James Hadley Chase is probably the best know synonym of René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, an English writer also known by other pen names, including James L. Docherty, Raymond Marshall, R. Raymond, and Ambrose Grant. He is one of the best known thriller writers of all time. He was influenced by American crime writes and writers of hardboiled pulp fiction, but he rarely visited the United States and the books are based on knowledge acquired by reading and using reference materials. He has written some 90 books, almost half of which have been made into movies. Dave Fenner, the reporter turned detective featured in Chase’s first novel, "No Orchids for Miss Blandish," returns in "Twelve Chinks and a Woman," a novel in which love, passion, violence, and suspense are skilfully blended in Chase’s trademark style, a mix of hard men, soft ladies, and unrelenting action. Set in New York and Florida, this is the story of a hard-boiled private eye with an attitude halfway between wiseguy and saint, who fights a most vicious racket.
