An Obsession with Death and Dying: Volume One

An Obsession with Death and Dying is a dual-volume collection of some of the most macabre short stories Cornell Woolrich ever wrote, many of which haven’t seen print for decades. In honor of the 50th anniversary of his death, we are resurrecting these thrillingly gruesome tales and reintroducing them to a new generation of noir, horror and mystery fans. Each story within these volumes contains some variant of the words “death” or “dying” in their titles, of which there are over 40 in the extensive pantheon of Woolrich’s short fiction. The idea of death was a constant existential thundercloud that loomed over this tortured writer’s head. He had a fascination with it, a lifelong obsession, one that bled through into his writing and motivated his characters to do some truly horrifying things. Let this master of suspense take you along for a deathly ride in An Obsession with Death and Dying on the 50th anniversary of his death. “Death Lies in Wait” (Volume One) features stories that will transport you to another place, dazzle you with performances or bewitch you with some wild or supernatural force before unleashing the horror of death upon you. The glitter and gold can only hide death for so long -- in a Woolrich story, death always lies in wait. That is true for these ten terrifying tales: -If the Dead Could Talk-Death at the Burlesque-Flowers from the Dead-Preview of Death-The Street of Jungle Death-Speak to Me of Death-A Death is Caused-Men Must Die-Death in the Yoshiwara-The Death Rose For something that thrusts you right into the physical grotesqueries of death, venture into “Death Waits No More” (Volume Two). Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich (4 December 1903 – 25 September 1968) is one of America's best crime and noir writers, and sometimes wrote under the pseudonyms William Irish or George Hopley. He invented and mastered the genre of "pulp-fiction" and wrote hundreds of short stories, novellas and full length novels. One of his most famous stories was “It Had to be Murder,” which was adapted into the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window in 1954.