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Darkness At Dawn
This is the first hardcover book reasonably priced to feature the earliest noir stories of Cornell Woolrich. It's a first edition of the British publication of the author's work.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
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About the author
Cornell Woolrich
436 books471 followersCornell Woolrich is widely regarded as the twentieth century’s finest writer of pure suspense fiction. The author of numerous classic novels and short stories (many of which were turned into classic films) such as Rear Window, The Bride Wore Black, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, Waltz Into Darkness, and I Married a Dead Man, Woolrich began his career in the 1920s writing mainstream novels that won him comparisons to F. Scott Fitzgerald. The bulk of his best-known work, however, was written in the field of crime fiction, often appearing serialized in pulp magazines or as paperback novels. Because he was prolific, he found it necessary to publish under multiple pseudonyms, including "William Irish" and "George Hopley" [...] Woolrich lived a life as dark and emotionally tortured as any of his unfortunate characters and died, alone, in a seedy Manhattan hotel room following the amputation of a gangrenous leg. Upon his death, he left a bequest of one million dollars to Columbia University, to fund a scholarship for young writers.
Source: [http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bi...]
Source: [http://www.hardcasecrime.com/books_bi...]
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 31, 2022
Cornell Woolrich was one of the secret gems of the noir genre. His best known stories, Rear Window and The Bride Wore Black were turned into movies. He wrote many many short stories thoughout his writing career. Darkness at Dawn: Early Suspense Classics contains his earliest short stories; published between 1934 and 1935.
The stories are an interesting mix of cop stories, mysteries and even a couple of horror stories. They are all quite excellent, obviously some better than others, but all enjoyable. The collection starts off with a bit of a bang, where a dentist is accused of murdering his client. The dentist's friend doesn't believe it and takes it into his own hands to investigate the murder, even at the risk of his own life. Walls that Hear You is a terrifying little story. A fellow ends up in the hospital with his tongue and all ten fingers removed. His brother, in similar fashion to the first story, takes it upon himself to try to find the attacker. Fascinating aspect is how he eventually is able to communicate with his brother.
The stories continue in this vein. You get good cops, reluctantly assigned to cases. You get bad cops who get confessions by butting out cigarettes in suspects' arms. Most are told in the first person but there a couple that aren't. Neat twists and turns in all of them. Kiss of the Cobra is a scary little horror story; is she woman or snake??? Red Liberty is a neat story, a closed room mystery which takes place on the Statue of Liberty. Worked on by a hard done cop, whose wife thinks he needs to read more and visit art galleries. He goes to the Statue because he figures it's the biggest sculpture around ... lol. The Death of Me is another neat story with lots of twists. Protagonist is down on his luck, tries to commit suicide, but fails. Discovers body on train tracks and the story takes a whole new set of twists. Just fascinating.
Woolrich has a way of immediately getting into the story and action. He has a way with description and a down-to-earth way with language. All of his stories were interesting page-turners and with satisfying endings. Most enjoyable. If you want to try the noir genre, check him out, please. I discovered his works only the past few years and am so glad I did. (4 stars)
The stories are an interesting mix of cop stories, mysteries and even a couple of horror stories. They are all quite excellent, obviously some better than others, but all enjoyable. The collection starts off with a bit of a bang, where a dentist is accused of murdering his client. The dentist's friend doesn't believe it and takes it into his own hands to investigate the murder, even at the risk of his own life. Walls that Hear You is a terrifying little story. A fellow ends up in the hospital with his tongue and all ten fingers removed. His brother, in similar fashion to the first story, takes it upon himself to try to find the attacker. Fascinating aspect is how he eventually is able to communicate with his brother.
The stories continue in this vein. You get good cops, reluctantly assigned to cases. You get bad cops who get confessions by butting out cigarettes in suspects' arms. Most are told in the first person but there a couple that aren't. Neat twists and turns in all of them. Kiss of the Cobra is a scary little horror story; is she woman or snake??? Red Liberty is a neat story, a closed room mystery which takes place on the Statue of Liberty. Worked on by a hard done cop, whose wife thinks he needs to read more and visit art galleries. He goes to the Statue because he figures it's the biggest sculpture around ... lol. The Death of Me is another neat story with lots of twists. Protagonist is down on his luck, tries to commit suicide, but fails. Discovers body on train tracks and the story takes a whole new set of twists. Just fascinating.
Woolrich has a way of immediately getting into the story and action. He has a way with description and a down-to-earth way with language. All of his stories were interesting page-turners and with satisfying endings. Most enjoyable. If you want to try the noir genre, check him out, please. I discovered his works only the past few years and am so glad I did. (4 stars)
July 22, 2013
These early stories of Woolrich's are unputdownable.
"Death Sits in the Dentist Chair" is actually his earliest
published suspense story, published in Detective Fiction
Weekly in 1934. It is a very bizarre murder mystery with a
race against time element (similar to "D.O.A"). "Walls That
Hear You" - not for the squeamish, an electrician's brother
turns up on the side of the road in a mutilated state and
electrician stages his own manhunt. "Preview of Death" - for
cinema fanatics who know the tragic story of Martha Mansfield,
this is a re-working of her death. Eerily the story's character
even has the same initials - Martha Meadows!! "The Body Upstairs"
- an off duty policeman investigates a leaky roof and finds
himself hunting a couple wanted for murder. "Murder in Wax" -
Woolrich apparently polished it into a novel years later which
became "Black Angel". Likewise "Kiss of the Cobra" reminded me
a lot of "The Leopard Man". "Red Liberty" is about a death that
happens at the Statue of Liberty, the setting is described
meticulously. "The Corpse and the Kid" - Larry (the kid, even
though in his early 20s) tries to help his father pull off the
perfect murder. "The Death of Me" even though described as being
similar to "The Postman Always Rings Twice" reminded me more of
"Detour" with a sprinkling of "Double Indemnity". The last "Hot
Water" is about movie stars at play south of the border in the
late 1920s, a time in Hollywood Woolrich would have been very
familiar with.
"Death Sits in the Dentist Chair" is actually his earliest
published suspense story, published in Detective Fiction
Weekly in 1934. It is a very bizarre murder mystery with a
race against time element (similar to "D.O.A"). "Walls That
Hear You" - not for the squeamish, an electrician's brother
turns up on the side of the road in a mutilated state and
electrician stages his own manhunt. "Preview of Death" - for
cinema fanatics who know the tragic story of Martha Mansfield,
this is a re-working of her death. Eerily the story's character
even has the same initials - Martha Meadows!! "The Body Upstairs"
- an off duty policeman investigates a leaky roof and finds
himself hunting a couple wanted for murder. "Murder in Wax" -
Woolrich apparently polished it into a novel years later which
became "Black Angel". Likewise "Kiss of the Cobra" reminded me
a lot of "The Leopard Man". "Red Liberty" is about a death that
happens at the Statue of Liberty, the setting is described
meticulously. "The Corpse and the Kid" - Larry (the kid, even
though in his early 20s) tries to help his father pull off the
perfect murder. "The Death of Me" even though described as being
similar to "The Postman Always Rings Twice" reminded me more of
"Detour" with a sprinkling of "Double Indemnity". The last "Hot
Water" is about movie stars at play south of the border in the
late 1920s, a time in Hollywood Woolrich would have been very
familiar with.
July 24, 2022
According to the editors of this collection, Woolrich was said to have written, in a diary or scrap of paper somewhere, "First you dream, then you die." Which, besides sounding like the tagline of some new less-than-stirring DC/Marvel movie, is the perfect summation of what is happening and what will happen to all of us dear readers eventually.
Darkness at Dawn will have you dreaming in black and white. You and your dreams will be living in a film noir, in spite of the fact that these stories were written and published ten years prior to the films that make up the film noir genre started popping up.
These stories seem outlandish today (and probably seemed outlandish even to 1930ians) and if you are looking for "realism" or "naturalism" than by god, you should not be seeking it in Woolrich's work! But if you like fun times and fast reads and just one damn thing after another, you will find a temporary and sweaty home (probably a cheap hotel room) among these stories.
Darkness at Dawn will have you dreaming in black and white. You and your dreams will be living in a film noir, in spite of the fact that these stories were written and published ten years prior to the films that make up the film noir genre started popping up.
These stories seem outlandish today (and probably seemed outlandish even to 1930ians) and if you are looking for "realism" or "naturalism" than by god, you should not be seeking it in Woolrich's work! But if you like fun times and fast reads and just one damn thing after another, you will find a temporary and sweaty home (probably a cheap hotel room) among these stories.
February 23, 2018
Still reading random Woolrich stories and Inter-library loan supplied me with this, from which I read two stories, "The Corpse And The Kid" and "Walls That Hear You" - although it also contains two stories I've previously reviewed in another collection, so let's repurpose those reviews first...
