THE MYSTERIOUS ROMANCE OF MURDER: CRIME, DETECTION, AND THE SPIRIT OF NOIR By David Lehman

David Lehman, the insightful critic, has seen all the noir movies (multiple times) and has read the novels many of the noir movies are based on. Lehman celebrates Ida Lupino as The First Lady of Noir–his arguments convinced me. But Lehman doesn’t stop there: he expands the borders of noir.

What impressed me most was Lehman’s analysis of writers I don’t associate with noir: Rex Stout and Ed McBain. Lehman teases out noirish aspects of the Nero Wolfe series as well as the 87th Precinct novels.

Spying wraps noir around itself in the dark alleys and secret passages of le Carre, Graham Greene, and Eric Ambler. After reading Lehman’s intriguing chapters on spy craft, I wanted to drop everything and dive into the world of espionage and moles and double-dealing!

If you’re a fan of noir–movies and/or books–Lehman’s guided tour to the genre will impress and edify you. Highly recommended! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction: The Mysterious Romance of Murder — 1

Part I. Killer Style

1. Cracking Wise — 45

2. Paradise of the Damned: Eighteen Notes on Noir — 52

3. Poetry Noir — 79

4. Five Noir Poems — 87

“Perfidia” –87

“Laura” — 88

“Witness to a Murder” 89

“The Formula” — 90

“Just a Couple of Mugs” — 91

Part II. The Elements of Crime

5. Here’s to Crime! — 95

6. The Last Cigarette — 103

7. Among My Souvenirs — 113

Part III. Auteurs

8. The Great British Spymasters — 125

9. The Limits of Logic: Trent’s Last Case (E. C. Bentley) — 140

10. Dashiell Hammett’s Priceless Patter — 144

11. Paperclip (Raymond Chandler) — 157

12. “Grim Grin” (Graham Greene) — 159

13. Rex Stout: The Emperor of Couronne de Canard — 161

14. Ida Lupino: The First Lady of Noir — 167

15. Black Friday (David Goodis) — 172

16. Orange Noir (Charles Willeford) — 175

17. Ed McBain: The Man from Isola — 178

18. Hitchcock’s America — 185

Part IV. Dreams That Money Can Buy

19. Straight Down the Line: Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity (1944) — 213

20. Strangers and Mirrors: Orson Welles’s The Stranger (1946) and The Lady from Shanghai (1947) — 218

21. An Exchange of Bullets in Belfast: Carol Reed’s Odd Man Out (1947) — 222

22. Blind Accidents: John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle (1950) — 226

23. Epitaph for a Genre: Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing (1956) — 230

24. Shadow of Evil: Robert Mitchum in Cape Fear (1962) — 234

25. A Reluctant Spy’s Conversion: William Holden in The Counterfeit Traitor (1962) — 238

26. Gangsters in Love: Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America (1984) — 242

27. Rogues’ Gallery — 246

28. Why Not New York? — 252

Part V. The Imp of the Perverse

29. Three Astrological Profiles — 259

Barbara Stanwyck (July 16) — 259

Graham Greene (October 2) — 262

Marlene Dietrich (December 27) — 266

Author’s Note — 271

Authors and Books Index — 273

Film and Television Index — 278

10 thoughts on “THE MYSTERIOUS ROMANCE OF MURDER: CRIME, DETECTION, AND THE SPIRIT OF NOIR By David Lehman

  1. Michael+Padgett

    If Lehman is celebrating the work of Ida Lupino it’s a pretty good sign that he knows what he’s talking about. She does get a considerable amount of attention, but deserves even more.

    Reply
      1. Todd Mason

        Though an interesting mixed bag, the cited movies, by me. From the brilliance of ODD MAN OUT to the relative disappointment of CAPE FEAR, despite the performances. (Though, of course, way the hell better than the misbegotten remake, probably Scorsese’s worst film I’ve seen.)

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