Mildred Pierce by
James M. Cain
hbk out November 02
Published by Orion
at £12.99
This is another in Orion's series of 'Crime Masterworks', but is peculiar in
that there is not a single policeman, detective or even crime in the whole
book, other than right at the end, where a mother grabs her exasperating
daughter by the throat and gives her a good, but entirely non-fatal shaking!
It's a good book, but I fail to see why it was chosen for this crime series,
when at the risk of being labelled as a male chauvinistic pig, it is a classic
'woman's book'.
Yet the author is James Cain, writer of numerous novels and film scripts,
including the famous Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice
and Serenade. This one, with the mundane title of Muriel Pierce, is held by
some to be his most notable work and was made into a film years ago, with
Joan Crawford in the title role.
It is a story of the depression years in California, beginning in 1931 and
running through the start of the war, when James Cain wrote it in 1941.
Muriel Price is a housewife in Glendale, with two young daughters and
feckless husband who has crashed financially and now is having an affair
with the fat lady down the street. Muriel throws him out and is virtually
destitute, scraping enough for food by making and selling pies, as she is a
great cook. Most of the book chronicles the way in which she claws her way
up to survival, then affluence by working as a waitress, then starting a small
chicken restaurant, before hitting the big time by expanding her culinary
empire. All the while she is beset by man trouble, though she uses them as
much they use her. She dotes on her eldest girl Veda, who is a copper-
bottomed selfish bitch and the main theme of the book is Muriel's hopeless
and illogical devotion to this girl, who repays her with nothing but spite.
A powerful, well-told story of pre-war America - but a crime story it is not!
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
