James Hadley Chase

James Hadley Chase
James Hadley Chase
Born	Rene Brabazon Raymond 24 December 1906(1906-12-24) London, England, United Kingdom
Died	6 February 1985(1985-02-06)
Occupation	Novelist
Genres	Crime fiction, mystery, thriller, detective
Literary movement	Golden Age of Detective Fiction
Influences Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain
Influenced Surender Mohan Pathak
Signature

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.

Biography

Chase, a London-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.

Writing

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.

During World War II, Chase became friendly with Merrill Panitt (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.

Novels

Year published	Title	Central character(s)
1939	No Orchids for Miss Blandish	Dave Fenner Slim Grisson
1940	Lady, Here's Your Wreath	Nick Mason
1941	The Dead Stay Dumb	Chet Sladen
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 (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	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 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	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,John Renick
1962	I Would Rather Stay Poor	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	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	Mark Girland
1969	The Vulture Is A Patient Bird	Max Kahlenberg
1970	Like A Hole In The Head	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	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	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 Monde's 100 Books of the Century, a list which includes No Orchids For Miss Blandish

External links

• "James Hadley Chase - A Tribute"
• "James Hadley Chase"
• James Hadley Chase at the Internet Movie Database
• Raffles and Miss Blandish, review of No Orchids for Miss Blandish by George Orwell
• 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)

 A Forum Tribute to James Hadley Chase