The Big Book of Reel Murders: Stories that Inspired Great Crime Films (Big Book)

by Otto Penzler

Otto Penzler (Editor)

Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler's new anthology rolls out the red carpet for the stories that Hollywood is made of. A Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Original.

Lights! Camera! Action! The latest book in the Big Book series takes us behind the curtain to uncover the stories that became some of the greatest films of the silver screen. There's the W. Somerset Maugham short story that inspired Hitchcock's Secret Agent; Robert Louis Stevenson's horrifying tale that was later turned into the iconic movie The Body Snatcher, starring Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff; Sir Ian Fleming's "From a View to a Kill," later one of Roger Moore's greatest Bond films; and "Cyclists' Raid," the short story that formed the basis for the legendary Brando film The Wild One.

Otto Penzler delivers the director's cut on these classic short stories and the films they gave rise to. So grab your Sno-Caps and a jumbo box of popcorn and curl up with these cinematic tales from the likes of Agatha Christie, Dennis Lehane, Joyce Carol Oates, Dashiell Hammett, O. Henry, Edgar Allan Poe, and Arthur Conan Doyle.

• ISBN10: 0525563881
• ISBN13: 9780525563884
• Publish Date: 22 October 2019
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 1200
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780525563884

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

The Big Book of Reel Murders: Stories That Inspired Great Crime Films is a stunning anthology of crime fiction expertly curated and edited (as always) by Otto Penzler. Released by Knopf Doubleday on their Black Lizard imprint it's 1200 (!!!) pages and available in ebook and paperback formats.

This is a gob-smacking reference collection of shorter fiction stories which were adapted into some of the most iconic crime films in history. The stories are collected roughly thematically with sections for love (to death), real life horror, suspense, classic detectives and more. The author list reads like a literal who's who of crime fiction: Christie, Ian Fleming, Maugham, Bloch, RL Stevenson, Hammett, O. Henry, Huxley, Sinclair Lewis, Conan Doyle and many more, both modern and classic.

This anthology would be well worth the cost of admission -just- for the stories alone of course, but what made this a personal library keeper (even bought my own copy) is the erudite and meticulous historical notes and cast notes for each and every one of the included stories and the films they inspired. Mr. Penzler has a dizzying command of crime fiction history (or possibly a stable of librarians stashed in his basement) and his comments are worth reading in their own right.

Five stars. The other books in the series from the same publisher are also well worth seeking out.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.