Mildred Pierce Mildred Pierce Mildred Pierce is a 1941 hardboiled novel by James M. Cain. It was made into an Academy Award–winning film of the same name in 1945, starring Joan Crawford, and a 2011 Emmy Award–winning miniseries of the same name, starring Kate Winslet. Set in Glendale, California, in the 1930s, the book is the story of a middle-class housewife, Mildred Pierce, and her attempts to maintain her family's social position during the Great Depression. Mildred separates from Bert, her unemployed husband, and sets out to support herself and her children. After a difficult search she finds a job as a
Mildred Pierce (film) Wally cannot be the killer because he has no motive. After Mildred ends her flashback, the detectives admit they knew all along that Veda committed the murder. Mildred tries to apologize as her daughter is led away to jail, but Veda rebuffs her. Mildred leaves the police station to find Bert waiting for her outside. Although James M. Cain was often labeled a "hard-boiled crime writer", his novel "Mildred Pierce" (1941) was mostly a psychological work, with little violence. The adaptation, released four years later, was designed as a thriller, and a murder was introduced into the plot. The novel