Amnon Kabatchnik releases Bloody Broadway Volume II

By AI, Created 9:36 PM UTC, June 03, 2026, /AGP/ – Amnon Kabatchnik’s new reference book on Broadway crime and mystery plays is now on sale in hardcover and trade paper from BearManor Media. The volume examines 88 plays from 1930 to 1960 and adds to his long-running theater history series.

Why it matters: - “Bloody Broadway: Plays of Menace, Murder, and Mystery, Volume II” adds a new installment to Amnon Kabatchnik’s reference series on theater history and crime drama. - The book focuses on Broadway’s shift toward psychological crime stories and imported works that shaped midcentury theater. - The release extends Kabatchnik’s body of work for readers, scholars and theater fans who follow reference books on stage history.

What happened: - Amnon Kabatchnik has released “Bloody Broadway: Plays of Menace, Murder, and Mystery, Volume II” through BearManor Media. - The book is now available in hardcover and trade paper. - Hardcover details: ISBN 979-8-88771-973-3, 532 pages, $50.00. - Trade paper details: ISBN 979-8-88771-972-6, 522 pages, $39.00. - The publisher says the book is available wherever fine books are sold.

The details: - The volume examines Broadway’s development from the stage work of actor-director-playwright William Gillette. - Kabatchnik links Gillette’s major success, “Sherlock Holmes,” to the broader rise of Broadway mystery and menace plays. - The book covers 1930 to 1960, a period marked by melodramas from Hal Reid, Clyde Fitch, Owen Davis, George M. Cohan, Elmer Rice and John Willard. - The volume also tracks a move toward crime stories with psychological depth in the work of August Strindberg, Maxim Gorky and Bertolt Brecht. - Kabatchnik includes plays and playwrights from England, including W. Somerset Maugham, J. B. Priestley and Daphne du Maurier. - The book also covers Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Jean Genet, Laszlo Fodor, Ernst Toller, Garcia Lorca and Ugo Betti. - American writers discussed in the volume include Damon Runyon, James Baldwin, Arthur Miller and William Faulkner. - The book also covers Nobel Prize winners Eugene O’Neil, John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway. - Featured plays include “A Slight Case of Murder” (1935), “Of Mice and Men” (1937), “Arsenic and Old Lace” (1941), “The Crucible” (1953), “Speaking of Murder” (1956), “West Side Story” (1957) and “Cue for Passion” (1958). - The volume also analyzes plays that moved from out of town to New York, including “An Inspector Calls” (1945) and “Requiem for a Nun” (1951). - The book examines 88 plays in chronological order. - Each entry includes a plot synopsis, production data, critical and scholarly opinions, and biographical sketches of playwrights and key actor-directors.

Between the lines: - The book positions Broadway mystery theater as a transatlantic form, shaped by American, British, European and literary voices. - Kabatchnik’s approach mixes history, criticism and production detail, making the series a reference work rather than a general theater narrative. - The release builds on Kabatchnik’s reputation in academic and theater circles, reinforced by earlier awards from the Benjamin Franklin Awards, ForeWord Book of the Year Awards and the Independent Book Publishers Awards.

What’s next: - Readers can buy the new volume now. - Kabatchnik’s website is More information. - BearManor Media’s site is Publisher information. - BearManor Media remains focused on books about movies, television, old time radio, theater, animation, circus performing arts and previously unpublished scripts.

The bottom line: - Kabatchnik’s latest book gives theater readers a detailed, chronological guide to 88 Broadway plays of menace, murder and mystery from 1930 to 1960.