Click on cover to see larger image Craig Rice
An excerpt of the forthcoming biography, Who Was That Lady? appears in a French edition, Craig Rice and may be purchased from
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"Every writer may deserve such a dedicated biographer, and Rice's life is interesting (especially for hardcore mystery fans)" -- Publishers Weekly
The official biography of Craig Rice by Jeffrey Marks Delphi Books
Just after the end of World War II, after years of battles and body-counts, a war weary Time magazine decided to interview a major American mystery writer for a cover story to give the country a change of pace.
Dashiell Hammett, the American author of five mysteries and the creator of hardboiled Sam Spade and dashing Nick and Nora Charles, hadn't published a novel since 1934, a dozen years earlier. His leftist political leanings made him less than an attractive choice for the interview.
Eventually, by process of elimination the Time editors decided on a female publishing phenomenon of the 1940s, Craig Rice.
Great News. The first Craig Rice book in 40 years will be out in early 2002. Murder, Mystery, and Malone will be published by Crippen and Landru. This will be an anthology of previously uncollected short stories by Rice, a perennial mystery favorite in the genre. |
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"In his superb biography of Craig Rice, Jeffrey Marks combines scholarship and compassion as he traces the life and works of a supremely gifted and sadly troubled writer. Craig Rice was one of a kind and her comic mysteries still delight readers. All who loved her books will appreciate this careful, thorough and fascinating biography. Who Was That Lady? is a deserved tribute to a woman who gave much laughter and suffered much sorrow."
"I doubt that any mystery writer since Poe led a sadder -- or more interesting -- life than Craig Rice. Jeffrey Marks tells of it with poignancy and insight. Who Was That Lady? is eminently readable and an important addition to the literature about crime fiction."
"Craig Rice the mystery writer has been almost as mysterious as her
books; the circumstances of her birth, the number of her marriages, even
her real name have all been the subject of debate. Now Jeffrey Marks
comes along and, with impeccable scholarship and contagious enthusiasm,
pulls back the veil, answers the questions, and reveals an
extraordinary woman -- talented, lively, troubled, and fascinating. Who Was That Lady? belongs on the shelves of every mystery fan."
"A fascinating book about a fascinating subject. Craig Rice's stories
mined the notion that "humor and homicide go hand in hand" (to use her
phrase), but the manic roller-coaster of her own life was nothing to
laugh at - next to Rice, her hard-boiled male contemporaries look like
Pollyannas! By wedding insightful biography with a comprehensive
critique of Rice's work, Jeffrey Marks goes about as far as anyone ever
will to answer the question, "Who was that lady?"
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~ Carolyn Hart, author of Death on Demand and Henrie O. mysteries.
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~ Marv Lachman, reviewer, and author of A Reader's Guide to the American Novel of Detection
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~ Douglas G Greene
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~ Steven Saylor, author of the Roman sub
Rosa series, and A Twist at the End
Jeffrey Marks has been authorized by the estate of Craig Rice to complete a biography of her. In doing so, he received rights to view all of Rice's papers and photographs.
Although the mystery genre began in America with Edgar
Allan Poe, Americans had come late into the whodunit. The
field had long been dominated by the British writers such
as Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and G.K. Chesterton.
Nor
was Raymond Chandler-- the writer behind Philip Marlowe--
any better. By 1946, he had only published four books in
the Marlowe series, but he was already getting a
reputation for being hard to deal with.
On paper, Craig looked like the perfect cover copy:
she was young (37), attractive brunette who wrote the
madcap murder mysteries that sold like black market
nylons. The tongue-in-cheek adventures of Jake and Helene
Justus and John J. Malone, the boozy Windy City lawyer who
never lost a client, brought smiles to a nation fighting a
war
overseas. As a tabloid reporter covering Midwest
murder trials, she had learned to meet deadlines and
routinely turned out two or three novels a year, along
with numerous short stories and screenplays.
Even FDR professed being a fan of Rice and a recent
novel, Home Sweet Homicide, was being converted to a movie
starring western hero Randolph Scott as Lieutenant Bill
Smith. The novel was a semi-autobiographical mystery
featuring a struggling crime writer's three children who
solve a murder next door. Rice was a successful writer
with three children. --Jeffrey Marks