Thu 11 Sep 2014
Reviewed by Marvin Lachman: GORDON ASHE (JOHN CREASEY) – Wait for Death.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[3] Comments
by Marv Lachman
GORDON ASHE – Wait for Death. John Long, UK. hardcover, 1957. Holt Rinehart Winston, US, hardcover, 1972. Popular Library, paperback, US, no date.
Pulp fiction never died; it just moved to slicker paper, A case in point was John Creasey when he was not writing his Gideon series or the best of t!le Roger West books. Take fer example Wait for Death, which he originally published in 1957 as Gordon Ashe, about Patrick Dawlish, “amateur hero.”
It is one of the series dating before Dawlish headed up the Crime Haters and became involved in preventing international crime. The book starts in promising fashion as Patrick and his lovely wife, Felicity, are tricked into going to Brighton, on a hot summer day, where they are trailed by a busty blonde who is having trouble staying inside a very skimpy bikini. The plot develops quickly with some real surprises, and we are concerned about the fate of the Dawlishes.
After that, Wait for Death deteriorates, losing tension and credibility as Creasey goes on as if he hasn’t the remotest idea of how to resolve things.
Some of his pulpy descriptions of Dawlish do amuse, however: “At one time in his life he had lived so dangerously that had he not always been aware of who was following him, he would have died young.” A bit later we get that classic pulp scene, right out of the 1930’s, as Dawlish fires at a villain, “and the bullet struck the other’s gun and sent it whirling out of his grasp, while the man himself cringed back”
A word about the jacket of the 1972 Holt Rinehart Winston hardcover before I finish. I realize that paperback art is generally better than hardcover because it induces people to buy books. Few buy hardcover mysteries, except libraries which don’t care what is under the plastic they will soon use. However, the art work for Wait for Death is about as boring,. irrelevant, and poorly done as any I’ve ever seen.
Editorial Comment: One of the great pluses of the Internet that was not realistically possible back in 1986 is that not only can I show you the cover that so negatively impressed Marv, but I can also show you the cover of the subsequent paperback, one a whole lot more appropriate for the contents within, to my way of thinking.
September 11th, 2014 at 5:00 pm
Dawlish and wife Felicity were Creasey’s nod to Sapper and Bulldog Drummond originally, she getting kidnapped almost as regularly as Phyllis Drummond. Still, Creasey, even in pulp mode, could not help but create better characters and generally write better.
This one is a pleasant little thriller of the mid list variety. Ashe and Dawlish fans would be guaranteed to like it, and it wouldn’t offend anyone else. Dawlish would come into his own in the Crime Haters books as even Creasey’s gentlemen adventurers always seemed awfully civic minded. The Toff’s penchant for bending the law was mild compared to most of the breed. Only the Baron was ever an out and out criminal.
I would like to know though how many times the pre Crime Haters Dawlish managed to be hunted by the police and the bad guys. It’s a wonder Felicity didn’t divorce him.
And speaking of Felicity, she is one of Creasey’s better drawn female characters, much more involved in the action early on. level headed, and with more than a little nerve; a bit like Phyllis Drummond, who in FEMALE OF THE SPECIES very nearly does for one of Irma Peterson’s men. You would not want to kidnap Felicity for reasons other than husband Patrick.
I don’t disagree with this review, just have more tolerance for Creasey in pulp mode, and yes the hardcover jacket is uninspiring to be kind.
Dawlish had to shoot the gun out of the villain’s hand, other than Dr. Palfrey, Creasey heroes tended not to be killers.
September 11th, 2014 at 6:23 pm
I read one of Creasey/Ashe’s Crime Haters books, and it didn’t do a lot for me, apparently, since I never read another. I don’t remember a whole lot about it. I did mean to go back to one of the earlier ones, such as this one, but for one reason or another, I never did. Or at least not yet.
September 13th, 2014 at 11:16 pm
Steve,
The early Dawlish set around the war feature a good deal of parachuting behind the lines and such. Early Creasey, and not bad but not special.
What the Crime Haters did for Dawlish was give him a reason to be digging up trouble all over the world. The Toff and Baron were always drawn in by friends, but Dawlish tended to take on bigger crimes and it was getting hard to find a legitimate reason for Dawlish to be involved.
THE CRIME HATERS sold well enough that a pilot film as made for a series, the setting moved to Canada. It aired as the last episode of BORIS KARLOFF’S THRILLER.