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 boy friends?” “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, added in an undertone. “She’s dead: died by her own hand.” I felt a little cold breath against 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 in the murders 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

All are familiar with the well-known plot of the man who commits murder and then attempts to make the crime appear to be suicide. In There’s Always a Price Tag, James Hadley Chase turns this old plot inside out and gives 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 heart-beats. It is by far the most ingenious story that this “Master of the art of deception” has yet given us

This is the story of Terry Regan, radio and T.V. salesman, who falls in love with Gilda, the wife of a hard 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

When a small-time clerk insures his life for $50,000 and then suddenly dies ten days later, it doesn’t take a genius to work out something suspicious is going on. So when Maddox, the top man in the insurance business, finds out, he is determined to get to the bottom of it. And this means trouble for someone. In fact it means trouble for the beautiful, auburn-haired Meg Barlowe, a woman with a serious past

The Esmaldi necklace has a tale to tell and it is told by Al Barney, beachcomber, who describes 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, violence, beautiful wanton women, and murder — plus a cunningly devised jewel robbery. As Raabe of Le Monde, Paris, has said: “Chase is a born novelist: under his pen, adventures unfold without a hitch; characters come alive.” In An Ear to the Ground the author again lives up to his reputation