Read A Sample Chapter

Order Now

When Lee Scarborough came upon the brunette sunbathing topless in her back yard, getting involved in a heist was the last thing on his mind. But somehow that’s where he found himself—sneaking through a stranger’s house, on the hunt for $120,000 in embezzled bank funds.

It looked like an easy score. But one thing stood between him and the money: the beautiful and deadly Madelon Butler.

“Madelon Butler [is] about the toughest babe you’ll meet in fiction.”

— Mystery File

• First publication in almost 40 years!
• Author’s books have been made into numerous films, including Dead Calm starring Nicole Kidman, The Hot Spot starring Jennifer Connelly and Don Johnson, and Francois Truffaut’s last film, Confidentially Yours.
• Orson Welles’ famous unfinished movie, The Deep, was based on a Charles Williams novel.

"First-rate."

— The New Yorker

"Brilliant, breathtaking, spectacular...Charles Williams is just about as good as they come."

— Anthony Boucher, The New York Times

"Charles Williams is one of the neglected hardboiled geniuses of his era...His novels were perfect little gems."

— Joe R. Lansdale

"No one can make violence seem more real."

— John D. MacDonald

"Williams was the best of all the Gold Medal writers."

— Ed Gorman