Cover Charge

The novel that started it all - Cover Charge - Cornell Woolrich's first novel was published in 1926.  Woolrich, had just turned 22 years old, a year younger than when his great influence,  F. Scott Fitzgerald, first published This Side of Paradise.


 The period, 1917 to 1925 - the Jazz Age.  The style is clearly influenced by Fitzgerald yet Woolrich succeeded in showcasing his own talent in the story, starting a career that continued until his death in 1968.


The story follows the loves and lives of a number of sons and daughters flitting their way through their lives.

Reviewers clearly saw the promise.  New York World said"skillfully written by a knowing hand."  The Literary Review said the novel "has verve and facility and keen perceptions.  His book is remarkably readable and, for one of his age, remarkably craftsmanlike."   


"What Woolrich lacked in literary prestige he made up for in suspense. Nobody was better at it."— Francis M. Nevins, Cornell Woolrich Biographer


Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich (4 December 1903 – 25 September 1968) is one of America's best crime and noir writers who sometimes wrote under the pseudonyms William Irish and George Hopley. He's often compared to other celebrated crime writers of his day, Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner and Raymond Chandler.


Woolrich is considered the godfather of film noir and is often referred to as the Edgar Allen Poe of the 20th century, writing well over 250 works including novels, novelettes, novellas and short stories.

He attended New York's Columbia University but left school in 1926 without graduating when his first novel, Cover Charge, was published.


Cover Charge was one of six of his novels that he credits as inspired by the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Woolrich soon turned to pulp and detective fiction, often published under his pseudonyms. His best known story today is his 1942 It Had to Be Murder for the simple reason that it was adapted into the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock movie  "Rear Window" starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly. It was remade as a television film by Christopher Reeve in 1998.


"Nothing beats a tale of fatalistic dread by the supreme master of suspense, Cornell Woolrich. His novels and hundreds of short stories define the essence of noir nihilism." -Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review


It’s unfortunate that Woolrich didn’t try the speculative fiction more often, since his scattering of horror stories, in particular “Dark Melody of Madness,” “Speak to Me of Death,” its novel version Night Has a Thousand Eyes, and “Jane Brown’s Body,” are among the greatest weird tales ever written. - Ryan Harvey, Black Gate


“Along with Raymond Chandler, Cornell Woolrich practically invented the genre of noir.” —Newsday


“Critical sobriety is out of the question so long as this master of terror-in-the-commonplace exerts his spell.” - Anthony Boucher, The New York Times Book Review


"No one has ever surpassed Cornell Woolrich for shear suspense, or equalled him for exciting entertainment." - Robert Bloch


"Woolrich can distill more terror, more excitement, more downright nail-biting suspense out of even the most commonplace happenings than nearly all his competitors." - Ellery Queen


"An opus out of the ordinary, highly emotional and suspenseful, with a surprise finish that turns somersaults." - The Saturday Review of Literature on "The Bride Wore Black".


"Revered by mystery fans, students of film noir, and lovers of hardboiled crime fiction and detective novels, Cornell Woolrich remains almost unknown to the general reading public. His obscurity persists even though his Hollywood pedigree rivals or exceeds that of Cain, Chandler, and Hammett. What Woolrich lacked in literary prestige he made up for in suspense. Nobody was better at it." - Richard Dooling