Summaries

NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH *****, 1939, ( = THE VILLAIN AND THE VIRGIN )
When Dave Fenner was hired to solve the Blandish kidnapping, he knew the odds on finding the girl were against him ; the cops were still looking for her three months after the ransom had been paid. And the kidnappers, Riley and his gang, had disappeared into thin air.
But what none of them knew was that Riley himself has been wiped out by a rival gang and the heiress was now in the hands of Ma Grisson and her son Slim, a vicious killer who couldn't stay away from women... especially his beautiful new captive.
By the time Fenner began to close in on them, some terrible things had happened to Miss Blandish...
Other introduction :
They pushed Miss Blandish into the hard light of the unshaded lamp. Her hands were fastened behind her back with Flynn's muffler. Two pads of dirty cotton wool were strapped across her eyes with adhesive tape. Slim lounged against the wall, bored with the reaction of his killings. He was relaxed and eased like a man sexually satiated. " Meet Miss Blandish, Ma, " he said. " Baby, this is Ma Grisson. "
The old woman looked right into Miss Blandish.
" You're goin' to stay here until your old man comes across, " she said. " If you're lucky you won't be here long. It all depends on your pa. If he tries to be smart, I'm goin' to take you apart in bits... Before I take you apart, I'll throw you to the boys an' what they'll do to you ain't nobody's business... "
" A sordid concoction of sex and violence fashioned around the kidnapping of an heiress which became an immediate bestseller. "
THE TIMES
" One of the classic thriller of all time. "
STAR (London)
 

HE WON'T NEED IT NOW, 1939
DUFFY AND HIS DANGEROUS DAMES
Bill Duffy is a newsman, a real pro photographer. He lives hard, drinks hard and he's tough, except where women are concerned. And when he finds himself with ravishingly beautiful woman in her apartment very late one night, it takes all his willpower to resist, willpower, and a very mangled corpse which somehow fell down the elevator shaft. And that was only the beginning...
Another sizzling murder thriller by the acknowledged master of crime fiction, James Hadley Chase.
 

THE DEAD STAY DUMB ****, 1939, ( = KISS MY FIST )
$5,000 Reward - Dead or Alive - That was the price on Dillon's head.
A cold, ruthless racketeer, Dillon had risen from lackey gunman to Kansas City boss. Now he was big time, big money.
But then Dillon started living it up with two young beauties - and began to make mistakes. And once Dillon's guard was down, an outsider got his chance to pull a gruesome doubletake.
Other introduction :
Death was right around the corner...
 Dillon didn't take his eyes off the exit to the dark alley. He went on, keeping his gun ready. The open street ahead of him, the deep shadows, and the knowledge that death was waiting for him made his nerves tingle.
Quite suddenly two men sprang into the alley. Dillon could see them outlined against a street light. Instantly, he started firing before his brain telegraphed to his hand.
One of the men tossed up his hands and fell forward, but the other ducked out of sight - now more determined than ever to see Dillon dead.
Other introduction :
Dillon has been out of the rackets for some time ; now he was ready to carve his way back in. Ambitious, cold-blooded, impatient, he just needed a start, and one or two unlucky people to help him on his way. He found them. Like Nick Gurney and Roxy, small-time operators who reckoned Dillon was the coming man...
Myra, the curvaceous boxer's daughter tired of small-town life and reckless for excitement... and Hurst, the racketeer who ruled half a city. One way and another, they all helped Dillon, while Dillon helped himself. He didn't hear any complaints either, for a long time...
Other introduction :
James Hadley Chase has now firmly established himself as the writer of the toughest novels of America's underworld.
This breathtaking book is a nightmare tale of the life and death of Dillon, American gangster. From the first to the last page the ruthlessness of an inhuman killer is set down with stark realism.
Here indeed we have an excellent example of what a slick, fast-moving and tough - really tough - novel should be. The author has painted his fool hoodlums with a bold and unerring brush. We feel this is without doubt a masterpiece in this new and modern style of writing. And the girls haven't been forgotten either.
Extract :
" Gimme a glass of water. " Dillon's voice was deep and gritty.
George said, his face hostile, " We don't serve water here. "
" But you'll serve me an' like it, " Dillon said. " D'you hear me, punk ? - I said water. " 
" Mr. Chase has many imitators but he alone is monarch ."
THE SUN (Sidney)
 

TWELVE CHINKS AND A WOMAN, 1940, ( = THE DOLL'S BAD NEWS )
BIG TROUBLE
When a curvaceous, beautiful girl walks into your office, strips, and offers you a $6,000 retainer to help her out of the trouble she's in, it's hard to refuse.
Especially if you're private eye Dave Fenner, the man who busted the notorious Blandish case.
But by the time Dave had been beaten half to death and been forced to shoot his way out of a load of very unhealthy situations, he realised that chivalry - even if it was paid for in hard cash - was no way to stay alive...
The Doll's Bad News is a Hadley Chase masterpiece of high-power explosive action - for strong-nerved readers only.
Other introduction :
David Fenner is the private investigator - the Fenner who lifted the Blandish girl from the sadistic hands of her kidnappers. He's as ruthless as they come, he's cynical, he's in the game for money. But he always sees his cases through to the explosive end. The brutal business that finally tore open the smart-set holiday resort of Key West began when a charming, worried young woman appeared in his office, dropped a wad of dollars on his desk, said in a husky voice : " I'm in trouble. It's my sister as well. What can she want with twelve Chinese ? "
" Twelve Chinese, " mused Fenner, " Why twelve ? "
And as simply as that the trail that led to corrupt Key West in Florida opened up... to a suffocating climax that is Hadley Chase at his classic best.
 

LADY - HERE'S YOUR WREATH, 1940
It was Larry Richmond who'd been murdered - and he was the President of the Makenzie Fabric Corporation. Many big names were shareholders in the business, including the Commissioner of Police. The boys from the Press had been told to lay off investigations - the word was that the Corporation was a blind for something much bigger...
Small wonder then when Nick Mason began asking questions about the frame-up of Vessi for Richmond's murder, he started a lot of trouble - and when he wanted to quit, it was too late...
Other introduction :
Over the phone, her voice was metallic. And she had offered journalist Nick Mason a hefty sum to expose a murder frame-up... Mason, intrigued had gone along to the gas chamber to see Vessi die. Before the pellets hit the acid, Vessi insisted on his innocence. His last words gave Mason the clue to some odd business going on at the respectable Mackenzie Fabric Corporation. When he was warned off his investigations by a blonde fury of a hooker and a cold-eyed gunman, Mason almost decided to forget the whole thing... but by then he'd met the irresistible Mardi, the girl from Mackenzie Fabrics who might be able to lead him to the truth...
" Another thriller in typical Chase style. The climax doesn't come until the final page. "
BOLTON EVENING NEWS
 

GET A LOAD OF THIS, 1941, (a compilation of short stories) :
The sleazy jungle of lamp-lit streets, faded hotel lobbies and soulless freeways is a setting for a menagerie of typically brash Hadley Chase characters : all-metal blondes that weaken the resistance, merciless thugs and third-rate double crossers, in this collection of hard-boiled stories by the thriller master.
Fast paced and crackling with wit, this classic anthology shows why James Hadley Chase is the unchallenged British champion of the tough American tradition.

 - GET A LOAD OF THIS (one story and the title of the compilation)
 - MORNING VISIT
 - CONVERSATION PIECE
 - THE MAGNIFICENT OPPORTUNITY
 - THE PLACE OF LOVE
 - NIGHT OUT
 - OVERHEAD
 - TWO THUMB A RIDE
 - TWIST THE TAIL
 - THE GENERAL DIES IN BED
 - WALK IN THE PARK
 - VIGIL
 - SKIN DEEP
 - THE PAINTED ANGEL
 

MISS CALLAGHAN COMES TO GRIEF, 1941
Again Chase's own story-telling magic that rivets the reader's attention and interest from the first page to the last. The result is a thriller that sets the pulse pounding and the heart thumping.
This is yet another from James Hadley Chase's stable that will keep you chair-ridden until the last page.
CAPE TIMES (SOUTH AFRICA)
 

MISS SHUMWAY WAVES A WAND, 1944
James Hadley Chase also waves his wand with this masterly thriller and transport the reader into a strange situation which has everything in the way of action and suspense. The author also reveals for the first time a new facet to his talent : besides punch and speed, " Miss Shumway waves a wand " has a splendid vein of humour !
Other introduction :
James Hadley Chase has a reputation second to none for giving his readers one hundred per cent escapism. The worst his critics can say of his books is ; " I couldn't put the damned thing done !"
Miss Shumway Waves A Wand reveals a new facet of this immensely popular author's talent. It is an unusual tale, packed with sparkling dialogue and non-stop action. It has speed, punch, and something new from Hadley Chase - laughter.
Extract :
Myra laughed. " I'll be good, poppa, honest I will, " she said, and patted his hand. " Now, tell me about it." Ansell looked at her suspiciously. " You seem to forget that you can afford to be funny, " he said.
" Aw, skip it, Doc, " I broke in. " Why don't you say what you want to say and stop nagging the girl ? "
Ansell looked a little surprised, " I'm trying to, but there're so many interruptions."
I turned on Bogle, " Don't interrupt the Doctor any more, Bud, " I said. " He his getting tired of it. " " Yes, " Myra joined in. " Give that big mouth of yours a little rest. We're sick of the sound of your voice. " Bogle was so surprised that he just sat in a heap, his eyes starting out of his head.
" Okay, Doc, " I said quickly, before Bogle could recover. " The floor's all yours".
" Do either of you believe in witchcraft ? " Ansell asked. 
 

JUST THE WAY IT IS, 1944
GAMBLER WITH A GUN
Harry Duke has a reputation. As a gambler. And in Bentonville, USA, gambling is King. But Duke has another reputation. He killed a man once. So no-one messes with Harry Duke.
That is, until someone tries to make it look like Duke slit a guy's throat one night. It's a neat frame-up. But Duke still has a few aces in his hand. Aces and a gun...
Other introduction :
Joe pushed her back on the bed. He looked down at her. A muscle in his cheek began to twitch. " I'll take care of him, " he said, softly. He touched her throat very gently with his fingers. She flinched, staring up at him.
" Why do you do that ? "
" I was just thinking. So he put a rope around your neck, did he ? "
His small spidery fingers continued to caress her throat. " He shouldn't have done that. "
The look of his eyes chilled her and she pulled herself close to him, burying her face against the soft leather of his jerkin. Still smiling, his eyes on the opposite wall, Joe continued to caress her throat... 
" A collector's item. "
EASTERN DAILY PRESS
 

EVE *****, 1945
EVE : MYSTERIOUS, TANTALISING, ALLURING, WANTON
Deep within this desirable but strange girl burnt the violent fires that could destroy a man.
Clive Thurston had swindled his way to fame. He thought he knew the ropes ; and women. Maybe he did. But he didn't know Eve, otherwise he'd have realised that he was just another fly stumbling into the deadly web of a woman who was beautiful to look at ; but lethal to love...
Eve was made into a successful, highly acclaimed film by Joseph Losey, starring Stanley Baker and Jeanne Moreau.
Other introduction :
The two strands running through Clive Thurston's life are utterly incompatible. On the one hand is Carol, a rare bird in Hollywood, an actress with integrity and intelligence, and his own undistinguished literary output, a combination to bring him love, happiness and obscurity; on the other his fame, wealth and reputation-bringing play Rain Check, a one-off performance that cannot be repeated, and only Thurston knows why - and Eve.
Even Carol does not know of the torments Thurston suffers on account of Eve. The dreadful counterpoint approaches its climatic cadence, driving him to the brink of despair, as he faces professional ruin, degradation and death, until at last, modulating the Eve-theme, he seeks to lead the melody back to Carol.
Only James Hadley Chase could handle such a subject with such edge-of-chair assurance.
" Whatever the plot, this author pleases them all.
Why ?
Because this Englishman is an astonishing story-teller. There are no dull moments with him. All his plots have a technical skill, and suspense and thrills are guaranteed. One is carried along as one reads, non-stop and there is nothing more satisfactory than this : the work of an excellent craftsman. "
Noelle Loriot, L'EXPRESS
 

MORE DEADLY THAN THE MALE ****, 1946
George Fraser, a lonely, timid fellow, lived in a dream world of gangsters, gunfights and fascinating women, and to bolster up his inferiority complex he began to imagine himself as the toughest gangster of all of them. But he boasted once too often, and to the wrong person. From that moment, harmless George Fraser was ensnared in a net of intrigue and became a cat's-paw for murder.
" Flawless professionalism here too. In this Chase thriller, the same compulsive readability and sheer hard story-telling as in every other. Mr. Chase, as always, is for me. "
SHEFFIELD TELEGRAPH
 

