto the list. The characterisation is superb with each person well defined and memorable, the dialogue is snappy and well judged, and the plotting is first rate. The Sam Spade character, in particular, is an interesting invention – a sharp tongued, charismatic, womanising, man about town, handy with his brain and, if needed, his fists. The whole book had the feel of a good play – tight, closed sets with a handful of well-drawn characters in each scene that riff off each other through verbal sparring, violence and seduction, with plenty of melodrama and tension, and the story twisting and turning as it works its way to a satisfying conclusion. This is a lean, mean story that is action and dialogue driven, jaunting along at a terrific pace. It’s almost as if the book was written as a movie script. A thoroughly enjoyable read and I’m looking forward to reading more of Hammett’s works.

Most nominated ...

There were nine authors who had three or more books nominated in the Classic Crime Fiction Curriculum Challenge. Way out in front was Agatha Christie who had a phenomenal 12 books nominated, demonstrating a great strength in depth to her writing and her long lasting popularity. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd emerged out of the pack to make it onto the final list of ten books. The nine authors and their nominated books were:

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of the Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Adventure of the Final Problem

Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely; Lady in the Lake, The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye

Agatha Christie, The Body in the Library, Evil Under the Sun, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The ABC Murders, Five Little Pigs, Murder at the Vicarage, Murder is Easy, The Crooked House, The Mystery of the Blue Train, Death on the Nile, Cat Among the Pigeons, And Then There Were None

Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon, The Dain Curse, Red Harvest

Ngaio Marsh, A Surfeit of Lampreys, Death in a White Tie, The Nursing Home Murder

Ross MacDonald, The Drowning Pool, The Moving Target, The Chill, The Underground Man

Edgar Allan Poe, The Purloined Letter, Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Tell-Tale Heart

Dorothy L Sayers, Strong Poison, Gaudy Night, Whose Body?, The Nine Tailors, Five Red Herrings, Murder must advertise, Busman’s Holiday

Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time, The Franchise Affair, Brat Farrar

The classic crime curriculum

Given the comments on Saturday's post, I think it is fairly clear that the consensus is to add Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo's, Roseanna, as the final book on the classic crime curriculum. That makes the full list:

James Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934)
Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely (1940)
Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)
Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon (1930)
Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley (1955)
Dorothy Sayers, The Nine Tailors (1934)
Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, Roseanna (1965)
Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance (1934)
Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me (1952)

One thing that strikes me about this list is that 1934 was a very good year for crime fiction! I'm looking forward to reading these over the next 12 months. Many thanks for everybody's suggestions. I'll post more on the full list over the coming days.

The final spot on the classic crime curriculum

Yesterday I posted the nine of the books that would form the Classic Crime Fiction Curriculum - a list of must read, pre-1970 crime novels. There is one space left on the list. The following books all came joint tenth, but I can only pick one. The question is which one? Which of these fifteen books is an ideal complement to the nine already selected? Let me know your choice and the reason why and, based on the responses, I'll select the tenth book for the curriculum.

John Buchan. The Thirty Nine Steps
James Cain, Double Indemnity
Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone
Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White
Edmund Crispin, The Moving Toyshop
Agatha Christie, Five Little Pigs
Agatha Christie, Murder at the Vicarage
Ngaio Marsh, A Surfeit of Lampreys
Ross Macdonald, The Moving Target
Edgar Allen Poe, Murders in the Rue Morgue
Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night
Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo, Roseanna
Mickey Spillane, I, The Jury
Josephine Tey, The Daughter of Time
Cornell Woolrich, The Bride Wore Black

Classic Crime Fiction, the first results

I've been through the first results of the Classic Crime Fiction Curriculum Challenge. I received 15 lists, and thanks to all those who took part. The full list included 114 books, all but 24 of which received only one vote. Only 9 books received 3 or more votes (see below) and the clear winner on 6 was The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles
Dashiell Hammett, The Maltese Falcon
Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley
James Cain, The Postman Always Rings Twice
Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely
Agatha Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Dorothy Sayers, Nine Tailors
Rex Stout, Fer-de-Lance
Jim Thompson, The Killer Inside Me

I'll post up the 15 books that all scored 2 votes each tomorrow and hopefully you'll be able to tell me which one most deserves the last berth on the curriculum list. There were a number of authors who had several different books nominated resulting in their votes being split across different titles. I'll also do a most popular author list in the next few days.

Classic crime fiction curriculum challenge

Just a remindered that there's only a couple of days left to get your suggestions in for the Classic Crime Fiction Curriculum Challenge.

The challenge is to imagine a reader new to crime fiction who wants an education in the classics. A curriculum is needed - a list of ten must-read crime fiction classics, published pre-1970. Either post the list on your own blog and send me the link (rob.kitchin@nuim.ie), or post the list in a comment to this post by January 31st. I’ll then compile a curriculum based on the most popular choices (and provide link-backs to posts). Ideally, the selection of books needs to try and capture different crime fiction sub-genres and styles.

Book Bonanza

Sadly one of my colleague's sister died just before christmas. She left a collection of over 2500 novels, the vast majority of which are crime fiction. I've been a given a donation of four boxes containing 139 novels and a few collections (right). In light of my classic crime fiction curriculum challenge, I was delighted to find a number of the novels recommended so far in the boxes (starred below). Beyond the classics, I'd be interested to hear which authors you think I should tackle first? The novels include those by:

Loren Estleman (14), Bill Pronzini (10), Donald Westlake* (8), Raymond Chandler* (5), James Cain* (5), Sapper (5), Cornell Woodrich* (4), Patricia Highsmith* (4), Lawrence Block (4), Parnell Hall (4), Howard Browne (3), Max Byrd (3), Joe Gores (3), Ngaio Marsh* (3), Richard Stark (3), G.M. Ford (3), Arthur Lyons (3), Ian Sansom (3), Mickey Spillane* (3), K.C. Constantine (3), Edna Buchanan (3), Dashiell Hammett* (2), Bill Ballinger (2), Peter Robinson (2), Jim Butcher (2), Roy Hart (2), Dominick Dunne (2), John Le Carre (2), Tucker Coe (2), Kinky Friedman (2), Sarah Shankman (2), James Swain (2), Christopher Newman (2), Ed Gorman, Helen Chappell, Martin Short, Dorothy Hughes*, Paula Gosling, T. Jefferson Parker, Anthony Bruno, Sparkle Hayter, John Lutz, Dorothy Sayers*, Wilkie Collins*, Kenneth Fearing, Ellery Queen*, Josephine Tey*, Alfred Hitchcock.

Well that lot, plus the 30 plus books I already have in TBR pile, should keep me going for a while!

Classic crime fiction curriculum challenge

The results of this challenge can be found here.

Imagine a reader new to crime fiction and wanting an education in the classics. Or consider a seasoned crime fiction reader who’s barely read a crime novel published prior to 1970. Well I’m that latter reader. I’ve read several hundred crime novels but nearly all of them are from the contemporary period. This is the year I intend to right that by reading some of the crime fiction canon. What I need though is a curriculum - a list of ten must-read crime fiction classics.

And this is where I need some help. So to that end I’m setting up a relatively straightforward challenge, one that doesn't even require any reading. The challenge is to set a ten book, pre-1970, crime fiction curriculum and to either post the list on your own blog and send me the link (rob.kitchin@nuim.ie), or post the list in a comment to this post by January 31st. I’ll then compile a curriculum based on the most popular choices (and provide link-backs to posts). Ideally, the selection of books needs to try and capture different crime fiction sub-genres and styles.

I hope you can help out, as I could do with the education. And please pass this challenge on to whoever you think might be able to advise. And if you do read any golden oldies this year, then Patti's Forgotten Friday series is the place to link your reviews to.