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Murder Twice Told
Two short novels by Donald Hamilton, Deadfall (1949) and The Black Cross (1947).
- GenresMystery
191 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
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About the author
Donald Hamilton
102 books108 followersDonald Hamilton was a U.S. writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction about the outdoors. His novels consist mostly of paperback originals, principally spy fiction but also crime fiction and Westerns such as The Big Country. He is best known for his long-running Matt Helm series (1960-1993), which chronicles the adventures of an undercover counter-agent/assassin working for a secret American government agency.
Hamilton began his writing career in 1946, fiction magazines like Collier's Weekly and The Saturday Evening Post. His first novel Date With Darkness was published in 1947; over the next forty-six years he published a total of thirty-eight novels. Most of his early novels whether suspense, spy, and western published between 1954 and 1960, were typical paperback originals of the era: fast-moving tales in paperbacks with lurid covers. Several classic western movies, The Big Country and The Violent Men, were adapted from two of his western novels.
The Matt Helm series, published by Gold Medal Books, which began with Death of a Citizen in 1960 and ran for 27 books, ending in 1993 with The Damagers, was more substantial.
Helm, a wartime agent in a secret agency that specialized in the assassination of Nazis, is drawn back into a post-war world of espionage and assassination after fifteen years as a civilian. He narrates his adventures in a brisk, matter-of-fact tone with an occasional undertone of deadpan humor. He describes gunfights, knife fights, torture, and (off-stage) sexual conquests with a carefully maintained professional detachment, like a pathologist dictating an autopsy report or a police officer describing an investigation. Over the course of the series, this detachment comes to define Helm's character. He is a professional doing a job; the job is killing people.
Hamilton was a skilled outdoorsman and hunter who wrote non-fiction articles for outdoor magazines and published a book-length collection of them. For several years he lived on his own yacht, then relocated to Sweden where he resided until his death in 2006.
Hamilton began his writing career in 1946, fiction magazines like Collier's Weekly and The Saturday Evening Post. His first novel Date With Darkness was published in 1947; over the next forty-six years he published a total of thirty-eight novels. Most of his early novels whether suspense, spy, and western published between 1954 and 1960, were typical paperback originals of the era: fast-moving tales in paperbacks with lurid covers. Several classic western movies, The Big Country and The Violent Men, were adapted from two of his western novels.
The Matt Helm series, published by Gold Medal Books, which began with Death of a Citizen in 1960 and ran for 27 books, ending in 1993 with The Damagers, was more substantial.
Helm, a wartime agent in a secret agency that specialized in the assassination of Nazis, is drawn back into a post-war world of espionage and assassination after fifteen years as a civilian. He narrates his adventures in a brisk, matter-of-fact tone with an occasional undertone of deadpan humor. He describes gunfights, knife fights, torture, and (off-stage) sexual conquests with a carefully maintained professional detachment, like a pathologist dictating an autopsy report or a police officer describing an investigation. Over the course of the series, this detachment comes to define Helm's character. He is a professional doing a job; the job is killing people.
Hamilton was a skilled outdoorsman and hunter who wrote non-fiction articles for outdoor magazines and published a book-length collection of them. For several years he lived on his own yacht, then relocated to Sweden where he resided until his death in 2006.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 12, 2015
This is Hamilton's third, Murder Twice Told, 2 novellas ( "The Black Cross" and "Deadfall") in one book.
Deadfall comes first. It has similar elements to his novels. Who is good, bad, or does the label really apply? It's another complicated situation with spies, murder, & doesn't hold the gov't in too good a light. The romantic angle is well done. Very satisfactory ending. 4 stars.
The Black Cross was another good murder mystery. No spies, but an ordinary man who did something kind of dumb & winds up in the middle of a mess. Again, I liked the romance & the ambiguity. Another twisty tale with a great ending.
Deadfall comes first. It has similar elements to his novels. Who is good, bad, or does the label really apply? It's another complicated situation with spies, murder, & doesn't hold the gov't in too good a light. The romantic angle is well done. Very satisfactory ending. 4 stars.
The Black Cross was another good murder mystery. No spies, but an ordinary man who did something kind of dumb & winds up in the middle of a mess. Again, I liked the romance & the ambiguity. Another twisty tale with a great ending.
April 5, 2019
If you haven’t read the first dozen books in Donald Hamilton’s ‘Matt Helm’ series, drop everything and please do so. When you’ve completed this mission, you’ll have fallen in love with Hamilton’s writing and will undoubtedly begin exploring his stand-alone novels. This will eventually lead you to 1950’s “Murder Twice Told” and presumably this review. We’re glad you’ve made it this far.
“Murder Twice Told” is actually two novellas by Hamilton that originally appeared in magazines during the 1940s before they were compiled into one paperback. I’ll address each story individually.
“Deadfall”
“Deadfall” originally appeared in “Collier’s
Magazine” in 1949 and is about a chemist named Paul Weston who works for a Chicago-based petroleum corporation. One day, two FBI agents come to see Weston at work to ask him about a missing woman named Marilyn who vanished two years earlier. After denying any knowledge about the woman’s disappearance, Weston is fired from laboratory job.
It turns out that Weston knew Marilyn when he worked at a government lab and Marilyn was on the clerical staff at a nearby office. They struck up a relationship until Marilyn disappeared. Now, it’s suspected that she was spying for foreign powers and collecting boyfriends who’d spill government secrets to her. Weston claims he didn’t give Marilyn any secrets, but the benign relationship has formed a black cloud of suspicion over Weston’s head for the past two years while making steady employment a real challenge.
After swearing to the FBI that he hasn’t seen Marilyn in years, she suddenly resurfaces in his life, and things get very interesting. This is a serviceable spy/murder story, and it’s fun to read early Hamilton during his humble beginnings. The author’s knowledge of guns, women, and great dialogue are on full display, and fans of the author will feel right at home reading this mini-novel. This isn’t top-tier Hamilton - more comparable to his “Assassins Have Starry Eyes” novel - but mediocre Hamilton is still better than most of the stuff I read and review here. Therefore, I can endorse “Deadfall” without reservations.
“The Black Cross”
Although it’s the second of the two stories in the paperback, “The Black Cross” was released first in “The American Magazine” during 1947. It’s also also the longer of the two novellas in “Murder Twice Told.”
The story opens with a car accident on a windy road between Washington and Annapolis sparked by a disabled truck on the road. After awakening in a hospital room, Hugh Phillips recounts to the police that he was trapped in the overturned car and witnessed his wife stumble over to the truck driver blocking the road. Hugh claims the mysterious trucker abruptly struck her twice with what appears to be a “black cross” before driving his rig driving away. Now, his wife is dead and the police don’t seem to believe a word of Hugh’s story.
With this odd setup, the reader hooked. Nothing about Hugh’s story makes sense. Why would a broken-down trucker murder an innocent woman? And what’s with this black cross? Why are the police so hell-bent I’m making sure Hugh’s version of events goes no further than his own hospital room? And what’s the agenda of a witness who surfaces to corroborate key parts of Hugh’s unlikely story?
While dealing with the grief of his deceased bride, Hugh begins to go through her belongings at home and learns some unsettling - and undisclosed - things about her. These clues deepen the mystery of her death and make him wonder how much he really knew about his own wife. Could these secrets provide any insight into the bizarre circumstances of her spontaneous murder?
In “The Black Cross,” Hamilton does a remarkable job of doling out information to the reader a little at a time as a mosaic forms regarding the circumstances of an unusual homicide. It’s the superior of the two stories in this paperback, and I found myself surprised that it was never adapted for the screen as it was the type of story Alfred Hitchcock often used as the basis for his films. Moreover, “The Black Cross” has the kind of twisty ending that Hitchcock would have loved. I know I sure did.
This review appeared on my Paperback Warrior Blog, the internet’s best resource for vintage fiction reviews.
“Murder Twice Told” is actually two novellas by Hamilton that originally appeared in magazines during the 1940s before they were compiled into one paperback. I’ll address each story individually.
“Deadfall”
“Deadfall” originally appeared in “Collier’s
Magazine” in 1949 and is about a chemist named Paul Weston who works for a Chicago-based petroleum corporation. One day, two FBI agents come to see Weston at work to ask him about a missing woman named Marilyn who vanished two years earlier. After denying any knowledge about the woman’s disappearance, Weston is fired from laboratory job.
It turns out that Weston knew Marilyn when he worked at a government lab and Marilyn was on the clerical staff at a nearby office. They struck up a relationship until Marilyn disappeared. Now, it’s suspected that she was spying for foreign powers and collecting boyfriends who’d spill government secrets to her. Weston claims he didn’t give Marilyn any secrets, but the benign relationship has formed a black cloud of suspicion over Weston’s head for the past two years while making steady employment a real challenge.
After swearing to the FBI that he hasn’t seen Marilyn in years, she suddenly resurfaces in his life, and things get very interesting. This is a serviceable spy/murder story, and it’s fun to read early Hamilton during his humble beginnings. The author’s knowledge of guns, women, and great dialogue are on full display, and fans of the author will feel right at home reading this mini-novel. This isn’t top-tier Hamilton - more comparable to his “Assassins Have Starry Eyes” novel - but mediocre Hamilton is still better than most of the stuff I read and review here. Therefore, I can endorse “Deadfall” without reservations.
“The Black Cross”
Although it’s the second of the two stories in the paperback, “The Black Cross” was released first in “The American Magazine” during 1947. It’s also also the longer of the two novellas in “Murder Twice Told.”
The story opens with a car accident on a windy road between Washington and Annapolis sparked by a disabled truck on the road. After awakening in a hospital room, Hugh Phillips recounts to the police that he was trapped in the overturned car and witnessed his wife stumble over to the truck driver blocking the road. Hugh claims the mysterious trucker abruptly struck her twice with what appears to be a “black cross” before driving his rig driving away. Now, his wife is dead and the police don’t seem to believe a word of Hugh’s story.
With this odd setup, the reader hooked. Nothing about Hugh’s story makes sense. Why would a broken-down trucker murder an innocent woman? And what’s with this black cross? Why are the police so hell-bent I’m making sure Hugh’s version of events goes no further than his own hospital room? And what’s the agenda of a witness who surfaces to corroborate key parts of Hugh’s unlikely story?
While dealing with the grief of his deceased bride, Hugh begins to go through her belongings at home and learns some unsettling - and undisclosed - things about her. These clues deepen the mystery of her death and make him wonder how much he really knew about his own wife. Could these secrets provide any insight into the bizarre circumstances of her spontaneous murder?
In “The Black Cross,” Hamilton does a remarkable job of doling out information to the reader a little at a time as a mosaic forms regarding the circumstances of an unusual homicide. It’s the superior of the two stories in this paperback, and I found myself surprised that it was never adapted for the screen as it was the type of story Alfred Hitchcock often used as the basis for his films. Moreover, “The Black Cross” has the kind of twisty ending that Hitchcock would have loved. I know I sure did.
This review appeared on my Paperback Warrior Blog, the internet’s best resource for vintage fiction reviews.
June 10, 2020
Both stories, written, I would guess, for the pulps, were good, the second ("The Black Cross") being the better of the two. This story featured a moving portrayal of a man forced to come to terms with a former fiancee he had jilted after his wife is murdered. It's psychological astuteness reminded me a bit of what I consider Hamilton's masterpiece, The Steel Mirror.
October 19, 2025
Two very different tales of murder in one volume by Donald Hamilton. In "Deadfall", a man is fired from his job after a Federal agent accuses him of collaborating with a Russian spy he'd fallen in love with. He's determined to prove himself innocent - or, alternatively, manage to make money from the problem. It's all fine until someone kills his ex-boss... And in "The Black Cross", a man has an argument with his wife, and she's then killed in a car accident. But he knows she was murdered, and that the "accident" was anything but accidental. Two terrific stories by a master of suspense.
November 30, 2023
Two separate fairly short stories. A little tardy on this review so lacking detail. I liked the second of the two stories a bit better but both worth the read. Forget the publish date but likely late 1950's. If that's your vibe you will enjoy.
