Safe Return Doubtful

Eddie Muller’s introduction to the Mystery Classics issue of this is an appropriate summary..

Woolrich was the most noir writer in the mystery genre, as The Bride Wore Black amply proves. It contains all the requisite elements: the obsessive protagonist on a murderous quest, the latticework of dreadful coincidence, the relentless (and sometimes strangely exhilarating) spiral into madness, the denouement that twists the knife an extra turn.

Though for me, this isn’t Woolrich at his best. A socialite, a guy down on his luck, a typically middle American suburban father, and an atrust are all killed by a mystery woman, who changes her appearance each time. With the fifth murder about to happen Inspector Wagner steps in and links the crimes together.
The build-up is a good one, but to balance that, the ending seems all too convenient, and is something of an anticlimax.

First published 1940 – My GoodReads score 4 / 5