"Cobra Woman" - the femme fatale as mysterious exotic "other" (Asian Indian, here) with some fear of "strange religions" sifted into the mix. An early Woolrich piece, this presents a seemingly supernatural mystery (death by snake poison) that's all explained away rationally in the end but there's the usual, enjoyably snappy noir patter, hideous sudden death and a scene of sadistic torture carried out on the villain. Fun!
"Dark Melody Of Madness" (aka "Papa Benjamin") - one of those Woolrich classics that's been adapted (and ripped off) many, many times in all forms of popular media. In a nutshell - a jazz musician steals the scared voodoo music rhythms and is cursed. Exceptionally well done - atmospheric descriptions of seedy backstreet alleys and the secretive haunts of a voodoo cult (love the recurring details like the woman in the window of the alleyway who acts something like a sentry). Also, of course, race issues creep up here in interesting ways - voodoo is representative of primitive, atavistic beliefs (coded "black") and how can they possibly trump modern rationalism (coded "white")? There's also a minor-note theme about worries of racial mixing in your past (not as virulently presented as in H.P. Lovecraft).
The last minute "rational" explanation (as I said in another review of Woolrich, effectively dismantling a secret society in a short story is a tall order for any writer, and Woolrich does a better job here than in "Graves For The Living" by focusing even more on relentless police procedures) may seem to take some air out of the tale but then, in what's become a Woolrich trademark, the "rational" world then has its own rug pulled out from under it, by a small capper scene that reasserts a world shared by the scientific and the "Unconscious" - here presented with a killer last line focusing on average people caught between huge, unknowable and implacable forces like The Law, Religion, the Occult, Science and Random Chance. Excellent!
"Walls That Hear You" - The idea of this book is "early Woolrich stories" and so his themes and approach are not fully developed yet. Without its crackerjack grand guignol opening, "Walls" is a pretty straightforward, almost lazy story of a determined man using audio surveillance equipment (not very detailed description - but thus the title) to ferret out a mad doctor and have him punished for his crimes. That "mad" part of "mad doctor" is important because that hideously gruesome opening - a young man, brother of the main character, is found by the roadside with his tongue torn out and all his fingers severed from his hands - is never really justified in its extremity, aside from the hand waving use of "insanity" it's just there as a gruesome plot hook (admittedly, very effective) and, to a point, to underline how such a mutilation would forever, during the Depression, cripple a man's livelihood and how no amount of revenge would fix that truth.
And finally there's "The Corpse And The Kid" - which I read because its supposed to be one of Woolrich's earliest excursions into straight-out suspense writing AND because its is reportedly set at the Jersey Shore - my birthplace - and so I was interested in how Woolrich would write about that in the 1930S. Well, last point first - Woolrish was never much for description and atmosphere setting so there's not much detail given here of what shore town it is but, by the evidence (a mention of Lakewood and the Asbury Pike, and a train that runs to New York City), I'm betting it's set in Asbury Park (or maybe Ocean Grove). As to the story itself - well, "Kid" is a misnomer - as the "kid" is twenty years old, but he does love his terminally ill father very much and when said father strangles his cheating wife (the boy's stepmother) to death, the son feels it's his duty to set his dad up with an alibi and dispose of the body as quickly as possible. This all happens within the story's opening paragraph, by the way. The "kid"'s instant transformation into a scheming, noir-minded, alibi-building machine is a bit much (but, it must be said, one of those reasons that genres exist - its flattering to and expected by the reading audience and cuts through expectations of "realistic" fiction) but the story's focus from that opening is on detailing every small move the son makes in putting his plan into action - which involves wrapping the body in a blanket and carrying it out of town ("carrying it" literally, by the way) - and how he deals with various obstructions along the way. The initial ending is, honestly, kind of a let down (as the son bashfully lists all the things he did wrong in the process) but then there's a second twist that ends the story with some nice ambiguity as to eventual outcome. Worth reading once.
"Cobra Woman" - the femme fatale as mysterious exotic "other" (Asian Indian, here) with some fear of "strange religions" sifted into the mix. An early Woolrich piece, this presents a seemingly supernatural mystery (death by snake poison) that's all explained away rationally in the end but there's the usual, enjoyably snappy noir patter, hideous sudden death and a scene of sadistic torture carried out on the villain. Fun!
