Dig it: today we're gabbing about THE James Ellroy's classic neo-noir L.A. Confidential, the tripartite, sybarite, dynamite journey to the dark heart of '50s Los Angeles. Three depraved cops battle over justice, women and pride, as they take on pornographers, murderers... and even members of their own force!

References:

This season of The Rhetorizer gets support from Perfect Books.

"The Lady Says Die" is a sick, vengeful short story by one of the biggest crime writers of the 20th century and former professional trampoline jumper, Mickey Spillane.

References:

The Best American Noir of the Century, which contains "The Lady Says Die"

Mickey Spillane's obituary - The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/jul/19/guardianobituaries.booksobituaries

The Hardest Jehovah's Witness in the World - The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/film/1999/jul/23/2

Thanks to Perfect Books for supporting The Rhetorizer.

An escaped convict and a woman with a mysterious past concoct the perfect scheme: move to the suburbs! We read Elliott Chaze's 1953 novel Black Wings Has My Angel.

Thanks to Perfect Books for sponsoring this show.

Hitchcock adds a big dose of tennis, a maniacal carnival scene and a lobster tie to Patricia Highsmith's story in his classic 1951 adaptation of the novel.

(editor's note -- here are the show notes Jacob tried to get me to use: "Chekov's protestant, introduced during a previous film adaptation episode, returns and nearly derails noted Papist Alfred Hitchcock's attempt to conduct Strangers On A Train from the newsstand to big screen. Despite going round and round for multiple sets and nearly throttling each other in the process, the resulting film reflects the novel in chilling detail. Or does it?")

Thanks for Perfect Books for supporting this show.

A rich man-child with a huge zit takes a special interest in a promising young architect he meets on the train. He shares his dream of the perfect murder: I kill your wife and you kill my daddy. But does he mean it, or is just the scotch talking? And where did the architect leave his copy of Plato's Republic?

We read Patricia Highsmith's classic debut novel, Strangers on a Train.

Thanks to Perfect Books in Ottawa for supporting this show.

Additional citations for this episode:

Drop the top on your white Cadillac and crank up the stereo, because on this week's episode, we're discussing Dorothy B. Hughes 1963 political noir, The Expendable Man.

There are bad first impressions, and then there's finally meeting the nice doctor you've heard a lot about and been set up with on a date, and he sweatily explains to you that he's being framed for botching the abortion of a pregnant hitchhiker and he's the prime suspect. But you can't tell his family because he's only in town for his niece's wedding.

A jilted lover confronts war hero Korea Jim. Dorothy B. Hughes titled this story "The Homecoming", but she could have named it "Benny and the Vet." Tune in to find out why!

You can read "The Homecoming" in the anthology The Best American Noir of the Century.

This episode is sponsored by Perfect Books. Jingle lyrics and arrangement by Jon with an H.

Some say it's the greatest film about insurance ever made. We watched the 1944 adaptation of Double Indemnity, a film largely credited with making the noir genre hot.

Created by the daring duo of Billy Wilder in the director’s chair and hardboiled master Raymond Chandler wielding the pen, the film stars Barbara Stanwyck, Fred G. MacMurray, and Edward G. Robinson. A low-budget film with a fractious writing process, what did it bring to the novel?

An insurance agent is brought low by a bored housewife in a sexy sailor outfit, a big payout for murdering her husband, and the opportunity to outsmart his boss. Does it work out? No.

We’re back with another James M. Cain classic: 1943’s Double Indemnity.

Who wore it better: Lana Turner in a turban or Jack Nicholson in a fedora? We dive into film noir with the 2 most famous adaptations of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946 and 1981).

Our sponsor this season is Perfect Books, located at 258 Elgin St in downtown Ottawa. All of the books we're reading this season are available for sale there now.