James Hadley Chase; Prolific Mystery Writer

James Hadley Chase, a prolific writer of hard-boiled suspense novels, many of which he set in the United States even though he was an infrequent visitor to this country, died at his home in Corseaux, Switzerland, Swiss police said Thursday.

He was 78.

Chase, born in London as Rene Brabazon Raymond, wrote more than 100 books, including “No Orchids for Miss Blandish,” “Bury Me Dead,” “Things Men Do” and “More Deadly Than the Male.”

About 30 of them were turned into movies, including “Miss Blandish,” filmed a second time as “The Grissom Gang”; “I’ll Get You for This,” from the novel “High Stakes”; “The Man in the Raincoat”; “Young Girls Beware” and “What Price Murder.”

Late in his literary career Chase turned to spy novels, whose hero was a spy named Mark Guirland. Nearly all his books were translated into many languages.

Chase remained as aloof as some of his characters, telling the editors of one mystery-writing anthology: “There are authors who like to talk about themselves and their work. I don’t.”

The couple had been living in Corseaux, a wine-growing village above Lake Geneva, for the last six years, police said.