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A review by dashausfrau
No Orchids for Miss Blandish by James Hadley Chase
3.0
3 stars for value of historical reference.
I recently heard a Turner Classic presenter remark that Film Noir was a shadowy technique used to get around the censorship board by inferring sex & violence without actually depicting acts of. This crime novel might similarly qualify, teetering between a normal publication in 1939 and smutty pulp fiction while sketching out the vilest things the author could think of.
I can only surmise that Chase's fantasies of being a tough guy included women who more or less bend to whatever he has in mind or else receive punishment ranging from spanking (Joking and bruising both! What Fun) to being locked in a room for personal use.
Most of this novel is spent thoroughly establishing that Miss Blandish is, in fact, better off dead. I'm not sure that people didn't think the same of every other woman in the story.
I recently heard a Turner Classic presenter remark that Film Noir was a shadowy technique used to get around the censorship board by inferring sex & violence without actually depicting acts of. This crime novel might similarly qualify, teetering between a normal publication in 1939 and smutty pulp fiction while sketching out the vilest things the author could think of.
I can only surmise that Chase's fantasies of being a tough guy included women who more or less bend to whatever he has in mind or else receive punishment ranging from spanking (Joking and bruising both! What Fun) to being locked in a room for personal use.
Most of this novel is spent thoroughly establishing that Miss Blandish is, in fact, better off dead. I'm not sure that people didn't think the same of every other woman in the story.