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(1892 - 1977)
James Mallahan Cain was a first-rate writer of American
hard-boiled crime fiction. Born in Baltimore, the son of the president of
Washington College, Cain began his career as a reporter, serving in the American
Expeditionary Force in World War I and writing for The Cross of Lorraine,
the newspaper of the 79th Division. He returned from the war to embark on a
literay career that included a professorship at St. John's College in Annapolis
and a stint at The New Yorker as managing editor before he went to
Hollywood as a script writer. Cain's famous first novel, The Postman Always
Rings Twice was published in 1934 when he was 42 and became an instant
sensation. It was tried for obscenity in Boston and was said by Albert Camus to
have inspired his own book, The Stranger. The infamous novel was staged
in 1936, and filmed in 1946 and 1981. The story of a young hobo who has an affair
with a married woman and plots with her to murder her husband and collect his
insurance, The Postman Always Rings Twice is a benchmark of classic crime
fiction and film noir. Two of Cain's other novels, Mildred Pierce (1941)
and Double Indemnity (1943) were also made into film noir classics. In
1974, James M. Cain was awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writer's of
America. Cain published eighteen books in all and was working on his
autobiography at the time of his death.
James M. Cain titles available from Vintage Crime / Black Lizard:
- Double Indemnity
- Mildred Pierce
- The Postman Always Rings Twice: Read an excerpt!
- Three By Cain
