The Enduring Influence of James M. Cain

The Enduring Influence of James M. Cain

James M. Cain was my gateway drug into crime fiction. Before Cain, I’d read Nelson Algren, whose novels, while often featuring criminals, would be better defined as social realism. But to my twenty-five-year-old aspiring writer self, Cain’s voice—and the reading it inspired—changed the focus of my writing horizon. I discovered Cain through film, specifically The Postman Always Rings Twice—the original, starring Lana Turner and John Garfield, its…