Paperback Warrior Primer - Charles Williams

Charles K. Williams (1909-1975) is an iconic crime-fiction writer that mastered the genre with his unique blend of criminality, sex, and conversational narratives.  He authored 22 books and was one of the best-selling writers in the Fawcett Gold Medal stable. John D. MacDonald, touted by Stephen King as the “hardest of the hardboiled”, said that Charles Williams was probably the best among his peers but never got the break he needed. His most productive years were 1951 to 1960, an era that produced 17 published novels. 

We've written a great deal on Charles Williams here at Paperback Warrior. We also covered his life and body of work on Episode 56 of the podcast HERE. But, we wanted to offer up a Primer piece for fans and readers to continue celebrating his achievements. 

Williams was born in 1909 in San Angelo, Texas. Later his family relocated to Brownsville, Texas and Williams went to school there. In 1929, Williams dropped out of school in the 10th grade and enlisted with the U.S. Merchant Marine as a radio operator. It was there that he fell in love with the sea, an aquatic serenity that would later influence much of his writing. 

In 1939, Williams, now married to Lasca Foster, worked as an electronics inspector in Galveston, Texas. Three years later he acquired a job in Washington State at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. During WWII he worked as a wireless operator, radar technician, and radio service engineer as a civilian with the U.S Navy. In 1946, Williams moved to San Francisco to continue his radio inspector career. 

In the late 1940s Williams had begun working on a novel titled Hill Girl. He began shopping it to publishers in 1950 and it was published by Fawcett Gold Medal one year later. At the same time he experience a small taste of the dying pulps with his short story, “They'll Never Find Her Head”, published in Uncensored Detective in December 1950. The 40-year old author quit his day job to concentrate on writing.

Often the author's first three novels are referred to as “The Girl Trilogy” - Hill Girl (1951 Gold Medal), Big City Girl (1951 Gold Medal), and River Girl (aka Catfish Tangle, 1951 Gold Medal). In these books, Williams walks the line between a noir crime novel and forbidden romance story. Williams followed the success with his most well-respected novel, Hell Hath No Fury (aka The Hot Spot), published by Gold Medal in 1953. Anthony Boucher of The New York Times reviewed the book and described Williams' writing style as reminiscent of Cornell Woolrich and James M. Cain. 

The author's nautical suspense began to surface with his 1955 novel Scorpion Reef (aka Gulf Coast Girl), a book based on a novella titled Flight To Nowhere (Manhunt, September 1955). Williams' writing career evolved into more sea-bound stories and settings, evident with books like The Diamond Bikini (1956) and The Sailcloth Shroud (1960). One of his most popular novels is a two-book series starring a boat broker named John Ingram and his lover Rae. The two first appeared in the 1960 novel Aground and then re-appeared in the 1963 book Dead Calm. 

Twelve of Charles Williams novels were adapted into film or television works in the U.S., France, and Australia. The Texas native also contributed to six screenplays including the 1964 French film Les Felins based on Day Keene's crime-fiction novel Joy House. 

When his wife succumbed to cancer in 1972, Williams moved to a property located near the California and Oregon border. Suffering from depression, he relocated to Van Nuys, California and took his own life on April 5th, 1975. 

His novels and stories are critically-acclaimed and celebrated by publishers like Stark House Press and Hard Case Crime that continue to reprint classic crime-noir for future generations to enjoy. 

Get his Fawcett Gold Medal vintage paperbacks HERE. Reprints from Stark House Press HERE.