Man on the Run by Charles Williams

Man on the Run by Charles Williams
Gold Medal 822, Copyright 1958

"How much longer could this nightmare go on?"

The story of a man being hunted down for a murder that he didn't commit has been told many times. And the paperback racks of the Fifties were full of them. I know Gold Medal had their share of them. In fact, many of the well known authors of the day used that literary plot a few times in separate novels. Charles Williams was one of those authors and he penned a damn good one in "Man on the Run."

Rain kept falling. The topcoat was soaked now and heavy. I was seized with uncontrollable fits of shaking that lasted for minutes at a time. Whenever I saw a car coming, I dived off the road and hid.

This one starts out of the gate immediately, even before we know what the hell is going down. A man jumps off a train during a heavy rainstorm. He has cops on his tail and he's tired and scared. Rest and shelter from the cold is what he needs, so he sneaks into a small seacoast community and breaks into an empty cottage. Here we learn of his past. His name is Russell Foley, a third mate on an oil tanker. The night before in the town of Sanport he had a vicious fistfight with a police detective that was screwing around with his wife. Five minutes after he leaves the detective's apartment, the copper is found stabbed to death. Guess who everyone on the Florida coast thinks did it? Enter Suzy Patton, the owner of the cottage where Foley is hiding. She's a big beautiful blonde and a writer of romance novels that take place during the Civil War. Suzy believes Foley's story and is willing to help him. (Of all the times I've gotten into trouble, no beautiful blonde appeared to lend me a hand) They fall for each other and together head back to Sanport to find the real killers. But it's not easy, the hunting for Russell Foley never ceases. And to make matters worse, the killers are now out to get him. We find out that murdered police detective was dirty and it all ties into a payroll robbery that occurred a couple of months ago. While trying to clear his name, Foley stumbles into the body of a nude strangled dame in a bathtub and now the cops also think he murdered her. Separated from Suzy because he was almost apprehended, Foley sneaks aboard a old commercial fishing boat to get another lead on the killers. It is here where he gets more that he was bargaining for.

What I like best about "Man on the Run" is that there is no rest, for Foley and the reader. The story is constantly on the move, with the law on Foley's heels from the get go. This just builds more excitement into the plot as he is searching for the killers and always looking over his shoulder. Charles Williams leaves out the character development in this one. It's not needed because of the pace of the novel. Foley is on the outs with his wife, he likes the sailor life and hitting his favorite drinking hole when in port. Suzy Patton comes off as a perplexing and sad character. Her novels don't sell well anymore and she carries around an aura of loneliness. At the end of the novel, Charles Williams displays her cognitive state brilliantly. I like surprises and I didn't expect that.

Add, the wonderful "man against man" brawl between the despite Foley and the killer into the ending, and all I can say is that "Man on the Run" is a direct hit. I escaped into this one and as with most of Charles Williams' novels, I utterly enjoyed it.

The Long Saturday Night by Charles Williams

The Long Saturday Night by Charles Williams
Gold Medal 1200, Copyright 1962

My first experience with the novels of Charles Williams was reading his early crime noir stories. "Hell Hath No Fury" and "The Big Bite" were knockouts for me. Later the author's seafaring suspense novels caught my attention. I remember being captivated when reading "The Sailcloth Shroud," "Aground," and "Dead Calm," with that sneaky crime element always holding our protagonists down. I have never read anything mediocre by Charles Williams, all his novels are excellent steamy mystery fiction. "The Long Saturday Night" is a novel that fits into his crime noir category, about an innocent man on the run trying to find a way to clear his name.

I flicked the lighter on again. The blood was coming from a cut on the back of my left hand. I'd left a trail of it all the way from that apartment house that a Boy Scout could follow. I let the lighter go out and stood listening to the drip, drip, drip, as it fell and splattered in the darkness. Even if I could move on the streets now, there was nowhere else to go.

The wife of real estate man John Warren returns home from a New Orleans vacation, Warren couldn't go because of business dealings. While she was away an acquaintance of Warren's was killed while hunting alone and Warren then learns there was a connection between the dead man and his wife. Warren confounds his wife and an argument ensues. Later returning home that night, he finds his wife with her head bashed in and Warren becomes the prime suspect for both murders. Everything is going wrong for him so he runs, but later with more information and assistance from his secretary, he secretly returns to his hometown to seek out the real murderer.

I expected this one to be good and I wasn't disappointed. "The Long Saturday Night" is almost up there with the two Charles Williams crime noir books that I mentioned above. I liked the way Warren starts to use his noodle when he gets in the jam. He cleverly hires three P.I.s in different states (using the yellow pages) to get the lowdown on his wife. Of course, she has a past and wasn't the woman that Warren thought she was. After a series of risky exploits, Warren and his secretary figure out who the real murderer is, but struggle to find a way to get the goods on him. Eventually it's the secretary who devises a scheme to flush him out. I kept thinking there was a flaw as the story was ending, but I was wrong, Williams covered all the bases.

Very enjoyable, this story moves at a fast clip. If you read "A Touch of Death," which was recently published again by Hard Case Crime, this one is just as good. One thing I always liked about Charles Williams' novels was that he kept the story simple. The plots are never complicated and he doesn't overload the story with unnecessary characters. He had a way of getting you right there in the main character's shoes, and you become entrenched in the story-maybe that is what draws me to his novels. "The Long Saturday Night" might not be the author's most well-known novel, but it's one that should not be overlooked. I hope there is a renewed interest in his work, Charles Williams was one of the best crime/suspense authors that came out of the post-war era.

Flight to Nowhere by Charles Williams

Flight To Nowhere by Charles Williams
Short Story in Manhunt, Sept 1955

Charles Williams wrote many excellent crime suspense novels, some of which take place with a sailing setting as a backdrop. The same is true with this Manhunt short story. It's wildly exciting, keeps you on edge, and could be one of the finest tales he wrote.

Three-quarters of a million dollars was the prize. Brutality was their profession, I thought of it and felt chilly along the back.

The story involves the "flight" of diver Bill Manning who quickly is offered a proposition by lovely Shannon Wayne to recover a shotgun lost in a lake by her husband. A couple of thugs show up looking for the woman's husband and Manning discovers her real name is Shannon Macauley. She gives Manning another story about why she needs a diver, to recover stolen diamonds that are in a small plane at the bottom of the sea. Her husband was into some shady doings with the thugs and Manning believes the husband is now on the lam from the mob. Later, he learns that is not true. Manning needs the cash and accepts the offer and with it gets hooked into a deadly adventure. Lust and love spins Manning, who has the cops hunting him for a murder rap, into taking the risk against the two thugs. Williams has us tensely waiting to see if Manning and the girl come out of this one. It all ends gravely, at sea aboard the recovery sloop. Thrilling heart-pounding action on land and at sea in this story, and a mesmerizing plot. This one is up there with the best published in any Manhunt Magazine.
Charles Williams excels....

Note: Harry Whittington authored a short story in 1953 with the same title. A neat coincidence, both are fine writers and both stories are excellent.

There are many gems included in this Manhunt issue. One that stands out is a short five-pager called "The Muscle" by Philp Weck. It takes place in a dingy city diner through the eyes of the counter cook. The cook recognizes two hired killers, along with another guy, entering during the end of the lunch hour and they take a booth. We wait it out with the cook to find out which of the customers receives the "hit." It's hardboiled and creepy.

Contents in this Manhunt issue:

"Flight To Nowhere" by Charles Williams
'The War" by Richard Deming (Clancy Ross story)
"The Big Day" by Richard Marsten
"Side Street" by James T. Farrell
"Pickup" by Hal Ellson
"Uncle Tom" by David Alexander
"Cast Off, A Police Files Story" by Jonathan Craig
'The Muscle" by Philip Weck
"Mass Production" by Andrew J. Burris

I thought Philip Weck was a pseud., but digging I discovered not. Actually he was an accomplished short story author and journalist. Here is a listing of his work. ( I'll gladly read more stories by Philip Weck)

Welcome Home, Sucker! (nv) Detective Tales Mar 1947
I Love You Dead! (ss) Detective Tales Jan 1948
Poor, Dead Charlie! (ss) Detective Tales Jul 1948
Don’t Kid with Morrissey! (ss) Detective Tales Oct 1948
Hot-Hate Alley (ss) Dime Detective Magazine Jan 1949
Vicious Circle (ss) Detective Tales May 1949
Leave It to the Little Men! (ss) Dime Mystery Magazine Aug 1949
No Time for Death! (ss) Dime Mystery Magazine Dec 1949
No-Know Nora (ss) Detective Tales Jan 1950
A Body on the House (ss) Detective Tales Feb 1950
Eyes to Kill With (nv) Detective Tales Mar 1950
You Can’t Run Away (ss) Suspense Magazine Fll 1951
Murder with Onions (ss) Popular Detective Jan 1952
City of Strangers (na) Popular Detective Nov 1952
Love Me - Love My Corpse! (nv) Popular Detective Mar 1953
Murder Bait (ss) Triple Detective Spr 1953
The Cop War (nv) Popular Detective May 1953
The Corpse Came Back (ss) Triple Detective Sum 1953
Deadlier Than the Male (ss) Popular Detective Fll 1953
Terror Street (ss) Fifteen Detective Stories Dec 1953
The Devil’s Judge (ss) Fifteen Detective Stories Apr 1954
The Muscle (ss) Manhunt Sep 1955
Thanks for the Drink, Mac (ss) Manhunt Aug 1956
One Day of Fear (ss) Trapped Detective Story Magazine May 1961