This is a newly revised edition of the famous crime novel NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH. For the first time this edition combines the original text from 1939 with the revisions made by the author in 1961. The novel is now widely regarded as one of the top thrillers of the last century. When it was originally published it pushed the social boundaries of the time through its relentless exploration of crime and sexual exploitation. Unlike most crime novels of that era, the characters are rich, deeply realized portraits of those who lived on the fringes of society during the Great Depression -- namely the gangsters, their women, and the men who hunted them. The novel broke sales records when published and has gone onto to sell over four million copies worldwide. Historically important, such literary greats as George Orwell and Graham Greene instantly recognized its merits. In a lengthy essay that securely placed NO ORCHIDS in an honored position in crime fiction, George Orwell wrote that, "In a book like NO ORCHIDS one is not, as in the old-style crime story, simply escaping from dull reality into an imaginary world of action. One's escape is essentially into cruelty and sexual perversion...a brilliant piece of writing, with hardly a wasted word or a jarring note anywhere." Set in the heartland of America during hard times, the story reveals itself along the back roads, roadside diners and street corners of a jaded, threadbare society - a truly unnerving novel updated for a new generation of readers ready to discover the world of James Hadley Chase.

James Hadley Chase (Rene Brabazon Raymond) was born in London in 1906 and started his career as a bookseller. With the aid of a dictionary of American slang and reference books on the American underworld he wrote his first novel, NO ORCHIDS FOR MISS BLANDISH, over six weekends. The book achieved remarkable popularity and became one of the best-sold books of the decade. FLESH OF THE ORCHID is a wild, thrill-ride of a sequel to NO ORCHIDS. Taking up the story 22 years later, the central figure is once again a Blandish girl, but Carol Blandish is not the helpless victim that her mother was. Indeed, she is a volatile blend of simmering sexuality, strained innocence and hair-trigger cruelty. Her explosive outbursts of savage violence make her a force to be reckoned with. Escaping from a mental institute during a raging storm, and definitely off her meds, Carol Blandish is soon pursued by a seedy cast of characters who all want a piece of the Blandish fortune. The novel bristles with crazy plot twists, edge-of-the-seat suspense and intriguing low-life's who mix it up for an immensely enjoyable read.