by James M. Cain
Recommended Age: 14+
Walter Huff is an insurance salesman, so he knows all the ways an insurance fraud scheme can go wrong. Which is why he is the perfect accomplice for a beautiful woman who wants to murder her husband and collect on his insurance policy - which pays double for accidental death. In spite of Huff's expertise, something about the crime smells wrong to the insurance detective who studies the case. And thereby hangs yet another tale of greed, adultery, and hardboiled suspense in the insurance industry.
Wriggle with delight as the dialogue pops. Squirm with Huff as his scrupulously careful fraud crumbles under the Keyes' scrutiny. Shudder at the gruesome violence, and thrill to a streak of naughtiness that was ahead of its time, both for the book and for the classic movie that came after it. And above all, bask in the glory of one of hardboiled fiction's leanest, meanest masterpieces, from the mind behind Mildred Pierce and The Postman Always Rings Twice.
The Postman Always Rings Twiceby James M. Cain
Recommended Age: 14+
One fateful day Frank Chambers gets thrown off the back of a hay truck in a part of southern California I know well enough to dread being stuck there with no money or transportation. But luck is on his side: he immediately picks up a job working for Nick Papadakis, owner of a truckstop. At first it's a good deal - cooking, filling up gas, changing the oil, and lusting after Nick's wife Cora. But then lust blossoms into a torrid affair and, next thing you know, Frank and Cora decide to arrange a little accident for dear old Nick. In case that sounds like a romantic idea, there's a life insurance policy on Nick - and it pays double if he dies in an accident.
The apparent accident comes off perfectly, except for one mistake. And the rest of this snappy little page-turner is a single, steady swell of suspense as a nosy insurance detective tries to sniff out that mistake. Notorious in its day for its in-your-face violence and sexuality, treasured today for its crisp diction, its passion, its measured tread of dread, and the classic movie based on it, The Postman Always Rings Twice is one of the top achievements of the hardboiled school of fiction, from the author of Double Indemnity and Mildred Pierce.
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