Customer Reviews

Darkness at Dawn: Early Suspense Classics by Cornell Woolrich

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These early stories of Woolrich's are
unputdownable!!! "Death Sits in the Dentist's
Chair" is actually his earliest published
suspense story - published in Detective Fiction
Weekly in 1934. He had hopes of being the next
F. Scott Fitzgerald with the critically acclaimed
"Cover Charge" (1926) and "Children of the Ritz"
(1927) but the depression put paid to his dreams.
"Death Sits in the Dentist's Chair" - a very
bizarre murder mystery with a race against time
element (similar to "D.O.A"). "Walls That Hear
You" - not for the squeamish, an electrician's
brother turns up on the side of the road in a
mutilated state, electrician stages his own
manhunt and finds a crazy doctor. "Preview of
Death" - for cinema fanatics who know the tragic
story of Martha Mansfield, this is a re-working
of her death, eerily the story's character even
has the same initials - Martha Meadows!!
"The Body Upstairs' - an off duty policeman
investigates a leaky roof and finds himself
hunting a couple wanted for murder. "Murder in
Wax" - Woolrich apparently polished it into a
novel years later which became "Black Angel".
Likewise "Kiss of the Cobra" reminded me a lot
of "The Leopard Man". "Red Liberty" is about a
death that happens on the Statue of Liberty - the
setting is described meticulously by Woolrich.
"The Corpse and the Kid" - not a kid really, being
in his 20s but the telling is suspenseful as Larry
(the kid) tries to help his father pull off the
perfect crime. Even though "The Death of Me" is
described as being similar to "The Postman Always
Rings Twice", I think it has a lot more in common
with "Detour" with a sprinkling of "Double
Indemnity" thrown in. I have only two stories to
go - "The Showboat Murders" - set on a river
boat and "Hot Water" - this one sounds a fascinating
tale of movie stars at play south of the border
during the transition between silent and sound.
I have no doubt that these are going to be just
as engrossing as the others.