crime novel
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
by the British writer
James Hadley Chase
James Hadley Chase (24 December 1906 – 6 February 1985) was an English writer. While his birth name was René Lodge Brabazon Raymond, he was well known by his various pseudonyms, including James Hadley Chase, James L. Docherty, Raymond ...
. It was a critical and commercial success upon release, though it also provoked considerable controversy due to its explicit depiction of sexuality and violence.
Stableford
Stableford is a scoring system used in the sport of golf. Rather than counting the total number of strokes taken, as in stroke play, it involves scoring points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole. Unlike traditional scoring methods, ...
pp. 130-138 In 1942, the novel was adapted into a stage playChibnall & Murphy p. 37 and in 1948 it became a British film. The novel became particularly popular with British servicemen during World War II.
The 1948 novel '' The Flesh of the Orchid'' by the same author is a sequel to ''No Orchids for Miss Blandish''.
Development and publication
Chase wrote ''No Orchids For Miss Blandish'' over a period of six weekends in 1938. The novel was influenced by the American crime writer
James M. Cain
James Mallahan Cain (July 1, 1892 – October 27, 1977) was an American novelist, journalist and screenwriter. He is widely regarded as a progenitor of the hardboiled school of American crime fiction.
His novels '' The Postman Always Rings Twic ...
and the stories featured in the
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
'' Black Mask''. Although he had never visited America, Chase reportedly wrote the book as a bet to pen a story about American gangsters that would out-do '' The Postman Always Rings Twice'' in terms of obscenity and daring.
Upon publication, Chase's pulp thriller became particularly popular with British soldiers, seamen and airmen during World War II. These servicemen enjoyed its risqué passages, which marked a new frontier of daringness in popular literature. Author and military historian Patrick Bishop has called ''No Orchids For Miss Blandish'', "perhaps the most widely-read book of the war".
Synopsis
In New York City, a local goon and gang leader named Riley learns that the wealthy socialite Miss Blandish will be wearing an expensive diamond necklace to her birthday celebration. Riley and his gang plan to steal the necklace and ransom it. The inept criminals manage to kidnap Miss Blandish and her boyfriend, but after the latter is accidentally killed they instead decide to hold Miss Blandish ransom, reasoning that her millionaire father will pay more to get his daughter back safely than the necklace is worth.
The plan begins to fall apart when a rival mob, led by the sadistic and mentally unbalanced Slim Grisson, finds out about Riley's plan and kidnaps Miss Blandish from the gang. Mr. Blandish pays the ransom to Slim, but his daughter is not returned. Slim becomes increasingly obsessed with Miss Blandish and decides to keep her hidden in a secret room inside one of his nightclubs, repeatedly raping her and lashing out at anybody who attempts to wrestle Miss Blandish from his charge.
Meanwhile, the police are on the trail of the kidnappers, and Dave Fenner, an ex journalist and now a
private investigator
A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...
, is hired to rescue her and deal with the gangsters. Fenner and the police eventually work out where the young socialite is located and go to the club, where a gun battle ensues. Slim is killed and Miss Blandish is rescued, but unfortunately, after months of torture and drugs at the hands of the gangsters, Miss Blandish cannot cope with freedom and kills herself.
Reception
Upon publication, the book was an instant commercial success, selling over half a million copies within five years, despite wartime paper shortages. It was also controversial, due to its violence and risqué content. In 1944, it was the subject of an essay by
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalit ...
in ''
Horizon
The horizon is the apparent line that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This line divides all viewing directions based on whether i ...
'', "
Raffles and Miss Blandish
"Raffles and Miss Blandish" is an essay by the English writer George Orwell first published in ''Horizon'' in October 1944 as "The Ethics of the Detective Story from Raffles to Miss Blandish". Dwight Macdonald published the essay in ''politics'' ...
", in which Orwell claimed that the novel bordered on the obscene.
In 1947, the sado-eroticism in Chase's book was parodied by
Raymond Queneau
Raymond Queneau (; 21 February 1903 – 25 October 1976) was a French novelist, poet, critic, editor and co-founder and president of Oulipo ('' Ouvroir de littérature potentielle''), notable for his wit and cynical humour.
Biography
Queneau w ...
in his pastiche novel, ''We Always Treat Women Too Well''.
In 1961, the novel was extensively rewritten and revised by the author because he thought the world of 1939 too distant for a new generation of readers (confusion can result if readers of the Orwell essay refer his quotations and references to the 1962 edition).
In 1973, Gene D. Phillips of
Loyola University of Chicago
Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States. Its namesake is Saint ...
remarked on the influence of
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...
's 1931 novel ''
Sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...
'', writing that, "It is a matter of record that 'No Orchids for Miss Blandish''was heavily indebted to ''Sanctuary'' for its plot line." Phillips also stated that Slim Grisson, who was identified by Phillips as the main antagonist, was based on
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.
In 1999, the novel was picked in a survey of the best books from the 20th century by the French retailer
Fnac
Fnac () is a large French retail chain selling culture, cultural and consumer electronics, electronic products, founded by André Essel and Max Théret in 1954. Its head office is in ''Le Flavia'' in Ivry-sur-Seine near Paris. It is an abbreviati ...
and the Paris newspaper ''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
Robert Newton
Robert Guy Newton (1 June 1905 – 25 March 1956) was an English actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the more popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys. Known for hi ...
, which ran for over 200 performances at the
Prince of Wales Theatre
The Prince of Wales Theatre is a West End theatre in Coventry Street, near Leicester Square in London. It was established in 1884 and rebuilt in 1937, and extensively refurbished in 2004 by Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its current owner. The theatre ...
in London. In 1948, it was adapted into a British film '' No Orchids for Miss Blandish'' and given a contemporary New York City setting. The 1971 American film '' The Grissom Gang'' was also based on the novel, moving the setting to Kansas City and the date of events back several years to 1931.
Alasdair Gray
Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, ''Lanark: A Life in Four Books, Lanark'' (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays ...
, the hero Lanark repeatedly reads ''No Orchids for Miss Blandish'' to his love interest Rima in an attempt to cure her of a disease called dragonhide.
''No Orchids for Miss Blandish'' is mentioned in
Evelyn Waugh
Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...
's novel ''
Officers and Gentlemen
''Officers and Gentlemen'' is a 1955 novel by the British novelist Evelyn Waugh.
''Sword of Honour'' trilogy
''Officers and Gentlemen'' is the second novel in Waugh's ''Sword of Honour'' trilogy, the author's look at the Second World War. The no ...
'' and described as "unreadable".
References
Sources
* Bloom, Clive. ''Bestsellers: popular fiction since 1900''. Palgrave MacMillan, 2002.
* Chibnall, Steve & Murphy, Robert. ''British crime cinema''. Routledge, 1999.
* "No Orchids for Miss Blandish" in ''Yesterday's Bestsellers'' by
Brian Stableford
Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...