James Hadley Chase
Encyclopedia
James Hadley Chase is the best-known pseudonym
of the British
writer Rene Brabazon Raymond (24 December 1906 – 6 February 1985) who also wrote under the names James L. Docherty, Ambrose Grant, and Raymond Marshall. Chase is one of the best known thriller writers of all time. The canon of Chase, comprising ninety titles, has earned for him a reputation as the king of thriller writers in Europe
. He is also one of the internationally best-selling authors, and 50 of his books have been made into films.
-born son of a British colonel serving in the colonial Indian Army
who intended his son to have a scientific career, was initially educated at King's School, Rochester, Kent
. He left home at the age of 18 and became at different times a children's encyclopedia
salesman, a salesman in a bookshop, and executive for a book wholesaler before turning to a writing career that produced more than 90 mystery books
. In 1932 Chase married Sylvia Ray, who gave him a son. They were together until his death fifty three years later. His interests included photography (he was up to professional standard), reading and listening to classical music, being a particularly enthusiastic opera lover. Also as a form of relaxation between novels, Chase put together highly complicated and sophisticated Meccano models.
During World War II
he served in the Royal Air Force
, achieving the rank of Squadron Leader. Chase edited the RAF Journal with David Langdon
and had several stories from it published after the war in the book Slipstream.
Chase moved to France in 1956 and then to Switzerland
in 1969, living a secluded life in Corseaux-sur-Vevey, on Lake Geneva
, from 1974. He eventually died there peacefully on 6 February 1985.
Prohibition and the ensuing US
Great Depression
(1929–1939), had given rise to the Chicago gangster
culture just prior to World War II. This combined with Chase's book trade experience made him realise that there was a big demand for gangster stories. After reading James M. Cain's novel The Postman Always Rings Twice
(1934), and having read about the American gangster Ma Barker
and her sons, and with the help of maps and a slang dictionary, he wrote No Orchids for Miss Blandish
in his spare time allegedly over a period of six week ends (though his papers suggest it took longer.) The book achieved remarkable notoriety and became one of the best-selling books of the decade. It was the subject of a well-known 1944 essay, "Raffles and Miss Blandish
" (vide Raffles
), by George Orwell
. It also became a stage play in London's West End (produced by George Black), was filmed in 1948 and Robert Aldrich
did a remake, The Grissom Gang
in 1971.
During the way Raymond edited the RAF's official magazine and from that period dates Chase's unusual short story The Mirror in Room 22, in which he tried his hand outside the crime genre. It was set in an old house, occupied by officers of a squadron. The owner of the house had committed suicide in his bedroom, and the last two occupants of the room had been found with a razor in their hands and their throats cut. The Wing Commander tells that when he started to shave before the mirror, he found another face in it. The apparition drew the razor across his throat. The Wing Commander says, "I use a safety razor, otherwise, I might have met with a serious accident—especially if I had been using an old-fashioned cut-throat." The story was published under the author's real name of Rene Raymond in the anthology of RAF writings Slipstream in 1946.
Chase had engaged in a correspondence with Merrill Pannitt (subsequently editor of TV Guide) who provided him with a dictionary of American slang, detailed maps and reference books of the American underworld. This gave Chase the background for his early books with American settings, a number of which were based on events occurring there. Chase never lived in the States though did make two brief visits, one to Miami and the other en route to Mexico.
Chase was subject to several court cases during his career. In 1942 his novel Miss Callaghan comes to Grief (1941) a lurid account of the white slave trade, was banned by the British authorities after the author and publishers Jarrolds were found guilty of causing the publication of an obscene book. Each was fined £100. In the court case Chase was supported by distinguished literary figures such as H.E. Bates and John Betjeman. Later, the Anglo-American crime author, Raymond Chandler
, successfully claimed that Chase had lifted a section of his work in "Blonde's Requiem" (published 1945) forcing Chase to issue an apology in The Bookseller
.
