Only one man could satisfy Glorie Leadler’s craving for love and affection. And though this golden-haired bit of feminine dynamite could have had a dozen men at her feet for the asking, it was a solitary Oriental who made her heart beat fast. When jealous rivals tore that midnight love from Glorie’s arms, her over-heated emotions burst forth in a volcano of love-stricken vengeance that rocked Florida and left a mark on many men’s souls. The characters of this novel are entirely fictional and any resemblance to actual persons or situations is accidental

Private detective Bart Anderson is hired by Russ Hamel, a millionaire author, to shadow his beautiful wife, Nancy. For Hamel has been receiving poison pen letters claiming that his wife has been having an affair. But as Bart’s investigation progresses, he discovers that he has opened up a can of worms — for Nancy is not the faithful wife her husband assumes

A mysterious voice from the telephone; a beautiful Chinese girl shot dead; a rich old man with a troubled conscience; a private investigator involved in murder; a Chinese prostitute who talked too much; and a coffin. These are some of the intriguing ingredients of James Hadley Chase’s splendid thriller. It is definitely a book to keep you awake long after your bedtime

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

Out of the past comes a woman Clay Burden had loved and idolized. Believing she was lost to him, he has married. He finds she too has married. To him the situation presents no problem: a double divorce and the problem is solved. It doesn’t work out like that. There are many complications which include hypnotism and murder. Set against the opulent background of Paradise City with hurricane ‘Hermes’ providing a roaring and lethal back-drop, Believe This... You’ll Believe Anything lives up to its title. The magic of James Hadley Chase’s story telling is your guarantee of a non-stop, compulsive read

Kidnapping had become a national pastime in Italy — but was there another reason why billionaire Carlo Grandi put his beautiful daughter behind an electric fence, guarded by killers dogs and two fast shooting guards? Mike Frost, always on the look-out for big money and beautiful women, got a job as a second gun — and soon realised he was guarding a hell-cat... When kidnappers sold him the idea of being ‘inside man’, Frost didn’t know which he wanted most, that beautiful body, or the five million dollars it could bring him

Džeimss Hedlijs Čeizs Detektīvizlase Grāmatā pirmo reizi latviešu valodā tiek publicēti ievērojumā amerikāņu „kriminālromānu klasiķa" Dž. H. Čeiza trīs romāni. Visiem tiem raksturiga intriga, ass sižets, visneprātīgākie notikumu pavērsieni, negaidīts atrisinājums. Superaģenti, gangsteri, ielasmeitas, vienkārši piedzīvojumu meklētāji — tipiskie romānu varoņi, kuriem nav svešs ari nekas cilvēcīgais. Dolāru drudzis liek tiem mesties galvu reibinošās avantūrās, tādās kā lidmašīnu aizdzīšana, šantāža, cilvēku nolaupīšana. Sērijas „Gadsimta detektīvs" nākamajās grāmatās tiks iek|auti arī citu ievērojamu mūsdienu detektīvu autoru populārākie darbi. Sērija "Gadsimta detektīvs": Dž. H. Čeizs Zelta smarža ; Dž. H. Čeizs Reiz skaidrā vasaras rītā ; Dž. H. Čeizs Tu pats uzprasījies Tulkojuši H. Jubels; L. Jermolajeva Noskanējis grāmatu un  failu izveidojis Imants Ločmelis imantslochmelis@inbox.lv Izdevumu sagatavojusi izdevniecība «Genmarin»Rīga 14. Sastādītājs: G.Špakovs, S.Smoļskis Redaktors: V. Kārkliņš Korektore: M. Steiča Ofseta papīrs. Formāts 60x88 1/16 Tirāža 2000 eks. Līgumcena. Izdevējdarbības licenze Nr. 2-0874

Keith Devery arrived in the small town of Wicksteed with a criminal record and a lot of ambition. And when he met Frank Marshall. a local drunk who was about to inherit a million dollars, he knew that here was a golden opportunity to get back into the big league. Marshall’s mysterious wife Beth agreed with him... and together they ruthlessly plotted the perfect murder. Then Keith found that he had himself been setup... and that Beth has plans of her own once the money was hers

Mūsdienu kriminālromāni Džeimss Hedlijs Čeizs. Es gribēju iegūt miljonu /Tulkojis H.Kalniņš / Noskanējis grāmatu un  failu izveidojis Imants Ločmelis imantslochmelis@inbox.lv /

This new novel by James Hadley Chase is a remarkable psychical study of a prostitute. Set against the picture-making industry of Hollywood, the story revolves round two people, Roger Thurston, who has cheated his way to fame, and Eve, an utterly worthless woman who lives on men. EVE is a bigger subject and a deeper view of life than Mr. Chase has ever before given us. His vigorous, unconventional style is, as always, supremely adapted to the recounting of such a swift-moving, dramatic account of human conflict

From the moment Lee Dedrick, husband of the fourth richest woman in the world, disappears, believed kidnapped, Vic Malloy of Universal Services is snarled up in a vicious vortex of murder, glamorous women and violent non-stop action. The curtain goes up on the sprawled, lifeless body of Dedrick’s chauffeur, shot to death by an unknown hand. A frightened and lovely brunette flits across the scene, but vanishes almost immediately, shooting from a well-turned hip. Five hundred thousand dollars ransom is paid over to the invisible kidnappers, but Lee Dedrick is not returned. The whole of the country as far north as San Francisco and as far south as Los Angeles joins in the hunt for the kidnappers. Nick Perelli, gambler, is framed for the kidnapping and is arrested. Determined to save him and to find the real kidnappers, Vic Malloy, with his aides Paula Bensinger and Jack Kerman, takes a header into this mystery and intrigue which finally lands him in a situation of unparalleled danger and horror. Then, after the most gruesome and exciting experience of his already turbulent career, Malloy finds the key to the riddle of Dedrick’s kidnapping

Get a load of this! The hardboiled world of James Hadley Chase, the thriller maestro, is recaptured in this new edition of tough and gritty tales. An early morning stroll in the park, or a lonely cross-country drive to Florida; evading arrest in war-torn Cuba, or sipping bourbon in the Bronx—it makes no odds, serious trouble lies just around the corner…. The sleazy jungle of lamp-lit streets, faded hotel lobbies and soulless freeways is the setting for a menagerie of typically brash Chase characters: all-metal blondes that weaken your resistance, merciless thugs in uniform and third-rate double-crossers. Fast-paced and crackling with cynical wit, this classic anthology shows why Chase is the unchallenged British champion of the tough American tradition. This remarkable collection of short stories was first published in 1942 and is now re-issued for the first time. It is a tribute to the vigour and storytelling ability of James Hadley Chase that after so many years these tales still shock and thrill the reader

Eastlake is the kind of place where ‘nice’ people live — nice, well-off, civilised people. People who know all about each other and where everyone knows everyone else’s business — rather like living in a goldfish bowl. So when scanners are set up in the self-service shop in an attempt to catch petty shoplifters, it comes as rather a surprise when some dark secrets begin to emerge. A perfect opportunity for blackmailers

Larry Carr, diamond expert, finds himself in need of psychiatric treatment. The Alienist tells him to have a change of scene; to get away from his opulent surroundings, to go to Lucevillc, an industrial town of poverty, to engage himself in welfare work and to think of others rather than himself. This seemed to be sound advice, but Carr was not to know that by going to Luceville he was to become involved in a criminal world and with Rhea Morgan, a vicious, sensual thief, just out of prison.　 Here we have all the expected ingredients that have made James Hadley Chase “the king of all thriller writers.” Turn off the television set, lock your doors and keep the light burning... you have Hadley Chase in your home

