Double Indemnity is a 1943 crime novel by American journalist-turned-novelist James M. Cain. It was first published in serial form in Liberty magazine in 1936 and later republished as one of "three long short tales" in the collection Three of a Kind.[1]
The novel is based on the 1927 murder of Albert Snyder of the New York City borough of Queens which was perpetrated by his wife and her lover. Cain attended the trial while working as a journalist in New York.[2]
The novel served as the basis for the film of the same name in 1944, adapted for the screen by the novelist Raymond Chandler and directed by Billy Wilder, as well as numerous remakes in different forms.