By the end of World War II eleven Chase titles had been published and he decided to adopt a different writing approach. All his books to date had been compared to each other and he wanted to move away from the American gangster scene to the London underworld that had sprung up following the end of German hostilities. He wrote More Deadly Than the Male under a new pseudonym, Ambrose Grant, which was published in 1947 by Eyre and Spottiswode, Graham Greene's publisher at that time. Alerted to Grant's new book Greene gave it high praise as did the critics who had (at the time) no idea that Chase was the author. Contrary to rumours the two authors did not know each other at the time, though they then became friends for remainder of their lives, as Chase's papers and letters reveal. In the early Nineteen Sixties both were involved in the investment scandal involving Tom Roe which was to lead to Green's tax exile from 1966.
In one of the chapters of "The Wary Transgressor" (1952) Chase gave a powerful portrayal of a fanatical General and this part of the book was lifted by Hans Hellmut Kirst
in perhaps his most famous novel The Night of the Generals (which later became a popular film starring Peter O'Toole
in the title role). Chase (who had nothing whatsoever to do with the making of the film) threatened a law suit and Kirst subsequently acknowledged Chase's original idea in his book as did Columbia Pictures who included a credit that the plot of the film stemmed from an original Chase idea.
The first cut of Joseph Losey
's 1962 film version of Chase's thriller Eve (1945), Eva
was considered far too long, running at 155 minutes and the producers, the Hakim Brothers, insisted it not only be withdrawn from the Venice Film Festival, but demanded it be severely cut. When the film finally opened in Paris it was listed as being 116 minutes and was described as the most traumatic disaster of Losey's career. The original book was a psychological study of a prostitute (Chase, with his Wife's blessing, picked out a "lady of the night" offered her £5 and a good lunch if she would let him pick her brains). Set in America, the film version was moved to Venice and starred Stanley Baker
as a Welsh writer who is obsessed with a cold-hearted femme fatale, Eve (Jeanne Moreau
). "Do you know how much this weekend's going to cost me?" he asks Eve. "Two friends, thirty thousand dollars... and a wife." Eve replies "That's something my husband would never do - discuss money."
All of his novels were so fast paced that the reader was compelled to turn the pages in a non stop effort to reach the end of the book. The final page often produced a totally unexpected plot twist that would invariably leave even his most die-hard fans surprised. Early books did contain some violence that matched the era they were written, though this was considerably toned down as plots centred more on circumstantial situations to create the high degree of tension that was the hallmark of his writing. Sex was never explicit, and though often hinted seldom happened.
In several of Chase's stories the protagonist tries to get rich by committing a crime — an insurance fraud or a theft. But the scheme invariably fails and leads to a murder and finally to a cul-de-sac
, in which the hero realizes that he never had a chance to keep out of trouble. Women are often beautiful, clever, and treacherous; they kill unhesitatingly if they have to cover a crime. His plots typically centre around dysfunctional families, and the final denouement echoes the title.
In many of his novels, treacherous women play a significant role. The protagonist falls in love with one and is prepared to kill someone at her behest. Only when he has killed, does he realize that the woman was manipulating him for her own ends.
Chase's best market was France (more than thirty books were made into movies) where all of his ninety titles were published by Editions Gallimard in their Série noire
series. He was also very popular in other European markets as well as Africa and Asia. Following perestroika, Centrepolygraph in Russia contracted to publish all his titles. However, his books failed to take hold on the American market partially due to the fact that the descriptive detail did not appear convincing to the American reader and this together with their misogynist attitude turned off the female market.
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of the British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
writer Rene Brabazon Raymond (24 December 1906 – 6 February 1985) who also wrote under the names James L. Docherty, Ambrose Grant, and Raymond Marshall. Chase is one of the best known thriller writers of all time. The canon of Chase, comprising ninety titles, has earned for him a reputation as the king of thriller writers in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. He is also one of the internationally best-selling authors, and 50 of his books have been made into films.
