Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
Nah. When two plotlines are too similar, it's best to just toss the ms.
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Yup.
I’m always reminded of the Nicholas Blake mystery,
A Penknife in My Heart (1958) which ripped off the plotline of Patricia Highsmith’s
Strangers on a Train (1950). He claimed ignorance which I think is suspect because there was also the Hitchcock film of 1951 and in any case, it’s the business of a serious author, even a serious mystery author, to keep abreast of the seminal. Certainly his editor/publisher should have saved him from himself.
Not a good look for the future poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis.