You may all know the essential noir film Double Indemnity, based on James M. Cain’s classic novel. But in The Complete Crime Stories, we finally get all of Cain’s shorter works collected in one place, with an insightful introduction by Otto Penzler.
Unlike Hammett, Chandler, or Ross Macdonald, Cain was essentially a noir writer in the sense that his fiction contains no private investigators—only flawed, unsympathetic protagonists who usually stumble into trouble, often involving a woman. It can be argued that his work reflects the anxieties and hardships of the Great Depression era.
Cain originally wanted to be a singer, but he didn’t have the voice for it. He turned instead to journalism, where he was noticed by H. L. Mencken, who helped launch his writing career. His essay Paradise is still admired by critics.
His other notable novels include The Postman Always Rings Twice, which inspired a landmark noir film, as well as Mildred Pierce, but Serenade and Love’s Lovely Counterfeit are also worth reading.
Cain was fundamentally a short-form writer. As Otto Penzler notes in the introduction, none of Cain’s novels run much longer than 150 pages, and Cain himself once wrote that the short story is far superior to the novel. He also remarked that one of the weaknesses of American fiction is its dependence on the “sympathetic hero.”
Cain wrote in simple, direct language, believing that prose should sound like the speech of ordinary people on the street. Because of this style, he was sometimes called a writer of “tabloid murder.”
This collection of stories is very strong overall, but two stand out as the best: - Carreer in C Major, is one of Cain’s most unusual crime stories—there is no murder, no insurance scam, no getaway plan. Instead, Cain writes about a frustrated man in a dull marriage whose wife is an amateur singer. When he meets another woman, a professional vocalist, she discovers that he has a surprisingly good natural voice. As she trains him, he rises from an ordinary, unnoticed man to someone who can hold his own on an opera stage. But this new talent creates tension and jealousy between the two women in his life, and Cain turns what could have been a simple musical tale into a sharp study of vanity, desire, and emotional conflict., and Money and the Woman (Embezzler),tells the story of a bank employee who gets drawn into a moral and romantic trap. When his colleague, in debt, falls ill, the colleague’s wife asks the protagonist to assist in resolving her husband’s financial troubles. As they scheme to recover the money, unaware of the dangers around them, the protagonist falls in love with her, all the while suspicious of her intentions. Cain explores jealousy, temptation, and the consequences of human weakness, leading to a tense climax where plans unravel, loyalties are tested, and violence erupts. The story captures Cain’s signature noir style: ordinary people, flawed decisions, and a sense of inevitability that makes every choice carry weight. Great story that is reminiscent in some way of Double Indemnity. All in all, this is great short story collection for all noir lovers. French writers recognized existential elements in Cain prose and he was one of the first writers to appear in Gallimard imprint of American crime novels Serie Noire.
