Laura Hunt was the ideal modern woman: beautiful, elegant, highly ambitious, and utterly mysterious. No man could resist her charms—not even the ha...
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Nov 30, 2010
TJ
rated it: 
A very interesting book! I was talked into reading "Laura" by a friend who is an old movie buff and found an original 1942 version. It was like traveling back in time to solve a murder! The writing, descriptions, observations and opinions all reeked '40s style. Each point of view held its own voice so well one feels they know the characters personally right down to their idiosyncrasies. The murder mystery itself has some really great twists and turns that, while one might guess the cul
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Jun 04, 2008
Jeanne
rated it: 
Laura is an amazing book. I had read Bedelia first--the main character is somewhat like being stuck in a closet with someone with too much lilac perfume. The character Laura is very much the antithesis of Bedelia.
for the time period, the character is quite unconvetional--the working woman, who, by being independent of men, puts herself in danger within society in an intrinsic way. She's not only in danger physically as the motives for murder are unwound, but also reputation-wise, More...
for the time period, the character is quite unconvetional--the working woman, who, by being independent of men, puts herself in danger within society in an intrinsic way. She's not only in danger physically as the motives for murder are unwound, but also reputation-wise, More...
Oct 21, 2011
Hannah
rated it: 
Rating Clarification: 3.5 Stars
I've loved the movie adaptation of this book for years, and was happy to find the book on which it was based. Often, the chasm between book and silver screen will leave the fan firmly in one camp or the other. Some books, like The Ghost and Mrs Muir, suffer in comparison to their movie counterpart. Other books, like the Somerset Maugham's incredible novel, The Painted Veil, are actually enhanced by their movie twin.
For Vera Caspary's Laur More...
I've loved the movie adaptation of this book for years, and was happy to find the book on which it was based. Often, the chasm between book and silver screen will leave the fan firmly in one camp or the other. Some books, like The Ghost and Mrs Muir, suffer in comparison to their movie counterpart. Other books, like the Somerset Maugham's incredible novel, The Painted Veil, are actually enhanced by their movie twin.
For Vera Caspary's Laur More...
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Jan 23, 2012
Dorothyanne
rated it:
Just finished reading this fabulous book by Vera Caspary in a delightful reprint by Feminist Press. I quite like the old time pulp detective stories with the hard-boiled detectives, the dames, the guns. They feel like comic books.
This is not one of these. Though classified as pulp. this is a wonderful character study of a detective story. The plot is absorbing, the mystery is enchanting and I was kept guessing, but the real genius here is in Caspary's character development. Each character i More...
This is not one of these. Though classified as pulp. this is a wonderful character study of a detective story. The plot is absorbing, the mystery is enchanting and I was kept guessing, but the real genius here is in Caspary's character development. Each character i More...
Dec 17, 2011
Brendan
rated it:
Another classic bit of noir fiction read for my mystery book club in December. Laura follows the mysterious murder mystery of the eponymous girl, found with her head blown off in her apartment one Friday night. We see the story from several perspectives, told in reports, journals, police interviews, and more. The men in Laura’s life are particularly interesting, with the fawning fat cultural critic and novelist Waldo Lydecker snuggling up to the police detective and Laura’s meek dandy fiance
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Jan 23, 2011
Philip
rated it:
Those only familiar with LAURA via the classic 1944 film adapted from it are in for a couple of surprises when they read the original Vera Caspary novel, one of the being that the novel is actually narrated by four characters! Although it gets off to a slow start, by 50 or 60 pages in the pace picked up and I've been turning pages ever since (and this is at least the third time I've read it). Another difference is that the character of Waldo Lydecker differs physically from his on-screen count
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May 05, 2009
Robin
rated it:
I give 4 (and 1/2) stars for the book, perhaps because I read it after seeing the 1944 movie of the same name, starring Gene Tierney. When you've seen the movie first, the book usually suffers by comparison. In this case, however, the book stands on its own quite well. It is slightly different from the movie, but reading it, you find out more about the plot, the characters, and the motives behind it all. And, it's a book you would want to reread.
To the movie, of course, I give 5 More...
To the movie, of course, I give 5 More...
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Aug 06, 2008
Michelle
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When the novel opens Laura Hunt has been murdered. Mark McPherson is the Detective investigating the crime. Through him we meet the people in Laura’s life, most importantly her friend and mentor Waldo Lydecker, and her fiancé Shelby Carpenter. Laura is the ideal modern women, of the 1940s. She is beautiful, charming, and kind. She is a career woman but she is not cold. As the Detective delves deeper into Laura’s life, he falls in love with her.
The book is divided into sections with More...
The book is divided into sections with More...
Sep 14, 2007
We’ve all seen the film, but Caspary isn’t a name that gets mentioned much. Recently reissued by The Feminist Press, Laura is written in a style that Caspary called “the Wilkie Collins method,” or that one could call the “Rashomon method,” in which multiple narrators, who are also characters in the drama, tell fragments of the story from their own perspectives. Waldo Lydecker opens the novel with an abundance of witty, stinging prose, much as he narrates the opening of the film and soon after re
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Jan 22, 2012
Yourfiendmrjones
rated it:
As a play, it flows pretty well and the dialogue still crackles. The only change from the film and the book being a switch from Judith Anderson's character to a new character Danny. He is the son of the landlady downstairs who has a crush on Laura as well as sharing a love of jazz music with her. As much as I like jazz, the Anderson character add more opportunity for acid lines in the piece and Danny kind of drags as a red-herring suspect.
SPOILER ALERT- Rosebud is Laura's sled. More...
SPOILER ALERT- Rosebud is Laura's sled. More...
Jan 10, 2010
Ellen
rated it:
If any of you have not seen Otto Preminger's 1944 film with Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price, I highly recommend it. I recently picked up a few books that had been made into films I liked and assumed I would enjoy Laura. However, I was surprised to find myself dragging through the book. The story is about 1)a cop who falls in love with the woman who's murder he's investigating 2) the man she was going to marry 3)her mentor who was also in love with her and 4) the woma
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Dec 19, 2010
Miriam
rated it:
I read this because I'd seen the movie several times, and I was interested in comparing them. Overall I think I prefer the movie. The book isn't bad, but I didn't find the multiple narrators as effective as it could have been, and there are parts in Waldo's narration where he says something like "I wasn't there, but I know how it would have been, and proceeds to narrate entire scenes that he did not witness. It always annoys me when narrators do that.
Jun 10, 2007
Emily
rated it:
Vera Caspary's noir classic Laura: I love the movie, so when saw the Feminist Press' booth at MLA highlighting their women pulp writers series, I was intrigued. I hope that they expand it to 40s and 50s scifi pulp; then maybe I can see what Margaret Atwood was basing her novel-within-a-novel on in Blind Assassin.
Laura is a surprisingly nuanced mystery. It switches between three narrators and seamlessly interweaves issues of sexual and class equality into an interesting narrative. Ev More...
Laura is a surprisingly nuanced mystery. It switches between three narrators and seamlessly interweaves issues of sexual and class equality into an interesting narrative. Ev More...
Sep 12, 2009
Lynda
rated it:
This is one of my all time favorite mysteries. I have owned three editions of it. While the book is entitled Laura, it is really about the three men in her life. Laura as seen through the eyes and descriptions of these three men. Ultimately it the twist in this mystery that makes it memorable. A twist that has been copies many times. I highly recommend it to any murder fans.
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Apr 25, 2010
Beth
rated it:
I am loving this book!!!
I've just finished this book! It was written in the 1940's and there is a vintage feeling to the book that is cool to read. It is a murder mystery told from different points of view. Very witty and interesting. I had seen the film but this is a bit different.Give this a try for something well written and out of the usual mode.
I've just finished this book! It was written in the 1940's and there is a vintage feeling to the book that is cool to read. It is a murder mystery told from different points of view. Very witty and interesting. I had seen the film but this is a bit different.Give this a try for something well written and out of the usual mode.
Nov 23, 2009
Karen
rated it:
Yep, the movie was based on the book. They did a nice job of casting the movie to match the characters in the book, so it was easy to visualize everything as I read. The one exception was Waldo Lydecker -- in the book he is fat. In the movie he was played by wafer-thin Clifton Webb. I liked the book, but I enjoy the movie much more.
Sep 01, 2011
Jeffrey
rated it:
I've never been a big fan of mystery books, and this book did little to change my opinion. Once you get through part 1, the quality of the book is pretty decent, but part 1 is almost a full third of the book. While I'm glad I finished the book, I'm quite ready to move on to something else.
Jan 13, 2011
Bunxena
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 18, 2009
Iva
rated it:
I loved everything about this book. I didn't want it to end. It was everything I loved about the old Perry Mason TV shows combined with wonderful old glamorous Hollywood movies. I wish I could find more like it.
Apr 10, 2010
Better than the movie, which was excellent; we get to hear Lauras' side of the story in her own voice. Some extra details which make us understand why she was the chief suspect in the murder!
Mar 04, 2011
John
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Saw the old movie on TCM, so when I ran across the book had to read it. Was good, a classic mystery. I would recommend it to anyone who likes that genre.
Feb 19, 2010
Melanie
rated it:
It's a very gripping mystery, even though I figured out the solution early on. The characters are well-drawn, interesting people.
Mar 13, 2010
i came here looking for her book "The WHITE gIRL" ABOUT THE TRAGIC mulatto woman but it is not listed.....
Mar 06, 2011
G
rated it:
Amazing! Laura and Mark are one of my favorite literary couples of all time!
Dec 17, 2009
lindsay
rated it:
This book describes the investigation into the death of the title character, Laura, and the people who might have murdered her. The only problem is that half way through the book, we find out that Laura isn't really dead. It took me about three more pages beyond this revelation to figure out the whodunnit the whyhedunnit, so I wouldn't say it's a great mystery, or even a well-written novel. But, hey, it's pulp, so I can't say I didn't know what I was getting into. Plus, any book where women
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