James Hadley Chase

James Hadley Chase (born December 26, 1906 in London , † February 6, 1985 in Corseaux , Canton of Vaud ; actually René Brabazon Raymond ) was a British thriller writer.

Life

Chase was born the son of an army officer. He was educated at King's School, Rochester, Kent. At eighteen he left home and worked in various jobs. In 1938 he was influenced by reading James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice and wrote the thriller novel No Orchids for Miss Blandish within a few weeks . The book, published in 1939, became a bestseller. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Air Force and made it up to the squadron leader.

James Hadley Chase wrote 96 other novels throughout his life. Most of them are fast-paced gangster stories set in the United States. James Hadley Chase acquired knowledge of the United States from reading non-fiction books about the country and visited Miami and New Orleans on only two occasions. Many of James Hadley Chase's novels were made into films.

He was married to his wife Sylvia for over fifty years, with whom he had a son.

Novels

• 1939: No Orchids for Miss Blandish - No Orchids for Mrs. Blandish
• 1939: The Dead Stay Dumb - Rolling Dynamite
• 1939: He Won't Need it now
• 1940: Twelve Chinks and a Woman - The others are dead ...
• 1940: Lady, here's your Wreath - A ticket for death row (= after midnight)
• 1941: Get a Load of this
• 1941: Miss Callaghan comes to Grief - Miss Callaghan has to bear grief
• 1944: Miss Shumway Waves a Wand - blonde among bandits (= wild magic)
• 1944: Just the Way it is - Hello, is there anyone?
• 1945: Eve - Eva
• 1946: I'll get You for This - a nightcap from the boss (= the coffin with the double bottom)
• 1946: Blonde's Requiem
• 1946: Make the Corpse Walk - corpses are a nuisance
• 1946: Last Page
• 1946: More Deadly than the Male - Satan in Satin
• 1947: No Business of Mine - Not my beer
• 1948: The Flesh of the Orchid (= The inheritance of the Carol Blandish = A grave full of red orchids)
• 1949: You never know with women - make-up for a somnabule
• 1948: Trusted like a Fox
• 1949: The Paw in the Bottle - A touch of violence
• 1949: You're Lonely when You're Dead
• 1950: Figure it out for Yourself - Jeff Barratt's rats
• 1950: Lay here among the Lilies
• 1950: Mallory - We are looking for: Mallory
• 1951: In a Vain Shadow - Sareks Sore
• 1951: But a Short Time to Live - A grave for two
• 1951: Why Pick on me - The Archers' Ring
• 1951: Strictly for Cash - money doesn't stink
• 1952: The fast Buck - He was silent until the end
• 1952: The Double Shuffle - million dollar dance (= dash through the bill)
• 1952: The Wary Transgressor - The Scarlet Mouth
• 1953: The Things Men do - The man with the blue face
• 1953: This Way for a Shroud - The Butcher of Dead End
• 1953: I'll bury my Dead - an eye for an eye
• 1954: The Sucker Punch - Alibi on tape
• 1954: Mission to Venice - Murder on the Grand Canal
• 1954: Tiger by the Tail - bull by the horns
• 1954: Safer Dead - dead people don't talk
• 1955: You've got it coming
• 1955: Mission to Siena - Pay or Die
• 1955: The Pickup
• 1955: Ruthless
• 1956: You find Him - Die Kanaille
• 1956: There's always a Price Tag - you have to pay for everything
• 1957: The Guilty are Afraid - Only matches (= the guilty are afraid)
• 1957: Never trust a Women
• 1958: Hit and Run - Limited Liability Lady
• 1958: Not Safe to be Free
• 1959: Shock Treatment - Sudden and Unexpected
• 1959: The World in my Pocket - On a Friday at half past ten
• 1960: What's better than money - what is better than money?
• 1960: Come Easy - Go Easy - the devil's rest house
• 1961: Just another sucker - stupid people don't die out
• 1961: A Lotus for Miss Quon - lotus flowers for Miss Quon
• 1962: I would rather stay poor - Pittsville wages
• 1962: A Coffin from Hong Kong - A coffin from Hong Kong
• 1963: Tell it to the Birds - No insurance against murder
• 1963: On bright Summer Morning - no day like any other
• 1964: The Soft Center - When the film tears
• 1965: The Way the Cookie Crumbles - The Mini-Killer
• 1965: This is for Real - Destroy after use
• 1966: Cade - Cade
• 1966: You have yourself a deal - Black Pearl from Beijing
• 1967: Well now, my Pretty - It doesn't hurt, baby
• 1967: Have this one on Me - To Prague and back
• 1968: An Ear to the Ground - diamonds for the beast
• 1968: Believed Violent - The death pill
• 1969: The Vulture is a patient Bird - vultures are patient
• 1969: The Whiff of Money - Sweet Perfume Gold
• 1970: There's a Hippie on the Highway
• 1970: Like a Hole in the Head - Nice as a hole in the head
• 1971: Want to Stay Alive? - If you love your life ...
• 1971: An Ace up my Sleeve - Another ace up my sleeve
• 1972: Just a Matter of Time - Well planned is half murder
• 1973: You're dead without Money
• 1973: Knock, knock! Who's there? - Death knocks on the door
• 1973: Have a Change of Scene - fatal change of scenery
• 1974: Three of Spades
• 1974: So what happens to Me? - Crash in paradise
• 1974: Goldfish have no Hiding Place - Where should a goldfish hide?
• 1975: The Joker in the Pack
• 1975: Believe this, You'll Believe Anything - Hurricane of Passions
• 1976: Do me a Favor - Drop Dead - Be so good and die
• 1977: I hold the four aces
• 1977: My Laugh comes last
• 1977: Meet Mark Girland
• 1978: Consider Yourself Dead. You're about to be a corpse
• 1979: A Can of Worms - Married once too much
• 1979: You must be Kidding - a head shorter
• 1980: You can say that again - A double for the trap
• 1980: Try this one for size - don't trust a villain
• 1981: Hand me a Fig-Leaf - What's behind a fig leaf?
• 1982: Have a nice night - nice evening for crooks
• 1982: We'll share a double funeral
• 1983: Not my Thing - Don't get my fur wet
• 1984: Hit them where it Hurts - Payday
• 1984: Meet Helga Rolfe

Film adaptations

• 1952: Blackmailer ( The last page )
• 1956: The man in the raincoat ( L'homme à l'imperméable ) - template: "Tiger by the Tail"
• 1957: Behind blind windows ( Méfiez-vous, fillettes )
• 1957: In the intoxication of the senses ( Une Manche et la belle )
• 1958: The blonde scorpion ( Ça n'arrive qu'aux vivants ) - template: "The Things Men Do"
• 1958: Lured into the trap ( Delit de fuite )
• 1959: The Kanaille ( Les canailles )
• 1961: On a Friday at eleven thirty ...
• 1962: Eva
• 1963: Murder on the Grand Canal ( Voir Venise… et crever )
• 1963: The Devil's Rest House ( Chaire de poule )
• 1964: Waiting room to the afterlife
• 1964: On a hot summer morning ( Par un beau matin d'été )
• 1964: A coffin from Hong Kong
• 1965: The pig in a poke
• 1966: The Blonde of Beijing ( Blonde de Pekin ) - Template: "You Have Yourself a Deal"
• 1966: lotus flowers for Miss Quon
• 1966: Murder in the Grand Hotel
• 1967: The Night of the Generals ( The Night of the Generals ) - Template: "The Wary Transgressor"
• 1968: The Little Brave ( La petite vertu )
• 1970: The Grissom Gang - Template: "No Orchids For Miss Blandish"
• 1970: Ticky - One size too small ( Trop petit mon ami )
• 1972: Just a matter of time ( Pas folle, la guêpe )
• 1974: The flesh of the orchid ( La chair de l'orchidée )
• 1974: Pittsville - A safe full of blood
• 1975: Frankenstein's haunted castle
• 1985: Deadly Addiction ( Hit and run )
• 1988: Don't trust a villain ( Try this one for size )
• 1989: The Nice Coup ( Passez une bonne nuit )
• 1989: Murderous Vengeance ( Want to stay alive )
• 1990: A man knows too much ( Présumé dangereux )
• 1994: The Set Up - The Trap ( The set-up )
• 1995: Wild magic
• 1998: Palmetto - stupid ones don't die out - based on: novel "Just Another Sucker"
• 2018: Eva

Web links

• Biography on krimi-couch.de
• Literature by and about James Hadley Chase in the catalog of the German National Library
• Telepolis: Strange Transformations of a Thriller (Hans Schmid) Creation, revision, stage version and film adaptation of the novel "No Orchids for Miss Blandish"
• Telepolis: Miss Blandish in the Underworld, or: A novel like poison gas; Chronicle of a forgotten scandal that made literary and film history (Hans Schmid)