Whiff Of Money

One of James Hadley Chase's best. Gripped me from the first word. Unrelenting thriller.

Not what I expected

James Hadley Chase (René Brabazon Raymond), an Englishman who never visited America, wrote some of the toughest, most compelling hard-boiled crime fiction of the mid-twentieth century (his best-known work was No Orchids for Miss Blandish), all or most of it set in America and comparing favorably, in my opinion, with the better-known James Cain and Jim Thompson. He studied the writings of other hard-boiled mystery writers to master the American idiom, and studied maps to describe American locations plausibly- his books read like books written by an American, not like books written by an Englishman trying to ape American styles. Like many writers of suspense thrillers, however, Chase switched to writing espionage novels in the 1960's to fill the demand for more books that resembled the James Bond movies and the Man From U.N.C.L.E. TV show (but not, sadly, Ian Fleming's James Bond novels). Most of these espionage thrillers do not show the authors at their best, and that's certainly the case with Chase's efforts in the genre. Even worse, he had entirely lost his ear for the modern idiom, even when the idiom was common to both England and America. He insists, for example, that hipsters are a type of trousers rather than a type of bohemian (I think he confused them with hiphuggers), and his hero does not "dig" the things he likes- he "digs for" them. The result is embarrassingly awful, like some elderly person's unsuccessful attempts to speak the language of hip-hop. Collectors of Chase, of which there are deservedly many, are advised to stick this book on the shelf unread. The only things that it has going for it are that Chase still retained the knack for coming up with a snappy title (some of his other titles include Kiss My Fist, Well Now My Pretty, The Dead Stay Dumb, and There's Always a Price Tag) and that it isn't camp.

One of the best crime novels. Highly recommend to read. My synopsis: Money is subject to anything. Some people care about it and others don't. Certain "blue stag" films were made to blackmail the future president of US. Hired professional killers test their experience to get those films any way possible in this exciting and thrilling story. Betrayal, hatred and sexual appeal are all mixed up in this intriguing and suspenseful fiction.

I have always loved reading JHC, my first one was Come Easy Go Easy Chet Carson, I was 14yrs old and it was one of my Dads collections, my Dad had 26 of them.

EXCELLENT THRILLER AS USUAL FROM THIS WRITER

An exciting story with many unexpected twists and turns.

Poor ending expected more action. At least he got to take the girl out.Liked the story line. Well done James!

With Girland and Malik on the same page, it is simply Unputdownable. What else does One need from the Master of the Art of Deception!!