A tale of addiction and obsession, and the dangers of both. Cade was at the top of his game. He was a photographer wanted by everyone. And then, on a beach in Acapulco, he met Juana Roca. Despite warnings that she is a danger to men, he proceeds to fall in love. From here things begin to spiral downwards for Cade as she saps the will out of him, drink begins to take hold and suddenly the money and the work are no longer there...

Get a load of this! The hardboiled world of James Hadley Chase, the thriller maestro, is recaptured in this new edition of tough and gritty tales. An early morning stroll in the park, or a lonely cross-country drive to Florida; evading arrest in war-torn Cuba, or sipping bourbon in the Bronx—it makes no odds, serious trouble lies just around the corner…. The sleazy jungle of lamp-lit streets, faded hotel lobbies and soulless freeways is the setting for a menagerie of typically brash Chase characters: all-metal blondes that weaken your resistance, merciless thugs in uniform and third-rate double-crossers. Fast-paced and crackling with cynical wit, this classic anthology shows why Chase is the unchallenged British champion of the tough American tradition. Publisher’s Note This remarkable collection of short stories was first published in 1942 and is now re-issued for the first time. It is a tribute to the vigour and storytelling ability of James Hadley Chase that after so many years these tales still shock and thrill the reader.

When journalist Nick Mason got a hot tip to investigate the frame-up of a man being executed for murder, he didn’t know what he was in for. At the gas chamber, it was Vessi’s last words that gave Mason the clue to a peculiar cover up at the respectable Mackenzie Fabric Corporation. But when Mason gets warned off by a cold-eyed gunman and a dangerous hooker called Blondie, he would have abandoned the whole investigation… if it weren’t for the irresistible Mardi, the girl from Mackenzie Fabrics who might be able to lead him to the truth.

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. He cooks up a plan to rob his own bank at Pittsville and make it look as if his secretary, Alice Craig and her boyfriend, had made off with the looted money. Alice, who is a spinster, with no parents, no relatives and nobody to care whether she lived or died…. Dave Calvin knew just how he could make her disappear. And to achieve his plan, he enlisted the support of his own landlady, Kit Loring, who was sensuously beautiful and also an ex- alcoholic. However, Dave Calvin  was soon to realise that a woman who is an ex- alcoholic, isn't the most reliable partner for murder…

HARD, RUTHLESS, AMORAL . . . that was Julie Holland - a good-time girl who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. And when the chance came to play a major role in a furs robbery she jumped at it. Luck smiled on her for even when everything went wrong with the plot and the gang-leader was arrested for a murder of which he was innocent, Julie still emerged from it with a thousand a year and a Mayfair flat.But she was not satisfied yet — and the inevitable fate of the over-greedy awaited her.