The Woman Who Was No More

New York: Rinehart, 1954. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First American edition. Page edges browned, else fine in just about fine dustwrapper with a bit of rubbing and one small, internal tape repair. An exceptionally uncommon title, the first book by this French team to be published in the U.S. Basis for the classic Henri-Georges Clouzot film *Les Diaboliques*, with Simone Signoret and the director's wife Vera Clouzot, in which the two women conspire to murder their sadistic husband/lover. The film is arguably the best psychological thriller of all time, and one from which many of the conventions of the genre stem. Alfred Hitchcock, already well-established as the "Master of Suspense," was upset at having missed the film rights to this book and took special care to acquire the rights to Boileau and Narcejac's follow-up, which became *Vertigo*. Later remade several times, including a 1994 version with Sharon Stone and Isabelle Adjani. A translation from the French, and published before the film was released, this had a very small print run, perhaps as few as a thousand copies. Considering the cheap leftover wartime materials employed, it is unlikely to have survived in any numbers.