Mon 15 May 2017
Reviewed by Dan Stumpf: JAMES HADLEY CHASE – Twelve Chinamen and a Woman.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[8] Comments
JAMES HADLEY CHASE – Twelve Chinks and a Woman. Jarrolds, UK, hardcover, 1940. Howell Soskin, US, hardcover, 1941. Avon Monthly Novel #7, US, digest-sized paperback, 1948; Avon #485, US, paperback, 1948. Reprinted as Twelve Chinamen and a Woman, Novel Library #37, US, paperback, revised & edited, 1950. Also published as The Doll’s Bad News, Panther, UK, paperback, 1970.
In the Gasps from the Past Department, I re-read Twelve Chinamen and a Woman by James Hadley Chase, the “specially revised and edited†Novel Library version of Twelve Chinks and a Woman which I read under its original title as a college freshman, back in the gaudy 60s.
It should go without saying that this is hardly Great Literature or even reasonably competent writing. Chase’s grasp of American argot is a tenuous toehold at best — people keeping using “should†for “would†and “shall†for “will†— and his idea of Plot is to keep killing off characters until whoever’s left must be guilty, and he develops the story by having hoods burst in shooting every few pages.
His scenes of Hot Passion are more laughable than lubricious, with passages like:
Fenner ran his finger round the inside of his collar. “I’m a bit of a bug myself,†he said. “Scram, baby, before we really get to work. Beat it, an’ I’ll see you in church.â€
On the other hand, I have to credit Chase with the kind of loopy genius it takes to keep a story moving at white-hot speed for 157 pages, and he can put across a scene of violence rather well, when his writing doesn’t get in the way.
In all, Twelve Chinamen is rather memorable, in its fashion (otherwise, I wouldn’t have revisited it, I guess) and while I wouldn’t put it on my resume, it made for a few nice hours of Guilty Pleasure.
May 15th, 2017 at 9:16 pm
Chase always got much better reviews than he deserved, even from Graham Greene. He is fun to read, and his books have energy, I much preferred Peter Cheyney overall.
This is one of his best known, but not one of his best, though I like Fenner.
May 15th, 2017 at 9:32 pm
Fenner, of course, was also the detective in No Orchids for Miss Blandish, Chase’s first book, and so notorious it’s had two different revised versions in reprint editions.
See Steve Holland’s Bear Alley blog for more information, along with a host of covers, and I mean a host!
https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2015/08/james-hadley-chase-cover-gallery.html
May 16th, 2017 at 12:25 pm
I was reading (through Google translator!) an interesting study in French: “James Hadley Chase: Le Maître de l’inexorable”, by Pierre Agostini.
There he mentions No Orchids for Miss Blandish as a mythical novel, and considers The Dead Stay Dumb and The Sucker Punch, among others, as his best novels. Unfortunately, you can not view the entire book in Google Books.
May 16th, 2017 at 4:09 pm
Johny
Thanks for this. I found this link
https://books.google.com/books?id=nXFpCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA57&lpg=PA57&dq=%E2%80%9CJames+Hadley+Chase:+Le+Ma%C3%AEtre+de+l%E2%80%99inexorable&source=bl&ots=WDt6rzVTDF&sig=Js1cTqssY_uRUkfxjB7kurV_TjE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4x-38p_XTAhVCyGMKHTvbDIAQ6AEIXzAH#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9CJames%20Hadley%20Chase%3A%20Le%20Ma%C3%AEtre%20de%20l%E2%80%99inexorable&f=false
but so far no English translation. My French is no long capable of making a dent into the original text, I’m afraid, and as you say, you’ll get only bits and pieces anyway.
If anyone does know French, though, this is a book that looks as though it would be very useful.
May 16th, 2017 at 3:59 pm
I always thought the best thing about Chase’s books was the titles.
May 16th, 2017 at 4:12 pm
Absolutely. I don’t know if Chase had any input himself — I assume he did — but whoever it was had an ear for what would catch a would-be buyer’s eye. If that makes sense.
May 16th, 2017 at 4:47 pm
I suppose soon this will be again retitled: Twelve Persons of Pacific Asian Descent and A Woman. Bah.
May 16th, 2017 at 9:34 pm
I know what you’re saying, but in this case, I think that as time went on, each of the title changes was probably for the better. The last one most certainly.