March 21, 2020
Two tales that make a very entertaining read.
February 14, 2023
The novella Black Cross offers many twists as readers learn who really killed his wife after they left that party
February 4, 2016
This is a two in one. Two tales in one set of covers.
Deadfall—
Scientist Paul Weston has finally landed a job and kept it for a length of time. Trying to re-establish his life after having it ruined by associating with a woman. A woman the FBI had labelled a Communist spy. He hasn't seen the woman in a long while and thinks things may be going right. But suddenly the FBI appear and stir up things and he is again out of a job.
He also finds out that many of the people around him are not what they purport to be. Who is really who they are supposed to be and who aren't? Spy? FBI? Friend? And what about the murder?
The Black Cross—
Hugh and Janet Phillips leave a house party. Both are a little tight. Janet insists on driving. She is upset with Hugh and critical with the people at the party. While driving she goes into her commentary and her speed seems to increase. Taking a curve she loses control and a nasty accident happens.
Was the accident staged? How, if it was? Are the witnesses honest? What makes Hugh feel that it was murder? Why does one of the lawmen say it can't be so and if it is not to persue it? Did Hugh imagine what he saw that makes him think it was murder? Why would anyone want to murder Janet?
Many questions and many twists and turns.
In both stories it seems all is not what it seems.
Deadfall—
Scientist Paul Weston has finally landed a job and kept it for a length of time. Trying to re-establish his life after having it ruined by associating with a woman. A woman the FBI had labelled a Communist spy. He hasn't seen the woman in a long while and thinks things may be going right. But suddenly the FBI appear and stir up things and he is again out of a job.
He also finds out that many of the people around him are not what they purport to be. Who is really who they are supposed to be and who aren't? Spy? FBI? Friend? And what about the murder?
The Black Cross—
Hugh and Janet Phillips leave a house party. Both are a little tight. Janet insists on driving. She is upset with Hugh and critical with the people at the party. While driving she goes into her commentary and her speed seems to increase. Taking a curve she loses control and a nasty accident happens.
Was the accident staged? How, if it was? Are the witnesses honest? What makes Hugh feel that it was murder? Why does one of the lawmen say it can't be so and if it is not to persue it? Did Hugh imagine what he saw that makes him think it was murder? Why would anyone want to murder Janet?
Many questions and many twists and turns.
In both stories it seems all is not what it seems.
May 21, 2016
I managed to get through the first story, but wasn't particularly impressed by the main character. I couldn't be bothered to finish the 2nd story. It wasn't that the writing isn't good; it's fine, but while the guys have an interesting self-awareness, and while I know these books were written in a different time, I just don't like the way they think about, observe and treat the women in these stories. It's nothing overt that I can immediately point to, and the circumstances of the stories seem to warrant it, but I just don't like it. That, and all the male characters feel exactly the same; I much prefer the early Dick Francis mysteries where every book had a new main character, and every one felt fresh and different (even though they all possessed the same amount of competence).
August 18, 2012
Two novellas from very early in Donald Hamilton's career. Previously he had written only two (1947-48) novels about post-WWII intrigue.
Novellas: The Black Cross (1947) - a young professor is driving home with his tight wife after she made another scene at a party. They get in a terrible accident and she dies. Except he remembers seeing her still alive and the trucker beating her down with a black cross - and Deadfall (1949) - a chemist who is under suspicion by the FBI for having associated with a woman with Communist connections.
Novellas: The Black Cross (1947) - a young professor is driving home with his tight wife after she made another scene at a party. They get in a terrible accident and she dies. Except he remembers seeing her still alive and the trucker beating her down with a black cross - and Deadfall (1949) - a chemist who is under suspicion by the FBI for having associated with a woman with Communist connections.
May 1, 2017
Interesting as the one with spies I thought I'd like, Deadfall, was a little flat and the crime one that did not at first grab my attention, The Black Cross, was the one that I found to be the better story.
Deadfall: 3
The Black Cross: 4
Deadfall: 3
The Black Cross: 4
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews