What do you think?
Rate this book
Thurber on Crime
One of the greatest American humorists of our century, Thurber was not a man to shrink from danger--as long as he was safely ensconced behind his typewriter or drawing board. Here is a collection of ruminations on everyday villainy--stories, articles and drawings on the evil that men and women do. 32 line drawings.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1991
About the author
James Thurber
365 books608 followersThurber was born in Columbus, Ohio to Charles L. Thurber and Mary Agnes (Mame) Fisher Thurber. Both of his parents greatly influenced his work. His father, a sporadically employed clerk and minor politician who dreamed of being a lawyer or an actor, is said to have been the inspiration for the small, timid protagonist typical of many of his stories. Thurber described his mother as a "born comedienne" and "one of the finest comic talents I think I have ever known." She was a practical joker, on one occasion pretending to be crippled and attending a faith healer revival, only to jump up and proclaim herself healed.
Thurber had two brothers, William and Robert. Once, while playing a game of William Tell, his brother William shot James in the eye with an arrow. Because of the lack of medical technology, Thurber lost his eye. This injury would later cause him to be almost entirely blind. During his childhood he was unable to participate in sports and activities because of his injury, and instead developed a creative imagination, which he shared in his writings.
From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended The Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He never graduated from the University because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a mandatory ROTC course. In 1995 he was posthumously awarded a degree.
From 1918 to 1920, at the close of World War I, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the Department of State, first in Washington, D.C. and then at the American Embassy in Paris, France. After this Thurber returned to Columbus, where he began his writing career as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch from 1921 to 1924. During part of this time, he reviewed current books, films, and plays in a weekly column called "Credos and Curios," a title that later would be given to a posthumous collection of his work. Thurber also returned to Paris in this period, where he wrote for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers.
In 1925, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, getting a job as a reporter for the New York Evening Post. He joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927 as an editor with the help of his friend and fellow New Yorker contributor, E.B. White. His career as a cartoonist began in 1930 when White found some of Thurber's drawings in a trash can and submitted them for publication. Thurber would contribute both his writings and his drawings to The New Yorker until the 1950s.
Thurber was married twice. In 1922, Thurber married Althea Adams. The marriage was troubled and ended in divorce in May 1935. Adams gave Thurber his only child, his daughter Rosemary. Thurber remarried in June, 1935 to Helen Wismer. His second marriage lasted until he died in 1961, at the age of 66, due to complications from pneumonia, which followed upon a stroke suffered at his home. His last words, aside from the repeated word "God," were "God bless... God damn," according to Helen Thurber.
Thurber had two brothers, William and Robert. Once, while playing a game of William Tell, his brother William shot James in the eye with an arrow. Because of the lack of medical technology, Thurber lost his eye. This injury would later cause him to be almost entirely blind. During his childhood he was unable to participate in sports and activities because of his injury, and instead developed a creative imagination, which he shared in his writings.
From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended The Ohio State University, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. He never graduated from the University because his poor eyesight prevented him from taking a mandatory ROTC course. In 1995 he was posthumously awarded a degree.
From 1918 to 1920, at the close of World War I, Thurber worked as a code clerk for the Department of State, first in Washington, D.C. and then at the American Embassy in Paris, France. After this Thurber returned to Columbus, where he began his writing career as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch from 1921 to 1924. During part of this time, he reviewed current books, films, and plays in a weekly column called "Credos and Curios," a title that later would be given to a posthumous collection of his work. Thurber also returned to Paris in this period, where he wrote for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers.
In 1925, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York City, getting a job as a reporter for the New York Evening Post. He joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1927 as an editor with the help of his friend and fellow New Yorker contributor, E.B. White. His career as a cartoonist began in 1930 when White found some of Thurber's drawings in a trash can and submitted them for publication. Thurber would contribute both his writings and his drawings to The New Yorker until the 1950s.
Thurber was married twice. In 1922, Thurber married Althea Adams. The marriage was troubled and ended in divorce in May 1935. Adams gave Thurber his only child, his daughter Rosemary. Thurber remarried in June, 1935 to Helen Wismer. His second marriage lasted until he died in 1961, at the age of 66, due to complications from pneumonia, which followed upon a stroke suffered at his home. His last words, aside from the repeated word "God," were "God bless... God damn," according to Helen Thurber.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 11, 2024
James Thurber's novel is a combination of fiction and non-fiction stories, titled Thurber on Crime, Its short stories either contain fiction crimes or non-fiction information, and through the stories, they create a comedic response for the audience to read and laugh at. Some of the short stories in this book are about fictional crime or non-fictional information depending on the short story. The author also makes different locations in every short story. Most of the stories take place when cell phones weren’t as modern as today. It also mentions other times when cell phones weren’t even made. There’re different characters in every short story so you have to adjust to new characters, but they all have something in relation but with different characters, setting, and crimes.
I like how the author incorporated fictional and non-fictional information to break the tension of just one full book of information or fiction. It adds a bit of a comical response every short story then adds some real information. My personal favorite are fiction stories because they are very comedically and make me laugh. The writing element the author possesses is like olden English but with newer flares to it. So, it makes it not just older English but newer for audiences that like that type of writing element. The 200 pages full of the short stories the author has created is very comical and very good. The type of reader that could be interested in this book are people who like fictional stories with non-fictional stories intertwined. It’s very funny, there’s not a lot of lessons to be learned except you could learn about history you never knew from the non-fictional short stories.
I like how the author incorporated fictional and non-fictional information to break the tension of just one full book of information or fiction. It adds a bit of a comical response every short story then adds some real information. My personal favorite are fiction stories because they are very comedically and make me laugh. The writing element the author possesses is like olden English but with newer flares to it. So, it makes it not just older English but newer for audiences that like that type of writing element. The 200 pages full of the short stories the author has created is very comical and very good. The type of reader that could be interested in this book are people who like fictional stories with non-fictional stories intertwined. It’s very funny, there’s not a lot of lessons to be learned except you could learn about history you never knew from the non-fictional short stories.
September 19, 2020
"Thurber on Crime" is a collection of stories, articles and drawings by James Thurber about crime. These were written or drawn from the 1930's thru the 1950's by the great humorist, but not all are humoristic. A number of the articles were about real criminal cases that occurred in that time frame. While I found some of those interesting, they really were not my favorites. He also had a few articles about blood hounds. His humoristic stories I enjoyed the most, especially the first story "The Catbird Seat', where a quiet accountant plans to rid his company of a woman who is a disruptive force on the company and to him. We believe he plans to murder her, but he has something more clever in mind. My other favorite is the last story, "The Lady on 142", a Walter Mitty type story. The drawings in the book are fun as well. All in all I enjoyed the book, but too many articles and stories were below par to rate it higher. I highly recommend it to Thurber fans.
November 8, 2018
This is a hodge-podge of reprint items, cartoons, essays, short stories, that are vaguely connected to crime. If you are a Thurber fan, you have probably read these before and a fuller collection would be a better choice. However, this collection does show Thurber's fascination with the use of dogs, especially bloodhounds, in police work; so if that topic is your cup of tea, this collection may be worthwhile.
January 1, 2026
I have to be honest, I did not read this to the end. I just did not find it that amusing or interesting. So I did not really meet my 2025 challenge, but I'm getting too old to read books I don't like.
April 8, 2022
I love James Thurber, but this is not my favorite compilation.
September 30, 2024
Some good stuff, but a lot that was so dry it stopped being very funny.
More boring than I hoped it would be.
More boring than I hoped it would be.
August 9, 2009
A collection of humorous fiction, commentaries on real cases, fiction and non-fiction essays, and cartoon drawings. It's a bit of a mixed bag, though. While most of the entries are good to very enjoyable, a couple of others required some dedication to get through. Thus the 3 stars instead of 4 (3-1/2 would be better - and there are some 5-star pieces in here, so I'm glad to have read it). For such a short book, there does seem to be some filler.
I guess it's odd that less of something would make it better -- I mean, the best parts aren't any worse for being connected to the lesser parts. But that's the way it is.
I guess it's odd that less of something would make it better -- I mean, the best parts aren't any worse for being connected to the lesser parts. But that's the way it is.
August 18, 2016
I run hot and cold on Thurber, sometimes I am just so delighted to have his humor and perspective and sometimes his ego and self-grandiosity get in the way. This book is mostly good, without too much naval inspection. His curiosity about the pettiness of people generally puts me in a very good mood. He has a way of pointing out peoples' shortcomings without being mean spirited. This book is in good bite-sized chunks and easily read at bedtime without getting involved in long chapters and feeling guilty about putting it down mid-chapter.
January 20, 2009
I'm a fan of the whole "New Yorker" vibe. James Thurber is a classic golden age New Yorker writer- he did articles, stories AND cartoons! Versatile. Thurber on Crime is just what it says- a collection of (very) short fiction, factual articles about police dogs (four different articles) and his cartoons. At 200 pages, it's a fast, fast read. I skimmed several of the stories near the end- the "childrens book as film noir" story was particularly painful and dated.
June 25, 2009
This is a collection of Thurber pieces on crime and death. Most are from the major Thurber collections. There's “The Whippoorwill”, “MacBeth Murder Mystery”, and the “Lady in 142.” There big draw is 4 previously unreleased drawings. The pieces range from droll to scary. I had forgotten how creepy good “A Friend to Alexander” was. “MacBeth Murder Mystery” gets better with each read. This is a good intro to Thurber and a must for dedicated fans.
January 6, 2010
The Good: Thurber is a disarming writer; his laconic style puts an interesting spin on his true crime articles. The short stories are told in droll fashion and are almost always quirky and charming.
The Bad: The articles on bloodhounds (apparently a passion of Thurber's) are incredibly dull and run on far too long. Sexist and racist attitudes pop up here and there, but nothing out of ordinary for the time; by and large Thurber comes across as quite open-minded.
The Bad: The articles on bloodhounds (apparently a passion of Thurber's) are incredibly dull and run on far too long. Sexist and racist attitudes pop up here and there, but nothing out of ordinary for the time; by and large Thurber comes across as quite open-minded.
January 16, 2016
A fun read. More fiction than non-fiction in here, but the true crime chapters were well-thought-out and made me think, too. The usual great Thurber cartoons are included. This collection also includes one of the great revenge stories of all time, "The Catbird Seat." Not to be missed.
August 10, 2011
Funny, funny, funny! I tend to prefer British wit...but Thurber is terrific!
December 6, 2011
Prepare to meet the Cockeyed Spaniard! Thurber makes me laugh out loud.
June 11, 2015
Hilarious!
June 26, 2015
Not funny, funny. It's more shake your head and chuckle funny. Loved the Little Red Riding Hood retelling.
May 3, 2016
Always a fan of Thurber's work, this is a nice collection of largely crime-related pieces.
May 29, 2016
There was and never has been since--anyone quite like James Thurber. However, if your humor had to be of the up to date kind you probably wouldn't like him. Me, I loved his writing.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews