In the Lineup Author Profiles

James M. Cain

James M. Cain, along with Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, is one of the figureheads of the hard-boiled school of detective fiction — despite his famous declarations to the contrary. His novels, short fiction, and nonfiction articles helped define the landscape of twentieth-century literature, and although he never found personal success as a screenwriter, the movies based on his fiction set a new standard for film noir.

Val McDermid on Inspector Wexford

Back in the 1970s, I was a trainee hack down in Devon and an avid consumer of crime fiction. I can still remember the jolt of reading Detective Inspector Reg Wexford’s beginnings in From Doon With Death (published in 1964) and being bowled over. It’s one of a handful of crime novels that shaped my own ambitions in the field. The classic Rendell hallmarks were all there right from the beginning—the sense of place, the delicate filleting of the characters’ psyches, the avoidance of the prosaic both in character and in motivation.