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The Dark Tunnel

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

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] Because of the latter, a 1950 paperback reprint was subtitled "The story of a homosexual spy".[3]

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 William 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 19, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Nolan, Tom (1999). Ross Macdonald: A Biography. New York City: Scribner. pp. 66–. ISBN 0-684-81217-7.
  3. ^ Drewey Wayne, Gunn (2016). Gay American Novels, 1870-1970. McFarland & Company. p. 44.[verification needed]