"Dark Melody Of Madness" (aka "Papa Benjamin") - one of those Woolrich classics that's been adapted (and ripped off) many, many times in all forms of popular media. In a nutshell - a jazz musician steals the scared voodoo music rhythms and is cursed. Exceptionally well done - atmospheric descriptions of seedy backstreet alleys and the secretive haunts of a voodoo cult (love the recurring details like the woman in the window of the alleyway who acts something like a sentry). Also, of course, race issues creep up here in interesting ways - voodoo is representative of primitive, atavistic beliefs (coded "black") and how can they possibly trump modern rationalism (coded "white")? There's also a minor-note theme about worries of racial mixing in your past (not as virulently presented as in H.P. Lovecraft).
The last minute "rational" explanation (as I said in another review of Woolrich, effectively dismantling a secret society in a short story is a tall order for any writer, and Woolrich does a better job here than in "Graves For The Living" by focusing even more on relentless police procedures) may seem to take some air out of the tale but then, in what's become a Woolrich trademark, the "rational" world then has its own rug pulled out from under it, by a small capper scene that reasserts a world shared by the scientific and the "Unconscious" - here presented with a killer last line focusing on average people caught between huge, unknowable and implacable forces like The Law, Religion, the Occult, Science and Random Chance. Excellent!
"Walls That Hear You" - The idea of this book is "early Woolrich stories" and so his themes and approach are not fully developed yet. Without its crackerjack grand guignol opening, "Walls" is a pretty straightforward, almost lazy story of a determined man using audio surveillance equipment (not very detailed description - but thus the title) to ferret out a mad doctor and have him punished for his crimes. That "mad" part of "mad doctor" is important because that hideously gruesome opening - a young man, brother of the main character, is found by the roadside with his tongue torn out and all his fingers severed from his hands - is never really justified in its extremity, aside from the hand waving use of "insanity" it's just there as a gruesome plot hook (admittedly, very effective) and, to a point, to underline how such a mutilation would forever, during the Depression, cripple a man's livelihood and how no amount of revenge would fix that truth.
And finally there's "The Corpse And The Kid" - which I read because its supposed to be one of Woolrich's earliest excursions into straight-out suspense writing AND because its is reportedly set at the Jersey Shore - my birthplace - and so I was interested in how Woolrich would write about that in the 1930S. Well, last point first - Woolrish was never much for description and atmosphere setting so there's not much detail given here of what shore town it is but, by the evidence (a mention of Lakewood and the Asbury Pike, and a train that runs to New York City), I'm betting it's set in Asbury Park (or maybe Ocean Grove). As to the story itself - well, "Kid" is a misnomer - as the "kid" is twenty years old, but he does love his terminally ill father very much and when said father strangles his cheating wife (the boy's stepmother) to death, the son feels it's his duty to set his dad up with an alibi and dispose of the body as quickly as possible. This all happens within the story's opening paragraph, by the way. The "kid"'s instant transformation into a scheming, noir-minded, alibi-building machine is a bit much (but, it must be said, one of those reasons that genres exist - its flattering to and expected by the reading audience and cuts through expectations of "realistic" fiction) but the story's focus from that opening is on detailing every small move the son makes in putting his plan into action - which involves wrapping the body in a blanket and carrying it out of town ("carrying it" literally, by the way) - and how he deals with various obstructions along the way. The initial ending is, honestly, kind of a let down (as the son bashfully lists all the things he did wrong in the process) but then there's a second twist that ends the story with some nice ambiguity as to eventual outcome. Worth reading once.
February 21, 2019
Collection of short mystery and suspense tales.
I liked this collection, although the writing is a bit slow at some points. I think that's more an effect of being a modern reader, where writing suspense has developed further than it did here, than a sign of poor writing. The plots are clever, if not consistently brilliant, and most of the stories have a fair amount of action to them.
Recommended if you like pulp-style writing and mystery/crime/suspense short stories.
I liked this collection, although the writing is a bit slow at some points. I think that's more an effect of being a modern reader, where writing suspense has developed further than it did here, than a sign of poor writing. The plots are clever, if not consistently brilliant, and most of the stories have a fair amount of action to them.
Recommended if you like pulp-style writing and mystery/crime/suspense short stories.
March 26, 2013
Early stories--most of them were straight shoot-'em-up Muggsy stuff--full of coppers and heat and furious thick speech. Fun of course but only a couple were classic Woolrich. One was a Thriller--or maybe AHP: "The Corpse and the Kid." The other--"The Death Of Me"--was only disappointing at the end. One more--"Dark Melody Of Madness"--was interesting; nice and lurid. Cool though that he was able to sound in the '30's like Tarantino and those guys are now.