Set against the background of the City of Prague and the frontiers of the Iron Curtain, this is the third episode of the chequered career of Mark Girland, layabout Secret Agent whose weaknesses are money and women. HAVE THIS ONE ON ME has the same excitability, the same compulsive readability and the same unputdownability as the two previous Mark Girland thrillers, THIS IS FOR REAL and YOU HAVE YOURSELF A DEAL (both now being filmed). Here is yet another of James Hadley Chase’s passports (there are now 61 of them) to oblivion of all cares, worries and troubles. When you pick up Chase, you are lost to the world

James Hadley Chase gives us a tough, hard-boiled story crammed with action, grotesque situations, and weird characters. Not a word is wasted. From the first page to the last you are involved in a sinister and compelling situation, that will hurtle you forward with the speed of an express train

Mrs Henry Thorsen, a wealthy widow, has reason to believe her retarded daughter is being blackmailed. She hires the Acme Detective Agency to find out why and who the blackmailer is. The assignment is given to Dirk Wallace and his aide, Bill Anderson. It all seemed quite straightforward when the two operators began to probe. From then on, they became involved with violence, drugs and, finally, the Mafia. The magic of James Hadley Chase’s storytelling will keep you reading to the last page

James Hadley Chase has given us An Ace Up my Sleeve, then The Joker in the Pack, and now I Hold the Four Aces. Each novel, complete in itself, follows the sexually frustrated life of Helga Rolfe, one of the richest of women, shrewd and ruthless, with a penchant for men. In I Hold the Four Aces Helga finds, at long last, the man she wants to marry, but, as we have come to expect from the ‘thriller maestro of the generation’, unexpected and dangerous complications arise. As the New Statesman has called him, this ‘master of the art of deception’ once again has written a tense, fast-moving story that will keep you up long past your bedtime.An Ace Up my Sleeve is now a major movie with Karen Black playing Helga and Omar Sharif playing Archer

Like most bank managers, Dave Calvin had acquired an irresistible charm that he could switch on whenever he felt the necessity. Underneath it, he was cold, calculating, brutal — a perfect murderer. He cooks up a plan to rob his own bank at Pittsville and make it look as if his secretary, Alice Craig and her boyfriend, had made off with the looted money. Alice, who is a spinster, with no parents, no relatives and nobody to care whether she lived or died…. Dave Calvin knew just how he could make her disappear. And to achieve his plan, he enlisted the support of his own landlady, Kit Loring, who was sensuously beautiful and also an ex-alcoholic. However, Dave Calvin  was soon to realise that a woman who is an ex-alcoholic, isn't the most reliable partner for murder…

Chester Cain, a small time hit man and ace gambler, tired of his old life, moves to Las Vegas with all his lifetime savings, only to come across a set of ruthless people who try to use him, implicate him in a crime which he does not commit, and soon the cops are after Cain,who goes on the run, along with Ms. Wonderly, a homeless wayward girl, who is also being framed like him

A recipe for the James Hadley Chase Pot-au-feu. Cover the bottom of a large casserole with expectation. Heat gently. Put an old lady’s will in the casserole and reduce the expectation. Add the following ingredients: 1 master forger 1 hospital nurse 1 young delinquent 1 bank executive 1 professional killer Pour in enough suspense to cover these ingredients. Simmer for two hours, stirring occasionally. Now add several slices of sex and a wine glass of tension and serve sizzling hot

The woman was in a Rolls Royce and she had that expensive look that wives of millionaires usually have. Her proposition to Harry Barber seemed easy and highly profitable. Because he was just out of jail, without funds or a future, he agreed to help her. But he took precautions for he didn’t quite trust this woman. His precautions didn’t go far enough. He guarded against the possibility of a double cross, but not against the possibility of murder. “Just Another Sucker” is yet another tense, swift thriller from the master hand of James Hadley Chase. It is to be read at a sitting on the edge of your chair…

Johnny Bianda is a man with a dream. He wants to own a boat off the coast of Florida and he only needs $186,000 to buy it. He steals the money from his firm, knowing that one day they’ll notice and one day they’ll kill him for it — after all, it is the Mafia. But for Johnny Bianda, the risk is worth taking and he knows it will be at least a year before they catch up with him…. Unfortunately for Bianda, the knock on his door comes sooner than he thinks

A thrilling plot that involves a wayward heiress, an antagonistic police official, numerous shady characters and at least three murders…

Džeimss Hedlijs Čeizs Liec mironim dancot. Dzīvās miesas tirgoņi Romāni 1994 Noskannējis grāmatu un failu izveidojis Imants Ločmelis Džeimss Hedlijs Čeizs "Liec mironim dancot", "Dzīvās miesas tirgoņi", Apgāds "Vide", 1994. Atbildīgais par izdevumu Dzintars Vasjukevičs Tulks Maija Blūma Korektori Dzintars Vasjukevičs, Anna Afanasjeva Datorsalikums Verija Drešļuka Noformējums Uldis Lazdiņš

Ex-army musketry trainer, Jay Benson and his wife Lucy’s dream of running a shooting school turns sour as the school heads towards certain closure. They need money — quickly, and a lot of it. At the eleventh hour Augusto Savanto, head of a vast corporation in Venezuela, walks into their lives with a proposition they can scarcely refuse — he will pay them $50,000 to turn his son into an expert marksman, in nine days. Desperate for money they accept the challenge but find themselves in a deadly game of ruthless vendettas and vengeful murder. 

Banned in the UK! Author and Publisher Fined! Not seen in 70 Years! This is the story of Miss Callaghan. Not of any particular Miss Callaghan, but of the hundreds of Miss Callaghans who disappear from their homes suddenly and mysteriously and are seen no more by those who knew and loved them. This is also the story of Raven, who played with clockwork trains, the leader of the White Slave Ring in East St. Louis, who was responsible for the keeping to full strength the army of women for the service of men. James Hadley Chase needs no introduction now. He has established a reputation for unmitigated toughness and plain writing. Under his blunt treatment, the traffic of women in America is shown to be what it is—a loathsome, corrupt stain on the pages of American history

How come a New York reporter like Ross millan was combing half of Mexico looking for old man Shumway’s missing daughter? Millan had asked himself the question a dozen times-and when he found her, he asked himself a whole lot more questions. For the shapely blonde he’d seen in the photograph turned out to be a fast-talking lady who packed a punch like a prize-fighter, did a little magic on the side, and just happened to be a dip-a very efficient pickpocket. From the day little Miss Myra Shumway walked into Millan’s life things were never quite the same…

George Fraser is a lonely man, and a bored man. But he has exciting dreams. In his dreams, he lives in a thrilling world of gangsters, guns, fast cars and beautiful women. And of course, in his dreams, he is the toughest gangster of them all. George Fraser prefers his dream world to his real, ordinary life so he begins to boast about it, pretending that he is, in fact, a hardened and ruthless gangster. But George Fraser boasts to the wrong people and suddenly his dream world becomes all too real

 Mūsdienu kriminālromāni Donalds Kīns. Slepkavas kundze /Tulkojis A. Gulbis/ Džeimss Hedlijs Čeizs. Es gribēju iegūt miljonu /Tulkojis H.Kalniņš / Gregorijs Makdonalds. Fletčs. /Tulkojis H. Jubels/ Noskanējis grāmatu un  failu izveidojis Imants Ločmelis imantslochmelis@inbox.lv Izdevumu sagatavojusi МГП «Оргтехиздат» Redaktors: V. Kārkliņš Korektore: M.Siciča Ofseta papīrs. Formāts 60x88 1/16 Tirāža 2000 cks. Līgumcena. Izdevējdarbības licenze Nr. Подписано r печать 24.02.95. Формат 60x8s‘/i6. Печать офсетная. Обьем 29 п. л. Тираж 2000. Заказ № 444. МГП «Оргтехиздат*. С.-Петербург, 15. О., 1-я линия, 34. Отпечатано е готовых диапозитивов в АООТ «Типография „Правда*'». 191126, С.-Петербург, Социалистическая ул., 14. ISBN 5-7049-0039-9 © МГП «Оргтехиздат» © Художник Кунмгина С. А

Farrell Brannigan, President of the National Californian bank, builds yet another bank at Sharnville, an up-and-coming town on the pacific coast. Using the brilliant know-how of a young electronics expert, Brannigan feels justified in calling his new bank: ‘The Safest Bank in the World’. The press give the new bank world-wide publicity. But some forty years ago, when Brannigan was a young and rising banker, he made an implacable enemy. This man, with a pathological urge for revenge, attempts to break into ‘the safest bank in the world’. James Hadley Chase tells the story as only he can. Don’t go to bed with this one, unless you want to stay awake all night

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

When Dave Fenner was hired to solve the Blandish kidnapping, he knew the odds on finding the girl were against him — the cops were still looking for here three months after the ransom had been paid. And the kidnappers, Riley and his gang, had disappeared into thin air. But what none of them knew was that Riley himself had been wiped out by a rival gang — and the heiress was now in the hands of Ma Grisson and her son Slim, a vicious killer who couldn’t stay away from woman... especially his beautiful new captive. By the time Fenner began to close in on them, some terrible things had happened to Miss Blandish

Sherman Jamison is rich, very rich. He has amassed millions and now wants someone to pass them on to, the next in the family line. But he has no heir as his wife has been unable to have children. Refusing to let this stand in his way, Jamison pleads for a divorce but his wife, a devout Catholic, refuses to give into his demands. If she will not agree, she will have to be removed. Jamison hires a professional killer to do the deed but this is only the beginning of a thrilling and electrifying story of revenge, betrayal and murder

Who murdered Lucille Balu, a rising young film star, found strangled to death in a hotel elevator? Set against the background of the fabulous Cote d’Azur and the Cannes Film Festival, James Hadley Chase’s new thriller tells the story of a young degenerate with an inner compulsion to kill. Written with the speed, force and economy of style we have come to expect from the man who has been described as “the most remarkable among British and American thriller writers” this tense new novel throws a noose round the reader which will not be snakes off until long after the last page has been turned

Victor Dermott, a successful playwright, rent an isolated ranch house in the Nevada Desert where he plans to write another play. With his wife, baby, a Vietnamese servant and a dog, he settles down in the ranch house to work. For the first two months all is ideal, then one bright summer morning, Dermott wakes to find his servant, his dog, and his shot guns have vanished. He also discovers that the telephone is dead and that someone has removed the sparking plugs from his car. This is the terrifying opening sequence of the masterly new James Hadley Chase novel, a worthy success to a long line of best-sellers

Enter a world of seedy nightclubs, dangerous, dimly-lit street and cool, wisecracking dicks pitting themselves against armies of ruthless gangsters. This is pulp fiction, a genre spawned amid the disillusionment of post-World War I America — and now reaching new heights of popularity.　 Writers like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett turned that unique blend of rapid-fire action, violence and cynical humour into an art form that is being recreated by a fresh wave of young writers whose stories have all the drama and atmosphere of their predecessors’.　 This page-turning collection, brought together by a true aficionado of the hardboiled story, includes, of course, Chandler and Hammett, but also Mickey Spillane, Ross MacDonald, Ed McBain and James Hadley Chase from the vintage years and from the current generation James Ellroy, Elmore Leonard and Quentin Tarantino, to name just a few of the twenty great writers featured here. Even Stephen King, doyen of the world of horror, has turned his hand to pulp fiction and is represented in this book.　 The world of the hard-drinking, fast-action, apparently indestructible private eye, personified by Chandler’s creation, Philip Marlowe, was never more vibrant. It’s all here, and more, in a book that no fan of the genre can afford to miss

The Editor of a monthly crime and detection magazine assigns to two of his staff writers, Sladen and Low, the investigation of the strange disappearance of an unknown showgirl. The disappearance was reported fourteen months earlier, but the trail is cold. The police, with nothing to work on, have lost interest. The assignment doesn’t look hopeful. However, the investigators start asking questions and almost immediately things begin to happen. Witnesses arc murdered, an attempt is made to do away with the investigators. The police once more open the case. The disappearance of the showgirl is found to be only a minor part of a ruthless murder plot. Safer Dead has the authentic James Hadley Chase touch, which has deservedly earned him the title of “Master of the Art of Deception”. It moves with the pace and power of forked lightning

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

Hijacking aircrafts seems to have become the latest fashion. Everyone is at it. Colonel Bernie Olson, ex-bomber pilot, decides to cash in on this latest trend and enlists the support of his ex-flight mechanic, Jack Crane, to lend a hand. Planning a simple hijack shouldn’t be that difficult, but they soon discover that they didn’t account for every eventuality. This is no ordinary hijack and the plot twists and turns in true Hadley Chase style until it reaches a thrilling, nail-biting conclusion

Strictly for Cash is the story of how Johnny Farrar made his roll of money. He thought in terms of five thousand and ended up with a quarter of million, but he didn’t get it legitimately nor did he keep out trouble. From the moment the reins of the richest casino on the Florida coast fell into his hands, he was sucked into a whirlpool of suspense, intrigue, murder and ruthless ambush from which there was no escape

Sastādītāji: G.Špakovs, S.Smoļskis Sērija: Detektīvu pasaulē-2 Džeimss Hedlijs Čeizs. Lieks trumpis piedurknē /Tulkojis H. Jubels/ Pīters Čeinijs. Šis cilvēks ir bīstams /Tulkojis A.Eglājs/ Diks Frānsiss. Bukmeikers no Dienvidafrikas /Tulkojusi G.Kalniņa/ Noskanējis grāmatu un  failu izveidojis Imants Ločmelis. imantslochmelis@inbox.lv Izdevumu sagatavojusi izdevniecība «Genmarin»1993  Redaktors A.Blūms Korektore V.Lazda

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 nightmare tale of the life and death of Dillon, American gangster. From the first to the last page, the ruthlessness of an inhuman killer is set down with stark realism. Chase’s second book

International jewel thief, Paul Hater, knows a secret that everyone wants to know - and will go to any lengths to uncover. How long can he remain silent? When Hater is arrested in possession of a stolen necklace, the police use every possible means to persuade him to reveal the location of the rest of the collection. He remains silent and so begins his twenty-year prison sentence. Having exhausted all their leads, the International Detective Agency, acting on behalf of the insurers, must patiently await Hater's release before they can hope to find out more. But just as his day of release approaches, Hater is kidnapped by a ruthless international gang determined to force the secret from him and prepared to go to any lengths to do so…

‘The Flesh of the Orchid’ is a continuation of that best seller, No Orchids for Miss Blandish (over 500,000 copies sold) which needs no introduction. It is the story of Carol Blandish, daughter of Miss Blandish by the homicidal maniac, Slim Grisson. Committed to a sanitarium for the insane as a suspected homicidal lunatic, Carol inherits the vast fortune left her by her grandfather, John Blandish. She escapes and while endeavouring to prove her sanity falls victim of two professional murderers, the Sullivan brothers. This is perhaps the most exciting novel to be written by Hadley Chase. Incident piles on incident and the story moves at a tremendous pace

Set against the background of a rich, gangster-ridden city on the Pacific Coast, James Hadley Chase in this new thriller tells the story of a lone investigator’s hunt for his partner’s killer. From the opening sentence to the last the tension mounts, as the avenging private eye pursues his quarry through every barrier and trap set up by the hoodlums. Written with that expert technique that gives to all James Hadley Chase’s novels their tremendous punch and drive, The Guilty Are Afraid is a worthy addition to his long list of non-stop, all-action thrillers that have to be read at a sitting

When Helga Rolfe flies into Nassau to join her elderly millionaire husband, Herman, she finds plenty of bad news awaiting her. Crippled, suspicious Herman has long suspected she’s been playing around since their marriage, and is proposing to write some nasty-looking terms into his will. Herman is right, of course — Helga’s weakness is for handsome, sexy men like Harry Jackson, whom she meets on the beach the day she arrives. But Harry is not quite what she thinks — and because of him she suddenly finds herself in a nightmare world of blackmail, voodoo and violence

In the year that the Second World War broke out, James Hadley Chase (1906-85) published his crime novel, No Orchids For Miss Blandish (1939), which subsequently became one of the best-selling mysteries of all time. “The Mirror in Room 22” is quite unlike anything else from James Hadley Chase’s pen — a ghost story that he wrote while serving as a pilot in the RAF

Chris Burnett, successful, wealthy and married to the daughter of a multi-millionaire, receives severe brain injuries in a car accident. While convalescing, Burnett disappears for twenty-four hours, during which time a prostitute is brutally murdered and mutilated. Evidence found by a private inquiry agent points to Burnett. His wife, blackmailed by the inquiry agent, sets out to prove her husband’s innocence. This swiftly moving story of murder and suspense culminates in an unexpected and dramatic climax that is the hallmark of a James Hadley Chase novel

A brilliant but sadistic safe-breaker, Fennel, a beautiful, professional seductress, Gaye, an expert young white hunter, Kennedy, and an ace pilot with a shady past, Garry—this was the team that undercover operator, Armo Shalik assembled to steal the priceless Borgia ring from millionaire Max Kahlenberg’s closely guarded personal museum in a remote and deadly African bush. But Kahlenberg knew they were coming and the gang’s expedition turned into a strictly one-way safari—to slaughter, with the Borgia ring claiming its victims once again…

Ira Marsh, a provocative blond teenager, arrives at Paradise City, Florida’s crime-free, millionaires’ playground. Her arrival sparks off a cunningly devised plan to rob the Florida Safe Deposit bank, an impregnable fortress, acclaimed as the safest bank in the world. Ticky Edris, an anti-social, misshapen dwarf, directs the operation while Phil Algir, the handsome con-man aids and abets. The plan moves smoothly into action by the ruthless murders of a drug-taking call-girl, her pimp and the short-sighted teenage daughter of the Vice-President of the bank. Here is an absorbing thriller, written with a hard, swift economy of style. The Way the Cookie Crumbles hooks the reader, and keeps him hooked to the end

Secret Agent Mark Kirkland has been given the task of locating and retrieving three pornographic films. His mission must remain top secret as the films, rather embarrassingly, feature the daughter of the future president of the United States. His quest leads him to the depths of Bavaria where he finds Soviet agent, Malik, and sidekick Lu Silk also rather interested in the whereabouts of the films. Who will find them first? And once found, who’s to say they won’t immediately disappear again?

This is the job they have all been waiting for. The job that will set them up for life. A million dollars split five ways, who wouldn’t be interested? The only catch is that it’s the very definition of impossible…or is it? Armed with a brilliant plan, the four men and one woman think they can crack it. But as tensions in the group begin to mount and things start to go wrong, the million dollars feels more out of reach than ever. Even though it is right with them… ‘The thriller maestro of the generation.’

It seemed like a good idea at the time to ex-paratrooper sergeant Harry Mitchell, home after three years in the deadly jungles of Vietnam. Head south to Florida, get a summer job, soak up some sun, relax a bit. But when he got to Paradise City he found himself drawn into a lethal set-up where dumped corpses, smuggling operations, over-ambitious cops, hired killers and a sexy little double-crosser called Nina combined to make life very unhealthy. It was just as well for Harry Mitchell that he’d learned to look after himself in Vietnam

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