What do you think?
Rate this book
Love's Lovely Counterfeit
Jacket blurb: "The story is of a man and two women mixed up in some dirty business in a small American city. You ought to worry about yourself if you don't find it exciting."
178 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1942
About the author
James M. Cain
169 books891 followersJames Mallahan Cain (July 1, 1892–October 27, 1977) was an American journalist and novelist. Although Cain himself vehemently opposed labeling, he is usually associated with the hard-boiled school of American crime fiction and seen as one of the creators of the "roman noir."
He was born into an Irish Catholic family in Annapolis, Maryland, the son of a prominent educator and an opera singer. He inherited his love for music from his mother, but his high hopes of starting a career as a singer himself were thwarted when she told him that his voice was not good enough.
After graduating from Washington College where his father, James W. Cain served as president, in 1910, he began working as a journalist for The Baltimore Sun.
He was drafted into the United States Army and spent the final year of World War I in France writing for an Army magazine. On his return to the United States he continued working as a journalist, writing editorials for the New York World and articles for American Mercury. He also served briefly as the managing editor of The New Yorker, but later turned to screenplays and finally to fiction.
Although Cain spent many years in Hollywood working on screenplays, his name only appears on the credits of three films, Algiers, Stand Up and Fight, and Gypsy Wildcat.
His first novel (he had already published Our Government in 1930), The Postman Always Rings Twice was published in 1934. Two years later the serialized, in Liberty Magazine, Double Indemnity was published.
He made use of his love of music and of the opera in particular in at least three of his novels: Serenade (about an American opera singer who loses his voice and who, after spending part of his life south of the border, re-enters the States illegally with a Mexican prostitute in tow), Mildred Pierce (in which, as part of the subplot, the only daughter of a successful businesswoman trains as an opera singer) and Career in C Major (a short semi-comic novel about the unhappy husband of an aspiring opera singer who unexpectedly discovered that he has a better voice than she does).
He continued writing up to his death at the age of 85. His last three published works, The Baby in the Icebox (1981), Cloud Nine (1984) and The Enchanted Isle (1985) being published posthumously. However, the many novels he published from the late 1940s onward never quite rivaled his earlier successes.
He was born into an Irish Catholic family in Annapolis, Maryland, the son of a prominent educator and an opera singer. He inherited his love for music from his mother, but his high hopes of starting a career as a singer himself were thwarted when she told him that his voice was not good enough.
After graduating from Washington College where his father, James W. Cain served as president, in 1910, he began working as a journalist for The Baltimore Sun.
He was drafted into the United States Army and spent the final year of World War I in France writing for an Army magazine. On his return to the United States he continued working as a journalist, writing editorials for the New York World and articles for American Mercury. He also served briefly as the managing editor of The New Yorker, but later turned to screenplays and finally to fiction.
Although Cain spent many years in Hollywood working on screenplays, his name only appears on the credits of three films, Algiers, Stand Up and Fight, and Gypsy Wildcat.
His first novel (he had already published Our Government in 1930), The Postman Always Rings Twice was published in 1934. Two years later the serialized, in Liberty Magazine, Double Indemnity was published.
He made use of his love of music and of the opera in particular in at least three of his novels: Serenade (about an American opera singer who loses his voice and who, after spending part of his life south of the border, re-enters the States illegally with a Mexican prostitute in tow), Mildred Pierce (in which, as part of the subplot, the only daughter of a successful businesswoman trains as an opera singer) and Career in C Major (a short semi-comic novel about the unhappy husband of an aspiring opera singer who unexpectedly discovered that he has a better voice than she does).
He continued writing up to his death at the age of 85. His last three published works, The Baby in the Icebox (1981), Cloud Nine (1984) and The Enchanted Isle (1985) being published posthumously. However, the many novels he published from the late 1940s onward never quite rivaled his earlier successes.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
December 9, 2025
I was aware of the author as a primary source for some of my favorite noir movies, so I kind of knew what to expect. Indeed, this is very much a book of its time: 1942. Lake City - an imaginary mid Western town after the Prohibition, the gangsters have the police and politicians under their thumb and can act with impunity from a downtown hotel.
Enter two young idealists - one man thinking he can escape the consequences of his bad decision of hooking up with a crime lord and one woman thinking that she can change things for the better.
James M Cain has the atmosphere and the dialogue down to a T. For him this was contemporary reportage, his daily bread. There's an extraordinary monologue about professional football seen from the inside. There are some witty repartees between lovers, the smoky corners of dusty hotels and the vintage car drives through the "mean" streets - everything we've come to associate with the genre.
The book is quite short, but that's OK - it tells its story with an economy of style and with restrained emotion that is quite convincing.
Enter two young idealists - one man thinking he can escape the consequences of his bad decision of hooking up with a crime lord and one woman thinking that she can change things for the better.
James M Cain has the atmosphere and the dialogue down to a T. For him this was contemporary reportage, his daily bread. There's an extraordinary monologue about professional football seen from the inside. There are some witty repartees between lovers, the smoky corners of dusty hotels and the vintage car drives through the "mean" streets - everything we've come to associate with the genre.
The book is quite short, but that's OK - it tells its story with an economy of style and with restrained emotion that is quite convincing.
Read
September 14, 2018A clever, amoral chiseler aims to overthrow the crime boss of a small midwestern city – so, Red Harvest, but with Cain’s nasty, sexy sheen. Like most of the rest of the stuff I’ve read by Cain, this goes on 30 pages longer than it really needed to, but you can’t quite bring yourself to complain.
June 23, 2016
Within the first few pages of this book, I hit upon the following exchange:
--to which my only real response was, "Look, James M. Cain, if you don't want me to read your novel, you can just say so." It's possible to decipher this tangle of "as you know, Bob" explained relationships, but it's some of the clumsiest exposition I've ever seen. This gets a little smoother as the novel progresses, but Cain's strength in subjectivity and intensity, so dispassionate gangsters and Red Harvest-like power maneuvers aren't quite his strong suit. What's left is a novel that has some good bits but never quite came together for me.
Ben Grace is a former football player who works as a chauffeur for the high-powered gangster Sol Caspar. It becomes clear pretty quickly that Ben likes to think of himself as a better man than he is, because in actuality Ben is hilariously, wonderfully spiteful, the kind of man who overthrows his boss's crime empire not out of moral concerns but because he's pissed about having to come in on his day off. I approve of this. Ben hooks up with June Lyons, the campaign manager for a mayoral candidate who wants to clean up the city and kick out Sol Caspar's patsy, and gives her information on Caspar's criminal enterprises that she can whip up into a media frenzy for her candidate's benefit. They're both getting a buzz off the David-vs-Goliath-meets-screwball-comedy vibe of running around Lake City outwitting Caspar and falling in love, and then they succeed, and Ben thinks, "Well, there seems to a vacuum in this town's organized crime structure now, and I think I'm the man to fill it." The rest of the story follows from there.
If Cain isn't great at introducing a large cast of characters, he is consistently great at letting those characters come up with prosaically clever schemes, and the section on the pinball games is my single favorite part of the book. The eventual love triangle is well-done, too, and it has a particularly clever resolution. But in the end, this plot has been done better elsewhere, by writers with more of a feel for politicking and organizational structure. All kudos to a genuinely great title, though.
Next up in my Three by Cain: Serenade/Love's Lovely Counterfeit/The Butterfly review set: The Butterfly.
"He hasn't got a chance."
"He's got Sol worried."
"You mean Mayor Maddux has."
"I don't get it."
"Well, Sol's the main beneficiary of this, our present administration, isn't he? The boys had to figure some way to make him kick in. So Maddux told him who's back of the Swede."
"You mean Delany?"
--to which my only real response was, "Look, James M. Cain, if you don't want me to read your novel, you can just say so." It's possible to decipher this tangle of "as you know, Bob" explained relationships, but it's some of the clumsiest exposition I've ever seen. This gets a little smoother as the novel progresses, but Cain's strength in subjectivity and intensity, so dispassionate gangsters and Red Harvest-like power maneuvers aren't quite his strong suit. What's left is a novel that has some good bits but never quite came together for me.
Ben Grace is a former football player who works as a chauffeur for the high-powered gangster Sol Caspar. It becomes clear pretty quickly that Ben likes to think of himself as a better man than he is, because in actuality Ben is hilariously, wonderfully spiteful, the kind of man who overthrows his boss's crime empire not out of moral concerns but because he's pissed about having to come in on his day off. I approve of this. Ben hooks up with June Lyons, the campaign manager for a mayoral candidate who wants to clean up the city and kick out Sol Caspar's patsy, and gives her information on Caspar's criminal enterprises that she can whip up into a media frenzy for her candidate's benefit. They're both getting a buzz off the David-vs-Goliath-meets-screwball-comedy vibe of running around Lake City outwitting Caspar and falling in love, and then they succeed, and Ben thinks, "Well, there seems to a vacuum in this town's organized crime structure now, and I think I'm the man to fill it." The rest of the story follows from there.
If Cain isn't great at introducing a large cast of characters, he is consistently great at letting those characters come up with prosaically clever schemes, and the section on the pinball games is my single favorite part of the book. The eventual love triangle is well-done, too, and it has a particularly clever resolution. But in the end, this plot has been done better elsewhere, by writers with more of a feel for politicking and organizational structure. All kudos to a genuinely great title, though.
Next up in my Three by Cain: Serenade/Love's Lovely Counterfeit/The Butterfly review set: The Butterfly.
September 7, 2011
Having seen films based on James M. Cain’s novels and being a fan of classic “noir,” one would have thought that I would have read at least one of his classic “noir” novels. But no! I stumbled across a copy of Love’s Lovely Counterfeit and decided it was time to discover what made this author a master of the genre. I may have picked the wrong book. While I enjoyed this one, the characters felt even more cardboard than those in a “B” movie. Ben Grace, the protagonist, could easily be a Bogey character without a heart. He is a man with passion, but we never really get a clue as to his motivation. He acts “ex nihilo” or he acts because of professed regard for someone that, at other times, he treats horribly. And, when he gets a chance to act decisively, he doesn’t seem to have it all together—even though, at times, he appears to have everything scoped out.
The protagonist is the driver for a mobster. A former pro football player who cannot get into the service (the book is set during WWII) because of an old injury, the protagonist wants to get out of his situation in the worst possible way. And, perhaps, he chooses the worst possible way to do so. Ordered to spy upon a political rally, he becomes enamored with the looks and moxie of a female campaign director for the reform candidate. This leads him into the life of a double-agent/double-crosser and fortuitously sets him up to try to set both her and him up in a comfortable new life.
Of course, this is a “noir” novel and things aren’t always as easy as they look. Compromises are made and complications disrupt relationships. The protagonist isn’t quite sure what he’s bought into. Then, just as things look like they’re going to work out for the character, comes a twist one almost anticipates. Just when one thinks that everything is clear, the picture becomes murky and dangerous again.
For me, this is an extremely valuable book because it deals with a time period in which most big cities had made pinball illegal. It was illegal because operators (whether drug stores or candy stores) paid out real money for certain scores and because, the games being manufactured by slot machine manufacturers, the games often became a “gateway” to higher ticket gambling games. In an important plot point, the protagonist figures out a way to transition from illegal pinball to legal games of skill (and still figures out a way to beat the system). It’s a very illustrative chapter and I plan to use it in my “History of Video Games” class when I speak about the pre-history of coin-op video games.
I don’t think this novel is one of Cain’s best (judging from the power of the films I’ve seen based on his work), but I do think it’s interesting and met my needs.
The protagonist is the driver for a mobster. A former pro football player who cannot get into the service (the book is set during WWII) because of an old injury, the protagonist wants to get out of his situation in the worst possible way. And, perhaps, he chooses the worst possible way to do so. Ordered to spy upon a political rally, he becomes enamored with the looks and moxie of a female campaign director for the reform candidate. This leads him into the life of a double-agent/double-crosser and fortuitously sets him up to try to set both her and him up in a comfortable new life.
Of course, this is a “noir” novel and things aren’t always as easy as they look. Compromises are made and complications disrupt relationships. The protagonist isn’t quite sure what he’s bought into. Then, just as things look like they’re going to work out for the character, comes a twist one almost anticipates. Just when one thinks that everything is clear, the picture becomes murky and dangerous again.
For me, this is an extremely valuable book because it deals with a time period in which most big cities had made pinball illegal. It was illegal because operators (whether drug stores or candy stores) paid out real money for certain scores and because, the games being manufactured by slot machine manufacturers, the games often became a “gateway” to higher ticket gambling games. In an important plot point, the protagonist figures out a way to transition from illegal pinball to legal games of skill (and still figures out a way to beat the system). It’s a very illustrative chapter and I plan to use it in my “History of Video Games” class when I speak about the pre-history of coin-op video games.
I don’t think this novel is one of Cain’s best (judging from the power of the films I’ve seen based on his work), but I do think it’s interesting and met my needs.
August 29, 2024
2,5*
Estem en la dècada dels quaranta, en la fictícia ciutat de Lake City, a la costa oest dels Estats Units. Ben Grace és un jugador de fútbol americà lesionat que ara treballa per a “Sol” Caspar, el principal gàngster de la ciutat. S’apropen les eleccions a l’alcaldia i un canvi en la gestió municipal podria perjudicar a Caspar. June Lyons, de l’equip del candidat aspirant a l’alcaldia, mostra les seues habilitats com oradora… En fi, com en una bona pel·lícula de gàngsters, tenim un bon garbuix de personatges i noms que es creuen, s’enfronten i pacten temporalment per assolir els seus objectius personals, quasi sempre gens lícits. L’autor presenta el ventall de personatges i situacions típiques, autèntics clixés, del gènere negre, denunciant la corrupció i la falta d’escrúpols fins i tot dels protagonistes, amb una visió pessimista del comportament humà. Encara que el desenvolupament de la història és interesant i capta l’interès del lector, el final m’ha semblat molt fluix.
"- Bé, aquí hi ha un petit problema ètic.
- No acabo d'entendre què vol dir".
"Un peix gros ha de manar sempre".
Estem en la dècada dels quaranta, en la fictícia ciutat de Lake City, a la costa oest dels Estats Units. Ben Grace és un jugador de fútbol americà lesionat que ara treballa per a “Sol” Caspar, el principal gàngster de la ciutat. S’apropen les eleccions a l’alcaldia i un canvi en la gestió municipal podria perjudicar a Caspar. June Lyons, de l’equip del candidat aspirant a l’alcaldia, mostra les seues habilitats com oradora… En fi, com en una bona pel·lícula de gàngsters, tenim un bon garbuix de personatges i noms que es creuen, s’enfronten i pacten temporalment per assolir els seus objectius personals, quasi sempre gens lícits. L’autor presenta el ventall de personatges i situacions típiques, autèntics clixés, del gènere negre, denunciant la corrupció i la falta d’escrúpols fins i tot dels protagonistes, amb una visió pessimista del comportament humà. Encara que el desenvolupament de la història és interesant i capta l’interès del lector, el final m’ha semblat molt fluix.
"- Bé, aquí hi ha un petit problema ètic.
- No acabo d'entendre què vol dir".
"Un peix gros ha de manar sempre".
August 19, 2019
Ben Grace is a driver for Sol Casper, the crime boss of Lake City who is, as usual, aided and abetted by the archetypal big city political machine. June Lyons is working for the inevitable reform candidate running against the corrupt incumbent in the fast upcoming election. Grace resents his position as driver, taken after having little choice when his pro football career goes belly up due to injury. He is personally repelled by Casper and his business tactics and when an opportunity arises to overthrow him, he does so by using June Lyons to feed the reform ticket some dirt on Casper.
The power struggle between crooks to gain control of a city was a fairly common story in Olden Times, most notably done by Dashiell Hammett in THE GLASS KEY, but as might be expected, James M. Cain adds a few twists, both thematically and through the storytelling plot points. Most unusual for this story type is the fact that both Grace and Lyons have sharply ambivalent feelings about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Lyons realizes some of her idealistic goals and gains much needed financial help to support and periodically bail out her wayward sister, but her conscience weighs heavy. Grace has no ideals and always seems half-in, half-out of any action he is taking, including romancing June Lyons. He disposes of Casper, gets the reform mayor elected, takes over the rackets, wins June Lyons (sort of), but without deriving any particular joy from it. Lyons, for her part, wants to love Grace, but he is an integral part of her own corruption. The actions taken by both feel somehow “counterfeit” to each. The internal struggles undergone by Grace and Lyons elevate this novel above the average gangster tale.
Cain’s ability to write strong dramatic scenes (which are occasionally quite humorous in this book) carries the story quite well until the end when a perhaps ‘made with the movies in mind’ type ending mars the book and had me saying, oh well, too bad. On the marvelous side: Grace engineers an apparent vice clean-up by conning the authorities to confiscate all the pinball machines in town so that he can destroy them. After informing the authorities that he has destroyed the machines, he then cosmetically modifies them and makes the “payoffs” from the machines legal: certificates are now awarded instead of money to the winners; the mob now rakes in even more money than they did with the illegal machines. Not so marvelous is a melodramatic ending that creaks of contrivance and delivers a weird mixture of comeuppance and redemption for all.
Cain’s use of language is often sparkling and original in much of his short story work, but less so in the novels I have read. The language in LOVE’S LOVELY COUNTERFEIT is entirely prosaic, so I was a little disappointed, but he may have felt that the language was appropriate for an audience that was much different than the one that read his magazine stories. In sum, an entertaining and fast moving potboiler with a stronger than typical emotional backbone.
Side note: First performed on radio with a half hour episode of SUSPENSE, starring Humphrey Bogart as Ben Grace. A one hour version SUSPENSE radio program features Jimmy Cagney as Ben Grace. Both are well done and readily available off the net. Filmed in 1956 as SLIGHTLY SCARLET with John Payne, Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl.
The power struggle between crooks to gain control of a city was a fairly common story in Olden Times, most notably done by Dashiell Hammett in THE GLASS KEY, but as might be expected, James M. Cain adds a few twists, both thematically and through the storytelling plot points. Most unusual for this story type is the fact that both Grace and Lyons have sharply ambivalent feelings about what they are doing and why they are doing it. Lyons realizes some of her idealistic goals and gains much needed financial help to support and periodically bail out her wayward sister, but her conscience weighs heavy. Grace has no ideals and always seems half-in, half-out of any action he is taking, including romancing June Lyons. He disposes of Casper, gets the reform mayor elected, takes over the rackets, wins June Lyons (sort of), but without deriving any particular joy from it. Lyons, for her part, wants to love Grace, but he is an integral part of her own corruption. The actions taken by both feel somehow “counterfeit” to each. The internal struggles undergone by Grace and Lyons elevate this novel above the average gangster tale.
Cain’s ability to write strong dramatic scenes (which are occasionally quite humorous in this book) carries the story quite well until the end when a perhaps ‘made with the movies in mind’ type ending mars the book and had me saying, oh well, too bad. On the marvelous side: Grace engineers an apparent vice clean-up by conning the authorities to confiscate all the pinball machines in town so that he can destroy them. After informing the authorities that he has destroyed the machines, he then cosmetically modifies them and makes the “payoffs” from the machines legal: certificates are now awarded instead of money to the winners; the mob now rakes in even more money than they did with the illegal machines. Not so marvelous is a melodramatic ending that creaks of contrivance and delivers a weird mixture of comeuppance and redemption for all.
Cain’s use of language is often sparkling and original in much of his short story work, but less so in the novels I have read. The language in LOVE’S LOVELY COUNTERFEIT is entirely prosaic, so I was a little disappointed, but he may have felt that the language was appropriate for an audience that was much different than the one that read his magazine stories. In sum, an entertaining and fast moving potboiler with a stronger than typical emotional backbone.
Side note: First performed on radio with a half hour episode of SUSPENSE, starring Humphrey Bogart as Ben Grace. A one hour version SUSPENSE radio program features Jimmy Cagney as Ben Grace. Both are well done and readily available off the net. Filmed in 1956 as SLIGHTLY SCARLET with John Payne, Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl.
December 27, 2022
Among the many features of the roman noir genre that make it attractive to me is that it seldom if ever portrays characters as either saints or despicable sinners, but rather as somewhere in between — never as bad as they could be and never as good as they ought to be. Their motives are never pure, their schemes never as well conceived as they need to be.
There are certainly no angels to be found in this little narrative about a bunch of marginal crooks and the troublesome dames that associate with them. Loyalties are fluid and individuals are not necessarily who they pretend to be. The fix is in — but that doesn’t mean that the outcome is predictable. It’s just as well not to get too deeply invested in our protagonist; he/she is likely to be found wanting and no one is getting out of here without some scars (or worse).
Inconsequential light entertainment.
There are certainly no angels to be found in this little narrative about a bunch of marginal crooks and the troublesome dames that associate with them. Loyalties are fluid and individuals are not necessarily who they pretend to be. The fix is in — but that doesn’t mean that the outcome is predictable. It’s just as well not to get too deeply invested in our protagonist; he/she is likely to be found wanting and no one is getting out of here without some scars (or worse).
Inconsequential light entertainment.
October 30, 2021
Mr. Grace? More like Mr. Gray.
Cain tells a story about a slightly crooked chiseler which turns out in the end to be slightly crooked. It's not like it doesn't add up, Cain's too smart for that, but I got a feeling of whiplash about all that was happening. It's more of a potboiler than the elegant narratives of crime Cain is capable of writing. Entertaining yes, but it's kind of slight and made for a fine desert for all the Cain I've been reading this month.
Cain tells a story about a slightly crooked chiseler which turns out in the end to be slightly crooked. It's not like it doesn't add up, Cain's too smart for that, but I got a feeling of whiplash about all that was happening. It's more of a potboiler than the elegant narratives of crime Cain is capable of writing. Entertaining yes, but it's kind of slight and made for a fine desert for all the Cain I've been reading this month.
May 9, 2024
It sure was a book that I did read! Not sure it was worth reading though. It was fine. Plain, a couple interesting bits, a sorta likeable character? One more noir and then switching it up for a while.
September 28, 2014
Love, at first real, is made subservient to power. And the people that love are consumed by the greed, and then destroyed.
But this is not a drama of epic style, in the prose of James M. Cain it all grows from a trivial setup in a second-rated city somewhere in the middle of America.
Ben is a driver of the local minor league mob boss. Forced into the job by his prematurely ended career in football, he harbors grudges for the station in life that the mafioso appointed for him.
The book begins at a time when a naive idealist is running a hopeless campaign for a mayor of the city, believing that he will win a mandate to flush the town from corruption and the mafia. His chances gain an unexpected boost by having an inexperienced but enthusiastic June, a commonplace girl, join the campaign.
Ben volunteers to June some information about certain recent heist operations, which is used to compromise the mayor. The revelation elevates June's rank in the campaign.
In the course of their work together to discover more mud material needed for the election Ben and June fall in love. June more than Ben, and she is ready to sacrifices just so that the relationship can go on.
They win the election. The mafia boss flees. Now June can work closely with the new mayor, and the crime landscape in town is free for grabbing.
At this point transformation starts. It happens without tension -- the realization that power would smother the love is gradual and sad. That is the great part of this work. The crime landscape of the town is only a decor onto which dismal mutation of character is to take place.
The pace of the prose balances supremely well the more intense elements of crime fiction and manages to stay away from the dynamics of a mere page-turner.
But this is not a drama of epic style, in the prose of James M. Cain it all grows from a trivial setup in a second-rated city somewhere in the middle of America.
Ben is a driver of the local minor league mob boss. Forced into the job by his prematurely ended career in football, he harbors grudges for the station in life that the mafioso appointed for him.
The book begins at a time when a naive idealist is running a hopeless campaign for a mayor of the city, believing that he will win a mandate to flush the town from corruption and the mafia. His chances gain an unexpected boost by having an inexperienced but enthusiastic June, a commonplace girl, join the campaign.
Ben volunteers to June some information about certain recent heist operations, which is used to compromise the mayor. The revelation elevates June's rank in the campaign.
In the course of their work together to discover more mud material needed for the election Ben and June fall in love. June more than Ben, and she is ready to sacrifices just so that the relationship can go on.
They win the election. The mafia boss flees. Now June can work closely with the new mayor, and the crime landscape in town is free for grabbing.
At this point transformation starts. It happens without tension -- the realization that power would smother the love is gradual and sad. That is the great part of this work. The crime landscape of the town is only a decor onto which dismal mutation of character is to take place.
The pace of the prose balances supremely well the more intense elements of crime fiction and manages to stay away from the dynamics of a mere page-turner.
May 14, 2012
"Ligeramente Escarlata" de James M. Cain. Aprovechando la publicación de "Mildred Pierce", recupero este libro que tenía un poco olvidado por ahí del gran escritor de novela negra norteamericano y así le dedico un pequeño monográfico. En este caso nos encontramos con una novela al uso, clásica, con esos ingredientes que definieron al género. Un chófer sirve al gran criminal que maneja todos los hilos del hampa en la ciudad y está emparentado con el alcalde vigente, eso sí, se acercan elecciones y Ben buscará un contacto en el otro candidato para filtrarle lo más sucio del alcalde actual para que gané el otro candidato. Este contacto será una mujer, June Lyons, como de costumbre en las novelas de Cain, las mujeres ayudando a mascar una traición. Esto servirá naturalmente para que, con el nuevo alcalde, Ben pueda convertirse en el nuevo "boss" de la mafia local. Este argumento nos sirve para encontrar esos elementos ineludibles, bajos fondos, asesinatos, traiciones, trapos sucios, ambición, corrupción policial y política, la vida misma. Muy bien narrado y llevado hasta el sorprendentemente almibarado final, aún así, una buena novela y claro exponente de este género que nos apasiona.
April 18, 2025
Visit JetBlackDragonfly (The Man Who Read Too Much) at www.edenthompson.ca/blog
Many novels of James M. Cain are undisputed classics of hard-boiled crime, made into films considered the best of the genre such as The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce, and Double Indemnity. This is not a classic, which Cain claims he wrote simply for the money and a potential film sale, which also arose with dismal results.
Ben Grace, a scheming chiseler and chauffeur to notorious racketeer Sol Caspar, collects the cash from the bookies, the brothels, and the riffraff of Lake City. Sol has the local government, lawyers and police in his pocket, and expects to re-elect his stooge Mayor Maddux. On the night a crew of Sol's men rob a bank, Ben is sent to check out the mayoral election rival Jansen, and he hears lovely June Lyons announce their campaign. Ben sees an oppertunity to scuttle Sol by leaking the whereabouts of the robbers to June. Jansen takes the credit, and Sol is unseated. With the law closing in, Sol disappears, and Ben takes his place as head of the syndicate with a large cash percentage.
Removing all the gambling machines makes great press, even if the same machines are replaced by legal 'games of skill', and closing the bookies looks good, even if they continue to operate as legal 'messengers'. June proves herself a lying grifter as well, sleeping with Ben but continuing a relationship with married Jansen. She has a sister, Dorothy, who often needs money from Ben, whom I thought was a figment of June's money-grubbing imagination as she doesn't appear until the last 30 pages. At a society party, Ben meets Dorothy and knows she is a bad girl. He's bad, too. Suddenly, and over the next three days the two are insatiable, quickly deciding to find and loot Sol's vault of money. There are only about 15 pages to do it, so they better hurry, especially as Caspar has returned to town.
This is more a crime novel as everyone including our 'hero' is corrupt, rather than the Noir theme of an innocent man being pulled into darkness. I found the switch from vice to the feral relationship between Dorothy and Ben too sudden. It became a different story. I guess that's what happens when you strike a match.
This didn't sell well, and reviewers warned his reputation would suffer. I found it enjoyable, but not remarkable.
This was filmed in 1956 starring John Payne (a good choice for tall, athletic Ben), Rhonda Fleming as June, and Arlene Dahl as Dorothy. It has been called "the worst picture with which Cain's name was ever associated" but is so loosely based on the novel that it's unrecognizable. Of course, the Hollywood press machine highlighted the on-set fights between Fleming and Dahl - as you can imagine, two redheads in lingerie, it must have been explosive.
Many novels of James M. Cain are undisputed classics of hard-boiled crime, made into films considered the best of the genre such as The Postman Always Rings Twice, Mildred Pierce, and Double Indemnity. This is not a classic, which Cain claims he wrote simply for the money and a potential film sale, which also arose with dismal results.
Ben Grace, a scheming chiseler and chauffeur to notorious racketeer Sol Caspar, collects the cash from the bookies, the brothels, and the riffraff of Lake City. Sol has the local government, lawyers and police in his pocket, and expects to re-elect his stooge Mayor Maddux. On the night a crew of Sol's men rob a bank, Ben is sent to check out the mayoral election rival Jansen, and he hears lovely June Lyons announce their campaign. Ben sees an oppertunity to scuttle Sol by leaking the whereabouts of the robbers to June. Jansen takes the credit, and Sol is unseated. With the law closing in, Sol disappears, and Ben takes his place as head of the syndicate with a large cash percentage.
Removing all the gambling machines makes great press, even if the same machines are replaced by legal 'games of skill', and closing the bookies looks good, even if they continue to operate as legal 'messengers'. June proves herself a lying grifter as well, sleeping with Ben but continuing a relationship with married Jansen. She has a sister, Dorothy, who often needs money from Ben, whom I thought was a figment of June's money-grubbing imagination as she doesn't appear until the last 30 pages. At a society party, Ben meets Dorothy and knows she is a bad girl. He's bad, too. Suddenly, and over the next three days the two are insatiable, quickly deciding to find and loot Sol's vault of money. There are only about 15 pages to do it, so they better hurry, especially as Caspar has returned to town.
This is more a crime novel as everyone including our 'hero' is corrupt, rather than the Noir theme of an innocent man being pulled into darkness. I found the switch from vice to the feral relationship between Dorothy and Ben too sudden. It became a different story. I guess that's what happens when you strike a match.
This didn't sell well, and reviewers warned his reputation would suffer. I found it enjoyable, but not remarkable.
This was filmed in 1956 starring John Payne (a good choice for tall, athletic Ben), Rhonda Fleming as June, and Arlene Dahl as Dorothy. It has been called "the worst picture with which Cain's name was ever associated" but is so loosely based on the novel that it's unrecognizable. Of course, the Hollywood press machine highlighted the on-set fights between Fleming and Dahl - as you can imagine, two redheads in lingerie, it must have been explosive.
July 22, 2021
3.5 rounded up to 4 stars.
I read this on Kindle where it is the second of 3 books by Cain in one volume. I want to review each separately, so just picked one of the paperback editions. I was a bit surprised that the GR description of the book is in Italian for every edition. Using Google translator, the blurb in English reads: From simple driver of the boss to head the entire gang, a beautiful career for former football player Ben Grace. In a town like Lake City, where the rotten is normal, it seems that it is enough to know how to use the weaknesses of others to achieve one's goals. But will it really be so?
I read this because I read a review of Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbø that described it as an update of Cain's thriller. I don't see the connection, as Ben Grace does not seem much like Olav to me. But both are in the noir/pulp fiction style.
This book was written in 1942. The lead character is Ben Grace, a football player who, because of a hernia, could not continue to play football. As the book opens, he is the driver for Solly, the top gangster in Lake City. Solly sends him to a rally for the challenger candidate for Mayor. Solly owns the current Mayor and thinks the challenger is being supported by a rival. Lefty, one of Solly's heavies, explains why Solly is concerned and tells Ben what it means to be the boss and why Ben doesn't have it in him. At the rally, Ben sees June, the candidate's PR person, and finds her a much more effective speaker than the candidate. Ben gives her some info that allows the candidate to expose some of Solly's misdeeds. They become an effective team. The candidate wins and Solly escapes to Mexico. Ben then takes over the gambling portion of Solly's business. He's not really interested in the rest but ends up having to deal with it. Then Solly is extradicted by Mexico and escapes from the feds. Solly encounters Ben and tries to kill him but is killed instead by Ben's girlfriend Dorothy, who is June's kleptomaniac sister.
The end has a nice little twist.
I read this on Kindle where it is the second of 3 books by Cain in one volume. I want to review each separately, so just picked one of the paperback editions. I was a bit surprised that the GR description of the book is in Italian for every edition. Using Google translator, the blurb in English reads: From simple driver of the boss to head the entire gang, a beautiful career for former football player Ben Grace. In a town like Lake City, where the rotten is normal, it seems that it is enough to know how to use the weaknesses of others to achieve one's goals. But will it really be so?
I read this because I read a review of Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbø that described it as an update of Cain's thriller. I don't see the connection, as Ben Grace does not seem much like Olav to me. But both are in the noir/pulp fiction style.
This book was written in 1942. The lead character is Ben Grace, a football player who, because of a hernia, could not continue to play football. As the book opens, he is the driver for Solly, the top gangster in Lake City. Solly sends him to a rally for the challenger candidate for Mayor. Solly owns the current Mayor and thinks the challenger is being supported by a rival. Lefty, one of Solly's heavies, explains why Solly is concerned and tells Ben what it means to be the boss and why Ben doesn't have it in him. At the rally, Ben sees June, the candidate's PR person, and finds her a much more effective speaker than the candidate. Ben gives her some info that allows the candidate to expose some of Solly's misdeeds. They become an effective team. The candidate wins and Solly escapes to Mexico. Ben then takes over the gambling portion of Solly's business. He's not really interested in the rest but ends up having to deal with it. Then Solly is extradicted by Mexico and escapes from the feds. Solly encounters Ben and tries to kill him but is killed instead by Ben's girlfriend Dorothy, who is June's kleptomaniac sister.
The end has a nice little twist.
June 28, 2025
K starým flákům jsem přidal ještě jednoho „nového“ Caina. Což je překvapivě jednak ryzí gangsterka (psaná s myšlenkou na filmové zpracování) a jednak je to jeden z mála románů, který není psaný v první osobě. Sledujeme antihrdinu jménem Ben Grace, která dělá řidiče zločineckému bossovi Solu Casperovi, který, kromě jiného, ovlivňuje i výsledky voleb. A jelikož je Ben ze své práce poněkud zpruzený (málo volného času a žádný vděk) rozhodne se pouštět informace konkurenčnímu kandidátovi.
Ale jelikož je to Cain, tak do toho přihazuje i milostný motiv s nevinnou dívkou z volebního štábu konkurenčního kandidáta, kterou hrdina postupně korumpuje, až se láska změní v nenávist. Zajímavé je i to, že zhruba ve třetině knihy Sol vezme roha a hrdina zaplní jeho místo, stává se šéfém organizace a snaží se balancovat na hranici zákonnosti. Což je část knihy, kde Cain využil své novinářské zkušenosti a vysvětluje různé triky... třeba jak udělat z pinballů, které byly původně hazardní zábavou, legální záležitost. A ve finále ještě přihazuje milostný trojúhelník, aby toho nebylo málo.
Což je, jak i rozebíráme v nové Rudé žni, jedním z autorových kladů. Jak se nesnažil naplnit pravidla drsné školy a považoval se spíš za vážného autora, spíše Hemingwaye než Hammetta, tak se jeho příběhy mění poměrně překvapivě, nezapadají do žádného klišé... až do finále, které beru jako spíš opět takové osudově náhodné.
Musím se přiznat, že přes veškerý respekt mě tahle knížka zase tak nestrhla. Jednak proto, že si autor drží od hrdiny velký odstup a jeho plány i motivace patří mezi hůř pochopitelné. Zatím na mě asi víc působily jeho přímočařejší a emočně údernější záležitosti.
October 14, 2022
I really liked this noir-style novel. I was so easily swept into Cain’s meticulously crafted world of gangsters and politics. I’ve never read anything quite like this—the way Cain builds his characters has a way of making you feel that you really understand the characters without really knowing much about them.
Now, I have to admit that my 1945 copy was missing 33 consecutive pages in the latter half of the book, which means I missed some major plot development. Not my favorite experience—especially in a book so exciting as this one. So I was left to kind of piece things together and make assumptions about what happened in the in-between.
But the story wrapped up with more than a few surprises that I think I wouldn’t have anticipated, even if I had the 33 missing pages. So I am satisfied.
It was a fun and exciting read—moving along at a fast pace without sacrificing the details that really build a world around the plot line. It’s a masterpiece of a book, and hopefully someday, I’ll find a copy that isn’t missing 33 crucial pages.
Now, I have to admit that my 1945 copy was missing 33 consecutive pages in the latter half of the book, which means I missed some major plot development. Not my favorite experience—especially in a book so exciting as this one. So I was left to kind of piece things together and make assumptions about what happened in the in-between.
But the story wrapped up with more than a few surprises that I think I wouldn’t have anticipated, even if I had the 33 missing pages. So I am satisfied.
It was a fun and exciting read—moving along at a fast pace without sacrificing the details that really build a world around the plot line. It’s a masterpiece of a book, and hopefully someday, I’ll find a copy that isn’t missing 33 crucial pages.
January 9, 2022
Like Hammett, or Chandler, James M Cain was never one of the most prolific black novel writers (ignoring the stories). Of the twenty of his novels, only half are circumscribed to noir and of that half, another half had adaptation (s). His growing prestige has probably come in part from Hollywood. Unlike Ballinger, Whittington, Brewer and so many others, Cain did have the good fortune to be adapted, with creative (and public) success as well. With which we have little milk in the cow but highly valued and well sold. That was mainly James M Caín, because the truth, without detracting from it, The postman always calls twice, a good and compact novel, I do not understand the excessive prestige that Blood Pact has, which follows the lines of the preceding novel but at a certain level. inferior and that was lucky to be adapted by Wilder and Chandler into a memorable film (and that Cain himself recognized was better).
