The Soft Centre is a work of detective fiction by James Hadley Chase, first published in Great Britain by Robert Hale Ltd. in 1964. The novel is set
in Chase's fictional city "Paradise City" and was the first novel to introduce Detective Tom Lepski.
In the novel, Val Burnett's husband, Chris, has had a near-fatal head injury and has now been brought
to the Spanish Bay Hotel, Paradise City, to lie in the sun-and-sands and recuperate. He is almost a zombie by now, although there is hope of recovery. One day he vanishes from the Spanish Bay Hotel, to be found the next day, roaming around in a
disheveled state on the highway. The same day, a prostitute, Sue Parnell, is found ripped apart in a nearby motel room. So far no connection but a cigarette lighter presented to Chris by Val, is found at the scene of the crime.
The adventure begins with Valerie Burnett, the daughter of a multimillionaire, and her husband
Chris in the Spanish Bay Hotel with advice to get some relaxation in the Miami sun especially after Chris had received brain injuries from a car
accident. In a shabby second-rate motel on the outskirts of Florida an attractive blonde was found savagely murdered. On the same night Chris
Burnett disappeared.
Police investigated but when the case proved too much for them, Joan Parnell, the sister of the dead woman, went to seek The Hare Investigating
Agency to find her sister’s killer. They stumbled on enough evidence that turned them greedy.
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