Mystery Classics on Film

Ron Miller is the former nationally syndicated television columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, and Knight-Ridder, newspapers, a former national president of the Television Critics Association and a National Headliner award winner for his columns. He lives in Blaine, Washington.

• Table of Contents(Titles in parentheses are of the film versions)AcknowledgmentsPrefaceIntroduction: Why Can’t the Movie Be Just Like the Book?Charlotte Armstrong: The Case of the Weird SistersThe UnsuspectedMischief (Don’t Bother to Knock)John Ball: In the Heat of the NightEarl Derr Biggers: The Black CamelJohn Buchan: The ­Thirty-Nine StepsW.R. Burnett: The Asphalt JungleJames M. Cain: Love’s Lovely Counterfeit (Slightly Scarlet)Vera Caspary: LauraRaymond Chandler: The Big SleepThe Lady in the Lake (Lady in the Lake)Lee Child: One Shot (Jack Reacher)Agatha Christie: 4:50 from Paddington (Murder, She Said; What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw)Mary Higgins Clark: The Cradle Will FallWilkie Collins: The Woman in WhiteSir Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in ScarletThe Hound of the BaskervillesMichael Connelly: Blood WorkDaphne du Maurier: RebeccaDick Francis: Dead CertBlood SportErle Stanley Gardner: The Case of the Velvet ClawsDavid Goodis: Down There (Shoot the Piano Player; Tirez sur le Pianiste)Graham Greene: A Gun for Sale (This Gun for Hire; Short Cut to Hell)Patrick Hamilton: Hangover SquareDashiell Hammett: The Maltese Falcon (Satan Met a Lady)The Thin ManA.P. Herbert: The House by the RiverPatricia Highsmith: Strangers on a Train (Once You Kiss [Meet] a Stranger…)The Talented Mr. Ripley (Purple Noon; Plain Soleil)Tony Hillerman: The Dark WindA Thief of TimeDorothy B. Hughes: In a Lonely PlaceFrancis Iles: Before the Fact (Suspicion)Carolyn Keene: The Hidden Staircase (Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase)Gypsy Rose Lee: The ­G-String Murders (Lady of Burlesque)Jeff Lindsay: Darkly Dreaming Dexter (Dexter)John D. MacDonald: The Executioners (Cape Fear)Ross Macdonald: The Moving Target (Harper)John P. Marquand: Think Fast, Mr. MotoEd McBain: Cop HaterFuzzKing’s Ransom (High and Low; Tengoku to jigoku)Walter Mosley: Devil in a Blue DressStuart Palmer: The Penguin Pool MurderRobert B. Parker: CeremonyEdgar Allan Poe: “Murders in the Rue Morgue” (Phantom of the Rue Morgue)“The Mystery of Marie Roget”Ellery Queen: The Chinese Orange Mystery (The Mandarin Mystery)Patrick Quentin: Black WidowRuth Rendell: A Judgment in Stone (La Cérémonie)Craig Rice: Home Sweet HomicideDorothy L. Sayers: Busman’s Honeymoon (Haunted Honeymoon)Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö: The Laughing PolicemanMickey Spillane: My Gun Is QuickJosephine Tey: A Shilling for Candles (Young and Innocent)Jim Thompson: Pop. 1280 (Coup de Torchon)After Dark, My SweetS.S. Van Dine: The Kennel Murder CaseThe Gracie Allen Murder CaseEthel Lina White: Some Must Watch (The Spiral Staircase)Cornell Woolrich: Black Alibi (The Leopard Man)Rear WindowThe Black Path of Fear (The Chase)I Married a Dead Man (No Man of Her Own; I Married a Shadow; Mrs. Winterbourne)BibliographyIndex

“informative...entertaining...perfect for the mystery fan who likes both classic mysteries and their film adaptations...wonderful”—Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine; “mystery movie buffs will have a great time with this book...excellent”—Mystery Scene; “thorough”—Flick Attack; “this well-reasearched book examines the way sixty-five novels and short stories have been adapted for the screen”—Leonard Maltin’s Movie Crazy.