7/9/1905 Lionel White is born

July 9, 1905. Lionel White was born on this date in New York City.  He wrote many crime novels, and a lot of them were adapted into films.  For example, Stanley Kubrick turned Clean Break into his movie The Killing. 

But surely the weirdest adaptation of one of his books was what happened to The Snatch, a novel about kidnapping a child.  A gang of French criminals read the book and used it as the blueprint for a real crime.  It went beautifully until, as Donald E. Westlake out it, "They ran out of book."  Bragging about their accomplishments and spending money wildly, they were soon picked up.  They did not offer White any of the ransom money, alas.