Cornell Woolrich è celebrato come il preminente scrittore del ventesimo secolo nel genere del puro suspense. Le sue narrazioni si immergono nelle vite oscure ed emotivamente tormentate dei personaggi, creando magistralmente tensione e atmosfera. Dopo aver inizialmente ottenuto riconoscimenti per romanzi mainstream, Woolrich trovò la sua voce distintiva nella narrativa poliziesca, producendo un corpus di opere prolifico spesso pubblicato sotto vari pseudonimi. La sua eredità continua attraverso una donazione istituita per sostenere i giovani scrittori emergenti.
Per festeggiare i cento anni della nascita di Woolrich, Francis M. Nevins ha raccolto quattordici racconti editi su riviste pulp ("Detective Fiction Weekly", "Pocket Detective", "Argosy", "Dime Detective", "Black Mask", "Baffling Detective Stories"). I primi tredici furono pubblicati tra il 1936 e il 1943. Il quattordicesimo, "New York Blues", che dà il titolo a questo volume, ha una storia diversa. Uscì postumo nel 1970 sulla "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine" e fu probabilmente l'ultimo dei suoi racconti. "New York Blues" è arricchito da una introduzione di Francis M. Nevins e da una postfazione di Goffredo Fofi.
Tom Quinn abita con la moglie Annie in un misero edificio di un sobborgo di New York, ai tempi della Depressione. In una afosa notte d'agosto, con i nervi a pezzi per l'insonnia, Tom scaglia un paio di scarpe quasi nuove contro alcuni gatti che, dal cortile sottostante, gli impediscono di dormire. Pentitosi, Tom scende per riprenderle, ma le scarpe sembrano sparite. Il giorno dopo, comunque, la moglie trova le scarpe davanti alla porta di casa. Passa un po' di tempo e l'incidente viene dimenticato. Ma le scarpe hanno lasciato impronte chiaramente riconoscibili sulla scena di un delitto avvento la notte della sparizione. E pochi giorni dopo, Quinn dice alla moglie di aver trovato per strada un portafoglio zeppo di dollari.... Una spiacevole coincidenza o Quinn è davvero un assassino? E se non lo è, a chi appartengono le impronte trovate sul luogo del delitto? L'impronta dell'assassino è solo il primo dei sei racconti lunghi, inediti per il lettore italiano, che compongono questo volume. Sei storie tese e angoscianti, in cui il grande Cornell Woolrich si rivela all'apice della forma.
The story that inspired the Alfred Hitchcock film masterpiece! Cornell Woolrich. His name represents steamy, suspenseful fiction, chilling encounters on the dark and sultry landscape of urban America in the 1930s and 1940s. Here, in this special collection, are his classic thrilers, including 'Rear Window', the story of Hal Jeffries who, trapped in his apartment because of a broken leg, takes to watching his neighbours through his rear window, and becomes certain that one of those neighbours is a murderer. Also included are such haunting, heart-stopping tales as those involving a man who finds his wife buried alive; a girl trapped with a deranged murderer who likes to knife his victims while dancing; and a woman seizing her chance to escape a sadistic husband, only to find her dream go terrifyingly wrong.
Novels by Doyle, Maugham, Charteris, MacDonald, Gardner, Woolrick, and Fleming deal with spies and secret agents in World Wars I and II and the cold war
Cornell Woolrich published his first novel in 1926, and throughout the next four decades his fiction riveted the reading public with unparalleled mystery, suspense, and horror. America's most popular pulp magazines published hundreds of his stories. Classic films like Hitchcock's Rear Window, Truffaut's The Bride Wore Black, and Tournier's Black Alibi came chillingly to the screen from his work. And novels like Deadline at Dawn, Rendezvous in Black, and Night Has a Thousand Eyes gained him the epithet "father of noir." Now with this new centenary volume of previously uncollected suspense fiction edited by Francis M. Nevins--recipient of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for criticism in the mystery field--a whole new generation of mystery readers, as well as his countless fans who have long loved his work, can thrill to the achievement of Cornell Woolrich, the writer deemed to be the Edgar Allan Poe of the twentieth century.
What if you woke up to discover everyone thought you were somebody else? Pregnant and abandoned, all Helen Georgesson has is five dollars and a one-way ticket to San Francisco. Then she is involved in a train crash, and regains consciousness only to discover that she has given birth - and, in a bizarre twist of fate, has been mistaken for somebody else. Helen decides to claim this opportunity to make a new life for herself and her son. But eventually her past will catch up with her, in terrible ways...
A police detective seeks the rationale between seemingly-unrelated murders, connected only by the appearance of a beautiful woman each time When the wealthy ladies’ man fell from his balcony in the midst of his engagement party, the police dismissed the death as the result of a freak accident. There was nothing to connect it with the poisoning of a lonely man in his squalid apartment, or with the married business-man killed after him, sealed into a closet and left to suffocate. No connection, that is, aside from the appearance of a beautiful woman in each case, just before the victims met their untimely ends. Nobody knows her identity, where she comes from or whither she goes. Nor do they know why anyone would be targeting this series of seemingly-unrelated persons. But one police detective is convinced that the answers to these questions can save the lives of men who might be next on the list, men who will continue to die at a rapid rate unless he can solve the puzzle and intervene. Cornell Woolrich’s first crime novel, The Bride Wore Black is the stylish, tense thriller that launched the career of “the supreme master of suspense” (New York Times). It was filmed by Francois Truffaut under the same title, and went on to inspire Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies.
On a mild midwestern night in the early 1940s, Johnny Marr leans against a drugstore wall. He’s waiting for Dorothy, his fiancée, and tonight is the last night they’ll be meeting here, for it’s May 31st, and June 1st marks their wedding day. But she’s late, and Johnny soon learns of a horrible accident—an accident involving a group of drunken men, a low-flying charter plane, and an empty liquor bottle. In one short moment Johnny loses all that matters to him and his life is shattered. He vows to take from these men exactly what they took from him. After years of planning, Johnny begins his quest for revenge, and on May 31st of each year—always on May 31st—wives, lovers, and daughters are suddenly no longer safe.
"When Quinn first meets Bricky, she's working as a partner-for-hire at a dancehall and he's struggling to shake the anxiety of his guilty conscience. Earlier that day, the young man took advantage of a found key and used it to rob a stranger's home and now, with tthe purloined money in his pocket, Quinn is unable to escape the memory of his wrongdoing. When the club closes, he and Bricky--now linked by a budding romance--return to the scene of the crime intending to restore the stolen fortune, only to discover, upon arrival, that the owner of the property has been murdered. There's evidence present that links Quinn to the crime, and he expects that, as soon as day breaks and the authorities learn of the gruesome scene, he will be arrested straight away.Which mean that he and Bricky have only a few short hours to find the true killer and clear Quinn's name for good." -- Book jacket
From “the supreme master of suspense” comes the chilling chronicle of one man’s descent into madness. (New York Times) When New Orleans coffee merchant Louis Durand first meets his bride-to-be after a months-long courtship by mail, he’s shocked that she doesn’t match the photographs sent with her correspondence. But Durand has told his own fibs, concealing from her the details of his wealth, and so he mostly feels fortunate to find her so much more beautiful than expected. Soon after they marry, however, he becomes increasingly convinced that the woman in his life is not the same woman with whom he exchanged letters, a fact that becomes unavoidable when she suddenly disappears with his fortune. Alone, desperate, and inexplicably love-sick, Louis quickly descends into madness, obsessed with finding Julia and bringing her to justice — and simply with seeing her again. He engages the services of a private detective to do so, embarking on a search that spans the southeast of the country. When he finally tracks her down, the nightmare truly begins… A dark tale of the destructive power of love, Waltz into Darkness is a classic “femme fatale” narrative that shows “the father of the modern suspense story” (LA Times) at the top of his unsettling craft. It has been adapted for film twice, most notably serving as the basis for Francois Truffaut’s Mississippi Mermaid.
Wer war sie, die dunkle, exotische Schönheit, die in einem Haus in Baltimore von der Schlafkrankheit geheilt und dann gefangen gehalten wurde, bis ein energischer junger Mann sie entführte und heiratete? Und was faszinierte sie so an dem einsamen und von Urwald umgebenen Kaff am Pazifik, in dem sie auf ihrer Schiffsreise nach Acapulco steckenblieben? Woolrich lehrt einen ein Gruseln, das nicht von dieser Welt ist.
Ein Mann erlebt nach einem Identitätsverlust einen Albtraum voller Angst und Verfolgung. Ein Mord hat stattgefunden, und eine Gedächtnislücke bleibt von einem schwarzen Vorhang verdeckt.