Biography
Chase, a LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-born son of a British colonel serving in the colonial Indian Army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
who intended his son to have a scientific career, was initially educated at King's School, Rochester, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. He left home at the age of 18 and became at different times a children's encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
salesman, a salesman in a bookshop, and executive for a book wholesaler before turning to a writing career that produced more than 90 mystery books
Mystery fiction
Mystery fiction is a loosely-defined term.1.It is often used as a synonym for detective fiction or crime fiction— in other words a novel or short story in which a detective investigates and solves a crime mystery. Sometimes mystery books are nonfiction...
. In 1932 Chase married Sylvia Ray, who gave him a son. They were together until his death fifty three years later. His interests included photography (he was up to professional standard), reading and listening to classical music, being a particularly enthusiastic opera lover. Also as a form of relaxation between novels, Chase put together highly complicated and sophisticated Meccano models.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
he served in the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, achieving the rank of Squadron Leader. Chase edited the RAF Journal with David Langdon
David Langdon (cartoonist)
David Langdon was an English cartoonist. Born in London, he worked from 1931 in the Architects Department of London County Council, working on his professional qualifications while drawing cartoons as a sideline. In 1937 he was invited to contribute to Punch.He joined the London Rescue Service in...
and had several stories from it published after the war in the book Slipstream.
Chase moved to France in 1956 and then to Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in 1969, living a secluded life in Corseaux-sur-Vevey, on Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva
Lake Geneva or Lake Léman is a lake in Switzerland and France. It is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe. 59.53 % of it comes under the jurisdiction of Switzerland , and 40.47 % under France...
, from 1974. He eventually died there peacefully on 6 February 1985.
Writing
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
(1929–1939), had given rise to the Chicago gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
culture just prior to World War II. This combined with Chase's book trade experience made him realise that there was a big demand for gangster stories. After reading James M. Cain's novel The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Postman Always Rings Twice is a 1934 crime novel by James M. Cain.The novel was quite successful and notorious upon publication, and is regarded as one of the more important crime novels of the 20th century...
(1934), and having read about the American gangster Ma Barker
Ma Barker
Kate "Ma" Barker was the mother of several criminals who ran the Barker gang from the "public enemy era", when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the U.S. Midwest gripped the American people and press...
and her sons, and with the help of maps and a slang dictionary, he wrote No Orchids for Miss Blandish
No Orchids for Miss Blandish (novel)
No Orchids For Miss Blandish is a 1939 crime novel by the British writer James Hadley Chase. The novel was influenced by the American crime writer James M. Cain and the stories in the pulpmagazine Black Mask....
in his spare time allegedly over a period of six week ends (though his papers suggest it took longer.) The book achieved remarkable notoriety and became one of the best-selling books of the decade. It was the subject of a well-known 1944 essay, "Raffles and Miss Blandish
Raffles and Miss Blandish
Raffles and Miss Blandish is an essay by George Orwell written in 1944. It compares the A. J. Raffles crime stories to No Orchids for Miss Blandish by the crime writer James Hadley Chase....
" (vide Raffles
A. J. Raffles
Arthur J. Raffles is a character created in the 1890s by E. W. Hornung, a brother-in-law to Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Raffles is, in many ways, a deliberate inversion of Holmes — he is a "gentleman thief," living in the Albany, a prestigious address in London, playing...
), by George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
. It also became a stage play in London's West End (produced by George Black), was filmed in 1948 and Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich was an American film director, writer and producer, notable for such films as Kiss Me Deadly , The Big Knife , What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? , Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte , The Flight of the Phoenix , The Dirty Dozen , and The Longest Yard .-Biography:Robert...
did a remake, The Grissom Gang
The Grissom Gang
The Grissom Gang is a 1971 American period gangster film directed and produced by Robert Aldrich. The screenplay was by Leon Griffiths, based on the novel No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase. The cinematographer was Joseph Biroc...
in 1971.
During the way Raymond edited the RAF's official magazine and from that period dates Chase's unusual short story The Mirror in Room 22, in which he tried his hand outside the crime genre. It was set in an old house, occupied by officers of a squadron. The owner of the house had committed suicide in his bedroom, and the last two occupants of the room had been found with a razor in their hands and their throats cut. The Wing Commander tells that when he started to shave before the mirror, he found another face in it. The apparition drew the razor across his throat. The Wing Commander says, "I use a safety razor, otherwise, I might have met with a serious accident—especially if I had been using an old-fashioned cut-throat." The story was published under the author's real name of Rene Raymond in the anthology of RAF writings Slipstream in 1946.
Chase had engaged in a correspondence with Merrill Pannitt (subsequently editor of TV Guide) who provided him with a dictionary of American slang, detailed maps and reference books of the American underworld. This gave Chase the background for his early books with American settings, a number of which were based on events occurring there. Chase never lived in the States though did make two brief visits, one to Miami and the other en route to Mexico.
Chase was subject to several court cases during his career. In 1942 his novel Miss Callaghan comes to Grief (1941) a lurid account of the white slave trade, was banned by the British authorities after the author and publishers Jarrolds were found guilty of causing the publication of an obscene book. Each was fined £100. In the court case Chase was supported by distinguished literary figures such as H.E. Bates and John Betjeman. Later, the Anglo-American crime author, Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
, successfully claimed that Chase had lifted a section of his work in "Blonde's Requiem" (published 1945) forcing Chase to issue an apology in The Bookseller
The Bookseller
The Bookseller is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Neill Denny is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine, while Philip Jones is deputy editor, having recently been promoted from the position of managing editor of the Bookseller.com...
.
By the end of World War II eleven Chase titles had been published and he decided to adopt a different writing approach. All his books to date had been compared to each other and he wanted to move away from the American gangster scene to the London underworld that had sprung up following the end of German hostilities. He wrote More Deadly Than the Male under a new pseudonym, Ambrose Grant, which was published in 1947 by Eyre and Spottiswode, Graham Greene's publisher at that time. Alerted to Grant's new book Greene gave it high praise as did the critics who had (at the time) no idea that Chase was the author. Contrary to rumours the two authors did not know each other at the time, though they then became friends for remainder of their lives, as Chase's papers and letters reveal. In the early Nineteen Sixties both were involved in the investment scandal involving Tom Roe which was to lead to Green's tax exile from 1966.
In one of the chapters of "The Wary Transgressor" (1952) Chase gave a powerful portrayal of a fanatical General and this part of the book was lifted by Hans Hellmut Kirst
Hans Hellmut Kirst
Hans Hellmut Kirst was a distinguished German novelist and the author of 46 books, many of which were translated into English...
in perhaps his most famous novel The Night of the Generals (which later became a popular film starring Peter O'Toole
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus Lorcan O'Toole is an Irish actor of stage and screen. O'Toole achieved stardom in 1962 playing T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia, and then went on to become a highly-honoured film and stage actor. He has been nominated for eight Academy Awards, and holds the record for most...
in the title role). Chase (who had nothing whatsoever to do with the making of the film) threatened a law suit and Kirst subsequently acknowledged Chase's original idea in his book as did Columbia Pictures who included a credit that the plot of the film stemmed from an original Chase idea.
The first cut of Joseph Losey
Joseph Losey
Joseph Walton Losey was an American theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood...
's 1962 film version of Chase's thriller Eve (1945), Eva
EVA
Eva or EVA may refer to:* Eva , a given name for women** Eva , a list of people with the name EvaIt may also refer to:-In business and economics:* Earned Value Analysis, a measurement of project progress...
was considered far too long, running at 155 minutes and the producers, the Hakim Brothers, insisted it not only be withdrawn from the Venice Film Festival, but demanded it be severely cut. When the film finally opened in Paris it was listed as being 116 minutes and was described as the most traumatic disaster of Losey's career. The original book was a psychological study of a prostitute (Chase, with his Wife's blessing, picked out a "lady of the night" offered her £5 and a good lunch if she would let him pick her brains). Set in America, the film version was moved to Venice and starred Stanley Baker
Stanley Baker
Sir Stanley Baker was a Welsh actor and film producer.-Early career:William Stanley Baker was born in Ferndale, Rhondda Valley, Wales. In the mid-1930s his parents moved to London, where Baker spent most of his formative years...
as a Welsh writer who is obsessed with a cold-hearted femme fatale, Eve (Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française...
). "Do you know how much this weekend's going to cost me?" he asks Eve. "Two friends, thirty thousand dollars... and a wife." Eve replies "That's something my husband would never do - discuss money."
All of his novels were so fast paced that the reader was compelled to turn the pages in a non stop effort to reach the end of the book. The final page often produced a totally unexpected plot twist that would invariably leave even his most die-hard fans surprised. Early books did contain some violence that matched the era they were written, though this was considerably toned down as plots centred more on circumstantial situations to create the high degree of tension that was the hallmark of his writing. Sex was never explicit, and though often hinted seldom happened.
In several of Chase's stories the protagonist tries to get rich by committing a crime — an insurance fraud or a theft. But the scheme invariably fails and leads to a murder and finally to a cul-de-sac
Cul-de-sac
A cul-de-sac is a word of French origin referring to a dead end, close, no through road or court meaning dead-end street with only one inlet/outlet...
, in which the hero realizes that he never had a chance to keep out of trouble. Women are often beautiful, clever, and treacherous; they kill unhesitatingly if they have to cover a crime. His plots typically centre around dysfunctional families, and the final denouement echoes the title.
In many of his novels, treacherous women play a significant role. The protagonist falls in love with one and is prepared to kill someone at her behest. Only when he has killed, does he realize that the woman was manipulating him for her own ends.
Chase's best market was France (more than thirty books were made into movies) where all of his ninety titles were published by Editions Gallimard in their Série noire
Série noire
Série noire is a French publishing imprint, founded in 1945 by Marcel Duhamel. It has released a collection of crime fiction of the hardboiled detective thrillers variety published by Gallimard....
series. He was also very popular in other European markets as well as Africa and Asia. Following perestroika, Centrepolygraph in Russia contracted to publish all his titles. However, his books failed to take hold on the American market partially due to the fact that the descriptive detail did not appear convincing to the American reader and this together with their misogynist attitude turned off the female market.
Novels
| Year published | Title | Central character(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1939 | No Orchids for Miss Blandish No Orchids for Miss Blandish (novel) No Orchids For Miss Blandish is a 1939 crime novel by the British writer James Hadley Chase. The novel was influenced by the American crime writer James M. Cain and the stories in the pulpmagazine Black Mask.... |
Dave Fenner Slim Grisson |
| 1940 | Lady, Here's Your Wreath | Nick Mason |
| 1941 | The Dead Stay Dumb | John Dillon |
| 1941 | He Wont Need It Now | Frank Storer |
| 1941 | Twelve Chinks and a Woman also The Doll's Bad News |
Dave Fenner |
| 1941 | Miss Callaghan Comes To Grief | Jay Ellinger Raven |
| 1942 | Get a Load of This Get a Load of This (book) Get a Load of This is a 1942 book written by James Hadley Chase. Unlike most of his other books, it is not a single story throughout, but a collection of 14 different short stories... (short story collection) |
|
| 1944 | Miss Shumway Waves A Wand | Ross Millan Myra Shumway |
| 1944 | Just The Way It Is | Harry Duke |
| 1945 | Eve | Clive Thurston Eve |
| 1945 | Blonde's Requiem | Mack Spewack |
