Sinopsis

The score would be an easy oneif it werent for the women involved

Out of work and dead broke, Lee Scarborough is a long way from his days as a football hero when he meets the sunbathing Diana Jamesan innocent-looking creature with a plan to make a fortune. A few months back, her lover embezzled $120,000 from a bank, but disappeared before she could get her hands on the cash. The police think hes fled the state, but Diana is sure hes dead, and knows who killed him: his wife, Madelon Butler, a sadistic drunk who is capable of anything. The cash is inside Madelons house, waiting to be stolen a third time, and all Diana needs is a patsy. Scarborough fits the bill.

The plan sails along smoothly until Scarborough meets Mrs. Butler. By the time his luck runs out, hed rather face a dozen hulking linebackers than these two beauties, who have been driven to a frenzy by jealousy, greed, and lust.

Review

Madelon Butler [is] just about the toughest babe youll meet in fiction. Mystery File

[Williams] is just about as good as they come. The New York Times

One of the neglected hardboiled geniuses . . . his novels were perfect little gems. Joe R. Lansdale, author of Savage Season

About the Author

Charles Williams (19091975) was one of the preeminent authors of American crime fiction. Born in Texas, he dropped out of high school to enlist in the US Merchant Marine, serving for ten years before leaving to work in the electronics industry. At the end of World War II, Williams began writing fiction while living in San Francisco. The success of his backwoods noir Hill Girl (1951) allowed him to quit his job and write fulltime.

Williamss clean and somewhat casual narrative style distinguishes his novelswhich range from hard-boiled, small-town noir to suspense thrillers set at sea and in the Deep South. Although originally published by pulp fiction houses, his work won great critical acclaim, with Hell Hath No Fury (1953) becoming the first paperback original to be reviewed by legendary New York Times critic Anthony Boucher. Many of his novels were adapted for the screen, such as Dead Calm (published in 1963) and Dont Just Stand There! (published in 1966), for which Williams wrote the screenplay. Williams died in California in 1975.