The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime, Detection, and the Spirit of Noir
By David Lehman
1.5/5
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About this ebook
From Sherlock Holmes to Sam Spade; Nick and Nora Charles to Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin; Harry Lime to Gilda, Madeleine Elster, and other femmes fatales—crime and crime solving in fiction and film captivate us. Why do we keep returning to Agatha Christie's ingenious puzzles and Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled murder mysteries? What do spy thrillers teach us, and what accounts for the renewed popularity of morally ambiguous noirs? In The Mysterious Romance of Murder, the poet and critic David Lehman explores a wide variety of outstanding books and movies—some famous (The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity), some known mainly to aficionados—with style, wit, and passion.
Lehman revisits the smoke-filled jazz clubs from the classic noir films of the 1940s, the iconic set pieces that defined Hitchcock's America, the interwar intrigue of Eric Ambler's best fictions, and the intensity of attraction between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. He also considers the evocative elements of noir—cigarettes, cocktails, wisecracks, and jazz standards—and offers five original noir poems (including a pantoum inspired by the 1944 film Laura) and ironic astrological profiles of Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich, and Graham Greene. Written by a connoisseur with an uncanny feel for the language and mood of mystery, espionage, and noir, The Mysterious Romance of Murder will delight fans of the genre and newcomers alike.
David Lehman
David Lehman, the series editor of The Best American Poetry, edited The Oxford Book of American Poetry. His books of poetry include The Morning Line, When a Woman Loves a Man, and The Daily Mirror. The most recent of his many nonfiction books is The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime, Detection, and the Spirit of Noir. He lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York.
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Reviews for The Mysterious Romance of Murder
4 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime, Detection, and the Spirit of Noir by David Lehman is a 2022 Cornell University Press publication. Well, I’m not sure how I feel about this book. It was not what I was expecting, for starters. Once I settled in to read it, I immediately struggled with the author’s presentation- but I thought it was just an introduction of sorts- and felt it was still on track with my expectations. But then the book became hyper-focused on noir- not all crime or detection, just the ‘spirit of noir’. Despite the confusion, I continued because I do like noir. I appreciated the author’s obvious respect for noir, and agree that it is, perhaps unlike many other forms of crime fiction, an actual art form. Poetry noir, though? Um- okay. I'm 'poetry impaired' to begin with, so that's a fusion I’m not fully comprehending. But, if you are a huge fan of noir films, and are looking for a unique study of noir authors, films, the dialogue and vernacular specific to noir fiction, then this book might be what you are looking for. Unfortunately, for me, personally, the author’s presentation, organization, and execution didn’t come together for me. I’m sure it’s one of those times when I'm the one at fault, rather than the author or the book. I think I got off on the wrong foot with this book and never fully recovered from it. Overall, this book is going to work for those who know up front what they are in for, and for those who wish to study noir films from a dialogue/ poetry/ speech angle, and not so much from a psychological point of view, as the title suggests. 2 stars
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5This was possibly written as a follow up to the author's previous book, "The Perfect Murder: A Study in Detection".The book is divided into five parts (the romance, the props, the authors & directors, the films, and some profiles). The author's key areas of interest - poetry, speech, writing - form the basis for this narrative.Despite being a huge fan of noir, espionage and crime, I was not a fan of this. The 40 plus page introduction was overly long and nearly finished it for me then and there. I found my attention wavering and I was wishing the author would hurry up and get to the crux of it all. Even when he did, I was not sufficiently engaged to absorb anything that was written down in front of me - the writing style and overall presentation did not inspire me.What I also found lacking was an exploration of international noir - both authors and film - which is something I would definitely have been interested in, especially as I have been reading a lot of Frederic Dard (the classic French noir author) and his contemporaries.Definitely one for the dedicated movie fan of the genre as this book explores specialty subject matter that only those seriously immersed in the genre will appreciate.