What do you think?
Rate this book
Antes Morrer Que Matar
Reporter Nick Mason witnesses an execution and gains a clue from the condemned man, sending Nick into a network of crime and murder!
178 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1940
About the author
James Hadley Chase
673 books1,021 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 13, 2019
I found this quite a sad story - I suppose the love angle was just too good to be true; yet the two protagonists love each other very much, journalist Nick Mason and the charming lady, Mardi. Not that this is a love story, with Chase it's a tough gritty story with plenty of violence. Yet what could have been an endearing love angle is what sticks in the mind; and how it goes horribly wrong at the end. The author presents the attraction between the two and the unfolding romance very well; culminating in their getting married and brief heady happiness. Then it is all taken away. The lady is not quite what she seems to be; and somehow Nick's initial meeting/attraction to her sticks in the mind: "She...was the kind of girl you'd take home to your ma and not be nervous of starting a riot. She'd got a lot of soft brown hair and her eyes were large and brown. Her mouth was large and generous and her nose was small and cute."
November 19, 2019
It does appear that this is a fine love relationship hitting the rocks, but stripped of too much sentiments, the woman is the problem here. A very dangerous woman really, no matter how fine she might appear on the surface. But the fact is that she is ruthless and cunning, calculating, a liar, and a thief and killer too! We need not mention that she easily uses her sex to manipulate men, and get what she wants. We are told that she is a romantic woman, but it hardly lasts and she would probably have turned against Nick too in the end. She makes him happy, boosts his career, but it would not have lasted; too many skeletons in her closet. Author Chase is an expert in depicting dangerous, treacherous women, and in the event, the "lady" in this story is the same too.
April 3, 2025
“Lady, Here’s Your Wreath” opens with reporter Nick Mason receiving a secretive invitation to attend Verdi’s execution and hear his last words. All he knows is it’s a woman’s metallic voice on the line, but being a reporter he is quickly interested. Chase then offers a step by step description of Verdi’s last moments in the gas chamber. And, afterwards, once Mason admits Vessi said some other dude did it, the woman on the phone line offers him $10,000 ($5,000 immediately) to investigate. There is not much to go on. Larry Richmond, the murder victim, was the president of Mackenzie Fabrics. Mason quickly finds out from his buddy Ackie, the ugliest little runt you ever saw, that Mackenzie’s is a front for some racket and that every politician and bigwig in the state has stock in it. Mason also finds out Vessi had a blonde woman he was hanging around with who Richmond had also played with.
But easy come easy go, as just as soon as the $5,000 is delivered, but someone waltzes in and grabs it while he’s in the shower. A blonde with a heavy perfume, a real hot momma, his neighbor tells him. And pretty soon he notes Katz, a local hard case, is on his tail.
The only solution here for a crack reporter is to poke the bear so Mason goes off with nothing much to go on to the president’s office at Mackenzie (Lu Spencer). While there, he makes eyes at the secretary; “Sitting there was a dizzy looking brunette. Now don’t get me wrong about this girl. She wasn’t Ritzy—she was the kind of girl you’d take home to your ma and not be nervous of starting a riot. She’d got a lot of soft brown hair and her eyes were large and brown.” Mardi Jackson agrees to have lunch with Mason and he’s head over heels smitten with her although no closer to solving who killed Richmond or what’s going on at Mackenzie’s.
Mardi will disappear for most of the novel before reappearing suddenly and marrying the poor fool. Meanwhile, Mason finds the blonde streetwalker, who fights him like an alley cat, and is known throughout the novel only as “Blondie.” Between big voluptuous Blondie scratching his eyes out and Katz and his thugs beating the crap out of him, Mason never has much time to investigate much. He only gets hints from Miss Metallic Voice such as go down to the wharf or you’ll never see Mardi again. Blondie is spiteful toward him and, furious that he only rescues her from a house full of thugs because he thought they were holding Mardi.
It is some ways the story of a lone man taking in the mob, which apparently never thinks to “off” Mason, maybe because he’s a reporter. It’s also the story of an ill-timed romance where it’s just the two of them are like what Humphrey Bogart says to Ingrid Bergman: “Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world”.
But, no, Chase teaches us in this novel, you can never escape what the world has planned for you and you can never run away and pretend life never happened. It will all eventually catch up to you. It will.
But easy come easy go, as just as soon as the $5,000 is delivered, but someone waltzes in and grabs it while he’s in the shower. A blonde with a heavy perfume, a real hot momma, his neighbor tells him. And pretty soon he notes Katz, a local hard case, is on his tail.
The only solution here for a crack reporter is to poke the bear so Mason goes off with nothing much to go on to the president’s office at Mackenzie (Lu Spencer). While there, he makes eyes at the secretary; “Sitting there was a dizzy looking brunette. Now don’t get me wrong about this girl. She wasn’t Ritzy—she was the kind of girl you’d take home to your ma and not be nervous of starting a riot. She’d got a lot of soft brown hair and her eyes were large and brown.” Mardi Jackson agrees to have lunch with Mason and he’s head over heels smitten with her although no closer to solving who killed Richmond or what’s going on at Mackenzie’s.
Mardi will disappear for most of the novel before reappearing suddenly and marrying the poor fool. Meanwhile, Mason finds the blonde streetwalker, who fights him like an alley cat, and is known throughout the novel only as “Blondie.” Between big voluptuous Blondie scratching his eyes out and Katz and his thugs beating the crap out of him, Mason never has much time to investigate much. He only gets hints from Miss Metallic Voice such as go down to the wharf or you’ll never see Mardi again. Blondie is spiteful toward him and, furious that he only rescues her from a house full of thugs because he thought they were holding Mardi.
It is some ways the story of a lone man taking in the mob, which apparently never thinks to “off” Mason, maybe because he’s a reporter. It’s also the story of an ill-timed romance where it’s just the two of them are like what Humphrey Bogart says to Ingrid Bergman: “Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world”.
But, no, Chase teaches us in this novel, you can never escape what the world has planned for you and you can never run away and pretend life never happened. It will all eventually catch up to you. It will.
Read
November 3, 2024Opening Sentence: The boys, who had come to see Vessi die, were lined up before the bar.
Reporter Nick Mason gets offered ten thousand dollars by a mysterious voice on the phone to break open the case of the death of Richmond for whom the wrong guy has been framed. Reluctantly, but with ever increasing curiosity Mason finds himself being sucked into a multi-layered plot with dangerously colorful characters and dangers bigger than he was counting on.
Now this was fun. This was more like the James Hadley Chase I knew who knows how to spin a yarn that can have you confused and curious. Thank the Lord that the female characters in this book have more of a spine than the last couple of Chase novels I read. And no cringe-worthy cliches and dialogues from a demented villain in a wingback chair stroking a cat. Because that has happened in a Chase book before. Now I would be lying if I said I didn't see the twist coming, and yet still enjoyed it when it came. There were times when I thought the main character seemed to be getting out of situations a lot easier than he should have. There were literally scenarios where he could have died that he casually walked away from. Not even ran away, walked away. Then again maybe because in the context of the story, he was never really a big player, just a nosy one.
What I liked:
Stronger female characters than I'm used to in Chase books
Lack of cliche dialogues
Lack of heroics from the main character, which makes him seem more human
An ending I actually agreed with.
What I didn't like:
Dangerous scenarios that the protagonist literally walks out of unharmed.
The protagonist, who is supposed to be a writer by profession, seems to lack articulation when talking or thinking. Everything good is "swell" and all women are "dames" and nothing about him seems to indicate he makes his living with words
There seems to be a willingness to be blind to certain odd things happening right in front of the main character's eyes.
Reporter Nick Mason gets offered ten thousand dollars by a mysterious voice on the phone to break open the case of the death of Richmond for whom the wrong guy has been framed. Reluctantly, but with ever increasing curiosity Mason finds himself being sucked into a multi-layered plot with dangerously colorful characters and dangers bigger than he was counting on.
Now this was fun. This was more like the James Hadley Chase I knew who knows how to spin a yarn that can have you confused and curious. Thank the Lord that the female characters in this book have more of a spine than the last couple of Chase novels I read. And no cringe-worthy cliches and dialogues from a demented villain in a wingback chair stroking a cat. Because that has happened in a Chase book before. Now I would be lying if I said I didn't see the twist coming, and yet still enjoyed it when it came. There were times when I thought the main character seemed to be getting out of situations a lot easier than he should have. There were literally scenarios where he could have died that he casually walked away from. Not even ran away, walked away. Then again maybe because in the context of the story, he was never really a big player, just a nosy one.
What I liked:
Stronger female characters than I'm used to in Chase books
Lack of cliche dialogues
Lack of heroics from the main character, which makes him seem more human
An ending I actually agreed with.
What I didn't like:
Dangerous scenarios that the protagonist literally walks out of unharmed.
The protagonist, who is supposed to be a writer by profession, seems to lack articulation when talking or thinking. Everything good is "swell" and all women are "dames" and nothing about him seems to indicate he makes his living with words
There seems to be a willingness to be blind to certain odd things happening right in front of the main character's eyes.
June 30, 2016
Talvez dos melhores livros que li no género. Também não li muitos. Cheio de suspense do início ao fim. Gostei das personagens. Nick Mason é um jornalista curioso e pronto para uma aventura. Nick tem uma personalidade muito forte, não desiste facilmente, um pouco mulherengo. Tem uma forma de se expressar muito engraçada.
Fui surpreendida algumas vezes ao longo da trama. O final foi bom, dramático, achei que seria o final certo para aquela história.
Fui surpreendida algumas vezes ao longo da trama. O final foi bom, dramático, achei que seria o final certo para aquela história.
January 3, 2021
Not one of Chase's best. Lady Here's Your Wreath starts slowly, never really shifts into anything with any momentum, and becomes repetitive. A first person narration of a murder story tied in with a shady company and its complex stock and bond dealing. The love story between Nick and Mardi, meanwhile, is never convincing, the ending is not a shock, and the dialog borders on the trite. And, yes, the phrase is "get to first base," not "get to the first base." First published under the pseudonym, Raymond Marshall, it is much like The Dead Stay Dumb in stringing one idiom and cliche together after another in the conversations. But it does so without the complexity, pace, and brutality of that other work published the same year as this one.
August 12, 2016
Chase Novels were a fad during my college years in the late sixties and early seventies. I just read this book to see if my taste for this kind of mystery novel was still there. Unfortunately, not. It is well suited for the younger me but not the older me. I still enjoyed it because it evoked the younger me which is now a latent energy. Nevertheless, Chase novels retain their character as usual.
March 23, 2013
Fiquei agradavelmente surpreendida com este livro, apesar de achar que não é nada de extraordinário. No entanto, dos restantes livros desta coleção que já tinha lido, este foi, possivelmente, aquele que não só li mais rápido como me entusiasmou mais.
É uma história simples, sem grandes confusões de enredo e com algumas surpresas interessantes pelo meio. As personagens não são particularmente memoráveis ou cativantes, parecendo até lineares e previsíveis na forma como agem.
Tal como disse, não é extrardinário, mas não deixa de ser um livro interessante para quem gosta de intrigas.
É uma história simples, sem grandes confusões de enredo e com algumas surpresas interessantes pelo meio. As personagens não são particularmente memoráveis ou cativantes, parecendo até lineares e previsíveis na forma como agem.
Tal como disse, não é extrardinário, mas não deixa de ser um livro interessante para quem gosta de intrigas.
July 19, 2019
En realidad le daría dos estrellas y media, un aprobado. La primera mitad del libro me aborrecía (era todo demasiado lento y monótono), pero se ha visto compensada con la segunda mitad donde ya las cosas empiezan a cobrar sentido y con alguna que otra sorpresa por el medio. Estuvo bien para pasar el tiempo, pero no fue de mis lecturas favoritas, para qué negarlo.
December 8, 2013
This one was great story with all the predictable characters, the beautiful girls, and the occasional violence but it's the first book of the maestro's where I knew how it would end!
April 21, 2014
Typical hadley fun.
March 11, 2016
A very nice Book. keeps you on the edge till finish the end.... I Loved to read it more than Once...Thnks
June 25, 2017
great book....i am just reading....what happen for nick?
May 4, 2025
Desde el minuto uno odié a Nick Mason.
De hecho, fue su actitud arrogante y su forma de tratar a las mujeres lo que me hizo casi abandonar el libro allá por la página 50. Sin embargo, me decidí a seguir y darle una nueva oportunidad a la historia.
Ni dándole una segunda oportunidad fui capaz de sentir una pizca de aprecio por Nick Mason y en varios puntos deseé que su destino fuera el mismo que el de Vessi; que Ackie fuera a presenciar su ejecución con la inyección de cianuro en un final en el que los poderosos, como en el mundo real, se salen con la suya. Como es obvio, Nick no muere, pero siento que el final es lo suficientemente amargo para que "se llevara su merecido".
Su historia de amor con Mardi me parece demasiado, casi irreal. ¿Quién se enamora y se casa a esa velocidad de forma genuina? Sin embargo, fue una de las cosas que más intrigada me hizo sentir. Además, nos dio ese:
“—¿Puede ofrecerme un cigarrillo?
Yo estaba dispuesto a ofrecerle la luna.”
Posiblemente sea Mardi la única mujer a la que Nick Mason no trata y/o se refiere de manera despectiva en las 200 páginas que dura este libro; por lo que el final es chef kiss. Asimismo, me gustó que Spencer cayera con todo el equipo. No por la muerte injusta de Vessi, sino por sus propios delitos.
La historia me ha gustado y creo que hacer de Nick un protagonista tan desagradable fue una decisión 100% deliberada. Es que ser tan pedante es parte de su encanto y lo que ocurre no tendría sentido alguno de ser otra su personalidad. Igual que la de Blondie, la de Ackie, la de Mardi o la de Spencer.
¿Qué más puedo decir? Ackie best boy y son él y Blondie los que hacen que este libro tenga 4 estrellas en lugar de 3.
De hecho, fue su actitud arrogante y su forma de tratar a las mujeres lo que me hizo casi abandonar el libro allá por la página 50. Sin embargo, me decidí a seguir y darle una nueva oportunidad a la historia.
Ni dándole una segunda oportunidad fui capaz de sentir una pizca de aprecio por Nick Mason y en varios puntos deseé que su destino fuera el mismo que el de Vessi; que Ackie fuera a presenciar su ejecución con la inyección de cianuro en un final en el que los poderosos, como en el mundo real, se salen con la suya. Como es obvio, Nick no muere, pero siento que el final es lo suficientemente amargo para que "se llevara su merecido".
Su historia de amor con Mardi me parece demasiado, casi irreal. ¿Quién se enamora y se casa a esa velocidad de forma genuina? Sin embargo, fue una de las cosas que más intrigada me hizo sentir. Además, nos dio ese:
“—¿Puede ofrecerme un cigarrillo?
Yo estaba dispuesto a ofrecerle la luna.”
Posiblemente sea Mardi la única mujer a la que Nick Mason no trata y/o se refiere de manera despectiva en las 200 páginas que dura este libro; por lo que el final es chef kiss. Asimismo, me gustó que Spencer cayera con todo el equipo. No por la muerte injusta de Vessi, sino por sus propios delitos.
La historia me ha gustado y creo que hacer de Nick un protagonista tan desagradable fue una decisión 100% deliberada. Es que ser tan pedante es parte de su encanto y lo que ocurre no tendría sentido alguno de ser otra su personalidad. Igual que la de Blondie, la de Ackie, la de Mardi o la de Spencer.
¿Qué más puedo decir? Ackie best boy y son él y Blondie los que hacen que este libro tenga 4 estrellas en lugar de 3.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 13, 2024
le doy un 3 pura y exclusivamente porque me entretuvo. rápido y sinsentido, hay cosas que podrían haberse desarrollado mejor. busca tener giros argumentativos que no logra.
los personajes son llanos, superficiales. el modo de relacionarse entre personajes recae en los mismos cliches repetitivos que pueden verse en múltiples obras.
lo bueno es que por lo menos te engancha, la trama conceptualmente es entretenida, lo cual me parece lo más importante. solo por esta razón le doy un 3, que sería más bien un 2.5 pero redondeamos para arriba.
los personajes son llanos, superficiales. el modo de relacionarse entre personajes recae en los mismos cliches repetitivos que pueden verse en múltiples obras.
lo bueno es que por lo menos te engancha, la trama conceptualmente es entretenida, lo cual me parece lo más importante. solo por esta razón le doy un 3, que sería más bien un 2.5 pero redondeamos para arriba.
January 5, 2025
La trama es demasiado predecible, los personajes son planos y superficiales, y las interacciones entre ellos son repetitivas y poco interesantes.
Por no mencionar algunos plot holes, lo abusivo de las relaciones (no se donde ven el amor entre los protagonistas) y que el ritmo se siente raro.
Dos estrellas por lo sorprendente del final y que se lee rapido.
Por no mencionar algunos plot holes, lo abusivo de las relaciones (no se donde ven el amor entre los protagonistas) y que el ritmo se siente raro.
Dos estrellas por lo sorprendente del final y que se lee rapido.
May 9, 2026
Segon llibre que llegeixo de James Hadley Chase.
M’ha agradat més que “No hi ha orquídies per a miss Blandish”.
Potser hagi contribuït que la narració és en primera persona, tècnica que m’encanta.
Al començar, l’estol de periodistes i la nit en que ha de ocórrer la execució del condemnat a mort, inevitablement em retrotrau a la extraordinària pel·lícula de Billy Wilder “Primera plana”.
Qui investiga és un dels periodistes, no un policia o un detectiu privat.
Trets, batusses ferotges, segrestos... però d’alguna manera el to narratiu del dur protagonista, tan sobrat, em fa somriure, de tant en tant.
M’ha agradat més que “No hi ha orquídies per a miss Blandish”.
Potser hagi contribuït que la narració és en primera persona, tècnica que m’encanta.
Al començar, l’estol de periodistes i la nit en que ha de ocórrer la execució del condemnat a mort, inevitablement em retrotrau a la extraordinària pel·lícula de Billy Wilder “Primera plana”.
Qui investiga és un dels periodistes, no un policia o un detectiu privat.
Trets, batusses ferotges, segrestos... però d’alguna manera el to narratiu del dur protagonista, tan sobrat, em fa somriure, de tant en tant.
El tipus de darrera del taulell semblava mort en les seves tres quarts parts, però amb la quarta part restant n’hi hagué prou per proporcionar-nos un dormitori, i una beguda per a mi.
August 15, 2018
Entretenida.
Read
November 19, 2019She was found in the swimming pool minus her head...
December 23, 2021
uwielbiam pulpowe czytadła!!!!
November 18, 2022
Great and easy story to read. A bit predictable by half of it, but the ending was everything.
December 18, 2023
Great and easy story to read. A bit predictable by half of it, but the ending was everything. 3.5
November 5, 2025
No me gustó mucho el final :p
August 2, 2019
Прочел приятный "черный" детективчик от Чейза, собрался уже написать краткий отзыв (классический нуар, главный герой не супермен, а обычный криминальный репортер, интрига лихая, читается легко, логических дырок мало, в целом вполне достойный представитель жанра) — но к своему изумлению обнаружил, что в 2012 уже читал этот роман и он не отложился в памяти вообще никак :D
Отличное дорожное чтиво многократного употребления, легко входит и легко выходит, не оставляя следов.
Отличное дорожное чтиво многократного употребления, легко входит и легко выходит, не оставляя следов.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews