Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Come Easy - Go Easy / In A Vain Shadow-James Hadley Chase

Come Easy - Go Easy / In A Vain Shadow


James Hadley Chase

Stark House, Apr 30 2012, $19.95

ISBN: 9781933586380



“Come Easy - Go Easy.” Lawrnece Safes Copration Chet Carson answers the service call from affluent Henry Cooper at the Ashley Arms. Seeing the money inside he decides to steal the loot. It goes wrong for him and his partner Roy Tracey. Chet is sent to Farnsworth but soon escapes. He makes it to the Point of No Return filling station and snack bar owned by elderly Carl Jenson. The owner’s wife Lola recognizes Chet and demands he breaks open her spouse’s safe or she will get the cops.



“In A Vain Shadow.” In London Henry Sarek has received threatening letters so he hires Frank Mitchell as his bodyguard. At the office Mitchell meets Sarek’s secretary big boned Emmie Pearl and moving into his employer’s home Henry’s sultry wife Rita. When the Sarek couple head to Paris without him, Mitchell searches the house as he believes his employer traffics in illegal diamonds. Instead he finds photos of Rita with a nightclub act partner in Cairo. Mitchell knows the partner is behind the threats so the bodyguard writes a threatening letter to see what occurs. Sarek wants to flee England while Rita wants the diamonds so she orders Mitchell to kill her husband if he wants her and the gems.



These are reprints of two taut throwback thrillers written over five decades ago share a similar premise of bad to the bone protagonists remain wicked while making up two thirds of a fascinating triangle. With nods to the movie Double Indemnity, fans will appreciate these exciting tense crime tales.



Harriet Klausner



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