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Rating: 
Summary: An Enduring Masterpiece
Review: A great mystery that really keeps you guessing. I recommend this to anyone that like a good mystery mixed with romance.
I'd give it more stars if I could. It is very well written.
Rating:
Summary: haunting masterpiece
Review: A novel of obsession, Laura is both a successful mystery and intricate character study. Written in 1942, this book gives a very strong portrait of a beautiful and intelligent career woman surrounded by men with varying motivations toward her. The murder takes place on a hot sticky New York summer day. Laura is the victim and as the investigation proceeds we learn why many men have fallen in love with her, including the lead detective, Mark McPherson. As McPherson grapples with the unseemly idea of falling in love with a corpse during an investigation, he virtually moves in to her apartment at night to study her journals and fantasize about her through her portrait on the wall. This is one of the more unusual mysteries I have ever read and I highly recommend it. The famous movie is very faithful to the book and well worth seeing also.
Rating:
Summary: haunting masterpiece
Review: A novel of obsession, Laura is both a successful mystery and intricate character study. Written in 1942, this book gives a very strong portrait of a beautiful and intelligent career woman surrounded by men with varying motivations toward her. The murder takes place on a hot sticky New York summer day. Laura is the victim and as the investigation proceeds we learn why many men have fallen in love with her, including the lead detective, Mark McPherson. As McPherson grapples with the unseemly idea of falling in love with a corpse during an investigation, he virtually moves in to her apartment at night to study her journals and fantasize about her through her portrait on the wall. This is one of the more unusual mysteries I have ever read and I highly recommend it. The famous movie is very faithful to the book and well worth seeing also.
Rating:
Summary: compelling mystery
Review: A now-classic film noir was made from this novel - and it's one case where the book and the film are both wonderful, each in a separate way. The novel tells the story of the murder/mistaken identity/love story from the first-person viewpoint of each of three main characters - not exactly the same story, like "Rashomon," but picking up the thread where the previous narrator's re-telling of events left off. This is a terrific character study, well-crafted, beautifully written, that will send you back to the film for even more enjoyment.
Rating:
Summary: You'll fall in love with Laura Hunt
Review: I watched the film on the French TV on a sunday evening and bought the book on the following day. It's really a tremendous plot, a good old detective novel. You'll identify yourself with the girl or the detective. Read it, or you'll miss something. As great as the best Ellery Queen, William Irish or Mary Roberts Rinehart.
Rating:
Summary: The novel, not the movie.
Review: I'm judging this book for its genre, which I believe to be romantic suspense. In this sense, not in the sense of War and Peace, I gave it five stars. The writing is straightforward, could be read by a seventh grader, but the characters are quite strongly drawn. Its background, posh society of the Upper East Side of New York City in the 40's is efficiently depicted. When the hard-boiled detective begins to fall in love with the dead girl, we have an original plot. Caspary gives us enough literary clues to suggest the solution to the murder. The story is narrated by the sponsor of the dead girl, the detective and by Laura herself. These aspects are skillfully done. Each "voice" rings true, providing us with enough variety to keep a fairly simple theme going. The movie has some changes in characters, with a slightly different denouement, but the novel version is somehow less dated. We think of the story as unfolding in a time past, so its dime postage stamps and taxis that will travel to Westchester are period touches, not outdated.
Rating:
Summary: The novel, not the movie.
Review: I'm judging this book for its genre, which I believe to be romantic suspense. In this sense, not in the sense of War and Peace, I gave it five stars. The writing is straightforward, could be read by a seventh grader, but the characters are quite strongly drawn. Its background, posh society of the Upper East Side of New York City in the 40's is efficiently depicted. When the hard-boiled detective begins to fall in love with the dead girl, we have an original plot. Caspary gives us enough literary clues to suggest the solution to the murder. The story is narrated by the sponsor of the dead girl, the detective and by Laura herself. These aspects are skillfully done. Each "voice" rings true, providing us with enough variety to keep a fairly simple theme going. The movie has some changes in characters, with a slightly different denouement, but the novel version is somehow less dated. We think of the story as unfolding in a time past, so its dime postage stamps and taxis that will travel to Westchester are period touches, not outdated.
Rating:
Summary: Laura (Screen Play) ASIN: 0822206463
Review: This is excellent as far as screenplays go. This play is in 74 pages. If you are looking for the Novel this is not it. The movie with Gene Tierney is well played.
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Incorporated
If you found the play interesting you may want to obtain a copy of "Laura As Novel, Film, and Myth" by Eugene McNamara for more insight.
Rating:
Summary: This is the screen play not the Novel ISBN: 0822206463
Review: This is excellent as far as screenplays go. This play is in 74 pages. If you are looking for the Novel this is not it. The movie with Gene Tierney is well played.
Publisher: Dramatists Play Service, Incorporated
If you found the play interesting you may want to obtain a copy of "Laura As Novel, Film, and Myth" by Eugene McNamara for more insight.
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