James Hadley Chase James Hadley Chase (24 December 1906 – 6 February 1985) was an English writer. While his birth name was René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, he was well-known by his various pseudonyms, including James Hadley Chase, James L. Docherty, Raymond Marshall, R. Raymond, and Ambrose Grant. He 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. René Lodge Brabazon Raymond (James Hadley Chase) was born on 24 December 1906 in London, England. He was the son of Colonel Francis Raymond of the colonial Indian Army, a veterinary surgeon. His father intended his son to have a scientific career, was initially educated at Kings School, Rochester, Kent. Chase left home at the age of 18. In 1932, Chase married Sylvia Ray, who gave him a son. In 1956, they moved to France. In 1969, they moved to Switzerland, living a secluded life in Corseaux-sur-Vevey, on Lake Geneva. Chase eventually died there on 6 February 1985. Military services During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force, achieving the rank of Squadron Leader. He edited the RAF Journal with David Langdon and had several stories from it published after the war in the book Slipstream: A Royal Air Force Anthology. Writing background After Chase left home at age 18, he worked in sales, primarily focusing on books and literature. He sold childrens encyclopedias, while also working in a bookshop. He also served as an executive for a book wholesaler, before turning to a writing career that produced more than 90 mystery books. 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, he put together highly complicated and sophisticated Meccano models. Prohibition and the ensuing Great Depression in the US (1929–1939) had given rise to the Chicago gangster culture just prior to World War II. This, combined with Chases book trade experience, made him realise that there was a big demand for gangster stories. After reading James M. Cains 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 Londons West End (produced by George Black), was filmed in 1948 and Robert Aldrich did a remake, The Grissom Gang in 1971. 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 actual events occurring there. Chase never lived in the United States though he 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 Blondes 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 of 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 Greenes publisher at that time. Alerted to Grants new book, Greene gave it high praise as did the critics who, at the time, had no idea that Chase was the author. Contrary to rumour, the two authors did not know each other at the time, though they then became friends for the remainder of their lives, as Chases papers and letters reveal. In the early 1960s, both men were caught up in an investment scandal involving Tom Roe which was to lead to Greens tax exile beginning in 1966. Chases best market was France (more than thirty books were made into movies) where all of his ninety titles were published by Éditions 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 in the American market partially due to the fact that the descriptive details did not seem convincing to American readers. This, together with their misogynist attitude, turned off the female market. (Wikipedia) Published works (Date, Title and Characters) As James Hadley Chase 1939 No Orchids for Miss Blandish (Dave Fenner and Slim Grisson) 1941 The Dead Stay Dumb (Chet Sladen) 1941 Twelve Chinks and a Woman (Dave Fenner and Glorie Leadler) 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 and Myra Shumway) 1945 Eve (Clive Thurston & Eve) 1946 Ill Get You for This (Chester Cain) 1947 Last Page (play) 1948 The Flesh of the Orchid (Carol Blandish & The Sullivan Brothers) 1949 You Never Know with Women (Floyd Jackson) 1949 Youre Lonely When Youre Dead (Vic Malloy , Paula BensingerJack Kerman) 1950 Figure It Out for Yourself (Vic Malloy , Paula Bensinger & Jack Kerman) 1950 Lay Her Among the Lillies (Vic Malloy, Paula Bensinger & Jack Kerman) 1951 Strictly for Cash (Johnny Farrar) 1952 The Fast Buck (Verne Baird, Rico) 1952 The Double Shuffle (Steve Harmas) 1953 Ill Bury My Dead (Nick English) 1953 This Way for a Shroud (Paul Conard & Vito Ferrari) 1954 Tiger By the Tail (Ken Holland) 1954 Safer Dead (Chet Sladen) 1955 Youve Got It Coming (Harry Griffin) 1956 Theres Always A Price Tag (Glyn Nash, Steve Harmas) 1957 The Guilty Are Afraid (Lew Brandon) 1958 Not Safe to Be Free (Jay Delaney) 1959 Shock Treatment (Steve Harmas, Terry Regan) 1959 The World in My Pocket Morgan 1960 Whats 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 (Steve Harmas, John Anson) 1964 The Soft Centre (Frank Terrell & Valiere Burnette) 1965 This Is for Real (Mark Girland) 1965 The Way the Cookie Crumbles (Frank Terrell) 1966 You Have Yourself a Deal (Mark Girland) 1966 Cade (Val Cade) 1967 Have This One on Me (Mark Girland) 1967 Well Now - My Pretty (Frank Terrell) 1968 An Ear to the Ground (Steve Harmas, Al Barney) 1968 Believed Violent (Frank Terrell, 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 Theres a Hippie on the Highway (Frank Terrell, Harry Mitchell) 1971 Want to Stay Alive? (Poke Toholo) 1971 An Ace Up My Sleeve (Helga Rolfe) 1972 Just a Matter of Time (Chris Patterson, Sheila Oldhill & Miss Morely-Johnson) 1972 Youre Dead Without Money (Al Barney) 1973 Have a Change of Scene Larry Carr 1973 Knock, Knock! Whos There? (Johnny Bianda) 1974 So What Happens To Me? (Jack Crane) 1974 Goldfish Have No Hiding Place (Steve Manson) 1975 Believe This - Youll 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 Brandon and Tom Lepski, 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 Well Share a Double Funeral (Perry Weston, Chet Logan) 1983 Not My Thing (Ernie Kling) 1984 Hit Them Where It Hurts (Dirk Wallace) As James L. Dochery 1941 He Wont Need It Now (Frank Storer) As Raymond Marshall 1940 Lady, Heres Your Wreath (Nick Mason) 1944 Just The Way It Is (Harry Duke) 1945 Blondes Requiem (Mack Spewack) 1947 Make The Corpse Walk (Rollo) 1947 No Business of Mine (Steve Harmas) 1948 Trusted Like the Fox (Edwin Cushman, Grace Clark, Richard Crane) 1949 The Paw In The Bottle (Julie Holland & Harry Gleb) 1950 Mallory (Martin Corridon) 1951 But A Short Time To Live (Harry Ricks, Clair Dolan) 1951 Why Pick On Me? (Martin Corridon) 1951 In A Vain Shadow (Frank Mitchell) 1952 The Wary Transgressor (David Chisholm) 1953 The Things Men Do (Harry Collins) 1954 The Sucker Punch (Chad Winters) 1954 Mission To Venice (Don Micklem) 1955 Mission To Siena (Don Micklem) 1956 You Find Him, Ill Fix Him (Ed Dawson) 1958 Hit And Run (Chester Scott) As R. Raymond 1946 Slipstream: A Royal Air Force Anthology As Ambrose Grant 1947 More Deadly Than The Male George Fraser Copied from Aminu Gamawas Facebook wall post.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 19:39:55 +0000
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