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Post by dem bones on May 15, 2008 7:45:52 GMT
James Hadley Chase - The Fast Buck (Panther, 1968: Robert Hale, 1952) Blurb: IF HE DIES IT'LL BE LOST FOREVER ....
They arrest Paul Hater, international jewel thief, as he's trying to dispose of a necklace belonging to the famous stolen Chittabad collection ....
Police 'persuasion' cannot make him talk. The secret of the treasure's hiding place goes to prison with him - for a sentence of twenty years. Everyone searches, fails, then settles down to wait for Hater's release, for his one false move ....
Except a ruthless gang who would rather get there first, who don't want Hater in prison or free - but in their hands NOW. From then on things get tough, vicious, fast, as the smell of wealth incites men on to greed and anger That blurb will have to suffice for now and, possibly, ever, as I picked this up for the Betty Page antics on the cover. Even then, it pales in comparison with the later Corgi edition (below). So what's JHC like, then? Any good?
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Post by pulphack on May 15, 2008 9:50:52 GMT
JHC... always been a difficult one for me. When I was a tiny, my dad belonged to the Crime Book Club, which issued a lot of JHC in great dustjackets (which is also how I discovered the likes of John Creasey, Raymond Chandler, etc). And those 70's covers enlivened the playground and made you think you were getting something naughty. Yet it always comes down to the covers... I've tried JHC so many times over the last thirty-odd years, and still can't get on with him.
The first British crime writer (Rene Raymond, from Leicester, I think) to have success by aping the Hammett/Chandler/Blask Mask model, 'No Orchids For Miss Blandish' (1939) was a massive hit. And it pissed off George Orwell, which is another reason to like him in my book (in his essay Raffles and Miss Blandish, Orwell takes a deep breath, says 'now for a header into the cess pool' and starts to slag off JHC. Let's think about this: Orwell the great leftie democrat praising Raffles and slagging off what the working classes read. Hmm. But then, he was a prig who also thought working class people stank and hated being on trains with them. It was alright to go down and out etc for research, but he didn't want to live with them... don't get me started, he's the most overrated thinker of the twentieth century, etc etc)
Anyway, back to JHC. I've been thinking about why I can't get on with his books. I mean, Hank Janson was a direct lift from the JHC style, and I like them. Most of the ones I've read over the years have been well-plotted, have pace, and it's quite hard to distinguish early from late (he continued writing until his death, which was early eighties, I think - though whether he brought ghosts on board as was rumoured with the likes of Mickey Spillane, I'm not sure), which is rare.
But I still find him hard to really like. Mentioning Spillane may have been apt - they share a kind of callousness that wasn't at the heart of Hammett or Chandler (or, indeed Steve Francis), and it may be as simple as I just don't like that. I like a book where I can empathise or sympathise with at least one character, and I can't do that with JHC.
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Post by franklinmarsh on May 15, 2008 11:49:57 GMT
Only JHC I can actually recall reading was the 'controversial' No Orchids For Miss Blandish, as a result of seeing Robert Aldrich's cheerily blood-soaked film adaptation The Grissom Gang. I seem to remember preferring the film. I do intend to read There's A Hippie On The Highway. One day.
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Post by dem bones on May 15, 2008 16:45:00 GMT
Mentioning Spillane may have been apt - they share a kind of callousness that wasn't at the heart of Hammett or Chandler (or, indeed Steve Francis), and it may be as simple as I just don't like that. I like a book where I can empathise or sympathise with at least one character, and I can't do that with JHC. Thanks for the info, gents. If I do get around to reading Chase, it will be due to pulp's comment above because I have a soft spot for that type of fiction (Jim Thompson, long overdue his own thread, was a great practitioner of the art: The Killer Inside Me is particularly high on rancid characters). But even more attractive is the idea of collecting as many of the Corgi's editions I can find for next to nothing, purely on the strength of the racy covers, and never reading a word of him.
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Post by franklinmarsh on May 15, 2008 20:09:50 GMT
Thanks for the info, gents. If I do get around to reading Chase, it will be due to pulp's comment above because I have a soft spot for that type of fiction (Jim Thompson, long overdue his own thread, was a great practitioner of the art: The Killer Inside Me is particularly high on rancid characters). But even more attractive is the idea of collecting as many of the Corgi's editions I can find for next to nothing, purely on the strength of the racy covers, and never reading a word of him. An admirable quest Dem, and one I'd be happy to join you on - except you don't see too many of them lying around like you used too. Jim Thompson! Definitely read The Getaway (on the strength of the Peckinpah film) - not sure on any others. There was a film of The Killer Inside Me, the lower half of a double bill with (wait for it!) Zoltan, Hound Of Dracula. So I've seen it, but can remember damn all about it.
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Post by dem bones on May 16, 2008 7:16:59 GMT
An admirable quest Dem, and one I'd be happy to join you on - except you don't see too many of them lying around like you used too. So I've noticed! I'll bet some pervy bastards who ain't the least bit interested in James Harry Whatshisface are hoarding 'em just so they can have a daily drool over the dolly bird covers. Talk about spoiling it for us serious readers, eh? Fortunately, there's a groovy French tribute site where we can see all we're missing out on at James Hadley Chase. Oh, how I envy you that Zoltan, Hound Of Dracula/ The Killer Inside Me double bill! I've got four Thompsons in some 'eighties Omnibus thing from Zomba books (of exotic Willesden) and it's excellent: The Killer Inside Me, The Getaway, Pop.1280 and The Grifters.
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Post by Calenture on May 16, 2008 8:30:04 GMT
I'll bet some pervy bastards who ain't the least bit interested in James Harry Whatshisface are hoarding 'em just so they can have a daily drool over the dolly bird covers. Talk about spoiling it for us serious readers, eh? Fortunately, there's a groovy French tribute site where we can see all we're missing out on at James Hadley Chase. I suppose her face might not have been the first part of the cover you inspected, but does it look like the same model appeared on all those JHC covers? The Corgi covers in the French site, I mean.
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Post by dem bones on May 16, 2008 8:50:25 GMT
I wouldn't have said so although I think some models probably turn up on more than one cover. Of course, I've not studied the matter in any depth, you understand ... Can anyone put a name to the faces? There's a kind of page three-iness familiarity about them which suggests more than one may have achieved celebrity status in the glamour industry, possibly even on Hot Hits!-style album covers like the one below.
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Post by marksamuels on May 16, 2008 11:57:08 GMT
The lady on the Corgi edition of The Fast Buck and Top of the Pops '76 is Jilly Johnson, I believe.
Mark S.
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Post by redbrain on May 16, 2008 16:38:51 GMT
The Corgi covers in the French site, I mean. French site? Or did you mean French knickers? ;D
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Post by pulphack on May 19, 2008 9:49:36 GMT
put most of this is a pm to dem the other day, but it does bear repeating on here... the mention of jim thompson is an interesting one, as he's a far superior stylist (not to say that JHC is a slouch, but...), and does mine the same territory in a lot of ways. that whole school of Thompson, Vine, Cane, Latimer, Goodis fit next to JHC, and in some ways it perhaps says a lot about his vision that he can be put in the same box as a bunch of guys who actually were american without looking out of place.
the killer inside me is one of the best books i've ever read, though i didn't like it so much as admire it. i do need to empathise to really love a book, but looked at as a piece of work, thompson is a genuine top drawer talent on every level you can use for judgement.
having looked at that jhc site, his prolixity is astonishing - to still be doing a couple of books a year, and of a level quality, in his seventies is astounding. quite some bloke. if his private life hadn't been so happy and stable, he'd probably be better known (just look at fleming's exotic background, thompson and himes problems, spillane's 'i-am-mike-hammer' schtick for how the writer builds the myth). so budding bestsellers bear this in mind - if you want longevity, have an 'interesting' personal life...
and it is amazing to think that no orchids was once controversial. this tells us a lot about the times in which it was written (paging mr orwell)...
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