Kiss the Blood Off My Hands

KISS THE BLOOD OFF MY HANDS

Bill is just off the boat in England and already he’s killed someone. The bouncer had it coming, but still, Bill knows he’s got to lay low until the hunt cools off. He’s too canny to keep running—he picks an unlocked flat and helps himself to a temporary hideout. Which is how he meets Jane—it’s her flat.

She lets him stay the night, but that’s it. Bill doesn’t tell her about the dead bouncer and moves on, but he can’t forget Jane’s face. There’s just something about her. So he finds out where she’s works, and starts asking her out. How could either of them know that such an unlikely meeting could lead to love… and another murder?

Gerald Alfred Butler was born July 31, 1907 in England. He worked as a chemist before becoming a novelist, later working as the director of an ad firm. His first novel, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, was published when he was thirty-three, and became a best-seller in the UK, selling over 750,000 copies. After Butler had published four novels, Eagle-Lion Films bought the rights to Kiss the Blood, hoping to star Robert Donat. When the rights lapsed, Burt Lancaster bought them for his own company. At this time, Butler began to work as a scriptwriter for Mario Zampi. His last film adaptation was released in 1951, the same year as his sixth novel, Blow Hot, Blow Cold. Butler wrote one more novel 20 years later, and died in East Sussex on February 1, 1988, at age 80.