Rear Window

Cornell Woolrich’s short story “Rear Window” first appeared under the title “It Had To Be Murder” in Dime Detective Magazine in 1942. The tale follows protagonist Hal “Jeff” Jeffries who is confined to his New York apartment by a broken leg during an oppressive summer heatwave. The back of his apartment looks toward the backs of the apartments on a parallel street, and Jeff routinely peeps from his rear window into theirs. He eventually becomes convinced that one of his neighbors murdered his wife. Woolrich was considered one of the finest crime authors of his era, and several movies have been adapted from his work including Alfred Hitchcock’s celebrated 1954 film Rear Window.

This guide refers to the version published in the recent collection of Woolrich’s fiction Rear Window and Other Murderous Tales (Renaissance Library, 2022).

“Rear Window” is narrated in the first person. Hal Jeffries begins by telling the reader how he passes his convalescence spying on his neighbors through their windows. One couple, in particular, catches his eye—they live below ongoing renovations on a floor above and seem to be struggling. The wife appears sickly, while the husband is jobless and spends his nights tending to her needs.