Winter 2022 Book Discussion Series-"A Hard Case of Crime: Pulp Fiction by Popular Authors."

We'll be discussing James M. Cain's lost final novel, The Cocktail Waitress.

One of America’s most celebrated crime writers, Cain’s final novel was stashed away and forgotten after his death in 1977 at the age of 85. Thirty-five years later it was brought to the attention of the publisher of Hard Case Crime, who tracked it down and edited it for publication.  Cain’s first-person confessional tale is told from the viewpoint of Joan Medford, a young woman left widowed & destitute following the death of her abusive husband, which garners interest from the police. Forced to take a job as a waitress, she soon remarries a wealthy older man, until he too dies under suspicious circumstances.