Charlotte Jay was born Geraldine Mary Jay in 1919 in Adelaide, where she died in 1996. She spent decades travelling, living and writing in England, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific, and worked as an oriental art dealer. She received international acclaim early, when her thriller Beat Not the Bones, published under the name Charlotte Jay, won the inaugural Edgar Allen Poe award of the Mystery Writers of America in 1952. As Charlotte Jay, she wrote numerous mystery novels set in exotic locales. She published straight novels as Geraldine Halls. The famous American critic Dorothy B. Hughes described her as 'one of the most important writers of far-off places and their mysterious qualities'.
admineversion
'Charlotte Jay cannot write a dull or graceless sentence. The heroine of Arms for Adonis, Sarah Lane, is fascinatingly alive, and her convincing adventures have a background so vividly depicted that Lebanon itself becomes a protagonist in the novel.' - New York Times
admineversion
'Spirited English lady becomes involved with dashing Syrian colonel; sapphire ring, jewel in tie, musky scent and Turkish tobacco. She sinks, without fully understanding what is happening, into a mess of violent Lebanese politics. A very good thriller, particularly strong in its handling of local prides and extravagances.' - Julian Symons, Sunday Times
admineversion
'Exciting action and brilliantly evocative description of a kind seldom encountered in a thriller. Arms for Adonis is well above average in every way.' - British Book News
admineversion
'Charlotte Jay's eye for the scene is sharp and so is her eye for the attitudes of human pretension. Wryly romantic and a keen delight.' - New York Herald Tribune
admineversion
'The Wakefield Crime Classics series is marvellous … a wonderful collection of writing that should not have been overlooked in this country in the first place.' - Terry O'Connor, Courier Mail