Ira Levin

A Kiss Before Dying - 1953

A really good roller-coaster lets your body meld with the inertia that pulls you in one direction and then yanks you suddenly in a different direction, leaving you in such a position that, if you do not scream, your heart will slide right past your vocal cords. A Kiss Before Dying is a damn good roller-coaster ride. It was Levin's first novel. One might expect a first novel to be a little rough, lacking the polish of an experienced writer. This is not the case. Levin appears to have been a master of his craft right from the get-go.

His fellow writers realized quickly that a new talent had entered their midst. 'A Kiss Before Dying' won the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America as the year's best first mystery. It was published by Simon & Schuster as part of their Inner Sanctum Mystery series. That, in itself, was important.

Younger readers might not be familiar with the Inner Sanctum radio show, so let me tell you that it was the grand-daddy of The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Tales From the Crypt, and most of the horror media we enjoy today. It ran from 1941 to 1952. The radio show's trade mark was the creaking door that would open to begin each episode. Once a new technician on the set oiled it and Raymond, the host, had to fake the eerie sound effect. The series was so popular that it spawned a mystery magazine, a TV show, and a series of movies, many of which starred Lon Chaney Jr.

There was also a series of mystery novels which included titles such as: The Murder That Wouldn't Stay Solved by Hampton Stone, A Shot in the Dark by Richard Powell, and The Metropolitan Opera Murders by Helen Traubel. These were the scariest books being published in the 50's and it was quite a feat for a first time author to make the list.

Writers often try to make their stories appear to be timeless, universal, and non-partisan. In the 50's we had lots of stories that started out: "The time - It could be anytime. It might be now. The place - It might be anyplace. It might be the town you live in." Paradoxically, dives into the pool of universality invariably date a story as having been written in the 50's.

Levin doesn't bother with such nonsense. His stories take place in specific times, in specific places, with lots of little tidbits of everyday life for a well-seasoned authentic product. The stories of lesser writers take place in a vacuum. With Levin's stories the popular records of the day play in the background, the popular books of the day are sprawled upon the coffee tables, and the end result is that Levin's fiction merges with the real world to form something that you would swear you could touch and feel.

A man takes a plane from New York to Blue River, Iowa. With a lesser writer that would be the end of it. But in Levin's story the flight is delayed in Chicago. Its not a big thing, but it makes it real. Life does not generally move smoothly from point 'A' to point 'B'. The little imperfect details are the difference between the real and the fabricated.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part is told from the viewpoint of the villain in much the same way that Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart was told. There is a great deal of rationalization on the part of the un-named young man whose history we will follow. The young man is from a working class family but he has plans to raise his social position quickly and dramatically. The young man is in love. The object of his affection is Kingship Copper Inc. Obviously, he cannot marry the company, but he can marry Dorothy Kingship, the daughter of the company's owner.

Our young man professes love for Dorothy, but she is merely a means to an end. The young couple attends Stoddard University in the town of Blue River, Iowa. Love - Marriage - Riches. The young man seems to be on a very straight-forward track. Except that there now exists a problem, a road-block that must be overcome. The young lady is pregnant. Her father is not likely to view the young man as a future head of the company under such circumstances.

Something must done. At the time the story was written, Roe vs Wade had not yet made abortion legal. But our young man is a very determined young man and, while obstacle after obstacle will be placed in his path, he is going to march towards the Kingship fortune like Patton marched through the Siegfried Line. And each time you think he's beaten, this fiend will positively amaze you with his cunning. Hang on tight. This roller-coaster is going to leave you suspended in mid-air repeatedly.

LEVIN DIRECTORY

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