THE EMBEZZLER

Book ID/图书代码： 06000012B52711

English Summary/英文概要： A bank official learns of embezzlement at the Glendale branch. The culprit gets laid up in the hospital before he can be exposed. The embezzler’s beautiful wife then replaces him at the bank. The official is immediately smitten. The two scheme to replace the money before higher-ups learn that it’s missing.

This is probably Cain’s least successful California novel. The bank official seems too attractive and successful to risk his career for female companionship. The wife’s motives are entirely noble. Their scheme to replace the money, involving passbooks and bank records, is difficult to follow. The robbery and subsequent shoot-outs are too melodramatic for a story based on embezzlement. All of which suggests that this novel was written before the tougher and more hard-boiled Postman Always Rings Twice (1934) but published later. Devotees of Cain’s work will find it interesting. Others are likely to be disappointed.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 一位银行官员得知格兰岱尔分行发生了挪用公款事件，不过罪犯在暴露前被关进了医院。随后贪污犯的漂亮妻子代替他进入银行工作。那位官员随即为其痴迷。两人计划在上级发现钱不见之前把金额给填补上。

这可能是凯恩在以加州为主题方面最为失败的小说。这位银行官员看起来太过于富有魅力和成就，以至于他绝对不可能为了女色而拿事业冒险。而贪污犯妻子的动机则是完全高尚的。他们企图用存折和银行记录来替换这些钱的计划很难实施。抢劫案以及随后的枪战对于一个基于贪污的故事来说过于戏剧化。所有一切都表明，这部小说是在《邮差总是按铃来两次》（1934）年之前写的，但却出版在后。凯恩作品的爱好者会发现它很有趣，而其他人可能会失望。（XMM）

Awards/获奖情况：

About the Author/作者介绍： 詹姆斯•马拉汉•凯恩（1892 – 1977）是美国一流的犯罪小说作家。凯恩出生在巴尔的摩，是华盛顿大学校长的儿子。他的职业生涯始于记者。第一次世界大战期间曾在美国远征军服役，为第79师的报纸《洛林十字勋章》撰稿。战争结束后，凯恩开启了文学生涯，在安纳波利斯的圣约翰学院担任教授。去好莱坞写剧本之前，他曾在《纽约客》担任执行主编。凯恩著名的第一部小说《邮差总是按两次铃》于1934年出版，当时他42岁，立即引起轰动。在波士顿，这本书被认为是淫秽之作，但是阿尔贝加缪却说这本书启发了他的作品《陌生人》。这部臭名昭著的小说于1936年搬上舞台，1946年和1981年被拍摄成电影。故事讲述了一个年轻的流浪汉与一位已婚妇女有染，并与其计划抹杀她的丈夫，然后拿到他的保险。《邮差总是按两次铃》是经典犯罪小说和黑色电影的标杆。凯恩的另外两部小说《米尔德丽德•皮尔斯》（1941）和《双重赔偿》（1943）也被改编成黑色经典电影。1974年，詹姆斯•M•凯恩被美国侦探作家协会授予特级大师奖。凯恩总共出版了18本书，在他死的时候正在写他的自传。

James Mallahan Cain (1892 - 1977) was a first-rate writer of American hard-boiled crime fiction. Born in Baltimore, the son of the president of Washington College, Cain began his career as a reporter, serving in the American Expeditionary Force in World War I and writing for The Cross of Lorraine, the newspaper of the 79th Division. He returned from the war to embark on a literay career that included a professorship at St. John’s College in Annapolis and a stint at The New Yorker as managing editor before he went to Hollywood as a script writer. Cain’s famous first novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice, was published in 1934 when he was forty-two, and became an instant sensation. It was tried for obscenity in Boston and was said by Albert Camus to have inspired his own book, The Stranger. The infamous novel was staged in 1936, and filmed in 1946 and 1981. The story of a young hobo who has an affair with a married woman and plots with her to murder her husband and collect his insurance, The Postman Always Rings Twice is a benchmark of classic crime fiction and film noir. Two of Cain’s other novels, Mildred Pierce (1941) and Double Indemnity (1943), were also made into film noir classics. In 1974, James M. Cain was awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America. Cain published eighteen books in all and was working on his autobiography at the time of his death.

Format:HARDCOVER

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

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