Cain, James Mallahan

Related Category: American Literature: Biographies

1892–1977, American novelist, b. Annapolis, Md., grad. Washington College, 1910. He taught journalism (1924–25) and wrote political commentaries for the New York World (1924–31). His “hard-boiled” novels concern middle-class lovers who are driven to crime and violence. They include The Postman Always Rings Twice (1934), Double Indemnity (1936), Mildred Pierce (1941), The Magician's Wife (1966), and Rainbow's End (1974).

See biography by R. Hoopes (1985); study by D. Madden (1985).