Book description
Sudden death lurks along the canals of Venice . . .
That's what Don Micklem, millionaire American playboy on the trail of a
disappearing one-time British agent, discovers the hard way. Has his
quarry been murdered or has he committed treason?
Against the backdrop of Venice's sinister waterways, Micklem must fight
a ruthless political organization while facing the prospect of a violent
death at every turn.
Born René Brabazon Raymond in London, the son of a British colonel in
the Indian Army, James Hadley Chase was educated at King's School in
Rochester, Kent, and left home at the age of 18. He initially worked in
book sales until, inspired by the rise of gangster culture during the
Depression and by reading James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice
, he wrote his first novel, No Orchids for Miss Blandish
. Despite the American setting of many of his novels, Chase (like Peter
Cheyney, another hugely successful British noir writer) never lived
there, writing with the aid of maps and a slang dictionary. He had
phenomenal success with the novel, which continued unabated throughout
his entire career, spanning 45 years and nearly 90 novels. His work was
published in dozens of languages and over thirty titles were adapted for
film. He served in the RAF during World War II, where he also edited the
RAF Journal. In 1956 he moved to France with his wife and son; they
later moved to Switzerland, where Chase lived until his death in 1985.
