Download Laura (The best mysteries of all time) ePub

I got interested in reading this book because of a particular criticism of the movie that I had read. This was that Gene Tierney did not make you understand how the police detective, Mark McPherson, could fall in love with the dead Laura from her picture and what he learns about her, not just the facts but who she was. This is often a problem when actors have to live up to characters in novels who are described as being some sort of personality superlative. In Laura's case, you get this sense of incredible class and sophistication as well as beauty. Much of this sense comes from the impressions of Waldo Lydecker. So I went and got a copy of the book and read it. In the book, I figured you get the straight character, unmodified from the intent of the author. Of course, the book and the movie are different creative works. The play is different as well. But I figured the book was about as basic a source as you can get. I think that the answer to that basic question of whether you could fall in love with Laura based on her description from the book was interesting. Certainly, that is the way things start for the detective. But our detective recovers from that first blush as he learns more. In the end, he is getting closer again, but it is based on other factors. Overall, I found the book very interesting. I enjoyed the way it shifted first person perspectives throughout the book. The contrast in the first two sections, with Waldo Lydecker as the first person point of view and Mark McPherson then moving into the first person point of view was very interesting. The last three sections were shorter. In fact, one of them consists completely of the interview between Detective McPherson and Shelby Carpenter, Laura's fiancé, at the police station with Shelby's lawyer present. The author, Vera Caspary, led a rather colorful life, apparently frequently alternating between being fairly well to do and near bankruptcy. Also, she wrote this during World War 2 at a time when she was separated from her long time boyfriend and needed money, so it makes me wonder whether she sort of cut it off in order to complete it. In any mystery, the big question usually falls to the question of whodunit. The mystery writers task is then to have this become something where the solution is difficult, but ideally something that you can figure out with the information you have. I also feel somewhat shortchanged when something is brought out of nowhere which is highly improbable. An example of that is "Rebecca," where it turns out that a key aspect of the title character is not brought out until the end. Such is not the case with "Laura." It is a fair mystery with regard to that consideration. The other key then becomes the question of how engaging, interesting, and humanized the characters are. Do we care about these characters as the story goes on? "Laura" succeeds here as well. The key characters are all drawn very well and I certainly came to be interested in all of them as the novel proceeded. I am also fascinated by what a novel says about the attitude of the author to aspects of the time in which she lived. In the case of "Laura," you can definitely see the influence of first wave feminism in the character of Laura. Laura was a financially independent woman who was succeeding at her profession to a greater degree than her fiancé. This is an issue today. It had been an issue coming out of the 1930s. The characters that Katherine Hepburn played back then were often cited as reflecting this influence. In fact, Vera Caspary, at the time that she wrote "Laura," was in her 40s and to that point had not yet married. The irony, of course, is that following World War 2 came an almost total repudiation of first wave feminism. Along with this came a drastic lowering of the average age of first marriage and the baby boom. In fact, the average age of first marriage for women dropped briefly below 20 in the 1950s. Just as the grandparents of the flower children of the 1960s often understood them better than their parents (having come of age during the Roaring 20s) Laura was, in many ways, more a character that would fit in today than a character who would fit in the 1950s. One aspect that was clearly rooted back then, though, was the character of Bessie, who is Laura's maid and cook. The idea of a single woman, who is supposed to simply be middle class, having their own servant, seemed amazing to me. I can't conceive of anyone other than the 1% living that way today. The one thing that did seem unlikely to me was the lack of concern that any of the characters seemed to have for their own safety. Here we have a murderer on the loose after a pretty brutal crime, and yet there is almost never any concern expressed that they might be in danger. Maybe that lack of concern is something else that just doesn't translate to the present, in this era of involved crime shows on TV. Overall, I very much enjoyed reading the novel of "Laura." It answered all the questions that I had for it going in and was a very interesting and engaging book as well.

This one of the most entertaining novels I've ever read. It is exceptionally well written, colorful, suspenseful, romantic and truly captivating. Even through I knew the story from watching the movie I was still very engrossed, Whether you are a mystery fan or not it is a very enjoyable read!

Jennifer Leigh Wells
Author of "Rebecca: The Making of a Hollywood Classic"

This is one of the classic mysteries. So nice to find it available for my Kindle.

One of the best films- one of the best books.

the book was in decent shape a good read enjoyed it very much if you enjoyed the movie I think you'll enjoy the book

Love this book! I'm a read-the-book-before-the-movie girl. But I watched the movie first, which I absolutely loved. So of course I had to read the book. If possible, it's even better. So good! And the copy I ordered was a cherry on top.

The novel is quite different from the 1946 movie starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and
Vincent Price. Perhaps not in the bare basics, but in many, many other ways. It has always been my favorite movie, and I wanted to read the novel to get more insight into the story and characters. But the book surprised me in numerous ways. For one thing, the character of Waldo Lydecker is overweight in the book, based most likely on the character of - oh, you know the guy - whom the character of Sheridan Whiteside in "The Man Who Came to Dinner" is based on. But the mince Mr. Webb seems made for the part.
Vera Caspary is an intelligent writer, and that is reflected in the many facets of the novel that can not possibly be included in the stark screenplay of the film noir movie. Ah, it is always a mistake to see the movie before reading the book. But if you read the book first, the movie will make you angry and indignant. Can't win!

Excellent read for fans of the movie.