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Patrick Dawlish #32
Wait for Death
Near Fine in Fine dj. Minor dusting to upper page block. Originally released in the UK under the name Gordon Ashe.Nice in dj. 1st U.S. ed.
186 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1957
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 7, 2025
John Creasey was one of the most prolific writers in all of human history, penning in excess of 600 novels in his lifetime, sometimes as many as 140 a year. He wrote under at least 27 psuedonyms. His series include the Baron series from 1937 to 1979, the Commander George Gideon series from 1955 to 1976, the Superintendent Folly series from 1942 to 1948, the Mark Kilby series from 1959 to 1964, the Z5 series from 1942 to 1979, the Department Z series from 1933 to 1957, the Toff series from 1938 to 1978 (60 books), and the Patrick Dawlish series from 1939 to 1975 with more than 50 books in the series. You could spend a lifetime reading Creasey’s books if you can find them.
The Patrick Dawlish series, of which we are concerned today, was written as Gordon Ashe and set with a Scotland Yard detective, but whose adventures eventually take him to America and elsewhere. Later, apparently, Dawlish becomes a famous MI5 operative who fought across occupied Europe against the Nazis. Later, and “Wait for Death” falls into this character, Dawlish retires to the English countryside with his wife Feliciy and trouble always finds him.
As “Wait for Death” opens, Patrick has been invited by an eccentric French millionaire M. Bidot to lunch at Brighton Beach along with their wives. Bidot stands them up, however, and they make do with a weekend jaunt at the beach. As Patrick and Felicity stroll the boardwalk, Felicity spies a blonde in the briefest pink bikini on their trail. Patrick presumes it is a coincidence, but Felicity is sure that they are being followed. Patrick is led into chasing a sports car into the countryside even nearly getting arrested when he believes the man in the sports car abducted the blonde in the teeny-weeny pink bikini. Meanwhile, Felicity dons her bathing suit and splashes into the ocean, showing off her powerful swimming skills, only to be abducted in a motor boat under the pier. Patrick does not find her back at the hotel, does not see her on the beach, and immediately knows something is amiss. No one seems to take the missing wife seriously for the first hour, but Patrick knows something bad has happened and that he is the target, particularly with M. Bidot missing their appointment.
Things get a bit dicier as he returns home, hoping Felicity found her way there, only to find M. Bidot’s wife, who apparently was the Brigitte Bardot and Jackie Onassis of that generation, sitting in Patrick and Felicity’s bedroom, asking him to return mysterious “papers” that he never received because he never met with M. Bidot. From there, things take an awful turn for the worse as a gang of criminals take over the house, demanding to be told where the papers are or else something truly bad will happen to Felicity. Of course, they turn to torturing Patrick in a rigged-up electric chair to get their answers, answers he could not possibly have.
This is a well-written and absorbing adventurous novel that shows what Patrick is made of when the one person nearest and dearest to him is taken hostage and he has to battle these forces of evil with nary an accomplice and the Bidots both claiming that Patrick has the mysterious missing papers, which he does not.
The Patrick Dawlish series, of which we are concerned today, was written as Gordon Ashe and set with a Scotland Yard detective, but whose adventures eventually take him to America and elsewhere. Later, apparently, Dawlish becomes a famous MI5 operative who fought across occupied Europe against the Nazis. Later, and “Wait for Death” falls into this character, Dawlish retires to the English countryside with his wife Feliciy and trouble always finds him.
As “Wait for Death” opens, Patrick has been invited by an eccentric French millionaire M. Bidot to lunch at Brighton Beach along with their wives. Bidot stands them up, however, and they make do with a weekend jaunt at the beach. As Patrick and Felicity stroll the boardwalk, Felicity spies a blonde in the briefest pink bikini on their trail. Patrick presumes it is a coincidence, but Felicity is sure that they are being followed. Patrick is led into chasing a sports car into the countryside even nearly getting arrested when he believes the man in the sports car abducted the blonde in the teeny-weeny pink bikini. Meanwhile, Felicity dons her bathing suit and splashes into the ocean, showing off her powerful swimming skills, only to be abducted in a motor boat under the pier. Patrick does not find her back at the hotel, does not see her on the beach, and immediately knows something is amiss. No one seems to take the missing wife seriously for the first hour, but Patrick knows something bad has happened and that he is the target, particularly with M. Bidot missing their appointment.
Things get a bit dicier as he returns home, hoping Felicity found her way there, only to find M. Bidot’s wife, who apparently was the Brigitte Bardot and Jackie Onassis of that generation, sitting in Patrick and Felicity’s bedroom, asking him to return mysterious “papers” that he never received because he never met with M. Bidot. From there, things take an awful turn for the worse as a gang of criminals take over the house, demanding to be told where the papers are or else something truly bad will happen to Felicity. Of course, they turn to torturing Patrick in a rigged-up electric chair to get their answers, answers he could not possibly have.
This is a well-written and absorbing adventurous novel that shows what Patrick is made of when the one person nearest and dearest to him is taken hostage and he has to battle these forces of evil with nary an accomplice and the Bidots both claiming that Patrick has the mysterious missing papers, which he does not.
May 30, 2024
I do like these thrillers written in the Fifties and this one was no exception. It was fast paced and full of twists. Unlike many thrillers at the time it had some really nasty moments. I just had to keep reading to find out how Patrick Dawlish would find his wife Felicity. A really good read.
December 29, 2014
Creasy is fun, and this book is pretty typical of his "Gordon Ashe" series with the main character Patrick Dawlish. Dawlish is a PI / adventurer, so these books are more rife with hidden treasure and femme fatales (with a heart of gold) than his police procedurals.
September 8, 2007
Dawlish is an independent crime fighter of sorts. So when his wife is kidnapped, who better to find her and get her back?
CMB
CMB
January 5, 2013
DULL DETECTIVE STORY
July 1, 2014
creasey's dawlish
Want to read
September 9, 2018Synopsis: Dawlish's wife is kidnapped and he sets out to find the culprit and get her back.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews