James Hadley Chase Page

René Lodge Brabazon Raymond (1906-1985) was mostly known by his psuedonym, James Hadley Chase, although he also wrote under other names such as James Docherty, Raymond Marshall, R. Raymond, and Ambrose Grant. He published some 90 books over his lifetimes, including 89 novels, between 1939 and 1984 and very few of those novels were part of series. British by birth, he lived much of his adult life after becoming a famous author in France and Switzerland.

Supposedly, he wrote his first novel, No Orchids for Miss Blandish over six weekends and it became an overnight sensation, catapulting Chase from an unknown writer to being famous. His first few novels tried to capture American gangster culture as seen from afar. Chase only journeyed to America in his later years and, even then, did not see much. Thus, reading Chase, you often find that he is geographically-delayed when it comes to American geography. For instance, he sometimes places Pasadena on the beach. Some of that is simply creativeness, but some is his unfamiliarity with America.

Today’s readers often may be shocked by the racist and anti-semitic remarks and caricatures in some of Chase’s books, generally unnecessary for the plot lines. It is difficult to tell if Chase felt that way himself or simply thought that his target audience would feel more comfortable with that kind of verbiage. Even today, Chase is widely read around the world, including particularly in France and India. His novels have been translated into many languages.

Many of Chase’s books were reprinted and printed by Corgi in the 1960’s featuring lurid covers that could easily have been mistaken for the covers of Playboy, Hustler, and the like.

There are a few great fan sites that have lots of information about Chase and his novels:

This Fan site groups all of Chase’s novels by series

This fan site has all kinds of information including alternative covers for many of the novels.

Here are the links to Chase’s novels

  1. No orchids for Miss Blandish (1939)
  2. The dead stay dumb (1939)
  3. He won’t need it Now (1939)
  4. The Doll’s Bad News (1940)
  5. Lady – Here’s your Wreath (1940)
  6. Miss Callaghan Comes To Grief (1941)
  7. Miss Shumway Waves a Wand (1941)
  8. Get a Load of This (1941) (short stories)
  9. Just the way it Is (1944)
  10. Eve (1945)
  11. I’ll get you for This (1946)
  12. Blonde’s Requiem (1946)
  13. Make the corpse Walk (1946)
  14. More Deadly Than The Male (1946)
  15. No Business Of Mine (1947)
  16. The Flesh Of The Orchid (1948)
  17. Trusted like the Fox (1948)
  18. You Never Know With Women (1949)
  19. The Paw In The Bottle (1949)
  20. You’re lonely when you’re Dead (1949)
  21. Figure It Out For Yourself (“The marijuana Mob”) (1950)
  22. Lay Her Among The Lilies (1950)
  23. Mallory (1950)
  24. In A Vain Shadow (1951)
  25. But A Short Time To Live (1951)
  26. Why Pick On Me ? (1951)
  27. Strictly for Cash (1951)
  28. The Fast Buck (1952)
  29. The Double Shuffle (1952)
  30. The Wary Transgressor (1952)
  31. The Things Men Do (1953)
  32. This Way For A Shroud (1953)
  33. I’ll Bury My Dead (1953)
  34. Mission To Venice (1954)
  35. The Sucker Punch (1954)
  36. Tiger By The Tail (1954)
  37. Safer Dead (1954)
  38. You’ve Got It Coming (1955)
  39. Mission To Siena (1955)
  40. You Find Him – I’ll Fix Him (1956)
  41. There’s Always A Price Tag (1956)
  42. The Guilty Are Afraid (1957)
  43. Hit And Run (1957)
  44. Not Safe To Be Free (1958)
  45. Shock Treatment (1959)
  46. The World In My Pocket (1959)
  47. What’s Better Than Money? (1960)
  48. Come Easy – Go Easy (1960)
  49. Just Another Sucker (1961)
  50. A Lotus For Miss Quon (1961)
  51. I Would Rather Stay Poor (1962)
  52. A Coffin From Hong-Kong (1962)
  53. Tell It To The Birds (1963)
  54. One Bright Summer Morning (1963)
  55. The Soft Centre (1964)
  56. The Way The Cookie Crumbles (1965)
  57. This Is For Real (1965)
  58. Cade (1966)
  59. You Have Yourself A Deal (1966)
  60. Well Now, My Pretty (1967)
  61. Have This One On Me (1967)
  62. An Ear To The Ground (1968)
  63. Believed Violent (1968)
  64. The Vulture Is A Patient Bird (1969)
  65. The Whiff Of Money (1969)
  66. There’s A Hippie On The Highway (1970)
  67. Like A Hole In The Head (1970)
  68. Want To Stay Alive?  (1971)
  69. An Ace Up My Sleeve (1971)
  70. Just A Matter Of Time (1972)
  71. You’re Dead Without Money (1972)
  72. Knock, Knock ! Who’s There? (1973)
  73. Have A Change Of Scene (1973)
  74. So What Happens To Me? (1974)
  75. Goldfish Have No Hiding Place (1974)
  76. The Joker In The Pack (1975)
  77. Believe This, You’ll Believe Anything (1975)
  78. Do Me A Favour – Drop Dead (1976)
  79. I Hold The Four Aces (1977)
  80. My Laugh Comes Last (1977)
  81. Consider Yourself Dead (1978)
  82. A Can Of Worms (1979)
  83. You Must Be Kidding (1979)
  84. You Can Say That Again (1980)
  85. Try This One For Size (1980)
  86. Hand Me A Fig-Leaf (1981)
  87. Have A Nice Night (1982)
  88. We’ll Share A Double Funeral (1982)
  89. Not My Thing (1983)
  90. Hit Them Where It Hurts (1984)