Kiss Before Dying

A detailed Summary of Kiss Before Dying

Book report on A Kiss before Dying Ira Levin

Pagecount: 300 First published: 1953

Dorothy, Bud's girlfriend tells him she's pregnant. Bud is very angry but pretends he loves her. He gives her pills to get rid of the baby. -FLASHBACK: Bud was very popular at school. After the war he had several jobs and an affair with an rich widow. he went to Stoddart and met Dorothy. -PRESENT: If the pills won't work, Bud promises to marry Dorothy. Bud sees a golden future ahead because Dorothy's father is president of Kingships Copper and very welthy. The pills don't work and they'll marry in three days. Bud doesn't want to marry her instead he is making plans to kill her. Bud gives her poisoned pills and let her transfere a Spanish line which says something like: I'm sorry for the trouble, There is nothing else I can do. He mails the line to her sister in Dorothy's handwriting, Ellen. If Dorothy isn't dead in three days he assumes she didn't take the pills. When *he realises that Ellen would receive the messages he have to kill Dorothy by throwing her from a building. People think it was suicide, because of the note Ellen received. Bud is proud he commited a murder and got away with it. Ellen doesn't think it was suicide and starts to in

Bud Corliss: a handsome young man, intelligent. He plans everything very precisely. He wants to be rich and sucessfull, he looks for a rich girl and wants to marry her. He is very gently, good at winning people's trust. He is cold and full of hate. He kills three people without any scruples. He thinks he is genius, able to plan the perfect crime. (D, Ellen, Marion) Dorothy Kingship: Dorrie, Bud's girlfriend. She is the youngest daughter of Leo Kingship, a rich factory owner. Dorothy is a faithful, gullible (onnozel) girl, hunger to love. Wants a nice husband, a family. She thinks Bud loves her, but he is only interested at her money. She is not interested at money or succes, because she is already rich. Ellen Kingship: sister of Dorothy, second daughter of Leo Kingship. She is an intelligent, pretty girl. She finds out that Dorothy didn't comitted suicide, but that it was murder, that she was pregnant and going to marry (sth.old, sth.new, something borrowed, something blue). She didn't find out that Dorothy's murder and her boyfriend are the same person until it's too late. Bud kills her too. Marion Kingship: Leo's oldest daughter, Bud's third victim. She is alone, doesn't want to be independent of her father. She falls in love with Bud and wants to marry him. She doesn't believe Gordons' stories and thinks her father has sent him to check Bud. Later she believes it and wants to see how Bud is going to die. Gordon Gant: a handsome, blond man, with blue eyes. He helps Ellen to find out who the murderer is. He knows the truth and loses his job as disc-jockey for it. Together with Leo King- ship he wants to know the truth about everything from Bud. Dwight Powell: Ellen thinks he is the murderer. He is also blond and has blue eyes. He had loved Dorothy and feels guilty about her suicide. He wants to prove that he could not be the father of the baby. And shows Ellen that he was in NY when she was murdered. Dwight is also killed by Bud. Bud's mother: wants that Bud gets married with a rich girl a wants him to be sucessfull. She does everything for him. Leo Kingship: a rich man, boss of Kingship Copper Inc. He is not very sensitive, doesn't love his daughters very much. He wants revenge and gets it. In the end Bud dies, the perfect crime, but planned by Leo and not by Bud.

A Kiss before Dying: Bud Corliss pretended to love his victims first, then kill them. Love came from the three girls, death from Bud.

The story is told "out of the eyes" of the main characters. As well as the "good" as the "bad". All the narrators do take part in the story. The story is chronologically, but with flashbacks. The time the story takes is about 3 years.

vestigat.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Kiss Dying, Bud Corliss, Leo Kingship, Ellen Dorothy, Dorothy Bud's, Copper Bud, Gordon Gant, Kingships Copper, March III, Kingship Leo's, bud corliss, kiss dying, gordon gant, leo kingship, blond blue eyes, perfect crime, bud dwight, mother kiss, bud's mother, aren't mentioned, kingship rich, daughter leo kingship, leo kingship rich,

Approximate Word count = 1802
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English