LAST PAGE, 1946, (play)
" Vividly nasty and gripping. " 
THE SPECTATOR
 

I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, 1946
Chester Cain, gunman and gambler, finds his vacation at Paradise Springs rudely interrupted by the City Administrator, who uses a luscious woman to trap Cain into a murder frame-up.
From then on the action, punctuated by gunfire, moves like an express train, as Cain ploughs his way through violence and adventure to bring this fast-moving thriller to an explosive climax.
Extract :
Killeano looked at her as if he couldn't believe his ears. His fat face went yellow with rage. 
" You bitch ! " he said, and slapped her hard across her face.
One of the cops wound his night-stick across my throat and held on. I couldn't move : I couldn't breathe.
Flaggerty and Killeano just stood looking at Miss Wonderly. She held her burning cheek and looked back at them.
" The plot is cunning and intricate, the atmosphere sustained and terrifying, the characterisation never falters. "
John Betjeman, DAILY HERALD
 

MAKE THE CORPSE WALK, 1946
Money buys everything... or at least, that's what eccentric millionaire Kester Weidmann believed. So when his brother died, Kester figured all he had to do was to buy the services of a voodoo expert and bring him back to life.
But first he had to find a voodoo expert. And for that he employed Rollo - a small-time operator who used the Gilded Lily Club as a front. Rollo thought he had it made - it would be the con trick of the century. But he was reckoning without the interference of Celie, his smouldering Creole mistress, and Butch, the club muscle-man, who both decided that Weidmann's fortune was worth a heck of a lot more than Rollo's flabby neck...
Other introduction :
No one really knew what Rollo did, apart from owning and directing the Gilded Lily Club. He was suspected of having his fingers in every dubious pie. Some said that he controlled the red light district of Shepherd Market. Some said that he dealt in stolen motor cars or that he was the biggest receiver of stolen property in the country. Others winked knowingly and hinted that his income came from a profitable traffic in drugs, while others whispered "murder". But no-one really knew...
Other introduction :
Millionaire Kester Weidmann believes money can buy everything - even life and death. So when his brother dies, Weidmann seeks the services of a voodoo expert to bring him back to life. He finds Rollo, a crooked nightclub owner who seizes the opportunity for the biggest con of the century. But Rollo had not reckoned for the involvement of Celie, his exotic mistress, and Butch, the nightclub's bouncer. And he had certainly not reckoned they would decide the Weidmann fortune was more important than his own neck.... 
" Brilliantly plotted and told with rare skill. "
SOUTH WALES ARGUS

THE MIRROR IN ROOM 22, 1946, (a five pages story among the Slipstream collection) 
The story is short but that's really something to be read ! JHC manages to build such a frightening climate that you are fully bamboozled by its malicious end.
Extract :
There were not more than half a dozen officers in the mess that Christmas Eve. The big comfortably furnished room, in spite of its gay decorations and blazing log fire, looked forlorn and a trifle bleak now that the usual noisy crowd was absent.
The six officers who, for one reason or another, were spending Christmas Day on the station, had finished dinner and arranged themselves in a semicircle before the fire. For once the radio was silent and the officers seemed content to watch the leaping flames in the brick grate and listen to the wind as it whistled round the massive old house which served as their mess.
 

SLIPSTREAM : A ROYAL AIR FORCE ANTHOLOGY, 1946, published by René Raymond
During the war years a Royal Air Force Journal was edited but was restricted for official use only. At the end of the war two squadron leaders, David Langdon and René Raymond, selected from the Journal some sixty articles or stories and put them in a book which was sold for the benefit of the R.A.F. Benevolent Fund.
The articles were written by airmen or airwomen, some of them well-known writers who served in the R.A.F. Among the articles, one was written by René Raymond : "The Mirror in Room 22", a short story of 5 pages.
 

BLONDE'S REQUIEM, 1946
" Certainly lives up to its title. One is compelled to read James Hadley Chase, it's an experience few others can provide. "
COVENTRY EVENING NEWS
 

NO BUSINESS OF MINE, 1947
He was a big strapping fellow around thirty, broad and well-built, but far from muscular ; soft, just this side of fat.
" Hello, Baby, " he said, " You one of her boyfriends ? "
" Go jump in a lake, " I said, " Jump into two if one won't hold you, " and I turned back to Netta's door.
He giggled. " There's no one there, " he said, adding in an undertone, " She's dead : died by her own hand. "
I felt a little cold breath again my cheek. There was something wrong here. I knew Netta well. She wasn't the suicide type.
And that's how it began. From then on Steve Harmas, American newspaper correspondent, was never out of trouble. Netta's body was kidnapped, then her mysterious sister Anne also committed suicide.
Harmas, working on his own to try to solve the mystery of these two girls' deaths, became so involved that followed that he was in danger of being arrested himself.
" No Business of Mine ", written with tremendous speed and punch, has an ending that comes like the crack of a whip.
Extract :
A sudden animal-like cry drifted through the open windows, and was followed by the sound of wild hysterical sobbing.
 

THE FLESH OF THE ORCHID ******, 1948
Carol Blandish was the daughter of Miss Blandish and a maniac killer. She was beautiful. She was the heir to six million dollars. And she was a prisoner in a mental home. All she had to do to inherit the money was escape, and stay out for fourteen days.... But a whole lot of other people were after the Blandish fortune - and that meant they were after Carol : once outside the mental home, she found herself mixed up in a deadly hide-and-seek of violence and sudden death... There was Roy Larson, who couldn't keep his hands off that beautiful body : and there were the Sullivans, professional killers who'd rather have their hands on the money...
James Hadley Chase scores again with a sensational sequel to the unforgettable No Orchids For Miss Blandish.
Extract :
" Ever seen a guy burn ? " Frank asked Steve. " Even when they're dead they jump and twitch... like a chicken with its head chopped off. We burned a guy a couple of weeks ago. He went up like a firework and the crazy lug ran right back into his own house and set that on fire too... burned his wife and kids. " Frank shook his head. " Take a look at that, " he went on, suddenly excited, " That's what I call a blaze. He's cooking fine now, ain't he ? Now watch him run... they always run. There ! Didn't I tell you ? ... Watch him ! "
Extract :
Miss Lolly was startled to see the hard, bitter expression on Carol's face and the icy bleakness of her eyes.
I will make them pay, " Carol said softly, " no matter how cunning and quick and strong they are. I will make them pay if it takes me the rest of my life. I have nothing else to live for. "
For those who wish to be riveted to their chairs, the petty worries and troubles of daily life forgotten, " The flesh of the Orchid " is a must. 
STAR (London)
 

TRUSTED LIKE A FOX, 1948 (= RUTHLESS )
Two killers wanted her - one for protection and one for prey. One of them had slain a helpless man to hide the secret of his identity. And he was quite prepared to kill the girl if she tried to double-cross him. But he'd reckoned without that terrible accident - and he was totally unprepared for the insane murderer who made death a ritual with a silver-handled knife.
Other introduction :
A series of accidents - as well as the inventive imagination of one of the masters of thriller writing - brings together, in the same house, a bizarre trio. For Grace Clark it was one more step in a long appalling nightmare that began when she met the man called David Ellis : a man whose act of kindness won her loyalty... and her trust. But then Grace was a trusting soul : how else would she had found herself sharing a house with a man with a special, macabre test in murder ?
" A taut thriller in the best Hadley Chase tradition. "
GRIMSBY EVENING TELEGRAPH
 

YOU NEVER KNOW WITH WOMEN, 1949
Here is a story that zips along at a breakneck speed and again points to the reason why James Hadley Chase has gained such a world-wide reputation for explosive and non-stop action. To Floyd Jackson, private investigator and blackmailer, comes Cornelius Gorman with a odd proposition. Gorman looks after the interests of a number of big stars. Veda Rux is a young woman known in the profession as a stripper. The previous night, Gorman explains, she performed at a dinner given by millionaire, Lindsay Brett, who has recently acquired a priceless dagger, reputed to be made by Cellini. The dagger is shown to the guests and then locked in the safe. Veda Rux is a somnambulist and takes the dagger from the safe in her sleep, only discovering what she has done when she has left the millionaire's house. Gorman wants Jackson to return the dagger to the safe before the theft is discovered. Jackson is sure the story is a tissue of lies. In his own words : "I should have told him to jump into a lake. I wish I had now. It wouldn't have saved me a lot of grief, and being hunted for murder. But I thought I was smart enough to play it my way, and keep out of trouble, so I said I'd do it.
He was too smart for Gorman, when he fell in love with Veda his doom was sealed. From the moment he agrees to return the dagger, he is caught up in a relentless intrigue that makes him a cats paw for murder.
Extract :
I took the card from my pocket, checked the combination and then started on the dial. I held the flashlight on the dial and turned carefully : one full turn to the right, a two-second wait, one half turn back, another wait, a full turn to the right, another wait and half turn to the right again. Just the way Parker had said. Then I took hold of the knob and pulled gently. I didn't expect anything to happen, but it did. The safe opened.
" A compulsive suspense story that has stood the test of time. "
MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
 

YOU'RE LONELY WHEN YOU'RE DEAD, 1949
It began as just another routine assignment for Vic Malloy, head of Universal Services. He'd been hired to watch the lovely Anita Cerf, whose millionaire husband suspected her of being a kleptomaniac. Everything was going fine until one of Malloy's operators was found dead - brutally murdered while working on the Cerf case...
Determined to find the killer himself, Malloy tried to interview Anita Cerf - but the lady was unavailable and had completely disappeared. So Vic Malloy found himself on the trail of a vicious murderer who was quite prepared to kill more than once. And the only person willing to help was a gorgeous red-head who swore she was just going along for the ride... but was she ?
Other introduction :
" Once I accept a client I protect him. Once the fee is paid, and it's a big one, there are no other payments. It's a millionaire's service, and every job we do carries with it a guarantee of secrecy. "
But Vic Malloy - head of Universal Services - wasn't to know that this job would be different. This time the job involved murder - starting with the brutal killing of one of his operators. And if he was going to keep that guarantee of silence, Malloy had to beat the cops to the murderer...
Other introduction (Panther Book) :
A millionaire's wife - suspected of kleptomania ! Just another routine assignment for Vic Malloy, head of Universal Services, until - one, Vic's operator on the case is suddenly and brutally murdered; two, the millionaire's wife vanishes; and three, the husband denies he ever hired Vic - and threatens to sue him if he goes to the police !
From that moment on, Vic, determined to play a lone hand and find the killer, is caught up in a series of ruthless murders and macabre situations that succeed each other with the punch and speed of a rivet gun.
You're Lonely When You're Dead confirms James Hadley Chase's reputation as the leading writer for all-action, toughness-plus thrillers that demand to be read at a sitting.
Other introduction :
" Don't you ever play ? "
Anita Pitt's voice was low and husky.
- " Sure, " I answered, " but not with the wives of my clients. "
Anita smiled mockingly . She moved close to me and put her arms around my neck.
- " My husband doesn't care a fig for me, " she purred. Before I could stop her she was kissing me with cool, experienced lips...
Vic Malloy, private op, had been hired by millionaire John Pitt to watch his wife, Anita. So far it seemed like a routine case of a doting husband trying to keep his kleptomaniac wife out of trouble. Suddenly Anita vanished, and one of Vic's aides was brutally killed - and Pitt denied that he had ever hired Vic. Then Vic found that his case of wife-spying had all at once become a deadly tangle of blackmail, blonde dynamite - and MURDER !
" The way he builds up a plot, layer upon layer, is so effective. "
Bernard Levin, SUNDAY TIMES
 

THE PAW IN THE BOTTLE, 1949
HARD, RUTHLESS, AMORAL..
that was Julie Holland - a good-time girl who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. And when the chance came to play a major role in a furs robbery she jumped at it. Luck smiled on her for even when everything went wrong with the plot and the gang-leader was arrested for a murder of which he was innocent, Julie still emerged from it with a thousand a year and a Mayfair flat.
But she was not satisfied yet - and the inevitable fate of the over-greedy awaited her. 
Other introduction :
"Have you ever heard how they catch monkeys in Brazil, Julie ?" Let me tell you. They put a nut in a bottle, and tie the bottle to a tree. The monkey grasps the nut, but the neck of the bottle is too narrow for the monkey to withdraw its paw and the nut. You would think the monkey would let go of the nut and escape, wouldn't you ? But it never does. It is so greedy it never releases the nut and is always captured. Remember that story, Julie. Greed is a dangerous thing. If you give way to it, sooner or later you will be caught."
" Genuinely tense. "
OBSERVER
 

LAY HER AMONG THE LILIES, 1950, ( = TOO DANGEROUS TO BE FREE )
It was odd that a healthy young heiress like Janet Crosby should die of heart failure. Odder still that on the day she died she sent a note and $500 to Vic Malloy, private investigator, asking him to trace the person who was blackmailing her sister.
Intrigued by the note, Malloy tried to see Maureen Crosby but only got as far as her nurse - a curvaceous blonde with an engaging bedside manner. Next he tried to see Janet's personal maid, but found that somebody else had reached her first and made sure she wouldn't talk to anyone - ever again...
Unless he dropped the case Malloy knew he would almost certainly become the killer's next victim ; but when the blonde nurse disappeared and a hired gunman tried to shot him, it seemed he didn't have any choice left...
Other introduction :
It was unfortunate that an unopened letter should have been left in the pocket of an old mackintosh for fourteen months. Particularly since the writer of the letter - Janet Crosby, the millionaire heiress - died of heart failure on the day the letter was written.
When Vic Malloy, Director of Universal Services, eventually opened the letter he found $500 and instructions to probe the affairs of Janet's wayward sister, Maureen. But by this time Maureen had come into Janet's fortune, with the proviso that she lost all the money if she became publicly involved in a scandal.
Malloy decided to visit the Crosby mansion to try to talk to Maureen, but when he left he found he was being trailed by a hired gunman whose orders were obviously to get him out of the way - fast...
Other introduction :
Once again Vic Malloy, at Universal Services and Orchid City, California, fishes in waters so troubled they make a maelstrom look like a millpond.
Janet Crosby's letter was the problem - it was unfortunate that it should have lain fourteen months forgotten in the pocket of an old raincoat, and doubly unfortunate that Janet, a millionairess, should have died of an heart attack the day the letter was written. For the envelope enclosed $500.00 and instructed Vic to look into the affairs of Janet wayward sister, Maureen.
And now Maureen had Janet's fortune... But the will provided that she lose it all if she become involved in a public scandal. So when Vic took an interest in the Crosby family, he found a strong-armed stranger taking an interest in him; and thereafter murder followed mayhem and violence with nasty suddenness.
Other introduction :
" A Policeman's Lot is Not A Happy One" What, never ?
Certainly, the lot of Vic Malloy, private detective, wasn't always a happy one - not while he was on the Crosby case. Gangsters machine-gunned him, and the official police beat and kicked him and he was chained in a cell with a maniac who tore out his keeper's throat with his teeth - before he turned on Vic !
But, once in while, there were happier moments. For instance, let Vic tell you about that luscious bit of blondness called Nurse Gurney :
" ...I let my lips rest against her temple. She seemed to like that... She came against me, her mouth on mine. We stayed like that for some time. Then suddenly she pushed away and stood up. For a moment I thought she was just a kiss-and-good-by-girl, but I was wrong. She crossed the room to the door and turned the key. Then she come back -..."
" He has such a strong intelligent, highly-turned thriller-talent that he goes drifting past the opposition like Jim Clark through a school of commuter cowboys. He take off smoothly on a theme and is doing a ton before you notice. You may be horrified by his characters, but your sympathy races along with them. He makes no pit-stops, like other writers, but he goes on driving at the point of issue : and though you may be sometimes hanging on to your stomach you never ask him to stop to let you get out."
Alan Hunter, EASTERN DAILY PRESS 
 

FIGURE IT FOR YOURSELF, 1950, ( = THE MARIJUANA MOB )
A gray-pink bra and girdle lay in a soiled heap with her dress and stockings. The thought of the warm, soft flesh they had concealed started that muscle in my jaw twitching. I moved towards the bathroom door. I knew she was there. She had to be.
She was in one of those soft, clingy blue nightgowns. I walked towards her and took her hand. It was cold and the room stank from marijuana smoke...
Extract :
A man in a black uniform of a chauffeur lay on his back. I didn't have to touch him to know he was dead . There was a purple hole in the centre of his forehead, and a lot of blood had soaked into the Mexican rug on which he was lying. His yellow-brown hands were set rigid, his fingers were hooked like claws, and his small, brown face was twisted in a grimace of terror.
 

MALLORY, 1950
A small French resistance group comes to London after the war to avenge the death of their leader, betrayed to the Gestapo by one of their members. But the traitor, Mallory, proves more than a match for them, and two of them are killed. The remaining three call in outside aid. They pick on Martin Corridon, an ex-commando, who accepts the commission to kill Mallory for £1,500, meaning to double-cross the avengers as soon as he gets the money. But it doesn't work out that way and Corridon is forced to search for Mallory from the dens of Soho to a remote Scottish island...
Other introduction :
THE COLD KISS OF DEATH...
A blood-curdling sound brought him to his feet and to the door. Before he could open it the house shook to a tremendous crash in the hall. Then he jerked open the door... she lay at the foot of the stairs in a huddled heap, her head bent back at a hideous, unnatural angle; one long naked leg pointed up the dark staircase like an accusing finger... 
 

STRICTLY FOR CASH, 1951
'Strictly for cash' is the story of how Johnny Farrar made his roll of money. He started out to make five thousand and ended up with a quarter of million. But he didn't get it by legitimate means. And as a result, he found himself in big trouble. From the moment the reins of the richest casino on the Florida coast fell into his hands, he was sucked into a whirlpool of suspense, intrigue, murder and ruthless ambush from which he was unable to tear himself free.
'Strictly for cash' is a non-stop hair-trigger thriller by today's undisputed king of action and suspense, James Hadley Chase.
Extract :
" It was the kind of punch that would have flattened an elephant if it had landed, but it didn't land.
I moved inside and socket him with my special right hook that travelled about four inches and had my whole weight behind it. It exploded on his jaw with a devastating impact and he went down as if he'd been pole-axed. I didn't wait to see if he were going to get up. I knew he wouldn't. When they go down like that, they stay down "
 

WHY PICK ON ME ?, 1951
The dice were loaded against them... but survival could be bought - for a price
Milly Lawes a Piccadilly streetwalker, found a strange ring in her room one day. An hour later she was dead, and the ring gone. Scotland Yard knew all about the ring though ; so did the Secret Service, and before very long, did Martin Corridon, ex-Commando, ex-M15, ex-ethics of any kind... Corridon didn't really want to know, didn't want to work with the service again, but Milly had been a sort of friend, and the thought of her cut throat and blood soaked bed was enough to send him off on a trail of sabotage and murder. A trail that had him running as hunter, and hunted...
Other introduction :
She was only a streetwalker, and in her world everything had its price, even the unusual ring she had found. What she didn't know was that the price was death. Colonel Ritchie and Inspector Rawlins knew all about the ring and what it stood for but it was left to ex-commando Corridon to get to the vicious criminals behind the ring - and the world of terror they ruled.
Other introduction :
Rawlins pushed open the door and walked into the big, airy bedroom where Detective-Sergeant Yates with two other plain-clothes detectives were testing for finger prints. At the far end of the room stood the blood-soaked bed. Corridon followed him in the room, hands in trouser pockets, his face set hard. Rawlins took Milly's handbag from where it stood and emptied the contents on to the floor, the pathetic symbols of her abruptly ended life.
" It's not here, " Rawlins said, " the white jade ring, it's not here... "
 

BUT A SHORT TIME TO LIVE ****, 1951, (= THE PICK UP)
Most people didn't object to having their photograph taken and a street photographer like Harry Ricks had to take chances sometimes, it was part of the job. But when he snapped a beautiful girl one evening in Leicester Square, he didn't bargain on being beaten up in an alley and having the film torn from his camera...
And when the same beautiful girl became his fiancée, Harry was in deep trouble - there were too many questions he couldn't answer. She was a model, used to the good times - what did she see an ordinary guy like him ? Where did the expensive gifts she gave him come from ? And what kind of power the man she called her agent have over her...?
Written with tremendous speed and punch, has an ending that comes like the crack of a whip.
Other introduction :
Clair Dolan was the most beautiful girl Harry had ever seen. Blue-back hair falling down over her shoulders, pretty face, the longest legs in the world. She lived in a beautiful flat in a classy area ; she wore elegant clothes and had a glamorous job as a model. When she took Harry back to her place, she fixed him a meal fit for a king, food and wine like he hadn't seen in years. Clair was certainly a classy lady... such a pity she was a pickpocket...
 

IN A VAIN SHADOW, 1951
" Bodyguard required. Ex-Commando preferred. Good prospects and pay for the right man. " - it looked like a good number, and Frank Mitchell was out of a job. And he had all the qualifications.
The body needing guarding was Sarek, a black-market dealer in smuggled diamonds - but the body that really caught Frank's attention was Rita's. Rita was Sarek's wife, and she'd been waiting a long time for the foolproof plan to rid herself of the skinny little crook who called himself her husband... The prize was high - freedom for her, and a parcel of diamonds for the man who helped her. Frank walked in at just the right moment... 
Extract :
I've often thought about that moment. I have had all kinds of moments ; good, bad, exciting, funny and happy moments. But this moment was like none of the others. It was "the" moment, making anything else that's ever happened to me as colourless and dull as a cold in the head.
One look at her was enough. Just one quick look turned my insides to stone and filled my head and chest with blood. As bad as that. Just one look at her was like walking into a sucker punch... Just one look at her and I was a dead duck. I knew it and didn't care. I knew she was fatal too, and didn't care about that either...
 

THE WARY TRANSGRESSOR, 1952
TAKE YOUR PARTNERS FOR MURDER !
The sensuous splendour of Lago Maggiore, Milan and Florence is a setting for a ruthless murder plan... a sinister danse macabre, the first steps of which are taken when a young army deserter falls into the hands of a wealthy and cruel woman planning to kill her husband and step-daughter.
But, unexpectedly, Fate intervenes and sets a deadly trap for - The Wary Transgressor...
James Hadley Chase is regarded by thriller fans everywhere as the undisputed King of the crime story. Once you have read this thrill-packed novel you'll see why.
Other introduction :
THEY WERE PARTNERS IN A SINISTER DANSE MACABRE... WITH DEATH AS ITS FINALE
He met her when he was down and out, guiding tourists around the sights of Milan. She was rich, beautiful and self-assured. He was a down-at-heel drifter on the run from the police. So when she suggested having lunch with him, David couldn't believe his luck.
But it wasn't really luck that had arranged their meeting. It was just a small part of the plan, Laura's plan, in which David stood to inherit over six hundred thousand lire. All he had to do was help commit a murder.
Written with the swift, sure efficiency that had put James Hadley Chase in the top echelon of thriller writers : you will be hooked until the last page.
 

THE FAST BUCK, 1952, (=THE SOFT TOUCH) 
The International Detective Agency had spent fifteen patient and fruitless years trying to recover the fabulous Chittabad jewel collection stolen by Paul Hater - now "safe" and silent on the notorious Bellmore State Prison Farm, Louisiana. But the Agency weren't the only interested party.
A curious and complicated alliance of ruthless underworld figures had also been attracted by the four million dollar glittering prize... and they'd hired the services of a man who could be relied upon to see the job through. Baird had a singular reputation - he was a born killer...
Other introduction :
Paul Hater, an infamous jewel thief, is arrested when trying to dispose of a necklace belonging to the Chittabad collection which mysteriously vanished on route from India to New-York.
No amount of police "persuasion" will make him reveal where the rest of the collection is hidden, and he his sentenced to twenty years imprisonment at the notorious Bellmore State Prison Farm, Louisiana.
For fifteen years, the International Detective Agency, acting on behalf of the insurance companies involved, have searched for the missing collection. Their one hope now is to wait until Hater has completed his prison term, and to rely on a false move by him to lead them to the hiding place of the collection.
But before he is released, Hater is kidnapped from prison by a ruthless gang who are determined to force his secret from him and get their hands on the four-million dollar collection.
Chase is one of the very rare thriller writers capable of always replying intelligently to the question : "What happens next ?" He must be considered as one of the greatest story tellers of today, if his inventiveness, his feeling for a situation and absolute personal style are taken into consideration.
Jacques Robichon - LA REVUE DE PARIS
Hadley Chase is a born novelist; under his pen adventures unfold without a hitch; characters begin to live. Graham Greene apart (to whom nevertheless Chase gets near now and again) Chase is the only one to have succeeded in expressing romanticism, purity - not to say puritanism - through violence, hardness and the wilful realism of the American tough school.
Juliette Raabe - LE MONDE
 

DOUBLE SHUFFLE, 1952
Why would an obscure blonde dancer who performed in a G-string - with a deadly snake for a partner - be insured for a million dollars ? That what Steve Harmas, special investigator, had to try and find out. It was supposed to be simply a publicity stunt - a trick to get Susan Gellert's name in the newspapers - but somebody stood to gain an awful lot of money if she died. And Steve was sure that whoever it was didn't intend to wait very long before collecting the compensation money...
Other introduction :
Susan Gellert, a strip-tease dancer, takes out personal accident insurance policies for a million dollars for publicity purpose only. The policies are so worded that it would appear no claim could be made against the insurance companies if the girl happened to die.
Maddux, head of the claim department, has a hunch, based on years of experience, that these policies are blue print for murder. Working under his direction, Steve Harmas, an insurance detective, begins a secret investigation into Susan Gellert's past and present activities. From then on he becomes involved in a baffling, sinister and intricate plot to defraud the insurance companies of a million and half dollars.
Other introduction :
" And now, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to present to you that brilliant, courageous and beautiful young dancer who twice nightly risks her life to give you the most sensational dance of the century ! Ladies and gentlemen : Susan Gellert in the Kiss of Death ! "
The lights flashed up and in the middle of the stage stood a blonde girl in a G-string with a six-foot cobra draped around her neck. The neck in question being insured for one million dollars...
Other introduction :
INSURED : For sudden death
WHO persuaded the gorgeous burlesque queen to insure herself for one million dollars ?
WHO knew that there was one way to kill her that no one could ever foresee ?
WHO discovered an amazing family coincidence just in time to make a monstrously clever murder possible ?
There were the baffling questions that Steve Harmas' boss at the giant insurance company expected him to answer when the company found itself stuck with the strangest policy in the world. Steve and his never-at-a-loss wife, Helen, track down mystery fiction's shrewdest killer in the fastest, most exciting thriller you have ever read.
 

I'LL BURY MY DEAD, 1953
It is the story of organised blackmail, punctuated by sudden and gruesome murder, peopled by ruthless killers, shady cops and Mr. Chase's own particular brand of young ladies.
She leaned against the wall, sweat running down her face, her knees sagging, feeling the pain as it moved inside her as if it were alive. She was too frightened to pull out the knife. She held on to the handle, crying weakly as she felt her life draining out of her.
A voice said, " Lie down and die, you bitch, " and a hand came out of the darkness and shoved her savagely and violently to the ground.
 

THE THINGS MEN DO, 1953
WHEN HE GAVE HER A LIFT, HE PICKED UP MORE THAN HE COULD HANDLE
When garage-owner Harry Collins gave attractive, wanton Gloria Selby a lift after her car had broken down on a dark road, he let himself in for a king-sized load of trouble. By the time she 'd finished with him his marriage was in ruins, his best friend had been murdered in a mail robbery and he was running from both the police and a vicious gang of big-time criminals. Harry was determined to get even, to avenge his friend's death and his wife's anguish. He had plenty of guts. And then he got himself a gun...
The Things Men Do is a tense, tough Hadley Chase shocker which doesn't pull its punches - or spare the bullets.
It is the best Chase so far. Once started, one cannot stop reading. I am amazed at his skill as a writer. The intricate plot of the book seems an easy succession of events which find their place with perfect timing and impact. It is a wonderful peace of writing.
 

THIS WAY FOR A SHROUD ****, 1953
MISS ARNOT IS IN THE SWIMMING POOL, MINUS HER HEAD...
The brutal murder of June Arnot, famous screen actress, and the massacre of all her servants is just the curtain raiser to this chill-a-page novel.
The D.A. suspects that June Arnot was the mistress of Jack Maurer, boss of a billion dollars' worth of rackets. For fifteen years he has been trying to bring Maurer to trial. Is this the opportunity he has been waiting for ? His case depends on one terrified and unwilling eye-witness, but can she survive Maurer's vengeance and be persuaded to talk... ?
Other introduction :
Sergeant O'Brien, a tall thin man with hard eyes and a flock of freckles, came out of the lounge. " Found anything ? " Bardin asked. " Some slugs, nothing else. No finger-prints that aren't accounted for. It's my guess the killer just walked in, shot down everyone in sight and then walked out again without touching a thing. "
James Hadley Chase hits his peak, in the opening pages of this new thriller, hots up evermore the furious pace, and ends up with an almost underplayed, infinitely deadly double-take climax on the very last page.
Extract :
Ferrari picked it up, folded it into four and put it in his pocket without looking at it.
" How do you want me to kill them ? " he asked.
" I'll leave that to you, " Gollowitz said. " But it is essential that both of them should appear to die accidentally. "
Ferrari pursed his thin lips.
 " When are they to die ? " he asked, sitting down.
 

THE SUCKER PUNCH***, 1954
This is a confession of a cold-blooded and brutally planned murder told by Chad Winters, whose ruthless ambitions and violent infatuation for a woman inspire him to attempt what seems to him to be the perfect murder.
Set against the background of a Californian cost town and the sunlit canals of Venice, James Hadley Chase's new thriller once again maintains his reputation of writing a novel that must be read at a sitting. 
Other introduction :
Chad Winters was a small-time bank clerk - until he was put in charge of the Shelley account. Vestal Shelley was plain, a bitch... and worth over seventy million dollars. No one had ever dared to stand up to her before - but Chad, determined to get his hands on her money, found the perfect way to treat her... and ended up as her husband. But he hadn't reckoned on failing violently in love with Vestal's secretary - a ruthless woman who also wanted her share of the fortune... and who cunningly turned Chad's thoughts to murder...
Extract :
I was shaking from head to foot. The only thing that came into my mind were Leggit's words when we had talked after the fight: It's when a guy gets full of confidence he's wide open for a sucker punch. I've seen it again and again in my racket. Some guy commits murder. He takes a lot of trouble and thought to cover it up, fakes himself an alibi or maybe makes it look like it's been done by someone else. Then he imagines he's safe, but he isn't.
 

TIGER BY THE TAIL, 1954
One night of midsummer madness... and Ken Holland, a respectable, married bank official, jeopardises his happiness and his future. The sudden temptation to kick over the traces while his wife is away lands Holland up to his ears in a vortex of political intrigue and murder. Set against a background of gangster politicians, blackmailers, gunmen and hard-boiled characters, the action of this explosive thriller takes place over a period of only thirty hours.
But what hours they are !
" Chase somehow manages to be almost insanely readable. "
THE OBSERVER
 

SAFER DEAD, 1954, ( = DEAD RINGER )
The Editor of a monthly crime and detection magazine assigns to two of his staff writers, Sladen and Low, the investigation of the strange disappearance of an unknown showgirl.
The disappearance was reported fourteen months earlier, but the trail is cold. The police, with nothing to work on, have lost interest. The assignment doesn't look hopeful.
However, the investigators start asking questions and almost immediately things begin to happen. Witnesses are murdered, an attempt is made to do away with the investigators. The police once more open the case. The disappearance of the showgirl is found to be only a minor part of a ruthless murder plot.
Safer Dead has the authentic James Hadley Chase touch, which has deservedly earned him the title of " Master of the Art of Deception ". It moves with the pace and power of forked lightning.
Other introduction :
When he discovered that a missing showgirl had been last seen thrown into the lake encased in cement, Crime Facts writer Chet Sladen knew he was on the hottest story since the classic crimes of the long-ago Prohibition gang fights. And when that blonde's three best friends vanished too - Chet knew that being nosy would make him the next to go.
For they sure didn't want that story in print. Not in that exclusive luxury town where extra tough police force kept things lovely for its millionaire home-owners. But being a crime-writer and dreaming of headlines was Chet's undoing. Because both the underworld and the cops were thinking the way he was - and had him on their secret Wanted lists for fast action !
" The most remarkable among British and American thriller writers... masterly... brilliant, miles ahead. "
STAR (London)
 

MISSION TO VENICE, 1954
SUDDEN DEATH LURKS ALONG THE CANALS OF VENICE
That's what Don Micklem, millionaire American playboy on the trail of a disappearing one-time British agent, discovered the hard way. Had this quarry been murdered - or had he committed treason ?
Micklem's adventures, his fight against a ruthless political organisation and his narrow escapes from violent death, all set against a taut background of Venice's sinister waterways, make a deep-freeze chiller of a book that will compel the reader to read it through at a sitting.
Other introduction :
Don Micklem finished off the final letter and gave a sight of huge relief.
" This sure has been a hectic two months, " he admitted to his secretary, " and I'm certainly looking forward to my four lazy week in Venice. "
Micklem would have been wiser - much wiser, had he only known it - to spend his lazy four weeks in Devon, or even no further than Brighton... Because, to Venice, had come a man by the name of John Tregarth, and in that beautiful city something shocking had happened to him. And the backwash was rolling to sweep the unexpecting Micklem under.
" James Hadley Chase has a clear cut approach to murder. His heroines have curves and know all the angles. His private eye has all the gentle charm of a knuckleduster. "
EVENING NEWS
 

MISSION TO SIENA, 1955
For years the world-wide operations of a mysterious and ruthless extortioner who called himself the Tortoise had baffled Scotland Yard and the police forces Of Europe. But, slippery thought he was, he was no match for the fast-thinking, fast-action Don Micklem, a wealthy American who got the Tortoise's trail and tracked him to his lair...
James Hadley Chase is universally recognized as the thriller maestro of the generation. His intricate, fascinating plots and his sizzling, machine-gun-fast action are unrivalled by any other writer.
Other introduction :
Don Micklem again ! This time at grips with a mysterious and ruthless extortioner who calls himself the Tortoise. Don's hunt for the Tortoise takes him to the medieval city of Siena where he finally tracks him to the palazzo vecchio but before he can get to grips with the enemy there are the members of the gang. Felix, the fugitive from Devil's Island, Carlos, the giant negro, Willie who dreams of women and high powered cars, Crantor from whose mutilated face people turn with a shudder and Lorelli, the beautiful go-between with Venetian red hair.
" It is definitely a book to keep you awake long after your bedtime. "
TIME AND TIDE
 

THE PICK UP, 1955, (Canadian title for : BUT A SHORT TIME TO LIVE, 1951)
" I can recommend it without any reservation. "
SUN
 

RUTHLESS, 1955, (Canadian title for : TRUSTED LIKE THE FOX, 1948)
" Fast-paced action story. "
SCARBOROUGH EVENING NEWS
 

YOU'VE GOT IT COMING, 1955
" The world is made up of smart guys who get rich and suckers who stay poor, " Harry Griffin tells his girl friend, Glorie. " I've been a sucker too long ; now I'm going to be smart. I know where I can lay my hands on three million bucks, so I'm going to take them. "
This is the story of how Harry Griffin makes his desperate bid to hi-jack a passenger aircraft while in mid-flight, and steal a collection of industrial diamonds. It is also the story of Glorie Dane who tries to save him from the inevitable consequences of his action.
You've Got It Coming contains all the ingredients, the taut suspense and the excitement that we have come to expect from James Hadley Chase who has been described as by far and away the best writer of thrillers in the English language.
"He can write all but a very few of his competitors into the ground."
TIME AND TIDE
 

THERE'S ALWAYS A PRICE TAG, 1956
We are all familiar with the well-worn and by now, threadbare plot of the man who commits murder and then attempts to make his crime appear to be suicide.
In There's Always a Price Tag, James Hadley Chase turns this old plot inside out and give us a new and electrifying reverse of the coin; the man who attempts to make a suicide appear to be murder in order to lay his hands on the victim's insurance money.
Here is a thriller that will quicken your heartbeat. It is by far the most ingenious story that this "Master of the art of deception" has yet given us.
Extract :
I stopped then because an expression of cold, ferocious hatred jumped into her eyes. It wasn't something I was imagining. It was there, and it sent a chill up my spine.
Cockeyed as it seemed then, I had the impression she was furious with me for having saved her husband's life : cockeyed then, but not now.
Then the green eyes went as expressionless as two bits of glace. She gave me a slow, cool smile.
" How clever of you, " she said, and turned away from me.
There's always a price tag is a masterly Hadley Chase shocker of mounting violence and suspense that builds to a shattering surprise climax.
NEW STATESMAN (London)
 

YOU FIND HIM - I'LL FIX HIM, 1956
FORBIDDEN FRUIT...
When your boss asks you to 'look after' his daughter during her stay in Rome, and when that daughter has a reputation for being fast, dangerous and beautiful, you play it cool - if you're smart. Ed Dawson, newspaper man, was smarter than most. But even he, in this instance, found it impossible to keep his fingers out of temptation's way. And from the moment he arrived in Sorrento to spend an illicit weekend with the girl in her secluded villa by the Mediterranean, Dawson was heading for trouble...
Other introduction :
Helen Chalmers had the kind of figure which could make a man do almost anything she wanted. So when she asked Ed Dawson to spend a month alone with her in a secluded Italian villa, he found himself accepting, even though it was against his better judgement.
His judgement told him he was crazy, that involvement, with Helen would mean trouble as her father, apart from being one of the richest and most influential men in the world, was also his employer. He wouldn't take too kindly to his daughter being compromised by one of his employees. What Ed's judgement didn't tell him was that upon his arrival at the villa he would find Helen lying dead at the bottom of a cliff, and a strange man searching through the rooms with a flash light...
 

NEVER TRUST A WOMAN, 1957, (Canadian title for : IN A VAIN SHADOW, 1951)
" Few storytellers nowadays can match Mr. Chase for sheer pace and gusto. It is this gift that enables him to relate sensational incidents with credibility. "
SOUTH LONDON ADVERTISER
 

THE GUILTY ARE AFRAID, 1957
St. Raphael was the place they called Vacation City - a millionaire's playground of exclusive clubs and pretty girls with expensive tastes.
Inquiry Agent, Lew Brandon, flew to the City after receiving a message from his partner that he was involved on a big case and needed help ; Brandon didn't realised just how fast until he arrived in St. Raphael and found Jack Cheppey dead - pierced clean through with an ice pick.
Suddenly it seemed that everyone wanted Brandon out of town. The police made it clear he wasn't welcome and an influential millionaire threatened to make his stay very unpleasant. But somewhere in Vacation City a murderer was having himself a holiday. Lew Brandon meant to find him and the mysterious blonde who was the last person to see Jack Cheppey alive...
Extract :
" Then watch out. Rankin isn't so bad : he is a reasonable cop, but Captain Katchen is a class all by himself. If there's one thing he hates more than a hotel dick, it's a shamus. If he gets the idea you are poking around on his territory, you're in for trouble, and I mean trouble. "
I finished my drink, then wiped my wrists with my handkerchief. The room temperature was up the eighties.
 

NOT SAFE TO BE FREE ****, 1958, ( = THE CASE OF A STRANGLED STARLET )
Who murdered Lucille Balu, a rising young film star, found strangled to death in a hotel elevator ?
Set against the background of the fabulous Côte d'Azur and the Cannes Film Festival, Chase's new thriller tells the story of a young degenerate with an inner compulsion to kill.
Extract :
It couldn't be possible, she was trying to assure herself, that he was the killer the police were looking for. This boy she has been moved to love so passionately and in whose arms she had passed the night ! It couldn't be ! Nothing could be more horrible !
Neither of them spoke. They just stood in the shadowy bar room, facing each other, with the sounds of the traffic in their ears.
" Realistic and suspenseful far above his average. "
OBSERVER
 

HIT AND RUN, 1958
Lucille Aitken had the kind of body that made men look at her with the kind of eyes you usually see in hungry animals. The very thought of her left Ches feeling as if he'd been hit with a sledgehammer, his mouth dry, heart humping... She was a real knock-out. A lovely lady who had no business being married to a baby-snatching tycoon more than twice her age. Ches had only known her for five nights, yet he knew he'd never be more in love. But falling in love with Lucille was one of the most dangerous games a man could play ; making love to her was playing with fire. Why ? Well, Lucille was just that kind of girl. Dynamite. Worse. Poison...
Other introduction :
Why, suddenly, did lovely Lucille want so badly to learn to drive a car ?
Why was patrol officer O'Brien slain on a lonely beach road when he should have been on a highway some miles distant ?
Why were there bloodstains on the off-side wheel of Chester Scott's Cadillac when they should have been on the near-side ?
And the key question - how could a blackmailer know so much when he couldn't possibly have been on the scene of the 'accident' ?
 

SHOCK TREATMENT, 1959
This is the story of Terry Regan, radio and T.V. salesman, who falls in love with Gilda, the wife of a herd drinking bully who spends his life in a wheel-chair. Because of Gilda's fatal fascination, Regan decides to get rid of her husband so that he himself can marry her; and he hits on an ingenious murder plan. The murderer is to be the television set that stands in the husband's lounge.
But ingenious murder plans have habit of backfiring, and this one is no exception. Once again James Hadley Chase lives up to his reputation for sustained suspense, graphic and economical writing, and on the last page, a complete surprise.
Other introduction :
Terry Regan, who'd dropped into the Delaney's cabin up at Blue Jay Lake to sell them a TV set, took in the situation at a glance. Jack Delaney was a vicious, hard drinking crippled imprisoned in a wheelchair... and his wife Gilda was a lovely, sexy dish.
Things would have stayed that way... if Gilda hadn't indicated her availability - and her unhappiness. She needed Delaney out of the way - permanently. There'd be plenty of money coming to her at his death - enough for her and Terry to start a new life together. Once Terry had made up his mind to kill Delaney the rest was easy. Gilda's husband would be murdered by the controls on his own TV set... 
" James Hadley Chase is a master of the art of deception. "
NEW STATESMAN
 

WHAT'S BETTER THAN MONEY ? ****, 1960
SHE CAME OUT OF HIS PAST TO THREATEN HIS FUTURE...
Out of Jefferson Halliday's past comes Rima Marshall. She's got nothing to lose : she's sunk just about as far as a woman can go. But she still knows enough to put Jefferson in the hot-seat. And he knows that she knows. With the deck stacked this way, blackmail becomes a deadly dangerous weapon to fool around with...
Other introduction :
From out of Jefferson Halliday's past comes Rima Marshall, a woman who has nothing to lose and who has reached the lowest rung of the ladder of degeneracy. She has information that can send Halliday to prison for a long term, and, ruthlessly, she proceeds to blackmail him. But Halliday is a bad subject for blackmail. His method of silencing this woman provides the theme of this action-packed thriller which is written with the pace and tension that has earned James Hadley Chase the reputation of being 'far and away the best writer of thrillers in the English language'.
 

THE WORLD IN MY POCKET ***, 1959
Four desperate men and a girl plan to rob an armoured truck of its million-dollar payroll.
" Get out of here ! " she said, the gun sight steady and pointing at his chest. " The next time you try that little act, I'll kill you. Now get back in your room and stay in there. "
Bleck drew in a long, deep breath.
" Okay, baby, " he said. " Watch out ! I'll fix you for this ! Make no mistake about that ! " He'd fix her ! He'd teach her to throw a gun on him ! She and that bum Kitson ! He'd fix them both !
When they got the money from the truck, he'd put a slug through Kitson's head, and for her, well, that depended.
He suddenly grinned viciously in the darkness.
Like all James Hadley Chase's suspense novels it is a non-stop read.
 

COME EASY - GO EASY, 1960
When Chet Carson broke jail, he thought he'd found a safe hide-out in a lonely filling station. But instead he found himself caught up in a dangerous threesome : an elderly owner, his gorgeous wife Lola, and a safe with a fortune inside, which Lola wanted. Her chance came when she stumbled on Chet's identity and threatened him : " Open the safe or go back to jail ! "
Chet was in dead trouble. They'd crucify him if he landed in prison again. But if he opened the safe, she'd pin the rap on him anyway. Somehow there had to be a third way...
Other introduction :
" Lying on the cans of food was a crumpled newspaper... and slap on the front page was my photograph with a banner headline : ESCAPED SAFE ROBBER STILL FREE.
It wasn't a good photograph, but good enough, and she had pencilled in my moustache on the photograph to tell me that she knew who I was.
In the silence of the safe, clean kitchen, I heard the screams of a man in the punishment cell and hissing crack of the belts as the guards beat him. I saw again the guy who had lost an eye...
My dream of safety dissolved. "
And convict Chet Carson found himself at the mercy of a beautiful, ruthless woman, who ordered him to open her husband's safe and get her the money - or she'd send him back to jail. But events move fast and Chet soon realises that this only chance of survival is to keep the safe locked !
Other introduction :
Every convict dreams of making a break - and Chet Carson did it. Then he had another break, when Jenson gave him a job at the lonely filling station. And then he met Lola, Jenson's sensual redhead wife...
But Jenson has a safe full of money, and Lola wants to feel it in her hands. Carson's the sucker she's been waiting for : "Open the safe and get me the money our you'll go back to gaol!". That was when things really started hotting up, and they get hotter and hotter and hotter...
" His heroines have curves and know the angles "
PANTHER BOOKS
 

A LOTUS FOR MISS QUON ****, 1961
Steve Jaffe, an American business man working in Saigon, discovers two million dollars worth of diamonds hidden in a wall of his rented villa. He learns that these diamonds belong to the Vietnam State ; but he is determined to kept them for himself. The problem is how he is to smuggle the diamonds out of Vietnam and into Hong Kong...
Extract :
Nhan ran up to him and looked up at him as he took her hand.
There was that extraordinary look of adoration in her dark eyes that always startled Jaffe. It was a look he had never seen in any other woman's eyes : it said plainly : you are the centre of my universe, without you there would be no sun, no moon, no stars, no nothing. It was a look of complete and candid love.
Although it flattered his ego to know she loved him so completely at the same time it often embarrassed him; knowing that he himself wasn't capable of loving her in the same way.
 

JUST ANOTHER SUCKER, 1961
The woman was in a Rolls Royce and she had that expensive look that wives of millionaires usually have. Her proposition to Harry Barber seemed easy and highly profitable. Because he was just out of jail, without funds or a future, he agreed to help her. But he took precautions for he didn't quite trust this woman. His precautions didn't go far enough. He guarded against the possibility of a double cross, but not against the possibility of murder.
"Just another sucker" is yet another tense, swift thriller from the master hand of James Hadley Chase.
It is to be read at a sitting on the edge of your chair...
" A really thrilling story which gathers pace steadily, until, all out at eighty and like a car crash on the movies, it hurtles to an agonising end. "
Michael Sadleir
 

I WOULD RATHER STAY POOR, 1962
Like most bank managers, Dave Calvin had acquired an irresistible charm that he could switch on whenever he felt the necessity. Underneath it he was cold, calculating, brutal; a perfect murderer...
For years he waited, watching an endless stream of money pass through his hands, knowing that a risk was only worth taking if the reward was justified. And a three hundred thousand dollar payroll was justification enough, even for murder...
Extract :
Now he was close to this man, he was aware of piercing blue eyes, a lipless mouth, a square brutal jaw, but all this suddenly dissolved into charm when the man smiled : it was a wide friendly smile that softened the brutal lines and made Travers suddenly wonder why he had disliked this man at first sight.
" I'm Dave Calvin, " the man said. " I'm the new manager of the bank. "
" I always enjoy his books... He just keeps me reading. "
George Macdonald Fraser (author of FLASHMAN)
 

A COFFIN FROM HONG KONG, 1962
DEATH OF A CALL-GIRL...
It was the easiest three grand Nelson Ryan had ever made, but suddenly he realised he was being played for a sucker. A telephone call, seemingly innocent enough, led him to the murder of a Chinese call-girl who'd talked too much. It also pitched him straight into the teeming, sordid night life of colourful Hong Kong. From now on, Ryan would stick at nothing to get the killer who'd crossed him up...
Other introduction :
A mysterious voice from the telephone ; a beautiful Chinese girl shot dead ; a rich old man with a troubled conscience ; a private investigator involved in murder ; a Chinese prostitute who talked too much ; and a coffin. There are some of the intriguing ingredients of James Hadley Chase's splendid thriller. It is definitely a book to keep you awake long after your bedtime.  
 

ONE BRIGHT SUMMER MORNING, 1963
Successful dramatist Victor Dermott rents an isolated ranch-house in the Nevada Desert. For two months all is ideal, then one bright summer morning he wakes to find his dog, his guns, his servant vanished, and the telephone dead.
The terror has begun...
Other introduction :
One Bright Summer Morning successful playwright Victor Dermott's personal sky becomes suddenly and brutally overcast...
With wife, baby, Vietnamise servant, and dog he settles down in an isolated ranch-house to work on another money-spinner. Then, one bright summer morning, Victor wakes to find servant, dog - and his shot guns - vanished, the telephone dead, the plugs torn from his car.
...This is the chilling opening of maestro James Hadley Chase's new thriller.
" Agonising tension sustained throughout a first-rate story "
THE STANDARD 
 

TELL IT TO THE BIRDS, 1963
" When a small-time clerk insures his life for fifty thousand dollars and then dies ten days later, I know this is a phoney claim. "
Those who have already read James Hadley Chase's Double shuffle and Shock treatment won't need to be told that Maddox, the best man in the Insurance Claims business, is about to make trouble for someone and that someone is the lush, auburn-haired Meg Barlowe ... a woman with a past.
Aided by Steve Harmas, chief investigator of the National Fidelity Insurance Corporation, Maddox strips the wraps off an ingenious insurance swindle.
Tell it to the Birds has all the suspense and I-can't-put-it-downiness we have come to expect from James Hadley Chase, who " knows better than most how to produce that genuine chill of horror and indeed any other emotion. "
Agonizing tension sustained throughout a first-rate story.
" It is just about the best thing of its own special kind, finely constructed, and with a real feeling of pity and terror. "
Pamela Hansford Johnson
 

THE SOFT CENTRE, 1964
Val Burnett was the attractive daughter of a multimillionaire. Her pleasantly organised life had been cruelly shattered when her husband, Chris received severe brain injuries in a car crash. While convalescing in Florida, Chris disappeared for twenty-four hours, leaving no message or trace of his whereabouts.
During the same night an attractive blonde was found brutally murdered in a second-rate motel, her body hideously mutilated. But while the police were searching for the murderer, an unscrupulous private investigator discovered evidence that Chris was the monster responsible for the killing.
Threatened with blackmail, but determined to prove her husband's innocence, Val set out to trace Chris's movements of the night of the murder and found herself on the trail of a maniac who didn't need a motive to kill again...
Other introduction :
Chris Burnett, successful, wealthy and married to the daughter of a multimillionaire, receives severe brain injuries in a car accident. While convalescing, Burnett disappears for 24 hours, during which time a prostitute is brutally murdered and mutilated. Evidence found by a private inquiry agent points to Burnett. His wife, blackmailed by the inquiry agent, sets out to prove her husband's innocence.
This swiftly moving story of murder and suspense culminates in an unexpected and dramatic climax that is the hallmark of a James Hadley Chase novel.
 

THIS IS FOR REAL, 1965
Robert Henry Carey was a spy who had defected to Russia and when the news leaked out that he had changed sides again an intensive and ruthless manhunt was on. From the glamour and nerve-shattering noise of Paris the hunt switches to the violent and scorched wastelands of Senegal, West Africa.
There is Fat Rossland who doesn't recognise trouble when it sits on his lap; Girland, a dissatisfied agent who is greedy for money - and women; Janine Daulnay who fatally plays the ends against the middle; Radnitz, the sinister tycoon with a past and, finally, Malik, the blond Russian with whom Girland tangles in a deadly battle of wits.
Striking a new note with the background to this action-packed novel of espionage, James Hadley Chase upholds his reputation for compulsive readability that inspired a reviewer to acclaim him as "far and away the best writer of thrillers in the English language. 
Another sizzling murder thriller by the acknowledged master of crime fiction, James Hadley Chase.
OBSERVER
 

THE WAY THE COOKIE CRUMBLES ***, 1965
Ticky Edris, the misshapen dwarf, and Phil Algir, the handsome con-man, devise a cunning plan to rob the safest bank in the world : the impregnable Florida Safe Deposit Bank.
Ruthlessly Edris set the plan in motion ; a junkie call-girl, Muriel Marsh, is murdered, so is her schoolgirl daughter Norena. Her father is the Vice President of the bank...
When sexy Ira Marsh, Muriel's sister, arrives at Paradise City, Florida's crime-free, millionaires playground, the whole plan begins to look as if it is going to work...
Extract :
A heron, startled by the approaching car, flew out of a tree and flapped heavily away. Ahead of them, Norena saw the sea.
" There's the sea, " she said in despair. " This road leads nowhere except to the sea. "
The citrus shrubs had given way to tall pampas grass that swayed like sinister beckoning fingers in the warm gentle breeze.
" Please stop, " she pleaded. " Please... "
A hundred yards ahead of them the road came to an end in a big circular turn-around.
As Algir slowed the car, she again looked at him. His face was drawn and glistened with sweat. His eyes were staring. His lips were set in a hard, vicious line. The sight of him horrified her. She had an instinctive feeling that he was going to attack her.
 

YOU HAVE YOURSELF A DEAL, 1966
Mark Girland's problems begin when a beautiful blonde is found lying on a dark deserted quai in Paris... the initials of the top Chinese atomic scientist tattooed on her upper thigh...
The girl is suffering from acute amnesia. Girland, desperate for money, is ordered by the C.I.A. to get any information he can - by posing as her husband...
But the appeal of the mission begins to wear thin when Girland discovers he has involved himself in a life and death race to extract vital atomic secrets from the scientist's beautiful, sexy mistress...
Other introduction :
On a dark, lonely quai of Paris's 4th arrondissement, a woman is found suffering of amnesia, with the initials of the top Chinese atomic scientist tattooed on her buttock.
This is the opening gambit of the second Mark Girland espionage adventure, a sequel of This is for Real, that surges forward with that compelling readability that has long established James Hadley Chase as the thriller maestro of the generation.
Extract :
'This is Girland. What's the idea sending me a couple of apes to pick me ? I told you to drop dead. Can't you stay dead ?'
'I have a job for you', Dorey said, his voice soft and smooth as butter. 'There's money in it. Don't act hard to get, and besides there's a woman in it too.'
Girland thought of his eight francs and seventy-two centimes. 'How much money ?'
Dorey knew this wasn't the time for cheeseparing. 'Ten thousand francs', he said promptly.
Girland suppressed a whistle. 'Have you been drinking Dorey ?'
'Get over here and don't be insolent !', Dorey snapped.
'How about the woman... what's she like ?'
'Swedish, young, blonde and beautiful', Dorey said.
'Oh, boy !', Girland laughed. 'Sounds right up my alley. You could have got yourself a deal.'
 

CADE *****, 1966
James Hadley Chase has gained a world-wide reputation as the author of fifty-eight successful novels of suspense.
But every so often he departs from his expected thrill-a-minute plot as he did with two of his most successful books : Eve and Miss Shumway Waves a Wand : both filmed and paperback big sellers.
In his new novel, Cade, Chase adds a third novel to the unexpected out-of-the-usual Chase thriller.
Here is a story of an alcoholic press photographer, set against the torrid background of Mexico, the glittering lights of New York and the snow-covered mountains of Switzerland.
He finished his drink, then picked up his Minolta, he walked over the bridge to reach the far side of the pool and made his way with easy strides to the public beach.
Without knowing it, he was about to keep a fatal appointment with his destiny. It was on this hot sunny afternoon that he first met Juana Roca, a woman who was to ruin him to the wreck of a man who was later to be beaten nearly to death in a town called Eastonville.
Other introduction :
Cade was lucky. He was famous, wealthy, sought after, and his creative talent for photography set him in a class of his own. Success hadn't spoiled him. He remained generous and unselfish... a simple man with a brilliant talent, and a champion of the infortunate and the persecuted.
But like most creative artists he had his failings : he was extravagant, he drank more than was good for him, and was over-fond of the company of beautiful women. For a long time he escaped the logic of his failings... until Juana Roca, the young Mexican girl, swept into his life.
Within a few months, Cade's luck had changed. Few people would have recognised the alcoholic wreck of a man left for dead on the streets of a town called Eastonville...
Extract :
Cade stepped away from the balcony and lowered his camera. He was trembling, but he knew he had a set of pictures that would speak far louder than any pictures he might have taken of the freedom march.
Now he wanted a drink. He mowed uneasily back into the room, then he stopped short, a cold surge of shock flowing up his spine.
His eyes like wet stones, Mitchell stood in the open doorway. The two men stared at each other, then Mitchell mowed into the room, shut and locked the door.
" Give me that camera, you sonofabitch, " he said.
 

HAVE THIS ONE ON ME, 1967
Alec Worthington, the C.I.A. man in Prague, has suddenly found the climate disagreeable. He wants out.
The C.I.A., not unused to this kind of problem, decide the best way is in a box... but then the real problems begin.
How to find a replacement and settle him into the job without attracting suspicion ? The answer is a decoy, a dispensable agent. Someone like Mark Girland, a man with a fatal weakness for money and women. A man known to the Russians, and a man the C.I.A. would be only too willing to lose.
But Girland has another basic instinct... the will to survive.
Other introduction :
Set against the background of the city of Prague, and on the frontiers of the Iron Curtain, the third of Mark's Girland adventures shows him still on the lookout for money and women.
 

WELL NOW, MY PRETTY ****, 1967
Serge Maisky has dreamed for years of the Big Steal - a brilliant plan to rob the Paradise City Casino where the richest gamblers in the world fought battles at the turn of a card...
But this superb, minutely-planned robbery was to go horribly wrong. For too many other people - some of them members of Maisky's own gang - had plans to get rich quick on those two and half million dollars !
Other introduction :
For years Serge Maisky has dreamed of the Big Steal. What better place, he decided, than the Paradise City Casino, where the richest gamblers in the world fought battles on the turn of a card ? There he would be able to lay his hands on vast sums of money.
Here is the story of the Casino robbery written with the swift, sure efficiency that has put James Hadley Chase in the top echelon of thriller writers.
You will be hooked until the last page.
Other introduction :
Serge Maisky has a record as long as your arm. In and out of jail all his life, he'd dreamed for years of the Big Steal that would set him up for good. Now he was all set to make it. He'd bribed one of the girls who worked in the vaults of the Paradise City casino. Nothing, but nothing was going to stand between Maisky, his four specially-recruited accomplices and all that loot. Especially not some punk of a guard who turned up just at the wrong moment. And it was just their tough luck if his partners-in-crime got themselves shot in the belly by a girl they'd taken time out to rape or knocked off by the cops. All to the good, in fact, as far as Maisky was concerned - it meant more money for him. So when lovely Sheila and her husband Tom heisted all this hard-earned cash for him, Maisky got mad. Real mad...
" Vintage Chase, sex, blood and betrayal "
SUNDAY CITIZEN
 

AN EAR TO THE GROUND ***, 1968
THEY WERE AFTER TWO MILLION DOLLARS IN JEWELS BUT THEY GOT MORE THAN THEIR MONEY'S WORTH OF TROUBLE...
They were the most professional team of jewel thieves in the whole United States. And they came to the swank Florida resort town of Paradise City to relieve the rich of their expensive gems and trinkets to the sweet tune of a cool two million dollars. But no plan can cover the emergencies caused by explosive passions. Especially when these include lust, adultery and the blind love of a fast buck at any price...
Other introduction :
The Esmaldi necklace has a tale to tell and it is told by Al Barney, beachcomber, who described himself as a guy with an ear to the ground. All the ingredients that have made James Hadley Chase one of the top thriller writers of modern fiction are here : sex, hate, jealousy, beautiful wanton women, and murder - plus a cunningly devised robbery.
Extract :
" You're not getting three hundred goddamn dollars out of me ! " Martha shrilled, her face turning red.
Johnny stared at her, his eyes ice cold.
" Listen to me, you stupid sow, " he said, his voice soft but vicious. " Do you or don't you want to swing this job ? "
Martha reared back in her chair as if he had threatened to hit her. Henry got to his feet and walked over to Johnny. He put himself between Johnny and Martha and looked levelly at him.
" That wasn't a nice thing to say, Johnny. You don't talk like that. I won't allow it ! "
Johnny half-lifted his clenched fist. Henry remained motionless, looking straight into Johnny's hot, angry eyes. The two men, one frail and old, the other powerful and young, regarded each other for a long moment, then Johnny suddenly grinned and relaxed.
" I like guys with guts, " he said. " And that's what you have got, Colonel. "
" An intelligent and harshly revealing peace of work with not a little serious penetration of power. "
THE TIMES
" Quite the best thing Chase had done for years... I can recommend it without reservation "
SUN
 

BELIEVED VIOLENT, 1968
The Russians will pay $4,000,000 for the top secret formula of a revolutionary new metal... and the C.I.A. will do anything to stop them.
American inventor Dr Paul Forrester is the man that both sides want. For he alone can decipher the vital code. But for two years Forrester has been in a mental asylum - ever since that bloody day he walked in on his beautiful wife and her lover...
So pretty Nona Jacey, Forrester's former lab-assistant, becomes a helpless pawn in the power struggle to possess the scientist... for she is the key to unlocking Forrester's mind.
Other introduction :
He walked silently to the bedroom door, holding the knife by his side. He heard the sound of movement. He heard the one man he had regarded with trust, say, " Who wants a drink, baby ? I know what I want. "
" Get me a drink ! " There was snap in her voice that always dominated any man. " We have all the time in the world. He won't be back until tomorrow. "
" Okay. Maybe I could use a drink myself, but you stay right where you are... understand ? "
He heard her laugh.
" I'm not going to run away. "
The bed creaked - the bed he hadn't shared with her now for a long time. He listened to the sound of naked feet padding over the parquet floor. The door swung open.
The two men confronted each other. The tall man drove the blade of the knife forward and down, then ripped up...
 

THE WHIFF OF MONEY, 1969
This is the fourth Mark Girland thriller - that layabout character who will do most things for money. Against the background of the forests and castles of Bavaria, the plot revolves around Girland's dangerous search for three pornographic films featuring the daughter of the future President of the United States.
The ingredients that have made James Hadley Chase "the King of Thriller writers" are all there. Girland… beautiful women… edge-of-the-chair suspense and unputdownable reading with the master Soviet Agent, Malik, and the killer Lu Silk hovering in the shadows.
James Hadley Chase hits his peak in the opening pages of his new thriller, hots up evermore the furious pace, and ends up with an almost underplayed, infinitely deadly double take climax on the very last page.
 

THE VULTURE IS A PATIENT BIRD, 1969
Kahlenberg, millionaire and a compulsive collector of art treasures steals a famous poison ring, once owned by Caesar Borgia, from a rival collector.
Kahlenberg's museum is hidden in the Drakensberg range and can only be reached through the dangerous swamps and the steamy heat of the Basutoland jungle.
A Criminal, a professional Smuggler and a White Hunter together with a beautiful woman to act as their Trojan Horse are hired to recover the ring.
 

LIKE A HOLE IN THE HEAD, 1970
HE HAD NINE DAYS TO TURN A GUN-SHY BOY INTO AN EXPERT KILLER. OR ELSE...
Jay Benson had been one of the U.S. Army's top snipers. In Vietnam he'd killed eighty-two Vietcong. But making the School of Shooting he'd taken over outside Paradise City pay was a tougher proposition than the Vietnamese jungle.
So when the sinister Augusto Savanto turned up with an offer of fifty thousand dollars if Jay turned his gun-shy son into an expert shot, in just nine days, he accepted. 
Then he discovered the horrific reason why Savanto wanted his son made into a marksman. But there was no backing out now for Jay. Savanto was holding his beautiful young wife Lucy as a hostage for his co-operation...
Other introduction :
Jay Benson, fresh out of the U.S. Army after years of service - three of them as a sniper in Vietnam.
His newly acquired wife Lucy - easy on the eye... but with much more to her than meets the eye.
The newly acquired school of marksmanship bought by Benson - but quickly losing money.
And the menacing appearance of a South American gang boss with the proposition - train my son, Timoteo, up to killer standards within nine days, and there's $50,000 in it for you, Benson.
Add a high-powered vice and drug operation as only American gangsterdom knows how to run one.
Have the whole hard-driving story structured by James Hadley Chase - and you simply can't miss.
 

THERE'S A HIPPIE ON THE HIGHWAY, 1970
It seemed like a good idea at the time to ex-paratrooper sergeant Harry Mitchell, home after three years in the deadly jungles of Vietnam. Head south to Florida, get a summer job, soak up some sun, relax a bit. But when he got to Paradise City he found himself drawn into a lethal set-up where dumped corpses, smuggling operations, over-ambitious cops, hired killers and a sexy little double-crosser called Nina combined to make life very unhealthy.
It was just as well for Harry Mitchell that he'd learned to look after himself in Vietnam...
"There's a hippie on the highway" is a brilliant Hadley Chase shocker, packed with suspense and violent action galore and with the savage power of a .45 automatic.
Other introduction :
Ex-paratrooper sergeant becomes lifeguard at Florida beach restaurant owned by a giant Mexican criminal with explosive nymphomaniacal daughter. The sergeant finds life far more dangerous than in Vietnam...
 

WANT TO STAY ALIVE ?, 1971
A Seminole Indian, an easy-rider and his beatnik girl arrive in Paradise City, the playground for millionaires. They survey the scene and the Indian plans to spread terror through the opulent City and once terror has gripped, then to begin a systematic demand for money.
Do you want to stay alive ? Pay-up or else...
Chase is your guarantee for a non-stop read. Pick up this book and you're dead to the world and who doesn't want to be dead to this world for three or four hours ?
Other introduction :
THREE AGAINST PARADISE CITY
Paradise City is a playground for America's multimillionaires.
The THREE are an easy rider, his beatnik girl, and a seminole Indian. They meet up along Florida's golden coast. They have in common an urge to get rich quick. The rider is broke - but has scored two killings. The Indian has a few bucks - plus a gun. And a plan.
' Fear is the key that opens wallets, ' he explains. ' I have found a formula for fear. '
Just like that, using the Indian's formula... and his gun... the three of them unleash a reign of terror on the playground.
Want to stay alive ? is the newest insanely readable, no-holds-barred James Hadley Chase.
Other introduction :
THE FORMULA FOR FEAR
Poke Tohola, a seminole Indian, was onto a smart racket. His formula was that fear is the key that unlocks the wallets and the handbags of the rich. But Chuck, a cop-killer at 18, and Meg, beddable but dumb, didn't work to formula. The three of them turned Paradise City into Panic City. Then Detective Lepski lumbered in...
" An old master on top form"
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
 

AN ACE UP MY SLEEVE, 1971
An Ace Up My Sleeve' is a story of blackmail.
It's a story of three people, all out for one thing : all determined to do anything to get it.
It's a story of bluff and counter-bluff, a game which develops into a deadly battle of violence and extortion.
From the moment Helga Rolfe, the elegant wife of one of the richest of tycoons, picks up a gum-chewing boy, young enough to be her son, events jump, bank and skid through a series of 180 degree turns and hair-raising gambits, racing to a climax of shattering impact, for both winners and losers...
 

JUST A MATTER OF TIME, 1972
TAKING AN OLD LADY FOR A RIDE IS A CINCH IF YOU'RE HER CHAUFFEUR...
It was just a matter of how. Alice Morely-Johnson was worth several million bucks, dead or alive. A retired concert pianist, she had a penchant for attractive young men, rings and riches. The man in the front seat was Bromhead, also a master forger. He infiltrated Sheila who was prepared to use her beautiful body whenever necessary, and Chris Patterson, the attractive young man with all the right connections.
Alice's will became their target, which made the crime just a matter of time...
Other introduction :
Take a rich old lady - preferably for every penny she's got. Not a bad scheme. But how ? Take her for a ride - preferably as her chauffeur. Infiltrate a partner in crime as her companion, make the old girl's will the target, and you've got a chance of landing over one million bucks. It's just a matter of time...
 

YOU'RE DEAD WITHOUT MONEY, 1972
CRACKING THE BIG-TIME WAS GOING TO BE A CINCH...
Joey Luck and his beautiful daughter Cindy were ace shoplifters and pickpockets. But Cindy has bigger ideas.
When they were joined by Vin Pinna, expert thief ant thug on the run from Miami, prospects improved, but kidnapping ex-movie star Don Elliot wasn't such a good idea ; until he made the trio a quartet in crime. The crime ? Stealing stamps worth a million dollars.
And the route to the stamps was Judy Larrimore, nympho daughter of their owner.
She was just Vin's style...
Other introduction :
This is an Al Barney story - Al, that heavy drinking, heavy eating character who knows all the secrets, scandals and crimes behind the luxury façade of Paradise City - the man with his ear to the ground. In the crowded, smoky Neptune Tavern he tells of four ill-assorted people - Don Elliot, ex-movie star ; Joey Luck and his daughter Cindy, small-time 'dips' ; and Vin Pinna, a vicious gunman - in search of eight Russian stamps worth a million dollars.
What with complications, twists, tension and treachery, this is one of the master crime writer's finest thrillers.
 

HAVE A CHANGE OF SCENE, 1973
Larry Carr, diamond expert, finds himself in need of psychiatric treatment. The Alienist tells him to have a change of scene ; to get away from his opulent surroundings, to go to Luceville, an industrial town of poverty, to engage himself in welfare work and to think of others rather than himself. This seemed to be sound advice, but Carr was not to know that by going to Luceville he was to become involved in a criminal world and with Rhea Morgan, a vicious, sensual thief, just out of prison.
Here we have all the expected ingredients that have made James Hadley Chase "the king of all thriller writers". Turn off the television set, lock your doors and keep the light burning... you have Hadley Chase in your home.
" The thriller expert is back in his compulsive style. "
MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
 

KNOCK, KNOCK ! WHO'S THERE ?, 1973
This is the story of Johnny Bianda who worked for a Mafia-controlled organisation - a man with a dream of owning a boat which he could charter to the rich fishermen off the coast of Florida. To achieve this dream he steals $186,000 belonging to the organisation. But he knew the organisation would eventually find him and kill him. It was a matter of time.
He decided a year or so would be worth the risk so long as he could feel the rise and fall of a deck under his feet. He knew there had to be a knock on his door... it came sooner than he thought.
 

SO WHAT HAPPENS TO ME ?, 1974
Hi-jacking an aircraft has become the fashionable disease, and Colonel Bernie Olson, ex-bomber pilot much decorated in the Vietnamese war, is not immune. He plans to hi-jack a ten-million-dollar aircraft, and calls in Jack Crane, his ex-flight mechanic whom he knows has a criminal background, to help him out. But plans can be upset, especially when women become involved - particularly such women as Victoria Essex ("a blue print of a bitch") and the red-hot Pam Osborn, Olson's girl-friend. 
" As always, Chase delivers the goods in no uncertain terms. The story-line is straightforward and he never falls below his own standard of excellence. "
GRIMSBY TELEGRAPH
 

THREE OF SPADES, 1974 (Robert Hale - ISBN 0-709-14516-0)
Compilation of 3 novels : The double shuffle, 1952, Shock treatment, 1959, Tell it to the birds, 1963.
 

GOLDFISH HAVE NO HIDING PLACE, 1974
Steve Manson's magazine dealt in corruption : he attacked the rich, the powerful and the famous - and he made enemies. In a job like that, you couldn't afford to have dirty secrets of your own. With the whole town itching for you to make a slip, it was like living in a goldfish bowl. But Steve have lived clean - until his beautiful, extravagant wife was caught shoplifting, and suddenly he was up to his neck in the dirtiest secret of all - blackmail and murder...
Other Introduction :
" I lifted the lid off a lot of corruption and consequently made a lot of enemies. This I had to accept. I went after the administration and the politicians. After the fourth issue, I knew I was a hated man, but I kept strictly to facts and there was nothing anyone I attacked could do about it. "
But Steve Manson was wrong. There was a lot they could do. And his own wife gave them the best chance in the world...
Extract :
" What a goddamn fuss about a bottle of perfume. Well, I suppose you had better give him the money. " She got to her feet. " It was stupid of me, but all the girls do it : why shouldn't I ? As he said, considering your success, it is not a lot of money. "
She started for the door. I don't think I have ever been so angry. I jumped to my feet, came around the desk and caught hold of her wrist as she was reaching for the door handle. I slapped her across her face so violently that if I hadn't been holding her wrist she would have fallen. As it was, she cannoned against the wall and went down on her knees. I jerked her upright and with a savage shove, sent her spinning into her chair. She landed breathless, her hand against her red, burning cheek and she looked hatred at me.
" You bastard ! "
" James Hadley Chase is a thriller writer of masterly ingenuity. Several times you think you know what will happen.
Well, you don't. "
Joseph Taggart
   

BELIEVE THIS... YOU'LL BELIEVE ANYTHING, 1975
IT WAS IN PARADISE CITY THAT THE PAST CAUGHT UP WITH CLAY
Clay Burden had married his sluttish young wife, Rhoda, because he was tired of being on his own. Val had walked out on him, and if he couldn't have Val, maybe marriage would make him forget her.
Six years later, working in Paradise City, Clay met Val again. Married to the powerful and sinister Henry Vidal, she had changed... still beautiful and passionate, still compelling... but tense and nervous, driven by odd fears and anxieties...
When Clay left his job and joined the Vidal empire, what had begun as a sneaking feeling of unease hardened into stone-cold certainty. Val must be released from the hypnotic influence exerted over her by her husband, even if Clay had to murder to set her free...
Other introduction :
Out of the past comes a woman Clay Burden had loved and idolized. Believing she was lost to him, he has married. He finds she too has married. To him the situation presents no problem : a double divorce and the problem is solved. It doesn't work out like that. There are many complications which include hypnotism and murder.
Set against the opulent background of Paradise City with hurricane 'Hermes' providing a roaring and lethal back-drop, Believe This... You'll Believe Anything lives up to its title.
Other introduction :
Was Henry Vidal's empire tottering ?
His house on Paradise Largo was hired - so were his six cars ( including a Rolls ) and his yacht. His six TV sets and five electronic typewriters were also hired - even his wife jewellery. So far, he'd always paid on the nail - but the word was going round that Vidal's credit wouldn't hold out much longer...
Clay Burden felt uneasy about having joined Vidal's outfit. It was Val's idea - the lovely, frightened Mrs Vidal, who'd meant everything to Clay six years ago. Now Clay had found her again, he didn't mean to let her go... even if it meant jeopardising his career... or resorting to desperate measures to free Val from the spell cast over her by her strange, dwarfish husband... 
 

THE JOKER IN THE PACK, 1975
Helga, a shrewd and ruthless woman, had married Herman Rolfe, one of the world's richest tycoons, but Helga has a weakness : a frustrating and compelling sexual urge boiling up in her... Crippled, suspicious Herman, guessing she's played around, had decided to put a tail on her and was proposing to write some nasty looking terms into his will... 
Rolfe made an unsteady move forward, his eyes blazing.
" How dare you pry into my private papers ! You whore ! " he exclaimed harshly.
" I would rather be a whore than a crippled joke ! " she screamed at him.
Then it happened.
Blood rushed to his face, his mouth twisted, the canes slipped out of his hands and clattered on the floor. He clutched at his chest. The agony that swept through his thin body made her close her eyes. Then he toppled forward, suddenly boneless and fell at her feet.
Would he die ?
Other introduction :
When Herman dies, she thought, I wil inherit sixty million dollars and I will be free to do just what I like. I can have any man I want... when he dies !
Sun-soaked Nassau... Helga Rolfe, flying in to join her elderly millionaire husband, Herman, found plenty of bad news awaiting her. Crippled, suspicious Herman, guessing how she's played around since their marriage, had decided to put a tail on her and was proposing to write some nasty looking terms into his will...
Herman was right, of course - Helga's weakness was for handsome, sexy-men like Harry Jackson, who she met on the beach the day she arrived. But Harry was not quite what she thought - and because of him she found herself in a nightmare world of blackmail, voodoo and violence. 
 

DO ME A FAVOUR - DROP DEAD, 1976
Keith Devery arrived in the small town of Wicksteed with a criminal record and a lot of ambition. And when he met Frank Marshall, a local drunk who was about to inherit a million dollars, he knew that here was a golden opportunity to get back into the big league.
Marshall's mysterious wife Beth agreed with him... and together they ruthlessly plotted the perfect murder. Then Keith found that he had himself been set up... and that Beth had plans of her own once the money was hers...
James Hadley Chase, long acclaimed as the king of all-out thriller excitement and suspense, has added another novel of tension, sex and underworld intrigue to his world-bestselling list.
Other introduction :
Keith Devery, burdened with a criminal record, arrives in Wicksteed, a prosperous little town on Pacific coast. He is looking for any job that will provide eating money. It is when he meets Beth Marshall whose husband is to inherit a million dollars that his thoughts turn to murder.
Here is a tightly told novel of suspense written with the expertise we have come to expect from James Hadley Chase : an explosive, non-stop read.
Other introduction :
Getting to my feet, I moved around the big room, feeling distrust and suspicion nibbling at my mind...
From the moment when she had left the house with Bernstein, I had had this vague suspicion she was walking out on me, and now the suspicion turned into a frightening reality.
Feeling cold and sick, and now realizing that I had been taken for a sucker... I sat for some minutes, staring out of the window.
" Okay, Beth, " I said aloud, spitting out the words. " Don't imagine you'll get away with this ! I'll find you ! You owe me half a million and I'm collecting it ! "
" The thriller maestro of the generation "
MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
 

MY LAUGH COMES LAST, 1977
Farrell Brannigan, President of the National Californian Bank, builds yet another bank at Sharnville, an up-and-coming town on the Pacific coast. Using the brilliant know-how of young electronics expert, Brannigan feels justified in calling his new bank : "The Safest Bank in the World". The press give the new bank a world-wide publicity.
But some forty years ago, when Brannigan was a young and rising banker, he made an implacable enemy. This man, with a pathological urge for revenge, attemps to break into " The Safest Bank in the World".
James Hadley Chase tells the story as only he can.
Don't go to bed with this one, unless you want to stay awake all night.
Other introduction :
' The safest bank in the world ' they called it - at least, the Press did, when they gave it world-wide publicity on its opening. And Farrell Brannigan thought it was a pretty good name too : he'd built it and safeguarded it with the help of a brilliant electronics expert. Foolproof. But the man who planned on breaking into the bank was no fool - he was a ghost from Brannigan's past, with a king-size grudge... a long time enemy with a pathological craving for revenge. Blackmail and murder were just games to him - and before long, a whole lot of other dirty things were crawling out of the past...
 

I HOLD THE FOUR ACES, 1977
Helga Rolfe was blonde, beautiful, and bright enough to control her own multi-million empire. But not to control her secret weakness... she was sex crazy. And former lover, Archer, knew it. He had an old score to settle with her and he needed cash. When handsome gigolo Christopher Greenville crossed his path, he'd found the way to both.
With Archer's coaching, Chris conned Helga into wanting him badly enough to propose marriage, and when Archer faked Chris's kidnapping, she was ready to pay the huge ransom. But events took a frightening twist when the local Mafia joined the action...
Other introduction :
" All good plans should be simple, " Archer told Greenville. " After three days in the Castagnola villa, and after you've convinced Helga you want to marry her - and screwed her blind - you'll be kidnapped and held to ransom, for two million dollars. "
" Have you gone out of your mind ? Me ? Kidnapped ? " Greenville gasped.
" This will be a fake kidnapping, but the ransom won't be faked, " Archer said. " I know Helga. Convince her you want to marry her, and we have her where we want her. Love, marriage, no longer lonely... Then suddenly you are kidnapped, and if she doesn't pay the ransom she'll never see you again. She has so much money she won't hesitate. We collect the two million : one for you, one for me. She outsmarted me once, now it's my turn... "
" Unexpected twists and turns of plot are the main feature. "
EVENING NEWS 
 

MEET MARK GIRLAND, 1977 (Robert Hale ISBN 0-709-15818-1)
This is for real, 1965, You have yourself a deal, 1966, Have this one on me, 1967
This bumper volume contains three complete novels tracing the checkered career of Mark Girland, layabout Secret Agent with a weakness for money and women.
This is for Real sees Girland chasing from Paris to the scorched wastelands of Senegal in search of Robert Henry Carey, twice defected spy. You Have Yourself a Deal finds him back to Paris to identify a woman suffering from amnesia, and bearing the initials of a top Chinese atomic scientist tattooed on her buttock.
In Have This One on Me he is in the city of Prague - still seeking money and women.
All three stories have that compulsive readability that earned James Hadley Chase the reputation of the thriller maestro of the generation.
Other introduction :
Mark Girland, a dissatisfied agent with a craving for money and women, turns up in Paris, in Senegal, in Prague ; anywhere, in fact, where there's espionage afoot, and anywhere there's the whiff of money - and women.
James Hadley Chase has been called 'far away the best writer of thrillers in the English language', 'the thriller maestro of the generation', 'master of art of deception', 'one of the great story tellers of today'. Pick up a passport to oblivion with these three stories, pick up a Chase and you're lost to the world.
 

CONSIDER YOURSELF DEAD, 1978
Kidnapping is rife in Italy, but was there another reason why Carlos Grandi, billionaire, put his daughter behind an electrified fence, guarded by savage dogs and two fast shooting guards ?
Mike Frost, always in search of big money, got the job as second guard. Kidnappers sold him the idea to be the " inside man ". There was no other way to kidnap Gina Grandi.
Here is the story of a kidnap plan worth twenty million dollars that turned sour and finished with a High Noon shoot out.
If you are looking for a non-stop read, this is it.
" One of the best of this author's books."
SUNDAY TIMES
 

A CAN OF WORMS, 1979
Russ Hamel, a millionaire author, marries for a second time. His wife, Nancy, is twenty-two years younger than he is. He receives poison pen letters, hinting that Nancy is having an affair. He employs a detective agency to watch his wife. Bart Anderson, the operator assigned to watch Nancy, is living far beyond his means. He discovers Nancy is not leading a blameless life. Pressed by increasing debts and a bleak future, he turns blackmailer.
Yet another of James Hadley Chase's non-stop reads. 
" The thriller maestro of the generation."
MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
 

YOU MUST BE KIDDING, 1979
There was only one clue : a small, golf ball button torn from a jacket and found near the horrifyingly mutilated body of a young hooker. A small button, but a large clue... for there were only four men in the city who wore those buttons.
Detective Tom Lepski of the Paradise City police quickly settled for one of them : Ken Brandon, an insurance agent. But just as he was wrapping-up the case, the other murders began.
Other introduction :
The only clue that could lead to the arrest of a homicidal killer was a golf ball button, torn from the jacket the killer was wearing - and found beside the horrifying mutilated body of a young hooker...
Detective Tom Lepski tracked down four owners of such a jacket but just when he is sure he has his man - two more shocking killings occur and Lepski is faced with the trickiest case he has ever had to try to solve...
Extract :
" You are not to call Mehitabel an old rum-dum. Now listen. She looked into her crystal ball and she has given me three clues. She said first you must look for a blood red moon. Second, you must look for a black sky. Third, you must look for an orange beach. Then, and not before, you will find this maniac. "
Lepski lifted his head from his hands and gaped at his wife. " A blood red moon ? A black sky ? An orange beach ? "
" That's what she said. "
 Lepski released a whistle that could have stopped a train.
" Did she give that out before or after she had emptied my bottle of Cutty Sark ? "
 

YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN, 1980
Jerry Stevens, an out-of-work bit-part movie actor - with several lousy Westerns to his credit - is offered a job at one thousand dollars a day to impersonate John Merril Ferguson, one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. It is explained to Stevens that Ferguson needs to complete a secret deal and, as the world's press is continually watching his every move, Ferguson needs a stand-in. This seems reasonable to Stevens, and the money is beyond his wildest dreams.
But from the moment he agrees to impersonate Ferguson, he is thrown into a nightmare of intrigue, murder and stark terror.
" If you want entertainment you could scarcely do better. "
THE TIMES
 

TRY THIS ONE FOR SIZE, 1980
When Claude Kendrick, owner of a shadily-run art gallery in Paradise City, was approached by Ed Haddon, the King of art thieves, to find a buyer for a priceless icon of Catherine the Great, he thought his greediest dreams had come true ! For Herman Radnitz, the multimillionaire, was prepared to pay six million dollars. But there was a catch - Radnitz wanted the icon delivered to Zurich as part of the deal.
To his joy, Kendrick learnt of a couple travelling to Europe. All he had to do was make sure that the icon was planted on them unawares... the couple in question were none other than Detective Tom Lepski and his pretty wife...
Extract :
Lepski closed his eyes.
" Eat up darling. Don't sit here looking like a street accident. "
Carroll giggled. "It's allright. I'll let you into a secret. "
Lepski eyed her.
" Look, baby, is this some goddamn anniversary I've forgotten ? You've been spending money like crazy. You know we haven't any monay. "
" I know you haven't any monay, but I have. "
Lepski eyes narrowed.
" Since when ? "
" Since this morning. You remember Mr Ben Isaacs, my special client when I worked at the American Express ? "
" Sure. The old fink who had his hand up your skirt every time he came into the office. "
" Lepski ! Don't be coarse ! Mr Isaacs never did such a thing ! "
Lepski leered.
"Maybe, but it was in his mind... the same thing. "
" Let me tell you, Lepski, Mr Isaacs was a nice, decent old gentleman with a heart of gold. "
Lepski pointed like a gun dog.
" You mean he's croaked ? "
" He died, and he remembered me in his will. What do you think of that ? "
Lepski laid down his knife and fork.
" How much ? "
" Never mind how much. Wasn't he kind ? After all, I was only doing my job and..."
" How much ? " Lepski bawled in his cop voice.
" Don't shout at me, Lepski. " Carroll began to eat again.
" HOW MUCH ? " Lepski bawled.
Carroll sighed, but there was laughter in her eyes.
" If you must know : thirty thousand dollars. "
" THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS ? "
" The old maestro's magic story-telling never flags. " 
BIRMINGHAM EVENING MAIL
 

HAND ME A FIG-LEAF, 1981
Colonel Parnell, the boss of The Parnell Detective Agency, receives a letter from an old frog-farmer, Frederick Jackson, who reminds him that his son, Mitch Jackson, served in Parnell's regiment in Vietnam and won the Medal of Honor posthumously.
I need a detective, the letter goes on. My grandson has disappeared. The local police show no interest. I rely on you to find the boy for me because of what my son did for your regiment.
Dirk Wallace, one of the Parnell's operators, is given the assignment, which look simple enough until Wallace arrives at Searle, a small, gossip-ridden town near where Frederick Jackson has his frog-farm.
Against the background of croaking frogs, deceit and murder, Wallace's search for Johnny Jackson, the missing grandson, becomes not only complicated but deadly dangerous.
 

HAVE A NICE NIGHT ****, 1982
If Detective Tom Lepski of the Paradise City police hadn't shot down a runaway killer, a group of jewel thieves and a group of Cubans, after ransom money ; would not have collided in the luxurious suite of the Spanish Bay Hotel.
Have a Nice Night has all the ingredients of a taut thriller - a non-stop read. For entertainment you could scarcely do better. So put your feet up and have a nice night with James Hadley Chase.
" Has more claim to be literature than many a literary novel... the author is a born narrator. "
DAILY MAIL
 

WE'LL SHARE A DOUBLE FUNERAL, 1982
This action-packed story takes place within the space of six days. There is no let-up for the moment the Florida State police begin the hunt for a vicious young killer who has no respect for anyone's life.
Holed up in a remote fishing-lodge owned by Perry Weston, a successful movie script-writer, and his wayward wife, this killer is determined to escape or die in the attempt.
We can say to Hadley Chase's millions of readers (his books have been translated into twenty-three languages), this is indeed a vintage Chase.
 

NOT MY THING ****, 1983
MARRIAGE, MURDER AND MAYHEM...
Ruthless tycoon Sherman Jamison is determined to have an heir. He will let nothing stand in his way. Not only his wife unable to provide him with a child, but as a devout Catholic she will not consent to the divorce her husband so desperately wants.
And so Jamison decides to get rid of her.
PERMANENTLY
Not my thing is the powerful, compulsive new novel of betrayal and death from James Hadley Chase, the master of mystery and adventure.
Other introduction :
Jamison finished his drink and set down the glass with a vicious clink. His thoughts now were only for Tarnia.
" Bed with you ? Get out of my sight ! I've had enough of this. I want a divorce ! "
 There was a long pause, then Shannon walked to the door.
" When you want me to go, tell me, " she said quietly. " I will pray for you. "
Jamison heard the door close softly, then he heard her walk slowly up the stairs.
So vicious was his mood, so frustrated his mind, that he said half aloud, " Right, you stupid, religious bitch, you've signed your own death-warrant ! "
 

HIT THEM WHERE IT HURTS, 1984, ( = TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY ? )
A NASTY PIECE OF WORK...
Dirk Wallace is handed a simple assignment : find out who's blackmailing Mrs Thorsen's daughter. Before long, Wallace realises that he's up against some very organised crime.
And when things turn nasty, there's only one thing to do. Wallace and his assistant quite the Acme Detective Agency and go it alone. There's a score to be settled.
And Dirk Wallace doesn't want to have to play by the rules...
Other introduction :
As you enter the apartment, you are faced with a large blank wall. Neither of us had as yet decided what to do with this wall. I thought of book-shelves, but Suzy was all for finding a good copy of modern painting. We spent much agreeable time arguing about this, and I was getting the feeling she was going to get her way.
As I entered the apartment, I was no longer confronted by the blank wall.
Instead, scrawled in aerosol paint in six-inch letters was the message :
KEEP AWAY FROM ANGIE OR ELSE.
He must have been waiting for me behind the front door. He was quick and very expert. I just heard the swish of a descending sap, then saw flashes of light, then there was a complete blackout...
" Most compellingly told. "
THE SUNDAY TIMES
 

MEET HELGA ROLFE, 1984 (Robert Hale - ISBN 0-709-01439-2)
Here in one volume are three of the maestro's complete novels following the path of the rich and ruthless Helga Rolfe : An Ace Up my Sleeve, 1971, The Joker In The Pack, 1975, I Hold The Four Aces, 1977.
 

OMNIBUS, 1993 (Robert Hale - ISBN 0-709-05214-6)
Come easy Go easy, 1960, Cade, 1966, My laugh comes last, 1977.