Double Indemnity

Tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful, Double Indemnity gives us an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. First published in 1935, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir.

A riveting classic of American crime fiction.

Tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful, Double Indemnity gives us an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. First published in 1936, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir.

Performed by James Naughton

James M. Cain, journalist, novelist, and screenwriter, defined hard-boiled fiction with classics like Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice. Cain wrote stories about crime, sex, and betrayal. Born in Maryland in 1892, Cain moved to Los Angeles to pursue screenwriting but found success as a novelist. In 1948 he moved back to Maryland, where he continued to write until his death in 1977.