No Orchids for Miss Blandish

Chase's first novel, set in and around Kansas City, was exceedingly popular when it first came out. Based on Ma Barker's gang, and inspired by Faulkner's Sanctuary: Miss Blandish - innocent, exquisite, vulnerable heiress - is kidnapped by a gang of ruthless hoods who've never tried big-time crime. Foiled by their own vicious ineptitude and the greed of a superior mob, the kidnappers lose their million dollar prize. Blandish, terrified and broken, is now the captive of Ma "Grisson" and her sadistic, sexually deviant son Slim.