Love's Lovely Confederates

PAST ALL DISHONOR (233 pp.)--James M. Cain--Knopf ($2).

James Cain's new novel is set in the period of the War Between the States, but readers will not have to leaf far to discover that it is about the same hair-raising war-between-the-sexes that chilled U.S. marrows in The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce. A well-told tale whose deadpan savagery suggests that it was written with the tip of an icicle, it features enough lust and mayhem per page to shame a pulp novel.

By page 14, Hero Roger Duval, a youthful Confederate spy, has been saved from drowning in the Sacramento River by a beautiful prostitute named Morina, and has in turn saved her from being arrested for larceny. He has also fallen head over ears in love with her. By page 36, Morina has loved him and left him (he's a sweet boy, she reckons, but what good's Cupid without a bank balance?). By page 47, avid Roger has tracked Morina to the red-light district in Virginia City; and by page 60 he is suffering pangs of anguish at seeing his beloved stand up nude on a piano and offer herself up for auction ("she never looked more beautiful or more horrible"). But by page 174, Roger has wised up to the way of the world: he has forgotten all about being a Confederate spy; he has learned how to make money unscrupulously; and he has won Morina's heart for keeps by shooting her millionaire fiance. "Kiss me, Roger," she begs, her eyes full of happy tears: "I never knew there was any such feeling as this. . . . That you'd kill him. For me."

The next and last 59 pages of Past All Dishonor describe Roger's and Morina's activities as murderers and train robbers. Little is heard save the crack of Roger's .36, the thud of dropping corpses, and Morina's trills of sadistic ecstasy. It all winds up with Morina lying dead in the snow, covered with stolen jewels, and a posse closing in on lonesome Roger. Far away in the background, the Civil War pursues its peaceful course, untroubled by the agonies of love.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.