Come Easy, Go Easy / in a Vain Shadow

Called the "king of all thriller writers," James Hadley Chase is the master of suspenseful deception, and these are two of his finest works, reprinted from the 1950's and 60's. Included is a new introduction by Rick Ollerman that seeks to discover the man behind the name.

Rene Brabazon Raymond, better known by his pseudonym, James Hadley Chase, was born on December 24, 1906, in Ealing, London and was educated at King's School, Rochester, Kent. He left home when he was about eighteen and worked as a traveling salesman selling children's encyclopedias. Later, he joined a wholesale book firm. Chase took up full time writing in 1939 after his first novel, No Orchids for Miss Blandish, became an immediate success. He moved to France in 1956 and over to Switzerland in 1961, living a secluded life in Corseaux-sur-Vevey north of Lake Geneva, where he died on February 6, 1985. The author of over 90 books, most of them hardboiled Americanized thrillers, Chase remains one of the best known mystery writers of all time.