James Hadley Chase

Chet Logan, known as the Axe Killer, escapes from custody while being escorted to jail. Disguised as a police officer, he meets up with movie writer Perry Weston and persuades him to drive to Weston's remote fishing lodge. Once there, and somewhat to Weston's surprise, Logan agrees to talk about his life and how he came to murder six people.The police become suspicious and put a watch on the lodge. Then Weston's wayward wife visits him and promises a fresh start. Logan wants money and a chance to start again ...Can either of them deliver or will Weston and Logan share a double funeral?

Dirk Wallace is handed a simple assignment - find out who's blackmailing Mrs Thorsen's daughter. Before long, Wallace realises that he's up against some very organised crime.And when things turn nasty, there's only one thing to do. Wallace and his assistant quit the Acme Detective Agency and go it alone. There's a score to be settled. And Dirk Wallace doesn't want to have to play by the rules.

Farrell Brannigan, President of the National Californian Bank, is an extremely successful man. So when he builds another bank in an up-and-coming town on the Pacific coast, he is given worldwide publicity, and this new bank is hailed as the 'safest bank in the world'.But Brannigan's success comes at a price and he makes enemies on his way up the ladder. It seems one of them is now set on revenge and determined to destroy both the bank and Brannigan himself.

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 ...

The Esmaldi necklace was worth about $350,000: one hundred matched diamonds the size of garden peas, set in platinum. The sort of necklace people would murder for ...And Al Barney, beachcomber and layabout, knew its history - a tale of hate, jealousy and violence; of beautiful, wanton women and the most cunningly devised jewel robbery ever.

Mark Girland, good-for-nothing secret agent with a distinct weakness for money and women, finds himself in Prague for his latest adventure. But events in the Communist country prove all too much for Girland as he comes face-to-face with a sinister world of deception, fraud and corruption.'The same compulsive readability and sheer hard story-telling as in every other' Sheffield Telegraph

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.For years he had waited - watching an endless stream of money pass through his hands - knowing that a risk was only worth taking if the reward was justified. And a $300,000 payroll was justification enough - even for murder ...

Even for a redhead, Helen Dester was wild - she'd driven one guy to drink and made another jump out of a top-floor window.Glyn Nash realises that to tangle with her will be dangerous. But he has no option if he wants a share of the $750,000 insurance money Helen stands to gain if her husband dies accidentally - or even if he is murdered.

Jay Benson had been one of the US Army's top snipers. In Vietnam he'd killed 82 Vietcong. But making the School of Shooting he'd taken over outside Paradise City pay was a tougher proposition than the Vietnamese jungle.So when the sinister Augusto Savanto turns up with an offer of $50,000 if Jay turns his gun-shy son into an expert shot - in just nine days - he accepts. Then he discovers the horrific reason why Savanto wants his son made into a marksman. But by now there is no backing out for Jay ...

Larry Carr is a diamond expert in need of a break. So when his psychiatrist suggests he has a change of scene, he jumps at the opportunity to move to Luceville, a struggling industrial town, and become a social worker. This, he thinks, will give him all the rest he needs.But soon he runs into Rhea Morgan, a ruthless, vicious thief who also happens to be extremely attractive. He falls headlong into the criminal world and embarks upon a thrilling, rapid and dastardly adventure ...

Helga Rolfe is blonde, beautiful, and bright enough to control her own multi-million pound empire. But not to control her secret weakness: sex. Former lover, Archer, knows it. He has an old score to settle with her and he needs cash. When handsome gigolo Christopher Greenville crosses his path, he's found the way to both.With Archer's coaching, Chris cons Helga into wanting him badly enough to propose marriage, and when Archer fakes Chris's kidnapping, she is ready to pay the huge ransom. But events take a frightening twist when the local Mafia join the action ...

When Detective Tom Lepski shot down the runaway killer on his beat in Paradise City, he unleashed a chain of events that would involve two sets of criminals and a honeymoon couple in one of the most exciting nights any of them had seen for a long time.Wilbur Warrenton and his beautiful, grasping wife Maria are on their honeymoon in the luxurious Spanish Bay Hotel when their penthouse suite is the scene of a collision between a gang of jewel thieves intent on stealing the famous Warrenton diamonds and a gang of ransom-hungry Cubans - all determined to get exactly what they want - at any cost ...

When Johnny Jackson unaccountably disappears, his grandfather contacts the police for help. As they prove to be uninterested, he turns instead to Colonel Parnell of the Parnell Detective Agency. It seems at first to be a simple case of a missing person - but they soon find themselves in the middle of a complicated web of deceit, intrigue and murder.

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 ...'The thriller maestro of the generation' Manchester Evening News

From the moment Helga Rolfe, the elegant wife of one of the richest tycoons, picks up a gum-chewing boy young enough to be her son, events jump back and skid through a series of 180-degree turns. Games of bluff and counter bluff quickly develop into a dangerous and deadly battle and as the action hots up, Chase weaves a fast-moving story of blackmail, intrigue and extortion with a hair-raising climax.