You Must Be Kidding

James Hadley Chase

2013-ж. июн. · Hachette UK

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The only clue that could lead to the arrest of a homicidal killer is a golf ball button, torn from the jacket the killer was wearing, and found next to the horrifyingly mutilated body of a young hooker.

There are four owners of jackets with golf ball buttons living in the city. When Detective Tom Lepski of the Paradise City Police checks out these jackets, suspicion falls on Ken Brandon, an insurance agent.

But just when Lepski is sure he has his man, two more horrifying killings occur, and he is faced with the trickiest case he's ever had to solve.

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Born René Brabazon Raymond in London, the son of a British colonel in the Indian Army, James Hadley Chase was educated at King's School in Rochester, Kent, and left home at the age of 18. He initially worked in book sales until, inspired by the rise of gangster culture during the Depression and by reading James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, he wrote his first novel, No Orchids for Miss Blandish. Despite the American setting of many of his novels, Chase (like Peter Cheyney, another hugely successful British noir writer) never lived there, writing with the aid of maps and a slang dictionary. He had phenomenal success with the novel, which continued unabated throughout his entire career, spanning 45 years and nearly 90 novels. His work was published in dozens of languages and over thirty titles were adapted for film. He served in the RAF during World War II, where he also edited the RAF Journal. In 1956 he moved to France with his wife and son; they later moved to Switzerland, where Chase lived until his death in 1985.