Dave,
Re your comments below:
"I'm very interested in what fellow RARA-AVIANs think about
[FRIGHT] and Woolrich--also any recommendations for their
favorite Woolrich books."
I've never read FRIGHT, though I've certainly read a lot of
Woolrich.
My favorite novel is THE BRIDE WORE BLACK, in which Woolrich
manages a real tour de force. Set up as an
"inverted mystery" in which we see the killer (a woman
widowed on her wedding day), plan a series of murders, then
carry those murders out, then watch a detective try to solve
them.
We know who did the murders. The cop doesn't. So, as with a
COLUMBO episode, the fun is in watching how the detective
figures out, and proves, what we already know.
Each murder is set up as a three-chapter section, the first
chapter told from the POV of the killer, the second from the
POV of the intended victim, and the third from the POV of the
investigating detective who's sure there's a link between all
these crimes.
However, in each section, the killer takes on a different
disguise. And in the LAST section, we don't know what
disguise she has taken on. Thus, Woolrich adroitly turns what
has been a inverted mystery into a whodunit at the last
minute, something I've never seen done before or since.
It's also noir, by anyone's definition, even William's, for
reasons I can't get into without ruining the plot. So skip
the next paragraph if you've never read the book.
SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT
SPOILER ALERT SPOILER
The killer has been motivated by vengeance, because she
blames each of the men she kills for the death of her husband
as they exited the church where they had just exchanged
vows.
But it turns out that none of these guys had anything to do
with her hubby's death. So she's squandered her soul, by
ruthlessly murdering a series of innocent men.
Meanwhile, the cop has to live with the fact that, despite
his best efforts, he wasn't able to put it all together in
time to save those men.
END SPOILER ALERT END SPOILER ALERT END SPOILER ALERT END
SPOILER ALERT
Woolrich reworked the same basic situation in a later novel,
RENDEVOUS IN BLACK, which many people prefer. I personally
like the earlier BRIDE WORE BLACK better.
His most famous novel, with the exception of BRIDE, was his
first as "William Irish," PHANTOM LADY. This is one of the
best examples of the "save the wrongfully convicted man
before he's executed for the murder someone else did" gambit
ever. Ultimately, though, I don't find it as well-constructed
as BRIDE.
THE NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES, which he wrote as
"George Hopley" (his middle names), is particularly haunting,
but it has the faults you mentioned. HIghly stylized writing
and unbelievable coincidences.
It occurs to me that, precisely because of those flaws, at
least at novel-length, Woolrich generally works best at short
story length. Two collections of his short work are
particular standouts, NIGHTWEBS and NIGHT & FEAR. My
personal favorite of his short stories is "Detective William
Brown," a great little procedural (and it's amazing how
convincing his procedurals are, given that the reclusive
Woolrich di very little research). His own favorite was said
to be "Endicott's Girl." Both of these stories appear in
NIGHT & FEAR.
JIM DOHERTY
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