The Shadow in Pursuit

Keyes

by John Newton Chance

Blackmail is not an easy crime to pursue. Victims are hardly ever eager to say what the blackmail is about. But two victims who came to Mr. Keyes for help were very open on their past sins, or so it appeared. Because they were ladies who were being persecuted, Mr. Keyes believed their stories. He began to feel uneasy, however, when he found they were carrying loaded guns along with the money which they planned to hand over to the blackmailer.

When he advised against this behaviour he found the blackmailer's loaded gun turned on him. Then it appeared that what was wanted on all sides was not money, but blood, and that, Mr. Keyes felt, was the worst kind of payment for blackmail.

Genres: Mystery

161 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

John Newton Chance was born in London in 1911 and educated at a private school there. He went to a Technical College with the intention of becoming a Civil Engineer, but left that to become a Quantity Surveyor. While surveying, he began to write for the BBC, and on his twenty-first birthday gave up all honest work to become a writer. The first novel was published in 1935, was hailed as a masterpiece and, like so many such, grossed more glory than gain. But it established the writer's career, which he has followed ever since with the exception of the four war years. When his war ended, he and his wife came to live in Hampshire where their first son was horn. Seventeen books later a second son arrived, and six books further on, the third came along. Among the books of the time there were a number for children, and the adult stories were published here, in America and on the Continent; some were filmed and a number broadcast.

source: his autobiography Yellow Belly

He would eventually write over 160 books under several names. Pseudonyms used by Chance throughout his career included:
John Lymington, David C. Newton, and Jonathan Chance.

He was also one of the many writers responsible for the 'Sexton Blake' series that spanned decades. Those were written by slates of authors using the same personas to include Desmond Reid and John Drummond among others.