This image is the cover for the book Kill-Off, Mulholland Classic

Kill-Off, Mulholland Classic

The legendary author of The Getaway delivers a suspenseful tale of an ailing woman who awaits her own murder—until she turns the tables on her would-be assassins.

Luane Devore's days are numbered. All her neighbors in the declining seaside resort town of Manduwoc want her dead. Some, like her young husband Ralph and his girlfriend Danny, want the thousands of dollars she keeps hidden under the mattress she spends her days resting on. Others want her to stop her malicious gossip—some of which could ruin lives. 

Told from multiple perspectives, The Kill-Off tells the story of a woman not long for this earth . . . but who will finally take matters into her own hands. This classic crime novel from Jim Thompson, one of the masters of the genre, was the basis of Maggie Greenwald's critically acclaimed film of the same name.

Jim Thompson

James Meyers Thompson was born in Anadarko, Oklahoma. He began writing fiction at a very young age, selling his first story to True Detective when he was only fourteen. Thompson eventually wrote twenty-nine novels, all but three of which were published as paperback originals. Thompson also wrote two screenplays (for the Stanley Kubrick films "The Killing" and "Paths of Glory"). An outstanding crime writer, the world of his fiction is rife with violence and corruption. In examining the underbelly of human experience and American society in particular, Thompson's work at its best is both philosophical and experimental. Several of his novels have been filmed by American and French directors, resulting in classic noir including The Killer Inside Me (1952), After Dark My Sweet (1955), and The Grifters (1963).

Little, Brown and Company