You're Lonely When You're Dead

Description

It began as just another routine assignment for Vic Malloy, head of Universal Services. He'd been hired to watch the lovely Anita Cerf, whose millionaire husband suspected her of being a kelpomaniac. Everything was going fine until one of Malloy's operators was found dead-brutally murdered while working on the Cerf case... Determined to find the killer himself, Malloy tried to interview Anita Cerf-but the lady was unavailable and had completely disappeared. So Vic Malloy found himself on the trail of a vicious murderer who was quite prepared to kill more than once. And the only person willing to help was a gorgeous read-head who swore she was just going along for the ride...but was she? About The Author: James Hadley Chase is universally recognised as the thriller maestro of the generation. His intricate, fascinating plots and his sizzling, machine-gun-fast action are unrivalled by any other writer. Review: very good to read even after 50 years - Very good book.I had read 50 years back.Even now it is interesting. Review: The First of Three Vic Malloy novels - "You're Lonely When You Are Dead" is the first of three Vic Malloy novels that Chase published in 1949 with the next to in quick succession the following year. Set in fictional "Orchid City," which Chase places on the Southern California coast, but near "Coral Gables," a deep water port with rough neighborhoods. British writer Chase (as most readers know him) relied on books and movies for his knowledge about America and some times it showed. Nevertheless, this private eye novel explodes with violence and Chase quite successfully throws every trick of the genre into this one. The client, of course, is a Richmond who suspects his new wife of horrendous things and wants it handled confidentially. Vic, appreciative of this aspect of the private eye genre, tries his damnedest to keep things under wraps because otherwise none of the rich ones in Orchid City will appreciate his business. Being one of the good guys, but keeping the local police at arm's length is how these guys operate although it some times seems they are jumping off the Titanic without a life preserver. Vic doesn't operate alone, but has a whole squad of wisecracking agents to back him up. The new young wife is hated by the wheelchair bound daughter, has pals at nightclubs, and a shady past, and she can charm the socks off anyone. But one of his agents gets knocked off, Vic is taking no prisoners and the mystery of who's behind it and who deepens. This one is absorbing, well-written, and does a great job of capturing the rough, sardonic world these fictional detectives moved in.