I Wish I Had Stayed Poor

During half a century of writing, British detective author Rene Brabbazon Raymond (1906–1985) published about ninety crime novels and used several pen names. The most famous of them is James Hadley Chase.

“I, like a bloodhound, pick up a trail and sense what the reader wants. And what he will buy” – this is how the master explained the success of his novels, willingly revealing the golden secret: readers are attracted by “action and rhythm”.
“I Wish I Had Stayed Poor” – a phrase that Dave Calvin, the main character of J. H. Chase’s classic noir novel (1962), will utter more than once. Nature has gifted Dave with an attractive appearance, an athletic build, and big ambitions. But he is already thirty-eight, financial troubles and the realization of the need to do something and escape from the quagmire of joyless existence have become his constant companions. For the sake of future success, Dave Calvin is ready to take risks…