Love 'lovely counterfeit revolves around corruption in the cities of the American midwest of the 30s. In other words, characters from the underworld who have bought the politicians and the local police of the city. And in the middle of all this a character, the good bad guy, who seems to play a double game or paraphrasing the Coen "white is black above is below and nothing is what it seems". It is evident that Cain took as a reference some movies and novels from the late 1920s (the novel is a late exponent of that universe, written in the early 1940s and set in the post-prohibition law; it refers to war and "Ginger Rogers movie" which would date it from 1939 - 40) especially Red Harvest and The glass key. I have to admit that it has charm. Or at least there is a beginning. But the world he wants to portray is so amoral that it becomes cold and therefore artificial, not very credible. Cain almost melts into the coldness of his characters with their motivational expository parsimony. He gets into explanatory aubergines as cute and tiresome as wanting to explain the growth of a plant stem, which contributes little to the story and ignores the definition of characters, their motivations. Everything sounds artificial to prefabricated, but not because Hammett was ahead of him (Burnett affected the whole world much later with better results) but because it seems that he wanted to make a franchise of the aforementioned writer. It is not necessary to explain all the legal and political ins and outs, but to delve into the history. Scattering is not an option, Cain does not have a solid trunk, it seems that he designed the branches and then the trunk. You cannot say, as happens in some films, "since people already know what the subject is about from other films, I will ignore many questions". A movie, no matter how inspired it is in another, has to explain things to a viewer, as if they were a virgin. The same thing happens in novels. The problem is not that I take the Hammettian referent, the problem is that everything smells forced. Obviously James M Cain was permeable to all these previous ideas, he knew the cinematographic world to which he had also contributed by nurturing part of that imaginary cinematographic collective with his forays as a screenwriter (among them the magnificent Return to the Past), but he forgot that a novel is not the continuation of something (not like Prometheus having seen Alien) but the beginning (starting from scratch, without prejudice and virgin) of something. It is good descriptively, the dialogues are very hardboiled, but that coldness and that all this happens "just because" (as in some section of Ellroy) generates a certain distance.
Obviously, then we have seen a lot of films with ingredients from this and other novels, City hall (1 Harold Becker, 1996) or Suspect (Peter Yates, 1988) the typical protagonist with a lot of gab and charm who tries to manage everything and everyone in the shadows, already paid by the powerful, but it is evident, and I return to the Coen brothers, that the most immediate reference for me is Miller's crossing (Muerte entre las flores, 1990). I still find it difficult to understand how it is always spoken of as the conjunction of Red Harvest (1929) and Hammett's The glass key (1931), which is true, and this novel by Cain is exited, which no longer only takes the same scheme , gangster chiefs, characters who roam from one side to another, but there is a treatment, somewhat ironic, with a corrupt policeman, and with recourse to the same name (Caspar, the local mobster) ... and his son in a scene with mother, both chubby !!! The Coen bros have always had conscious and unconscious references (I point more to the former) in their cinema and and the shadow of Cain also appears in their work (the scene of Scarlett Johansson's accident in The Man Who Wasn't there (2001) which refers to The Postman always rings twice...). In any case, a correct novel but one that could have given much more of itself. The novel would be adapted many years later by Allan Dwan. It seemed to me a weak film, with an unquestionable B series tone (no matter how much format in Super scope "I want and I can't" of the RKO that they want to give it) but of course, let's say there are Allan Dwan lover' (I am not among them). .. but that's another story ...
Love 'lovely counterfeit revolves around corruption in the cities of the American midwest of the 30s. In other words, characters from the underworld who have bought the politicians and the local police of the city. And in the middle of all this a character, the good bad guy, who seems to play a double game or paraphrasing the Coen "white is black above is below and nothing is what it seems". It is evident that Cain took as a reference some movies and novels from the late 1920s (the novel is a late exponent of that universe, written in the early 1940s and set in the post-prohibition law; it refers to war and "Ginger Rogers movie" which would date it from 1939 - 40) especially Red Harvest and The glass key. I have to admit that it has charm. Or at least there is a beginning. But the world he wants to portray is so amoral that it becomes cold and therefore artificial, not very credible. Cain almost melts into the coldness of his characters with their motivational expository parsimony. He gets into explanatory aubergines as cute and tiresome as wanting to explain the growth of a plant stem, which contributes little to the story and ignores the definition of characters, their motivations. Everything sounds artificial to prefabricated, but not because Hammett was ahead of him (Burnett affected the whole world much later with better results) but because it seems that he wanted to make a franchise of the aforementioned writer. It is not necessary to explain all the legal and political ins and outs, but to delve into the history. Scattering is not an option, Cain does not have a solid trunk, it seems that he designed the branches and then the trunk. You cannot say, as happens in some films, "since people already know what the subject is about from other films, I will ignore many questions". A movie, no matter how inspired it is in another, has to explain things to a viewer, as if they were a virgin. The same thing happens in novels. The problem is not that I take the Hammettian referent, the problem is that everything smells forced. Obviously James M Cain was permeable to all these previous ideas, he knew the cinematographic world to which he had also contributed by nurturing part of that imaginary cinematographic collective with his forays as a screenwriter (among them the magnificent Return to the Past), but he forgot that a novel is not the continuation of something (not like Prometheus having seen Alien) but the beginning (starting from scratch, without prejudice and virgin) of something. It is good descriptively, the dialogues are very hardboiled, but that coldness and that all this happens "just because" (as in some section of Ellroy) generates a certain distance.
Obviously, then we have seen a lot of films with ingredients from this and other novels, City hall (1 Harold Becker, 1996) or Suspect (Peter Yates, 1988) the typical protagonist with a lot of gab and charm who tries to manage everything and everyone in the shadows, already paid by the powerful, but it is evident, and I return to the Coen brothers, that the most immediate reference for me is Miller's crossing (Muerte entre las flores, 1990). I still find it difficult to understand how it is always spoken of as the conjunction of Red Harvest (1929) and Hammett's The glass key (1931), which is true, and this novel by Cain is exited, which no longer only takes the same scheme , gangster chiefs, characters who roam from one side to another, but there is a treatment, somewhat ironic, with a corrupt policeman, and with recourse to the same name (Caspar, the local mobster) ... and his son in a scene with mother, both chubby !!! The Coen bros have always had conscious and unconscious references (I point more to the former) in their cinema and and the shadow of Cain also appears in their work (the scene of Scarlett Johansson's accident in The Man Who Wasn't there (2001) which refers to The Postman always rings twice...). In any case, a correct novel but one that could have given much more of itself. The novel would be adapted many years later by Allan Dwan. It seemed to me a weak film, with an unquestionable B series tone (no matter how much format in Super scope "I want and I can't" of the RKO that they want to give it) but of course, let's say there are Allan Dwan lover' (I am not among them). .. but that's another story ...
June 10, 2024
You could call this the Cycle of Corruption with a twist at the end. Some good characters here. I rate this 3 1/2 stars.
October 13, 2019
Slim, trim tale of a driver trying to take over for a gangster. Great familar rhythms of Hammet's Red Harvest and Glass Key. Loved the dialogue.
April 22, 2021
The main character was somewhat interesting but I just couldn't find myself particularly caring about him. And his love life seemed absurdly contrived.
March 25, 2025
Good story..someone could still make this one into a film.
March 31, 2026
I did not enjoy this as much as Cain's previous four novels which I've read - it's too short for an omniscient 3rd person narrator, I think. Mildred Pierce was much better
December 18, 2023
Algunes situacions em costava entendre-les exactament. Entre això i la quantitat de noms, al principi no entrava en la història. També enyorava la primera persona, que tan m'agrada en les altres novel·les que he llegit de James M. Cain.
El final és original i inesperat per a mi.
El film del 1956 basat en aquesta novel·la ens va semblar molt menor i el guió té grans diferències respecte l’argument de la novel·la. El paper de la germana és absolutament diferent, i el final no té res a veure.
El final és original i inesperat per a mi.
El film del 1956 basat en aquesta novel·la ens va semblar molt menor i el guió té grans diferències respecte l’argument de la novel·la. El paper de la germana és absolutament diferent, i el final no té res a veure.
January 2, 2012
This is my first Cain novel. I'll read more, but there are two basic plot problems, both of which are spoilers. The fact that the basic plot of the novel is itself a spoiler is part of the problem.
A major character is introduced way too late into the story. For no particular reason, the sister shows up, and the sister is not much different from the MC's original love interest except for the fact that she is as amoral as Ben (the MC). However, for all practical purposes, his original love interest was just as amoral, since Ben can blackmail her into doing anything. There's no reason for the sister to be there. Then the end of the book is about Ben getting married to the sister so they cannot be forced to testify against each other. Ben dies immediately afterward, meaning he has accomplished nothing. If he just died, the sister he loved could have testified against him, letting the dead man be guilty of everything. His gambit did nothing to affect anything.
Overall, I would say, good writing, bad plotting.
A major character is introduced way too late into the story. For no particular reason, the sister shows up, and the sister is not much different from the MC's original love interest except for the fact that she is as amoral as Ben (the MC). However, for all practical purposes, his original love interest was just as amoral, since Ben can blackmail her into doing anything. There's no reason for the sister to be there. Then the end of the book is about Ben getting married to the sister so they cannot be forced to testify against each other. Ben dies immediately afterward, meaning he has accomplished nothing. If he just died, the sister he loved could have testified against him, letting the dead man be guilty of everything. His gambit did nothing to affect anything.
Overall, I would say, good writing, bad plotting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 26, 2016
One of the only pieces Cain wrote with a movie in mind, Love's Lovely Counterfeit is lacking in every area that makes his other novels compelling and highly readable. This seemed like a chore to get through and before I finished it this time I had started to read it several times last year. I have yet to see the movie that was based in this story; Slightly Scarlet, but I am sure it cannot be any worse than this entry in the James M Cain cannon.
This is a rare third person narrative (for Cain) that never allows you to become attached to any of the characters and the reader often finds himself alone, not caring for anyone or the outcomes. Highly disappointing as a whole but there are some great passages that save this one from being a total loss for me.
This is a rare third person narrative (for Cain) that never allows you to become attached to any of the characters and the reader often finds himself alone, not caring for anyone or the outcomes. Highly disappointing as a whole but there are some great passages that save this one from being a total loss for me.
May 9, 2023
James M. Cain trying really hard to be James M. Cain. Doesn't quite work because his characters don't have the obsessions, the passionate desires found in his more famous books. Oddly written in the third person, Cain doesn't take us inside the mind of a fevered anti-hero but creates a distant protagonist with unclear motivation who just doesn't seem to care. Instead of an obsessive and desperate loner we get a venture into organized crime, much like Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest (1929) or The Glass Key (1931), though the focus is on the relationships of the main female and male characters. Also made into a 1956 film titled Slightly Scarlet.
May 13, 2011
Another Cain book, this one I hadn't heard of before now. This one's straightforward crime, the story of a mob chauffeur who sees a chance to take over for his boss. Naturally he meets a woman or two, one of whom is truly bad and therefore the love of his life. The story's pretty fun, full of dirty politics, murder switcheroos and guys with nicknames like Goose and Lefty. I admit I was hoping for a worse ending for the bad girl because she sounded like a real pain in the neck.
November 9, 2014
4th from cain for me. onward and upward.
an okay story...just okay...had the feel of something plotted out in advance and written to that device though it did get a tad more interesting as it neared the end. abrupt ending...as if...cue porky pig...da-da-da-da dat's all folks! cue the looney tunes theme song.
an okay story...just okay...had the feel of something plotted out in advance and written to that device though it did get a tad more interesting as it neared the end. abrupt ending...as if...cue porky pig...da-da-da-da dat's all folks! cue the looney tunes theme song.
September 11, 2013
B-Movie Cain.
We're in Lake City, where the chauffeur of a mob boss takes over the rackets and an idealistic young woman aligns with him, until her trouble-prone sister enters the scene.
Mines the same territory as Hammett's "Glass Key" and "Red Harvest," but with lesser yields.
We're in Lake City, where the chauffeur of a mob boss takes over the rackets and an idealistic young woman aligns with him, until her trouble-prone sister enters the scene.
Mines the same territory as Hammett's "Glass Key" and "Red Harvest," but with lesser yields.
March 21, 2012
There's a good reason you've never read this one before---it's no-good.
June 4, 2016
Basically, everybody is evil.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews