Dark Bahama

Dark #8

by Peter Cheyney

Fourteen miles off the tail-end of Andros Island in the West Indies lies Dark Bahama. Many people have discovered they can find their heart's desires there; many have found, too, that even in paradise it pays to watch your step.
Viola Steyning is young, wayward, rich and good looking, and the sort of girl to cause her mother back home in England a certain anxiety. That is why Julian Isles has been sent out by Johnny Vallon of Chennault Investigations to bring her back alive - for beneath the beneath the tranquil surface of Dark Bahama's tropical beauty lurk sinister and dangerous undercurrents.

Genres: Crime

216 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1950

About the author

Born Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse Cheyney, he trained as a lawyer before getting tired of legal office work and joining the Army. He fought at the second Battle of the Somme in World War I and was wounded but when he returned to England he wrote songs, poems and short stories for various newspapers and magazines and used many pseudonyms.

He also turned his hand to journalism, was a newspaper editor and also owned a detective agency, Cheyney Research Investigations.

His first published novel was This Man Is Dangerous and this began his prolific novel writing career. Thereafter he averaged two mystery novels a year with his best known characters being Slim Callaghan and Lemmy Caution and he became one of the best known and most successful of British crime novelists. His success also brought with it financial rewards and he was recognised as one of the richest authors of the time.

There have been many film versions of his works, which helped spread his popularity, particularly to the United States.

His life-style, one of hard-living, much like his characters, and hard work eventually took their toll and he died at age 55. He was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.

Michael Harrison published a biography in 1954 entitled Peter Cheyney Prince of Hokum and there have been a number of biographical essays over the years.

Gerry Wolstenholme
December 2010

Reviews

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Cheyney, aliás Reginald Evelyn Peter Southouse Cheyney criou várias personagens que ficaram gravadas na história da novela policial.
Bahama negra pertence o grupo das Dark Series e tem como principal personagem Ernest Guelvada, um tipo violenta e com um extremo bom gosto na forma de vestir.
Devo realçar o pormenor com que Cheyney descreve as roupas usadas pelos principais personagens masculinos. Muito requinte no pormenor.
Escrito em 1950 retrata o ambiente da Guerra Fria.
Gostei bastante.

[Benjamin Chandler · Rating 1 out of 5]

A drunk man goes shark fishing in the middle of the night, falls off the boat, and gets consumed by his prey. This sets into motion 190 pages of boozy conversations between secret agents, private investigators, G-men, and local police.

And that really is this book's flaw. Cheyney spends the majority of the novel on conversations about what happened or what will happen or what never happened and very few pages on things actually happening. There's a few scenes of fisticuffs and a shoot out, but for the most part it's just well-dressed folks talking intrigue with cocktails in their hands. Everyone is going to the sideboard to mix themselves a Cuba libre or a whiskey soda, sometimes consuming so much liquor I'm dumbfounded they can execute the sneaky plans they explain to each other.

And these highball-swilling characters? They're all so arrogant and confident that they turned me off. I started to hope the bad guys would win. (Also frustrating was how every American in the story talked like a 1920s gangster.)

Cheyney has quite the reputation in the pulp crime genre, so I was disappointed by this one. There are 2 more books of his in the Box of Pulps, so I'm hoping they lean a little harder on the thrills than on drawing room conversations.

[Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

DARK BAHAMA is my first experience of Peter Cheyney and it's a solid little thriller. Originally published in 1950, this reminded me of a Bond novel, with tough, no-nonsense characters doing their thing in exotic settings. It's far shorter than I was expecting, with brief manoeuvering giving way to a short murder mystery and a little action thrown into the mix. The Bahaman setting is a decent one and the characterisation shines too, although there's perhaps a little too much telling over showing, a few too many scenes of supporting characters explaining the plot to others. Little to dislike overall, though.

[Bill Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyed. easy to read. evocative of age. staying with this author as a non-taxing easy read

[Alonzo Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

So so spy stuff involving private eyes, beautiful drunken women, and a lead character who is decidedly convinced of his impeccable awesomeness.

I have read most of Cheney’s “Dark” series, and this is the only one I did not really like. Maybe skip this one.