The Dark Tunnel

The Dark Tunnel is the first novel by "one of the giants of twentieth century crime fiction", Kenneth Millar. The first edition was published by Dodd, Mead & Co. in 1944 New York, a fine-condition copy of which was priced at US$8,500 as of January 2020.[1] Millar's biography describes The Dark Tunnel as "a hybrid of old-fashioned puzzle-mystery, Buchanesque spy adventure, and Chandleresque exposé of sexual perversion.[2]

The Dark Tunnel
First-edition book cover
AuthorKenneth Millar
CountryUnited States
Genre
PublisherDodd, Mead & Co.
Publication date
1944
Media typePrint

As an author, Millar was influenced by John Buchan and Raymond Chandler, with The Dark Tunnel bearing a strong resemblance to The Thirty-Nine Steps, and echoing Chandler's hallmarks of "rough-and-ready humor, its extravagant similes, and its more lurid events and descriptions".[2]

Millar's protagonist is Professor Robert Branch, a dichotomous character heavily influenced by the Professor Millar himself. Branch has studied T. S. Eliot, W. C. Handy, Norse mythology, and Shakespeare; Branch is skilled in lock picking, athletic, and possesses a Doctor of Philosophy.[2]

References
  1. "The Dark Tunnel (First Edition)". Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America. Archived from the original on January 11, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
  2. Nolan, Tom (1999). Ross Macdonald: A Biography. New York City: Scribner. pp. 66–. ISBN 0-684-81217-7.
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