But a Short Time to Live

by James Hadley Chase

Crime novel.

Genres: Noir, Thriller, Novels, Crime, Mystery, Fiction

189 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1951

About the author

René Lodge Brabazon Raymond was born on 24th December 1906 in London, England, the son of Colonel Francis Raymond of the colonial Indian Army, a veterinary surgeon. His father intended his son to have a scientific career, was initially educated at King's School, Rochester, Kent. He left home at the age of 18 and became at different times a children's encyclopedia salesman, a salesman in a bookshop, and executive for a book wholesaler before turning to a writing career that produced more than 90 mystery books. His interests included photography (he was up to professional standard), reading and listening to classical music, being a particularly enthusiastic opera lover. Also as a form of relaxation between novels, he put together highly complicated and sophisticated Meccano models.

In 1932, Raymond married Sylvia Ray, who gave him a son. They were together until his death fifty three years later. Prohibition and the ensuing US Great Depression (1929–1939), had given rise to the Chicago gangster culture just prior to World War II. This, combined with her book trade experience, made him realise that there was a big demand for gangster stories. He wrote as R. Raymond, James Hadley Chase, James L. Docherty, Ambrose Grant and Raymond Marshall.

During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force, achieving the rank of Squadron Leader. Chase edited the RAF Journal with David Langdon and had several stories from it published after the war in the book Slipstream: A Royal Air Force Anthology.

Raymond moved to France in 1956 and then to Switzerland in 1969, living a secluded life in Corseaux-sur-Vevey, on Lake Geneva, from 1974. He eventually died there peacefully on 6 February 1985.

Reviews

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Greek Tragedy in the Streets of England

"But a Short Time to Live" is an odd 1951 pulp tale by James Hadley Chase. It's the ballad of Harry and Claire Ricks, a doomed and mismatched pair if there ever was one. It's all set in dreary economically-deprived postwar London and there's a sense even from the start that no good was ever really come to Harry and Claire.

Harry is that wide-eyed innocent who only wants to do the right thing. Harry is working a gimmick as a photographer snapping candies on the street and handing out his card, hoping that the subjects of his involuntary modeling will want the photos the Next day. He doesn't have much and not much to look forward to anyway. Claire is a stunning woman, but a streetwise tart, dedicated to purveying her talents as London's best pickpocket under the tutelage of a hard case who acts like her pimp. Where Harry is soft and malleable, Claire is tough and unbendable. Where it's her looks that get to him, it's Harry's innate goodness that appeals to Claire as being so utterly decent she's never met anyone like him.

Their pairing is a Greek tragedy in the worst way and their downfall utterly predictable from the start. Even Claire tries to warn Harry off, telling him she's just no good, none at all. But he's hopelessly committed and descending step by step into the inferno.

[Paul Lothane · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me this book has parallels with ‘More deadly than the male’, also penned by Hadley Chase. The idea of a decent, naive young man meeting an attractive, calculating ruthless young woman resonates again. Chase sure knows how to present and unravel such men as hapless fools who lose it all! They become enchanted with femme fatale and somehow cannot extricate themselves from the maelstrom they find themselves in. How Harry in this work can not discern that his Claire is a cheap whore beggars belief.

Yet it has to be admitted that Claire here does like Harry and realises he was a fine gentleman; she wanted to do good things for him, buy him nice things, which she does - the problem is that she never told him what she was all about, and he was too daft to piece it together himself. She also has a highly developed streak of irresponsibility, a penchant for getting them into trouble. And how she does so! Hence at the end - just like in More deadly than the male - Harry loses it all despite being the good one, as he even dies so young. Many pundits reckon Chase was somewhat a misogynist, but it must be the other way round, since men often suffer extraordinarily in his works! Again, think of the end of EVE too with the spineless guy savagely whipped!

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty demented Fifties Brit noir about a Piccadilly souvenir street photographer who falls hard for a cheap pick-pocketing prostitute. She lays the old line about how she doesn't care that he's broke, it's LOVE damn it.
Her jealous pimp retaliates by hiring one of his yobs to bash the shutterbug upside his head with a tire chain. If Sid Vicious was still alive he could play the yob with the tire chain....and I'm only halfway through this ribald tome.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harry Ricks is another one of those exasperating foolish protagonists that every now and then find their way into James Hadley Chase's fiction. Originally, this novel was published under the pseudonym Raymond Marshall, instead of Chase. But its similarity is with yet another work, More Deadly Than the Male, which was also published under another pseudonym, Ambrose Grant. In the latter book, JHC had as his hero, George Fraser, a lumbering fantasist who is degraded by a small time gangster's moll. Here, in But a Short Time to Live, JHC reworks the theme. Claire Dolan, a pickpocket living on the edge of a life of petty crime, seduces the naive Harry Ricks. So blind is he to the extent Claire humiliates and destroys him that he never even realizes the degree of her selfishness. Not even at the very end, when Harry fools himself into believing she will follow him into his fate.

This is another of JHC's London-based thriller/crime stories. In them, Chase depicts a postwar world of desperate people, food shortages, and life on the edge. It is a pretty good example of literary realism, especially in the way it contrasts with the American crime stories whose mythic settings seem to shine with brilliance and abundance. Here, it's a dark and dank world, cheerless, with people just stretching their existence from one day to the next.

[Guy · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There are some girls, Harry, who are no good.”

James Hadley Chase’s wonderful noir novel, But A Short Time to Live, is set in dreary post WWII London. Harry Ricks is one of several photographers employed by a failing business to take photos of people in the street, and it’s his job to try to make a sale. It’s depressing work with a very low success rate, and Harry is struggling to make a living.

It’s the end of a long day, and Harry is in the Duke of Wellington having a pint when he notices a stunning woman drinking whisky with a much older, fat and unpleasant man. Harry’s first impression is that while the woman is beautiful, the situation indicates that there’s some funny business afoot.

"Her companion wasn’t the polished Stewart Granger type Harry expected to see, but a short, fat elderly man whose face was the colour of port wine and who was as near being intoxicated as made no difference."

A few hours later, a series of events leads Harry to taking the woman in the pub, Clair, home to her very large, expensive flat. While everyone else still feels the belt-tightening of the war, Clair seems immune to deprivation: her flat is well-stocked with whisky. She claims she’s a model, drives a sports car, dresses in expensive clothing and Harry desperate to avoid some nasty conclusions about Clair’s behaviour,and ignoring “how hard she looked,” believes every word she says. …

Some of the characters in the book, even though they are astonished that Harry would land such a woman, admire Clair, but Harry’s best friend and roommate, Ron, warns against getting mixed up with Clair. Ron, a tragic figure, who has had bad experiences with what he calls “glamour girls” warns Harry that these relationships never work out for the “poor mug who marries them.”

There’s another great character here–Mooney, a strange, shady figure, who starts out in the book as Harry’s employer. Mooney is lazy, unambitious and happy to sail on the talent of others. Later in the book, Mooney’s more exploitative side takes over as he starts using Harry, but by the time the tale ends, Mooney reveals more character than we thought he had.

Clair is the dominant partner in the relationship with Harry. Everything runs the way she wants: what she spends, where they live, who they see. Harry makes a few objections, but he’s weak when it comes to Clair. In this story of doomed love, Harry has plenty of warnings about Clair; he sees things, he’s told things, but he keeps on … committed and devoted to the end of the road.

But A Short Time to Live follows the trajectory of Harry and Clair’s relationship, and the book took a number of unexpected twists and turns as this troubled couple try to (and seem to) elude fate. This is an excellent noir tale, set in a dreary post WWII London, peopled with spivs, prostitutes and cheap entertainment; it’s a story oozing with desperation and darkness spiraling towards its inevitable end.

[Kakha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will never be able to rate any work of this completely unique writer with less than five stars. I can’t and it’s not necessary, it’s not worth it, not a single work deserves it. It's hard for me to convey in words how much I love this master of the detective literary word...
This story is one of the early writings of the author, in which events take place in England, specifically in London.
Post-war time. The main character, a poor photographer working in a seedy photo studio on the verge of bankruptcy, accidentally meets a charming girl in his favorite cafe, but a skillful and dexterous thief hides behind her beautiful appearance. Having fallen in love with such a girl, you never know where it will lead...

[विकास 'अंजान' · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was surely different form the usual Chase novels. It makes you wonder what love can do to you.

[Sohel Merchant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dramatic story about the heights one can go for her love. The end was abrupt and unsatisfying. Reduced one star for the same. Overall, a nice read.

[Atanas Dimitrov · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ultimate cuckold story.

Not bad overall, to be frank, but it dragged on and on. And the main character's dreadful decision-making skills made this especially painful to read.

What's with Chase and his love for prostitutes?

[Mark Vickers · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a very clever story about a photographer Harry Ricks who meets and falls in love with a beautiful woman, Clair Dolan and what a fateful mistake that was because she always had him in her back pocket, where no one could snatch him away, unfortunately for Harry......

[Sen Savithri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unhappy ending ...I do not like this sort of books

[Emmanuel Wallart · Rating 2 out of 5]

The end is good, but what a long story! Not one of the best JHC's novels, for sure.

[Lesa Lunda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The perils of loving a ......🤣

[Kiril Ganchev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Една страхотна книга от Чейс. Държи те в напрежение до последно. Кара човек да чувства вина ако някога проявява наивност, предоверява се и прави твърде много компромиси.

[Pupottina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cosa siete disposti a fare per una donna?

A colpirmi è stato soprattutto il titolo, “MA HO VISSUTO TROPPO POCO” che lascia il senso di qualcosa che resta in sospeso, che non si può concludere o che, peggio ancora, si conclude con troppa velocità, lasciando l’amaro in bocca.
Se questo romanzo noir, di poco più di un centinaio di pagine, è uno dei meno conosciuti di JAMES HADLEY CHASE, non vedo l’ora di leggere anche gli altri. Mi è piaciuto tantissimo. L’ho trovato un piccolo capolavoro del giallo classico, dove il punto forte è la suspense e ce n’è davvero tanta.
Il protagonista è Harry Ricks, un fotografo squattrinato, il classico tipo tranquillo che, non si sa come, riesce a ficcarsi nei guai. Anche per lui, il guaio peggiore capita, come per la maggior parte degli esseri viventi, con l’arrivo dell’amore. Non sempre l’amore porta gioia e felicità. Per Ricks, l’amore porta un’escalation di aggressioni e morti. Dunque, il classico bravo ragazzo incontra sulla sua strada una donna bellissima e pericolosamente misteriosa che porta soltanto guai. Lui, però, non riesce a vedere l’evidenza, dei crimini che la circondano, e l’ambiguità, che si cela dietro tanta bellezza, e si ritrova a fare i conti con le terribili conseguenze di quell’appuntamento fatale che il destino a predisposto per lui.
Perde letteralmente la testa per lei e nessuno riesce a fargli aprire gli occhi. L’unica cosa che può fare e amarla oltre ogni limite, lasciandosi imprigionare in una spirale di pericoli.
Il lettore resta coinvolto dalla complessità e l’ambiguità dei personaggi, soprattutto quelli che da subito appaiono come negativi. Ci si chiede che cosa si nasconda dietro tutto quel mistero. Lei, Clair, bella da mozzare il fiato, è davvero pericolosa come la si descrive o è soltanto una vittime di personaggi che la manovrano?
Come dice il titolo, dal tono pessimistico, come molti altri titoli di Hadley Chase e in perfetta sintonia con la sua importante produzione narrativa, caratterizzata da un ritmo incalzante e da uno stile incisivo, qualcuno o più di qualcuno non riuscirà a raggiungere tutti i suoi bramati obiettivi e il bello sta proprio nel seguire l’evolversi degli eventi in una catena fatta di cause e conseguenze.

Ad accomunare il primo romanzo con il racconto, più moderno, di MARZIA MUSNECI, incluso in appendice, è la professione di entrambi i protagonisti, Harry Ricks e Zeno Malerba.
Anche nel racconto “ZENO MALERBA, FOTOGRAFO”, ci sono di mezzo crimini e omicidi, ma anche personaggi che, nonostante la brevità della forma narrativa, riescono a lasciare una traccia importante di sé, risultando particolarmente complessi, sfaccettati e interessanti.

http://youtu.be/VGaNuiSvQcg

[Mark Vickers · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great classic masterpiece this one is, about a photographer, Harry Ricks, who meets and falls in love with a typical beautiful woman, Clair Dolan and what a fateful mistake that is, because she always had him in her back pocket, where no-one could snatch him away.... unfortunately for Harry.....

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

2. (3BTA). "If you’re not settled in a job by the time you’re forty, it’s curtains. Watch that. You’ve got to be fixed up by forty, kid. Don’t forget. it’s important. No one wants a man when he’s over forty these days.
"

[Aleksandra Spiktarenko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unexpected and unfair ending

[Sumit · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst chase novel