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The Cocktail Waitress (2012).
by James M. Cain.
Hard Case Crime.
Published posthumously.
Hardcover.
First edition.
ISBN-10: 1781160325
ISBN-13: 978-1781160329
Description:
Grieving widow … or
black widow?
The day Joan Medford
buried her husband was a fateful one – because before the day was out she’d
meet the two men who would change her life forever. Forced to take a job
waitressing yo support herself and her child, Joan finds herself caught between
the handsome young schemer whose touch she comes to crave and the wealthy older
man whose touch repels her … but who otherwise would make a tempting husband
number two. It’s a classic Cain triangle – brutal sexual and stark – that can
only end in death. But for whom, the guilty … or the innocent?
The final novel written
by James M. Cain and never before published, The Cocktail Waitress is a
testament to the enduring power of one of the most acclaimed novelists of the
twentieth century. The author of unforgettable noir classics such as Double
Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and The Postman Always Rings Twice,
Cain’s work remains as impossible to put down today as when first written, and
will leave even jaded modern readers breathless. Featuring an afterword by
Edgar and Shamus Award-winning editor Charles Ardai. One of the most celebrated
and notorious crime writers of all time, James M. Cain launched his career with
the publication of two back-to-back masterpieces – The Postman Always Rings
Twice and Double Indemnity – selling millions of copies worldwide
and inspiring classic movies. Cain continued with an unmatched run of noir
novels including Mildred Pierce which inspired both the Academy Award-winning
film starring Joan Crawford and the Emmy-winning HBO miniseries starring Kate
Winslet. Cain died in 1977. And that’s where everyone thought the story ended. But
James M. Cain had one more story to tell – one last blistering tale of sex and
greed, betrayal and deception, written at the end of his life but never
published – The Cocktail Waitress. Destined to take its place alongside
his other classics, The Cocktail Waitress is Cain at his brutal and seductive
best.
"Here,
long after anyone would have expected it, is the voice of James M. Cain, as
fresh and as relevant as ever. The Cocktail Waitress will involve you,
and then shock you with an ending you'll never forget. A true rarity: a reader’s
novel that’s also a literary event." – Stephen King.