May 16, 2023
10/2015
The Walls That Hear You and Preview of
Death contain gruesome mutilations and murder. Murder in Wax is a boiled down version of The Black Angel. The Death of Me (1935) is a classic example of Woolrich's Depression era noir (why they call him its father).
The Walls That Hear You and Preview of
Death contain gruesome mutilations and murder. Murder in Wax is a boiled down version of The Black Angel. The Death of Me (1935) is a classic example of Woolrich's Depression era noir (why they call him its father).
October 17, 2024
Varied, imaginative short stories.
Death Sits in the Dentist’s Chair - 5/10
Walls that hear you - 5/10
Preview of Death - 4/10
Murder in Wax - 5/10
The Body Upstairs - 5/10 ("Then I went back to Katie. “You’re a woman,” I said. “How was she wearing her hair?”
It took her four and a half minutes to tell me all about it, without once repeating herself.")
Kiss of the Cobra - 6/10
Red Liberty - 8/10 (“Just let’s get this straight though. On the way over I distinctly noticed you with a very hefty gentleman. You were talking to each other. You were sitting side by side out on this deck-bench. And you both stood up together when it was time to get off. I remember that distinctly, on account of your shapes reminded me of the number 10.")
Dark Melody of Madness - 5/10
The Corpse and the Kid - 9/10 ("He wasn’t nervous and he wasn’t frightened, therefore he didn’t look nervous and he didn’t look frightened.")
Dead on Her Feet - 6/10
The Death of Me - 7/10 ("The postman may knock twice, but not Opportunity.")
The Showboat Murders - 5/10 ("And my bartender doubles as a bouncer, in case of a riot.”
“With water all around, where does he bounce them to?” Whitey demanded.
“He don’t bounce ‘em to anywhere,” she stated elegantly. “He just bounces ‘em on the button, and they stay quiet.”)
Hot Water - 5/10
Death Sits in the Dentist’s Chair - 5/10
Walls that hear you - 5/10
Preview of Death - 4/10
Murder in Wax - 5/10
The Body Upstairs - 5/10 ("Then I went back to Katie. “You’re a woman,” I said. “How was she wearing her hair?”
It took her four and a half minutes to tell me all about it, without once repeating herself.")
Kiss of the Cobra - 6/10
Red Liberty - 8/10 (“Just let’s get this straight though. On the way over I distinctly noticed you with a very hefty gentleman. You were talking to each other. You were sitting side by side out on this deck-bench. And you both stood up together when it was time to get off. I remember that distinctly, on account of your shapes reminded me of the number 10.")
Dark Melody of Madness - 5/10
The Corpse and the Kid - 9/10 ("He wasn’t nervous and he wasn’t frightened, therefore he didn’t look nervous and he didn’t look frightened.")
Dead on Her Feet - 6/10
The Death of Me - 7/10 ("The postman may knock twice, but not Opportunity.")
The Showboat Murders - 5/10 ("And my bartender doubles as a bouncer, in case of a riot.”
“With water all around, where does he bounce them to?” Whitey demanded.
“He don’t bounce ‘em to anywhere,” she stated elegantly. “He just bounces ‘em on the button, and they stay quiet.”)
Hot Water - 5/10
December 26, 2019
some okay suspense stories here, but a few have unfortunate ethnic dialog which has aged poorly.
May 15, 2023
Cornell Woolrich really knew how to pack a lot in a short story. I've read them before, but I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out how he was going to solve this mystery or that like it was the first
time! It's a shame his estate is a mess because quite a few of these nuggets would make a helluva picture! (Nazi dentists! Flaming Hollywood stars! Bodies hidden away in the basement! WOW! Corrupt cops on the take and crooked cops with a heart of gold (a few of them would make for interesting anti-heroes in a television series). No question, Woolrich set the standard 90 years ago that we now take for granted.
I'm biased. I love noir, so I'm an easy customer. But without a doubt Woolrich belongs right up there with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
time! It's a shame his estate is a mess because quite a few of these nuggets would make a helluva picture! (Nazi dentists! Flaming Hollywood stars! Bodies hidden away in the basement! WOW! Corrupt cops on the take and crooked cops with a heart of gold (a few of them would make for interesting anti-heroes in a television series). No question, Woolrich set the standard 90 years ago that we now take for granted.
I'm biased. I love noir, so I'm an easy customer. But without a doubt Woolrich belongs right up there with Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews