Naughty

At the start of this one-note stand-alone from Schulz (The Big Town), Joe Krueger, an ambitionless WWII vet who’s been driving south from Washington State, stops one cold rainy night in the fall of 1956 at a rundown boarding house in Ocean City, Calif. The attractive daughter of the couple who run the place, Ida, jumps into Joe’s arms right after learning that her parents have perished in a car accident. Joe and Ida are soon married. When Ethel, an elderly boarder, dies, Ida starts cashing Ethel’s pension checks for herself, the prelude to more serious crimes. Joe and Ida move to Santa Clara, where Ida’s psychotic antics eventually draw the attention of the law. While inspired by a true crime story, this is little more than a literary mashup of two James M. Cain novels—we have the drifter who’s brought into murder à la The Postman Always Rings Twice, along with the murderous seductress reminiscent of Double Indemnity—except that Schulz lacks Cain’s psychological perception and beautiful economy of style. (Sept.)