A collection of hardboiled crime fiction from the author of Double Indemnity, "one of the greats of American noir" ( The Guardian).
They call him Lucky-but he's never had a lucky day in his life. A nineteen-year-old hobo just starting to ride the rails, he is hiding in the coal car when the railroad detective comes through. They get into a scuffle, and Lucky's hand finds a railroad spike....
"Dead Man" is just one of the outstanding stories in this collection by the author renowned for insightful and exciting crime stories. Hailed as a "poet of the tabloid murder" by legendary critic Edmund Wilson and a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, James M.Cain, understood fear in all its forms-and knew better than anyone the terror of a killer on the run. This volume includes:
"The Baby in the Icebox" . "Pay-Off Girl" . "Two o'Clock Blonde" . "The Birthday Party" * "Brush Fire" . "Coal Black" . "Career in C Major" . "Death on the Beach" . "Dead Man" . "The Girl in the Storm" . "Joy Ride to Glory" . "Pastorale" . "Mommy's a Barfly" . "The Taking of Montfaucon" . "Cigarette Girl" . "The Robbery" . "Blackmail"