trial and hanged for her murder. The novel was made into a 1931 Broadway play and a 1932 film, both starring Charles Laughton as William Marble. The character of John is written out of both play and film. A three-part radio adaptation of Payment Deferred, Plain Murder and The Pursued, adapted by Paul Mendelson and directed and produced by David Neville, was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014, most recently repeated on Radio 4 Extra in March 2019. Further reading Symons, Julian. Bloody murder: From the detective story to the crime novel: A history (Viking, 1985) Van der Kiste, John. C.S. Forester's Crime Noir: A view of the murder stories (KDP, 2018) References External links C.S. Forester and crime fiction 1926 British novels British crime novels British novels adapted into films Novels by C. S. Forester Novels set in London The Bodley Head books