Johnny in der Falle Walzer Das verräterische Buch Komm zur Schaufensterpuppe Pure Einbildung Schlauheit kommt vor Mord Der Tod bleibt unsichtbar Für den Rest ihres Lebens
Gavin Lyall - Das gefährlichste GegenüberJohn D. Macdonald - Spuren im WasserCornell Woolrich - Die Braut trägt SchwarzRobert Bloch - Die Saat des BösenJack Higgins - Schlüssel zur Hölle
Svazek dříve nesebraných napínavých próz spisovatele, jehož osudem bylo stát se Edgarem Allanem Poem dvacátého století, zaujme, nejenom všechny z těch nesčetných, kteří dávno čtou a milují jeho dílo, ale i novou generaci čtenářů detektivek.
Nach einer traumatischen Nacht erwacht der junge Bankangestellte Vince Grayson in Angst, dass sein Albtraum Wirklichkeit geworden sein könnte. Sein skeptischer Schwager, ein Polizist, unterstützt ihn bei der Suche nach der Wahrheit.
Tento svazek obsahuje díla vydaná samostatně: Černý anděl, Dáma měla oranžový klobouk, Nevěsta v černém. Vybral Jan Zábrana. Vydání první (William Irish: Dáma měla oranžový klobouk vydání druhé).
Ein Mann, an einen Rollstuhl gefesselt, sitzt beinahe Tag und Nacht am Fenster und beobachtet die Nachbarschaft: ein Voyeur, der einem Mord auf die Schliche kommt. Allein stellt er sich dem Duell mit dem Mörder. Den Film 'Das Fenster zum Hof', mit James Stewart und Grace Kelly in den Hauptrollen, kennt jeder, zusammen mit anderen Geschichten ist nun Cornell Woolrichs Vorlage zum Filmklassiker von Alfred Hitchcock zu entdecken - ein Klassiker der 'Serie noir'.
Scotty und Eve fliehen vor Eves Ehemann, doch seine Rache erreicht sie. In Havanna wird Eve ermordet, und Scotty bleibt allein in einem fremden Land zurück, wo er beweisen muss, dass er nicht für ihren Tod verantwortlich ist.
Als ihr Mann wegen Mordes verhaftet wird, verwandelt sie sich in einen schwarzen Todesengel. Um seine Unschuld zu beweisen, taucht sie in die dunkle Welt der Spielhöllen, Drogen und Prostitution ein und bringt Unglück über alle, die ihr begegnen.
Buddy aime bien raconter des histoires. Pourtant, cette fois, Buddy n'invente rien : il a vu ses voisins tuer un homme, et devient alors un témoin gênant... Par un grand maître du suspense, auteur de Fenêtre sur cour, La Sirène du Mississipi et La Mariée était en noir.
Estos dos apasionantes relatos policíacos demuestran la maestría de Cornell Woolrich en el manejo del suspense y la intriga. En El ojo de cristal, un muchacho ingenioso y valiente sigue el rastro de un asesino, mientras que en Charlie saldrá esta noche un capitán de policía presiente que su propio hijo es un peligroso atracador.
Die Sammlung bietet spannende Einblicke in die düstere Welt des Verbrechens, mit Geschichten, die sowohl psychologische als auch gesellschaftliche Themen behandeln. In "After-Dinner Story" sind sechs Männer nach einem Aufzugunfall gefangen, und ein mysteriöser Mord wird als Selbstmord abgetan. "Die Nacht enthüllt" thematisiert das Misstrauen eines Versicherungsagenten gegenüber seiner Frau, die als mögliche Brandstifterin verdächtigt wird. Zudem enthält das Buch bekannte Werke wie "Marihuana" und "Rear Window", die beide filmisch adaptiert wurden und Woolrichs meisterhafte Erzählkunst demonstrieren.
Die Geschichte einer verlassenen Frau, die nach einem Eisenbahnunglück die Identität einer Toten annimmt und dadurch neues Glück für sich und ihr Kind findet. Als sie erpresst wird, kämpft sie entschlossen um ihr Glück. Ein überdurchschnittlicher, klassischer Kriminalroman.
Une jeune femme, seule, dépressive, range sa chambre et tombe par hasard - mais est-ce réellement un hasard ? - sur le seul objet que lui a légué son défunt père : un revolver. Elle le manipule, le tourne, le retourne puis, mue par une impulsion subite, le colle contre sa tempe. Et presse la détente. Rien ne se produit. Folle de joie d'avoir survécu, la jeune femme jette l'arme sur une table proche. Rate son but. Le revolver tombe à terre. Et le coup part... Soudain, par la fenêtre ouverte, un gémissement attire l'attention de la jeune femme : une passante gît à terre sur le trottoir, mortellement blessée. Par elle.
