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The Postman Always Rings Twice & Double Indemnity
Postman Always Rings Twice Franklin Library
209 pages, Imitation Leather
First published January 1, 1987
4 people are currently reading
136 people want to read
About the author
James M. Cain
143 books876 followersJames Mallahan Cain (July 1, 1892–October 27, 1977) was an American journalist and novelist. Although Cain himself vehemently opposed labeling, he is usually associated with the hard-boiled school of American crime fiction and seen as one of the creators of the "roman noir."
He was born into an Irish Catholic family in Annapolis, Maryland, the son of a prominent educator and an opera singer. He inherited his love for music from his mother, but his high hopes of starting a career as a singer himself were thwarted when she told him that his voice was not good enough.
After graduating from Washington College where his father, James W. Cain served as president, in 1910, he began working as a journalist for The Baltimore Sun.
He was drafted into the United States Army and spent the final year of World War I in France writing for an Army magazine. On his return to the United States he continued working as a journalist, writing editorials for the New York World and articles for American Mercury. He also served briefly as the managing editor of The New Yorker, but later turned to screenplays and finally to fiction.
Although Cain spent many years in Hollywood working on screenplays, his name only appears on the credits of three films, Algiers, Stand Up and Fight, and Gypsy Wildcat.
His first novel (he had already published Our Government in 1930), The Postman Always Rings Twice was published in 1934. Two years later the serialized, in Liberty Magazine, Double Indemnity was published.
He made use of his love of music and of the opera in particular in at least three of his novels: Serenade (about an American opera singer who loses his voice and who, after spending part of his life south of the border, re-enters the States illegally with a Mexican prostitute in tow), Mildred Pierce (in which, as part of the subplot, the only daughter of a successful businesswoman trains as an opera singer) and Career in C Major (a short semi-comic novel about the unhappy husband of an aspiring opera singer who unexpectedly discovered that he has a better voice than she does).
He continued writing up to his death at the age of 85. His last three published works, The Baby in the Icebox (1981), Cloud Nine (1984) and The Enchanted Isle (1985) being published posthumously. However, the many novels he published from the late 1940s onward never quite rivaled his earlier successes.
He was born into an Irish Catholic family in Annapolis, Maryland, the son of a prominent educator and an opera singer. He inherited his love for music from his mother, but his high hopes of starting a career as a singer himself were thwarted when she told him that his voice was not good enough.
After graduating from Washington College where his father, James W. Cain served as president, in 1910, he began working as a journalist for The Baltimore Sun.
He was drafted into the United States Army and spent the final year of World War I in France writing for an Army magazine. On his return to the United States he continued working as a journalist, writing editorials for the New York World and articles for American Mercury. He also served briefly as the managing editor of The New Yorker, but later turned to screenplays and finally to fiction.
Although Cain spent many years in Hollywood working on screenplays, his name only appears on the credits of three films, Algiers, Stand Up and Fight, and Gypsy Wildcat.
His first novel (he had already published Our Government in 1930), The Postman Always Rings Twice was published in 1934. Two years later the serialized, in Liberty Magazine, Double Indemnity was published.
He made use of his love of music and of the opera in particular in at least three of his novels: Serenade (about an American opera singer who loses his voice and who, after spending part of his life south of the border, re-enters the States illegally with a Mexican prostitute in tow), Mildred Pierce (in which, as part of the subplot, the only daughter of a successful businesswoman trains as an opera singer) and Career in C Major (a short semi-comic novel about the unhappy husband of an aspiring opera singer who unexpectedly discovered that he has a better voice than she does).
He continued writing up to his death at the age of 85. His last three published works, The Baby in the Icebox (1981), Cloud Nine (1984) and The Enchanted Isle (1985) being published posthumously. However, the many novels he published from the late 1940s onward never quite rivaled his earlier successes.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 21, 2025
(recenze na Pošťák vždycky zvoní dvakrát a Pojistka smrti)
Než si Hollywood patentoval slogan Rychle a zběsile, byl tu autor, jehož romány by si tohle označení zasloužily mnohem víc. James M. Cain. Praotec noiru. Teď jsem sáhl (kvůli Rudé žni) po česky vydané dvojknize Pošťák vždycky zvoní dvakrát a Pojistka smrtil a až mě zarazilo, jak rychlé to má obrátky a jak zuřivé jsou tu emoce a jak dobře se to (i přes to, že je knihám tak přes devadesát let) čte. I když jsou romány branné jako základní kameny pro femme fatales ságy, tak to nejsou příběhy slabých mužů ovládaných silnými ženami. Ne, v Pošťákovi si hrdina za všechno může sám a autor mu dává všechny možnosti, jak se ze situace dostat… včetně toho, že první vražda o zabití manžela selže. A vlastně i ta vražda mu projde, jenže pak se jeho vztah začne rozkládat zevnitř, protože prostě nedokáže být spokojený. Hrdinové M. Caina mají jen minimální morálku, zato maximální potřeby. Cainovy romány jsou víc než kriminálky emoční dramata o zvrácených citech a neukojitelných tužbách.
