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This Way for a Shroud
Brutální vražda June Arnotové, slavné hollywoodské filmové hvězdy, a masakr všech jejích sluhů jsou jen předehrou k tomuto napínavému a spletitému románu. Státní návladní se domnívá, že June Arnotová byla milenka Jacka Maurera, nepolapitelného šéfa mocné gangsterské organizace. Mnoho let se bezúspěšně pokouší dostat Maurera do vězení. Je tahle událost příležitostí, na kterou tak dlouho čekal? Celý případ závisí na jedné vyděšené a neochotné očité svědkyni - mladé a krásné dívce. Dokáže ji přesvědčit, aby vypovídala u soudu, a současně ji ochránit před Maurerovými zabijáky, kteří se ji určitě budou snažit umlčet...?
191 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1954
11 people are currently reading
415 people want to read
About the author
James Hadley Chase
648 books996 followersRené 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 22, 2021
Actress June Arnott is killed alongwith her servants.A powerful mob boss is behind the killing.But there is a witness and she has to be eliminated.
As police race to find and protect the witness,the mob's killers swing into action.The action is fast and furious,the pace never relents.
One killing follows another in rapid succession,as the corpses pile up.For all their efforts,police find themselves helpless as the mob's hit men find ways to breach the tightest security.
One of Hadley Chase's best thrillers.
As police race to find and protect the witness,the mob's killers swing into action.The action is fast and furious,the pace never relents.
One killing follows another in rapid succession,as the corpses pile up.For all their efforts,police find themselves helpless as the mob's hit men find ways to breach the tightest security.
One of Hadley Chase's best thrillers.
April 14, 2025
Rene Lodge Brabazon Raymond, writing as James Hadley Chase, wrote some 89 novels with few, if any, recurring characters in them. Each one is a bit of a surprise as the reader opens it and starts reading, never suspecting which direction Chase is leading the reader in. This is quite different than many of the other prolific crime fiction writers whose immense output was premised on continuing series characters. For instance, Erle Stanley Gardner had Perry Mason. Carter Brown had Al Wheeler and Danny Boyd. Brett Halliday (or the writers who wrote as Halliday) had big redhaired Mike Shayne.
In “This Way For a Shroud,” Chase sets his story in movie-star filled Hollywood and the meat and potatoes of the story is the forces of good, personified by District Attorney Investigator Paul Conrad facing off against the many-tentacled mob syndicate boss Jack Maurer.
The story opens with Conrad being called into action when a shocking multiple murder scene emerges at movie star June Arnot’s mansion, a few miles outside fictional Pacific City and some ten miles from Hollywood, a scene which would be reminiscent of what the Mason family would later do at Sharon Tate’s home a decade and more later. The movie star is found floating in the pool with her head having been machete-chopped off and left in the dressing room. To boot, all the servants inside and outside the house had been killed as well in a bloody, gory scene that, if filmed, would have been virtually unforgettable.
Janey Conrad, clad in her new evening dress, a strapless sky-blue creation with a bodice covered with silver sequins, is angry that Paul is called to duty when they could spend the evening out. No matter what he is dealing with, she wants to go out dancing whether it is at the Ambassador Hotel (later the site of the RFK shooting) or a nightclub run by the syndicate to Paul’s embarrassment. Paul is called on the carpet about his wife’s nighttime activities and you just know she is going to be used and spit out by a suave syndicate man to get at Paul, especially when Paul has got the only eyewitness to the massacre at the Arnot mansion hidden in protective custody.
Paul plays the role throughout the novel of the dogged detective, always one step behind the bad guys, trying to figure out if there is an eyewitness to the crimes at the mansion. Maurer is the chief suspect as he was supposed to be a special friend of June’s. But everyone involved seems to be having convenient accidents before Paul can get to them. Ralph Jordan, for instance, is known as June’s current lover. He is found dead in a waterless bath, holding an old fashioned cutthroat razor. The blood on the blade looked like scarlet paint. He is: “Deader than a joint of beef: chilled beef at that,” one officer quips.
And as the bodies fall, Paul realizes that Frances Coleman might be a witness, but is one step behind the syndicate thugs sent out to take her out. In fact, in an odd storyline, two thugs are sent to an apartment to take her out, but she mistakenly thinks one of them is her blind date and her, her girlfriend, the thug, and another guy head over to the amusement park at the Santa Monica Pier to have a good time while the other thug, mystified at what is going on, trails them. In another scene that seems made for the movies, the syndicate tries to take Frances out in the maze of mirrors, a scene she barely survives. She eventually falls in head-over-heels love with one of the thugs paid to take her off the board and Paul, in a sort of unethical quandry, falls in love with Frances.
Maurer has his tentacles out all over town and it is a continual guessing game as to how many people are on his payroll or could be counted on to do what he wants them to do in exchange for leaving their families alone. Chase also offers another villain in this novel, Ferrari, a short mean man who is the cleanup man for the syndicate and can get at anyone anywhere at any time. He has never failed, he boasts.
Although Paul Conrad is the lead character, Chase presents this novel through many points of view, offering a glimpse at different points through different sets of eyes.
In “This Way For a Shroud,” Chase sets his story in movie-star filled Hollywood and the meat and potatoes of the story is the forces of good, personified by District Attorney Investigator Paul Conrad facing off against the many-tentacled mob syndicate boss Jack Maurer.
The story opens with Conrad being called into action when a shocking multiple murder scene emerges at movie star June Arnot’s mansion, a few miles outside fictional Pacific City and some ten miles from Hollywood, a scene which would be reminiscent of what the Mason family would later do at Sharon Tate’s home a decade and more later. The movie star is found floating in the pool with her head having been machete-chopped off and left in the dressing room. To boot, all the servants inside and outside the house had been killed as well in a bloody, gory scene that, if filmed, would have been virtually unforgettable.
Janey Conrad, clad in her new evening dress, a strapless sky-blue creation with a bodice covered with silver sequins, is angry that Paul is called to duty when they could spend the evening out. No matter what he is dealing with, she wants to go out dancing whether it is at the Ambassador Hotel (later the site of the RFK shooting) or a nightclub run by the syndicate to Paul’s embarrassment. Paul is called on the carpet about his wife’s nighttime activities and you just know she is going to be used and spit out by a suave syndicate man to get at Paul, especially when Paul has got the only eyewitness to the massacre at the Arnot mansion hidden in protective custody.
Paul plays the role throughout the novel of the dogged detective, always one step behind the bad guys, trying to figure out if there is an eyewitness to the crimes at the mansion. Maurer is the chief suspect as he was supposed to be a special friend of June’s. But everyone involved seems to be having convenient accidents before Paul can get to them. Ralph Jordan, for instance, is known as June’s current lover. He is found dead in a waterless bath, holding an old fashioned cutthroat razor. The blood on the blade looked like scarlet paint. He is: “Deader than a joint of beef: chilled beef at that,” one officer quips.
And as the bodies fall, Paul realizes that Frances Coleman might be a witness, but is one step behind the syndicate thugs sent out to take her out. In fact, in an odd storyline, two thugs are sent to an apartment to take her out, but she mistakenly thinks one of them is her blind date and her, her girlfriend, the thug, and another guy head over to the amusement park at the Santa Monica Pier to have a good time while the other thug, mystified at what is going on, trails them. In another scene that seems made for the movies, the syndicate tries to take Frances out in the maze of mirrors, a scene she barely survives. She eventually falls in head-over-heels love with one of the thugs paid to take her off the board and Paul, in a sort of unethical quandry, falls in love with Frances.
Maurer has his tentacles out all over town and it is a continual guessing game as to how many people are on his payroll or could be counted on to do what he wants them to do in exchange for leaving their families alone. Chase also offers another villain in this novel, Ferrari, a short mean man who is the cleanup man for the syndicate and can get at anyone anywhere at any time. He has never failed, he boasts.
Although Paul Conrad is the lead character, Chase presents this novel through many points of view, offering a glimpse at different points through different sets of eyes.
February 22, 2021
Fast paced vintage Chase action thriller. And with a shocking ending, a surprise really. Set in Pacific City, Chase is once again at his best bringing his vision of a mythical America to sunny California. His hero, Paul Conrad, along with the DA, Forest, are virtually the only people with redeeming qualities. And even Conrad is sullied with his interest in crime victim Francis Coleman going beyond his professional interests. And that is even with Conrad being justified because of the actions of his sordid wife, Janey.
September 9, 2015
Horrific violence and spate of sudden deaths in this masterly thriller by Chase. Larger-than-life mobster, Maurer goes out of his way to hang onto his exceedingly lucrative criminal empire...and he does not mind how many people are brutally eliminated in the process. The characterization of Vito Ferrari, the "Organization's Executioner", can hardly be bettered; though of course it is pure spoof, and unrealistic. A hard-boiled thriller....
February 6, 2009
a story of perfect killing even the police can't comprehend
August 21, 2010
Classic hardboiled mystery. Worth a shot if you're able to find it.
October 7, 2020
A cruel and bloody, yet very exciting novel. James Hadley Chase is a real guru of the thriller and crime genre. There were a few chapters, which literally kept me at the edge of my seat. I felt like a total rascal, as I honestly wanted the bad guys to win this one time...
June 20, 2021
Chase never disappoints. I didn't expect the ending of this one at all. The storytelling or the characters aren't complex or anything, but that simplicity made it a page turner and I couldn't wait to know what's happening next.
October 4, 2018
Un giallo indiziario ad altissima tensione, fortemente chiazzato di sangue; un intreccio di storie tra il macabro e il voluttuoso che ingolosisce il lettore di pagina in pagina. Impossibile distogliere gli occhi da una simile lettura!
Chase non smette di stupirmi; ha i personaggi e gli ambienti giusti, con le scene d'azione ci sa fa fare di brutto. Da cardiopalma l'inseguimento nel labirinto del Luna Park; da antologia pulp le sequenze "cinematografiche" della caccia all'uomo immediatamente successiva; sull'Olimpo del thriller tutta la parte della 'protezione testimoni'.
Il titolo dell'edizione italiana è un maquillage piuttosto buffo (in originale è This way for a shroud, che significa qualcosa del tipo "Da questa parte per un sudario"; ma più che altro, New York non viene quasi mai menzionata) ma importa poco; accattatevi questo vecchio giallo Mondadori, è un gioiello del genere e pure qualcosina di più.
Chase non smette di stupirmi; ha i personaggi e gli ambienti giusti, con le scene d'azione ci sa fa fare di brutto. Da cardiopalma l'inseguimento nel labirinto del Luna Park; da antologia pulp le sequenze "cinematografiche" della caccia all'uomo immediatamente successiva; sull'Olimpo del thriller tutta la parte della 'protezione testimoni'.
Il titolo dell'edizione italiana è un maquillage piuttosto buffo (in originale è This way for a shroud, che significa qualcosa del tipo "Da questa parte per un sudario"; ma più che altro, New York non viene quasi mai menzionata) ma importa poco; accattatevi questo vecchio giallo Mondadori, è un gioiello del genere e pure qualcosina di più.
June 4, 2021
A magnificent work in the genre of tough crime fiction, written by a great and unique master of the literary word. The book was published in 1953.
The case concerns a Hollywood actress who was killed in her own house; one young actress who saw the murderer was an accidental witness... But this is not an easy murder, it was committed by a terrible crime syndicate and now all the power of this syndicate falls on that poor girl. Then intervenes the love of one young mobster (as happens very often because beauty is a great power), and on the other hand, the betrayal (to our great regret, this also happens ...) of the corrupt police bosses...
The plot is incomparable.
The case concerns a Hollywood actress who was killed in her own house; one young actress who saw the murderer was an accidental witness... But this is not an easy murder, it was committed by a terrible crime syndicate and now all the power of this syndicate falls on that poor girl. Then intervenes the love of one young mobster (as happens very often because beauty is a great power), and on the other hand, the betrayal (to our great regret, this also happens ...) of the corrupt police bosses...
The plot is incomparable.
February 3, 2014
Just another brilliant masterpiece from the maestro, what an amazing imagination from JHC himself, I'm currently reading his novels for the third time in 40 years and still find it extremely difficult to put it down without finishing it. This one is a classic thriller as with all his works might have given it 5 stars if not for a very timid ending but all the same he keeps the pages turning like no other writer.......
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June 28, 2015we,me, my cousin and my sis, read this book together last summer and it was amazing because we were sharing our personal opinions to each other and i think that we did was really important
i warn yo
there wont be any mistress
i warn yo
there wont be any mistress
May 20, 2012
A master piece!
December 11, 2016
I'm giving one star less due to the abrupt ending to this crackling thriller. The plot, the sequences and the twists are top notch. This one is different from JHC's other works I've read in the sense that the good guys don't really win...
October 28, 2020
I was wondering why the cover of the book has a female figure on it. The end justified it.
One of the intriguing, deep-sunken murderous stories I had ever read!
Spoiler alert**
There's no victor and no antagonist.
One of the intriguing, deep-sunken murderous stories I had ever read!
Spoiler alert**
There's no victor and no antagonist.
December 23, 2021
In the world of JHC the good don't win all the time, romances are cut short by death and your creepy dwarf caricature is a badass. I dug this one up from the depths of my memories and relived it. One of his best.
November 2, 2019
Cruel à souhait, et quelle fin...
May 1, 2021
3.7*
Tựa tiếng Việt: Cái chết đến từ trên trời
NXB Văn Hóa Thông tin
In 1000 cuốn khổ 13*20.5 cm
XB năm 2008
Tựa tiếng Việt: Cái chết đến từ trên trời
NXB Văn Hóa Thông tin
In 1000 cuốn khổ 13*20.5 cm
XB năm 2008
December 6, 2024
Twenty-three pages, and I knew enough.
December 15, 2017
A classic gumshoe tale, from the pulp fiction genre; everything I expect from this author. Straightforward tale, well written, clear and honest. Not so direct that the out turn is obvious though. Great relaxation.
November 9, 2013
Un altro romanzo crudo e schietto.
La storia gira attorno a un omicidio violento e forse passionale e gli intrighi fra mondo luminoso dei palcoscenici del cinema e mondo della malavita, mentre nel mezzo la polizia cerca di rimettere a posto le cose.
Sia la scrittura precisa ed essenziale, che la trama mi sono molto piaciuti, anche perché tutto diventa assolutamente credibile grazie alla ricostruzione dell'America dell'epoca.
http://amacadieuterpe.wordpress.com/2...
La storia gira attorno a un omicidio violento e forse passionale e gli intrighi fra mondo luminoso dei palcoscenici del cinema e mondo della malavita, mentre nel mezzo la polizia cerca di rimettere a posto le cose.
Sia la scrittura precisa ed essenziale, che la trama mi sono molto piaciuti, anche perché tutto diventa assolutamente credibile grazie alla ricostruzione dell'America dell'epoca.
http://amacadieuterpe.wordpress.com/2...
February 4, 2014
I definitely liked the book. But upto around 100 pages, it was not usual Chase. But after that, it becomes gripping. Being an avid Chase fan, I cannot give a rating below 4. I think it definitely deserves a 4.
February 9, 2016
Amusing page turner.
Page Turner. A stunning page turner that amuses one at the turn of every page. Like the great investigative and security measures taking to provide the security of the two witnesses albeit they killed in the end.
Page Turner. A stunning page turner that amuses one at the turn of every page. Like the great investigative and security measures taking to provide the security of the two witnesses albeit they killed in the end.
June 20, 2016
Excellent entertainment!
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April 25, 2016All right, this was a Chase book and I enjoyed it! For the second time. Not happy with the absurd ending but the plot...does not leave anything to be desired.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews