James M. Cain – Cannonball Read 17

Last Call

The Cocktail Waitress by James M. Cain

January 12, 2022 by Jake Leave a Comment

This month’s Hard Case Crime was a real winner. The kind of book I wish they could find and/or publish more often. Of course, unpublished works from crime masters aren’t exactly lying around waiting. Charles Ardai and co. lucked out when some mutual connects hooked them up with the last James Cain manuscript, one that had never seen the light of day. Cain is often considered part of the Hardboiled Trinity, along with Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. Yet he didn’t write the kind of […]

Stealing a man’s wife, that’s nothing, but stealing his car, that’s larceny.

February 14, 2018 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

This is so very obviously a first novel. It is a strange and bizarre novel. It is an interesting novel. It is not, however, a good novel. For all the fame, the intrigue, the movies, and the way that this novel did in fact help shape the genre, it’s a mess. For a novel that covers only 120 pages, and one that has a lot of precision to it, there’s some really bizarre digressions and absurd plot devices at work. For example, this novel involves […]

A Dame to Kill For

May 26, 2017 by jeverett15 Leave a Comment

My general rule of thumb is that “lost” novels should stay that way, but I’m glad I made an exception for the final novel of James M. Cain, published many years after the author’s death. Like the best of Cain’s novels it features people who find themselves in desperate circumstances. Cain’s characters are trapped by lust or greed and willing to go beyond the bounds of traditional morality to satisfy their desires. The Cocktail Waitress is narrated by Joan Medford, the title character. Left impoverished […]

Zirza on A Gothic Classic for a ReasonIt's one of those wish-you-could-read-it-again-for-the-first-time books. I loved it.
Emmalita on “It came to something when you found yourself hoping that the footsteps you heard were ghosts.”I loved the ending! I don’t think it’s been out long enough to talk about why though.
Dixie on Track Her Down by Melinda LeighI am just starting Track Her Down and I have read them all in order till now and thought I...
Roland of Gilead on How can you give us the gift of a crazy character named Rando Thoughtful and then just as suddenly take that gift away? We need to talk, Uncle Stevie.I came across this randomly years after it was written because I was searching "Random Thoughtful. But I have the...
Emmalita on “Only you, Em, would refer to heartbreak as a distraction. I think I would have a more sympathetic response if I asked to marry a bookcase.”Oh my goodness, Gallifrey was beautiful. I’m sure her mittens were gloriously murdery.

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