Samotné ty příběhy jsou sice jednoduché a stručné (mají nějaký sto dvacet stran), ale každý z nich nějak narušuje tu klasickou stavbu žánru. I když je to základní kámen celého žánru, tak s námětem femme fatales pracuje zajímavěji než všichni ti, co přišli po něm. Jak v Pošťákovi, kde první pokus o vraždu nevyjde, tak v Pojistce, kde naopak hrdina začíná zjišťovat, že se zapletl do něčeho mnohem děsivějšího. Ani v jednom nejsou ženy ty klasické manipulativní femme fatale. V prvním příběhu je žena spíš jen slabošská oběť, která chce jen mít své jistoty, a ve druhé je to prostě magor.
Hodně tady pomáhá i modernější překlad Jaroslava Kořána, díky kterému si ani neuvědomíte, jak moc jsou tyhle knihy staré. Zmizely ozvuky doby, zůstalo jen temné, minimalistické peklo.
Než si Hollywood patentoval slogan Rychle a zběsile, byl tu autor, jehož romány by si tohle označení zasloužily mnohem víc. James M. Cain. Praotec noiru. Teď jsem sáhl (kvůli Rudé žni) po česky vydané dvojknize Pošťák vždycky zvoní dvakrát a Pojistka smrtil a až mě zarazilo, jak rychlé to má obrátky a jak zuřivé jsou tu emoce a jak dobře se to (i přes to, že je knihám tak přes devadesát let) čte. I když jsou romány branné jako základní kameny pro femme fatales ságy, tak to nejsou příběhy slabých mužů ovládaných silnými ženami. Ne, v Pošťákovi si hrdina za všechno může sám a autor mu dává všechny možnosti, jak se ze situace dostat… včetně toho, že první vražda o zabití manžela selže. A vlastně i ta vražda mu projde, jenže pak se jeho vztah začne rozkládat zevnitř, protože prostě nedokáže být spokojený. Hrdinové M. Caina mají jen minimální morálku, zato maximální potřeby. Cainovy romány jsou víc než kriminálky emoční dramata o zvrácených citech a neukojitelných tužbách.
Samotné ty příběhy jsou sice jednoduché a stručné (mají nějaký sto dvacet stran), ale každý z nich nějak narušuje tu klasickou stavbu žánru. I když je to základní kámen celého žánru, tak s námětem femme fatales pracuje zajímavěji než všichni ti, co přišli po něm. Jak v Pošťákovi, kde první pokus o vraždu nevyjde, tak v Pojistce, kde naopak hrdina začíná zjišťovat, že se zapletl do něčeho mnohem děsivějšího. Ani v jednom nejsou ženy ty klasické manipulativní femme fatale. V prvním příběhu je žena spíš jen slabošská oběť, která chce jen mít své jistoty, a ve druhé je to prostě magor.
Hodně tady pomáhá i modernější překlad Jaroslava Kořána, díky kterému si ani neuvědomíte, jak moc jsou tyhle knihy staré. Zmizely ozvuky doby, zůstalo jen temné, minimalistické peklo.
July 14, 2010
I'd mentioned to a friend that I was rereading Chandler, and he said he didn't really like Chandler, and if I was interested in Noir murder mysteries I should check out James M. Cain. I said I had never heard of Cain. But it turns out I have because I've seen the movies made form his books. He lent me this edition that contains both The Postman Always Rings Twice, and Double Indemnity. Reading them together like this you'd think Cain had a one track mind. Both stories deal with a "boyfriend" helping a wife murder her husband. And in each case there really wasn't much of a relationship between the involved parties, least not to warrant them committing murder. Plus there's an insurance angle in both stories where the money gets all cockeyed and convoluted. Yet Cain deals with much more than just murder. He's big on betrayal, and the double cross. He plays with lust, and love turning into hate in an instant. There's also a righteous amount of payback. None of his characters getaway without at least a few bruises and scratches – although most lose their lives. Cain's dialogue is sparse, his imagery brutal. His characters well defined. I find his style interesting, making me want to read more of his work.
May 17, 2014
Pretty good. Hard boiled. Not my usual cup of tea, but a quick read.
September 3, 2023
The narratives can sometimes feel like Cain trying to plot the perfect crime and then trying to find the flaws in his own logic, but two more stylish and atmospheric stories you will not read. Very gritty, but spicy and alluring at the same time.
This Franklin library edition is the perfect way to read them, as if they've been pulled off the shelves of a library in a Gilded Age Hollywood mansion. Luxurious.
This Franklin library edition is the perfect way to read them, as if they've been pulled off the shelves of a library in a Gilded Age Hollywood mansion. Luxurious.
January 25, 2024
When it comes to mysteries, I'm more of a British detective fan (I love the Ian Rutledge series by Charles Todd and Peter May's The Lewis Trilogy, among many). But this noir novel is crazy-good. I love the dialogue, the grit, the desperation... but what the heck does that title mean? The Library of Congress will tell you:
https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2019/10/how...
https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2019/10/how...
January 15, 2020
Written in the 1950's which leaves it somewhat unexciting but an interesting read never less
February 2, 2022
słabiutkie
November 10, 2010
Bell Out of Order: Please Knock
Author James M. Cain walks a tightrope. The heart of this story shouldn’t be beating; it’s out of order. Nothing should work here. How does a writer maintain readers’ interests in a book narrated by an immoral man who makes not just bad choices, but wicked ones, and makes them consistently like an old record skipping ever backward replaying the same evil groove? Cain’s anti-hero, Frank Chambers is such a man and Cain doesn’t waste time showing it. By page two, he shows all is not square with Frank. From the moment Frank sees Cora Papadakis he confesses “she had a sulky look to her, and her lips stuck out in a way that made me want to mash them in for her.”
Frank explains that he rambles from place to place and always has. And the only reason he stays on to work for Cora’s Greek-American husband Nick was because “I wanted that woman so bad I couldn’t even keep anything on my stomach.” And Frank manipulates her and her husband to get what he wants. In his very first conversation with Cora, Frank verbally accosts her and boasts, “I had what I wanted. I had socked one under her guard, socked it in deep, so it hurt.” And Frank combines physical rough stuff with the verbal, “I bit her. I sunk my teeth into her lips so deep I could feel the blood spurt into my mouth. It was running down her neck when I carried her upstairs.”
All through the the very first chapter, Frank flaunts his reprehensibility. But Cain gives him a sense of humor, and a formidable foil in Cora, whose morality quickly shrinks until the difference between the two is miniscule. There is an engaging playfulness in Frank. He angers Cora, and explains, “She was snarling like a cougar. I liked that.” Their clandestine relationship exists in violence and wanton sexuality. When Nick lies in the hospital after murder attempt number one fails, Cora wants to open the diner and Frank wants more sex. Cora resists. “Come here before I sock you” Frank tells her, and she replies “You nut.” The diner doesn’t get opened. When they talk of running off together, Cora suggests they take the car. But Frank’s street smarts mingled with crusty humor delivers “Stealing a man’s wife, that’s nothing, but stealing his car, that’s larceny.” In the aftermath of their successful attempt to kill Nick, and as they prepare to roll the car down an embankment with Frank and the now dead Nick in it, Frank’s libidoed steam rises, “Hell could have opened up for me and it wouldn’t have made any difference. I had to have her, if I hung for it. I had her."
Cain adds another element to make this inhuman man more human. Frank and Cora fall in love. Cain makes their attempts to be together not just amoral greedy maneuvering, but efforts born of love, to become a couple and spend their lives with each other. Rough, tough Frank can even wax poetic, “Her eyes were shining up at me like two blue stars. It was like being in a church.”
As things begin to fall apart, Frank becomes philosophical, “We’re chained to each other, Cora. We thought we were on top of a mountain. That wasn’t it. It’s on top of us and that’s where it’s been ever since that night…I love you, Cora. But love, when you get fear in it, it’s not love anymore. It’s hate.”
Despite Frank’s lack of morality, there lies something underneath that offers a glimpse of a man who is not so different from every man. He makes all of the wrong choices, the ones some of us might fleetingly consider, but never seriously. And he ultimately pays for them. In Postman, Cain offers a Bizzaro version of Romeo and Juliet, and he gives Frank the final word. Unsure that any sane reader would even reach this point in his tale, Frank offers, “Father McConnell says prayers help. If you’ve got this far, send one up for me, and Cora, and make it that we’re together, wherever it is.”
It's a comment on then-and-now cultural evolution that this book was banned in many places as smut when it was released in 1934. And Cain and his book were placed on trial in Boston in a celebrated "Inherit the Wind"-like kangaroo trial. If one reads Postman very carefully, one will find the words "bare breasts." OH MY!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 7, 2012
This had such a cinematic feel, it was as if I weren’t reading, but rather viewing this absorbing tale. As if I could hear some bits of music, smell the trail of someone’s cigarette smoke, smell the cooking aromas… Mr. Cain most certainly has the knack for delivering vicarious thrills to his reader.
A drifter sits down in a California diner and the owner, known as the Greek, takes him on as an employee, unaware of the stranger’s questionable past. The Greek’s unhappy wife is quick to entice the new arrival and they devise what they believe to be a fool proof plan.
The narrator, Frank Chambers suffers from wanderlust and while he seems intrigued with the Greek’s wife, he never seems content unless he is roaming or planning to travel somewhere. A simple, yet tough man, he enjoys each moment and expects things will eventually fall apart, and they most certainly do. Frank is the type of character you’d expect to despise, however, his honesty, although limited to self confessions, is what makes him so human and so sympathetic.
Nick Papadakis, aka the Greek, enjoys his life and seems oblivious to the dangers surrounding him. Always singing a tune and willing to travel to a show for a good time, he is the poster boy for ignorance as bliss. His innocence and penchant for a good tune make him an easily likable character.
The femme fatale, Cora, fled her Iowa roots with Hollywood stars in her eyes. Those hopes were dashed when it was discovered that her voice was not a fit for film and she settled into a loveless marriage rather than return to her home town defeated. Enter a young and handsome vagabond and her prayers seem to have been answered. Sexual sparks ignite and she and Frank plan their way out. Not a very nice gal, but let’s just say fate, kismet, comeuppance, what have you, rears its ugly head upon her.
Mr. Cain would be an enthralling dinner companion. Perhaps we could enjoy an opera and then eat a light dinner where I’d ask about his early years as a journalist. I’d try to persuade him to share some tips on his writing skills or rehash his version of the failed American Author’s Authority opposed by my highly regarded author, James T. Farrell.
My rating for The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 9 out of 10.
A drifter sits down in a California diner and the owner, known as the Greek, takes him on as an employee, unaware of the stranger’s questionable past. The Greek’s unhappy wife is quick to entice the new arrival and they devise what they believe to be a fool proof plan.
The narrator, Frank Chambers suffers from wanderlust and while he seems intrigued with the Greek’s wife, he never seems content unless he is roaming or planning to travel somewhere. A simple, yet tough man, he enjoys each moment and expects things will eventually fall apart, and they most certainly do. Frank is the type of character you’d expect to despise, however, his honesty, although limited to self confessions, is what makes him so human and so sympathetic.
Nick Papadakis, aka the Greek, enjoys his life and seems oblivious to the dangers surrounding him. Always singing a tune and willing to travel to a show for a good time, he is the poster boy for ignorance as bliss. His innocence and penchant for a good tune make him an easily likable character.
The femme fatale, Cora, fled her Iowa roots with Hollywood stars in her eyes. Those hopes were dashed when it was discovered that her voice was not a fit for film and she settled into a loveless marriage rather than return to her home town defeated. Enter a young and handsome vagabond and her prayers seem to have been answered. Sexual sparks ignite and she and Frank plan their way out. Not a very nice gal, but let’s just say fate, kismet, comeuppance, what have you, rears its ugly head upon her.
Mr. Cain would be an enthralling dinner companion. Perhaps we could enjoy an opera and then eat a light dinner where I’d ask about his early years as a journalist. I’d try to persuade him to share some tips on his writing skills or rehash his version of the failed American Author’s Authority opposed by my highly regarded author, James T. Farrell.
My rating for The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 9 out of 10.
January 19, 2015
Picked this book up at a rummage sale about 5 years ago, and its sat on my stack ever since. I had seen the movie version of both prior to reading the stories. I'm not sure if Cain gets the credit for starting this genre, or if he was part of a group that did, but his stories are iconic for their film noir adaptations in Hollywood in the 1940's and 1950's. Many have tried to imitate, but he has the tone and narration down of the femme fatale, the tough guy, the idiot husband who gets knocked off, some sort of insurance gimmick, a murder, the twist, etc. Both of these stories (each roughly 105 pgs.) were quick reads. The chapters, the writing style, is short and terse, things move quickly. Picture dialogue similar to a Dick Tracy movie. A good read for those who enjoy murder mysteries.
September 5, 2008
My first exposure to Cain was through coming across the original The Postman Always Rings Twice, with Lana Turner and John Garfield. I'd heard Cain's name before, mentioned by James Elroy as one of his influences. Inevitably, then, as a noir fan, I found myself ebthralled by the Depression grime and frustrated hopes for a clean, well-off future. The kind that noir's antiheros never have.
October 5, 2010
I am not that into mysteries or noir but I haven't read that much of either and mostly more modern books. I really enjoyed these two tales and can see how much of an impact they had on modern lit and movies.
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December 24, 2008The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain (1947)
June 3, 2013
Loved it.
October 16, 2015
I wanted to read a classic. I liked it. The story line must have been very impressive for the time. It really shows how much we have changed in America since that book was written.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews