The Screaming Mimi
Frederic Brown
How has Frederic Brown been allowed to fall almost completely out of print? I had to read this noir classic in the Black Mask reprint edition, which butchered the text so badly as to make it almost unreadable. It deserves much better treatment. Now largely forgotten, I only tracked it down in the first place because I heard it was the inspiration for Dario Argento’s The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. I’m glad I made the effort. As with so many of the best works in this genre, almost every page belies its age. Some publisher needs to get this, and the rest of Brown’s oeuvre, back out there. The Library of America, perhaps?
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