| 1946 | I'll Get You For This I'll Get You for This I'll Get You for This is a 1951 UK black-and-white film made by Kaydor. It was directed by Joseph M... |
Chester Cain |
| 1947 | More Deadly Than The Male | George Fraser |
| 1947 | Make The Corpse Walk | Rollo |
| 1947 | Last Page (play) | |
| 1947 | No Business of Mine | Steve Harmas |
| 1948 | The Flesh of the Orchid | Carol Blandish The Sullivan Brothers |
| 1948 | Trusted Like the Fox Trusted Like The Fox Trusted Like the Fox is a 1948 thriller novel written by British author James Hadley Chase. The novel is also alternately titled Ruthless.-Plot:... also Ruthless |
Edwin Cushman Grace Clark Richard Crane |
| 1949 | You Never Know With Women | Floyd Jackson |
| 1949 | You're Lonely When You're Dead | Vic Malloy Paula Bensinger Jack Kerman |
| 1949 | The Paw In The Bottle | Julie Holland Harry Gleb |
| 1950 | Lay Her Among The Lillies | Vic Malloy Paula Bensinger Jack Kerman |
| 1950 | Figure It Out For Yourself also The Marijuana Mob |
Vic Malloy Paula Bensinger Jack Kerman |
| 1951 | Mallory | Martin Corridon |
| 1951 | Strictly For Cash | Johnny Farrar |
| 1951 | Why Pick On Me? | Martin Corridon |
| 1951 | But A Short Time To Live also The Pickup |
Harry Ricks Clair Dolan |
| 1951 | In A Vain Shadow | Frank Mitchell |
| 1952 | The Wary Transgressor | David Chisholm |
| 1952 | The Fast Buck | Verne Baird Rico |
| 1952 | The Double Shuffle | Steve Harmas |
| 1953 | I'll Bury My Dead | Nick English |
| 1953 | The Things Men Do | Harry Collins |
| 1953 | This Way For A Shroud | Paul Conard Vito Ferrari |
| 1954 | The Sucker Punch | Chad Winters |
| 1954 | Tiger By The Tail | Ken Holland |
| 1954 | Safer Dead | Chet Sladen |
| 1954 | Mission To Venice | Don Micklem |
| 1955 | Mission To Siena | Don Micklem |
| 1955 | You've Got It Coming You've Got It Coming You've got it coming is a 1955 thriller novel written by British author James Hadley Chase.-Plot:Harry Griffin, ace Californian Air Transport Corporation pilot, is fired from service and has a relationship with ex model and actress Glorie Dane, who has seen many a man come and go in her life, but... |
Harry Griffin |
| 1956 | There's Always A Price Tag | Glyn Nash, Steve Harmas |
| 1956 | You Find Him, I'll Fix Him | Ed Dawson |
| 1957 | The Guilty Are Afraid | Lew Brandon |
| 1958 | Not Safe To Be Free also The Case Of The Strangled Starlet |
Jay Delaney |
| 1958 | Hit And Run | Chester Scott |
| 1959 | Shock Treatment | Terry Regan |
| 1959 | The World In My Pocket | |
| 1960 | What's Better Than Money | Jefferson Halliday |
| 1960 | Come Easy - Go Easy | Chet Carson |
| 1961 | A Lotus For Miss Quon | Steve Jaffe |
| 1961 | Just Another Sucker | Harry Barber |
| 1962 | I Would Rather Stay Poor I Would Rather Stay Poor I Would Rather Stay Poor is a 1962 thriller novel written by James Hadley Chase.Unlike most novels of the thriller genre, it portrays the main protagonist in the negative.-Plot:... |
Dave Calvin |
| 1962 | A Coffin From Hong Kong | Nelson Ryan |
| 1963 | One Bright Summer Morning | |
| 1963 | Tell It To The Birds | John Anson |
| 1964 | The Soft Centre The Soft Centre The Soft Centre is a work of detective fiction by James Hadley Chase, first published in Great Britain by Robert Hale Ltd. in 1964. The novel in set in Chase's fictional city "Paradise City" and was the first novel to introduce Detective Tom Lepski.... |
Valiere Burnette Paradise City Police Force |
| 1965 | This Is For Real | Mark Girland |
| 1965 | The Way the Cookie Crumbles | Paradise City Police Force |
| 1966 | You Have Yourself A Deal | Mark Girland |
| 1966 | Padillo's Play | McCorkle Padillo |
| 1966 | Cade | Val Cade |
| 1967 | Have This One On Me | Mark Girland |
| 1967 | Well Now - My Pretty | Paradise City Police Force |
| 1968 | An Ear To The Ground | Al Barney |
| 1968 | Believed Violent | Jay Delaney |
| 1969 | The whiff of money The Whiff of Money The Whiff of Money is a 1969 thriller by James Hadley Chase. It is one of his most popular books to have sold innumerable copies worldwide. The book features Mark Girland, one of his most popular characters.- Summary :... |
Mark Girland |
| 1969 | The Vulture Is A Patient Bird | Max Kahlenberg |
| 1970 | Like A Hole In The Head Like a Hole in the Head Like a Hole in the Head is a 1970 thriller love story novel written by James Hadley Chase.-Synopsis:Ace marksman Jay Benson lives a retired life from the army with wife Lucy, trying to start a new life by starting a school for training on shooting... |
Jay Benson |
| 1970 | There's A Hippie On The Highway | Harry Mitchell |
| 1971 | Want To Stay Alive? | Poke Toholo |
| 1971 | An Ace Up My Sleeve | Helga Rolfe |
| 1972 | Just a Matter of Time (novel) James Hadley Chase | Chris Patterson Sheila Oldhill Miss Morely-Johnson |
| 1972 | You're Dead Without Money | Al Barney |
| 1973 | Have A Change Of Scene | Larry Carr |
| 1973 | Knock, Knock! Who's There? | Johnny Bianda |
| 1974 | So What Happens To Me? | Jack Crane |
| 1974 | Goldfish Have No Hiding Place | Steve Manson |
| 1975 | Believe This - You'll Believe Anything | Clay Burden |
| 1975 | The Joker In The Pack | Helga Rolfe |
| 1976 | Do Me A Favour, Drop Dead | Keith Devery |
| 1977 | My Laugh Comes Last My Laugh Comes Last My Laugh Comes Last is a 1977 thriller novel written by James Hadley Chase.- Synopsis:Larry Lucas is a small time worker, who is one day approached by a millionaire,Farell Brannigan, to assist him and start a new bank in town, which should be the safest in the world.Thrilled by the offer,Larry... |
Larry Lucas |
| 1977 | I Hold The Four Aces | Helga Rolfe |
| 1978 | Consider Yourself Dead | Mike Frost |
| 1979 | You Must Be Kidding | Ken Holland Paradise City Police Force |
| 1979 | A Can Of Worms | Bart Anderson |
| 1980 | You Can Say That Again | Jerry Stevens |
| 1980 | Try This One For Size Try This One for Size Try this One for Size is a 1989 film directed by Guy Hamilton, his last film to date. It stars Michael Brandon and David Carradine.-Cast:*Michael Brandon as Tom Lepski*David Carradine as Bradley*Arielle Dombasle as Maggie*Guy Marchand as Ottovioni... |
Paradise City Police Force |
| 1981 | Hand Me A Fig Leaf | Dirk Wallace |
| 1982 | Have A Nice Night | |
| 1982 | We'll Share A Double Funeral | Perry Weston Chet Logan |
| 1983 | Not My Thing | Ernie Kling |
| 1984 | Hit Them Where It Hurts | Dirk Wallace |
See also
- Le Mondes 100 Books of the CenturyLe Monde's 100 Books of the CenturyThe 100 Books of the Century is a grading of the books considered as the hundred best of the 20th century, drawn up in the spring of 1999 through a poll conducted by the French retailer Fnac and the Paris newspaper Le Monde....
, a list which includes No Orchids For Miss Blandish
External links
- "James Hadley Chase - A Tribute"
- "James Hadley Chase"
- Raffles and Miss Blandish, review of No Orchids for Miss Blandish by George OrwellGeorge OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
- Biography of James Hadley Chase
- Brief Bio on selected British Authors
- Some Orchids for James Hadley Chase
- James Hadley Chase bibliographies 1-2 at HARD-BOILED site (Comprehensive Bibliographies by Vladimir)