"The Dilemma of the Dead Lady"- Not Pulp Fiction, but rather, Noir Fiction.

As far as the pulp stories we have read from The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps, I think “The Dilemma of the Dead Lady” is the darkest story yet. In the foreword to the story, Woolrich is described as a “master of noir fiction” (p. 406) and based on this story, I would agree. I would definitely classify “The Dilemma of the Dead Lady” as noir fiction rather than pulp fiction; there is no “good guy” in this story, unlike in other pulp stories we have read, and it is full of darkness and suspense from beginning to end. No matter how evil the villains were in the other pulp stories, there were always a few characters with some moral standards. However, in “The Dilemma of the Dead Lady,” there are no moral characters at all. Woolrich succeeded in portraying Babe Sherman as a ruthless, evil villain (I would even go as far as to say he was so evil, he gave me the chills). Even Fowler, the supposed detective and only hope of a “good guy,” turns out to be a criminal. This story is more similar to a noir film, rather than a pulp story.

As I mentioned previously, Babe Sherman is one of the most evil characters I have yet to read about. What makes Babe’s character even more interesting is the fact that he seems to sense his own demise as he brings it on himself. His blatant actions portray him as evil; however, Woolrich adds little descriptions that make Babe seem cowardly and afraid as well. After Babe murdered the girl, he “wasn’t as cool as he looked, by any means, but he wasn’t as frightened as a decent man would have been, ether” (p. 410), and he even spoke to the dead body as “a defense mechanism, to show himself how unfrightened he was” (p. 410). It seems as though Babe is trying to convince himself from the very beginning that he is capable of following through with this horrible crime scheme, but really in fact, knows he will eventually be brought down. As the story continues, Babe feels his own death coming on. Every time some type of suspense occurs in the story, Babe feels as though he “died a little then inside himself” (p. 417). I think that these subtle insecurities contribute to the drama and suspense of the story.

I also found the ending of the story to be satisfying, not in the sense that “good prevailed over evil,” but in the sense that Babe receives the ultimate punishment. Once he discovers that Fowler was a criminal as well, it becomes obvious that Babe could have avoided any altercation with him, and been able to fully commit his evil crime, which is a torturous thought to him. Success would have been his had he been a bit more patient. However, like in almost all noir films and pulp stories, Babe, the criminal, got the punishment he deserved in the end.

Questions:
Did Fowler truly know Babe was hiding a body in his chest?