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The Long Saturday Night
A small town is doomed by jealousy, greed, and a shared love of hunting
In the backwoods town of Carthage, there isn’t much for the leading citizens to do but drink, sleep, and shoot. John Warren is preparing for an early morning duck hunt when he hears two shotgun blasts— only later does he learn they were the sound of Dan Roberts’s death. Although it appears the handsome young man killed himself, Warren and the police are smart enough to realize that suicide victims seldom shoot twice.
That night, a drunk woman calls Warren’s house, offering a motive for the crime he didn’t commit. Roberts was sleeping with Warren’s wife—and he wasn’t her only lover. Warren didn’t kill Roberts, but as the rumors begin to swirl, he may wish that he had. In a town where every man is a crack shot, shooting a rival isn’t murder. It’s target practice.
Charles Williams (1909–1975) 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.
Williams’s clean and somewhat casual narrative style distinguishes his novels—which 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 Don’t Just Stand There! (published in 1966), for which Williams wrote the screenplay. Williams died in California in 1975.
In the backwoods town of Carthage, there isn’t much for the leading citizens to do but drink, sleep, and shoot. John Warren is preparing for an early morning duck hunt when he hears two shotgun blasts— only later does he learn they were the sound of Dan Roberts’s death. Although it appears the handsome young man killed himself, Warren and the police are smart enough to realize that suicide victims seldom shoot twice.
That night, a drunk woman calls Warren’s house, offering a motive for the crime he didn’t commit. Roberts was sleeping with Warren’s wife—and he wasn’t her only lover. Warren didn’t kill Roberts, but as the rumors begin to swirl, he may wish that he had. In a town where every man is a crack shot, shooting a rival isn’t murder. It’s target practice.
Charles Williams (1909–1975) 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.
Williams’s clean and somewhat casual narrative style distinguishes his novels—which 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 Don’t Just Stand There! (published in 1966), for which Williams wrote the screenplay. Williams died in California in 1975.
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1962
8 people are currently reading
208 people want to read
About the author
Charles Williams
33 books100 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Charles Williams
Charles Williams 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 (1929-1939) before leaving to work in the electronics industry. He was a radio inspector during the war years at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington state. 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.
Williams’s clean and somewhat casual narrative style distinguishes his novels—which 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 Don’t Just Stand There! (published in 1966), for which Williams wrote the screenplay.
After the death of his wife Lasca (m. 1939) from cancer in 1972, Williams purchased property on the California-Oregon border where he lived alone for a time in a trailer. After relocating to Los Angeles, Williams committed suicide in his apartment in the Van Nuys neighborhood in early April 1975. Williams had been depressed since the death of his wife, and his emotional state worsened as sales of his books declined when stand alone thrillers began to lose popularity in the early 70s. He was survived by a daughter, Alison.
Please see: Charles Williams
Charles Williams 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 (1929-1939) before leaving to work in the electronics industry. He was a radio inspector during the war years at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Washington state. 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.
Williams’s clean and somewhat casual narrative style distinguishes his novels—which 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 Don’t Just Stand There! (published in 1966), for which Williams wrote the screenplay.
After the death of his wife Lasca (m. 1939) from cancer in 1972, Williams purchased property on the California-Oregon border where he lived alone for a time in a trailer. After relocating to Los Angeles, Williams committed suicide in his apartment in the Van Nuys neighborhood in early April 1975. Williams had been depressed since the death of his wife, and his emotional state worsened as sales of his books declined when stand alone thrillers began to lose popularity in the early 70s. He was survived by a daughter, Alison.
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August 28, 2020
”I tried to take an objective look at this fellow who called himself John Duquesne Warre, but I suppose it’s impossible; the picture is always clouded by the mood. Sometimes I was able to see myself as quite a lad--sharp, aggressive, successful, popular--but all that came through now was yesterday’s second-string tackle with a receding hairline, the small-town businessman with a fading and beat-up dream or two, a beautiful but sometimes puzzling wife, no children, and a few jokes his friends were probably heartily sick of hearing--a nonentity and a crushing bore. Nobody would ever name a bridge after me, or a disease, or a gazelle.”
Duke Warren has lived in Carthage, Alabama, for his entire life, except for the years when he went away to school and when he went to Korea. He likes it here. He is never going to get rich or famous, but he is doing well. When the elegant and beautiful Francis moves to Carthage, she is a big city dream giving glam and glitter to a drab small town. Just when he is thinking...Is this all?, life provides him with one more brass ring to grab.
One morning, a morning like many others, he goes out to the blind to hunt ducks and hears two shotgun blasts. When the sheriff calls him to tell him that Dan Roberts killed himself, it doesn’t take long for Warren and the sheriff to ascertain that a man killing himself doesn’t pull the trigger twice. It’s puzzling. Roberts wasn’t the type to kill himself. He was a high flyer chasing every girl in town and seemed to have money to burn.
When Warren receives a drunken phone call from a woman threatening to expose the fact that he murdered Roberts, he is understandably confused. Why would he want to kill Roberts? She has an answer for him. Because Roberts was... screwing his wife.
Quite the revelation to find out you’ve murdered someone for something you didn’t even know he was doing. To say the least, Warren’s simple and steady life is about to get very complicated. When all the evidence starts pointing to him, it is going to take more than one Hail Mary pass to get him on the scoreboard. Time is running out, and the other team has all the points.
I’ve been really enjoying getting reacquainted with Charles William’s fiction. These books are quick, fast-paced, enjoyable reads with characters in desperate circumstances, who can’t rely on the authorities to understand the truth. These characters are typically framed, and the plotting in a Williams book is always quite clever. There is invariably this...oh shit moment for the reader. This one was originally published as The Long Saturday Night, a paperback original by Gold Medal books in 1962. The book I read was published by Overlook Press, who has republished numerous hardboiled genre books in uniform editions that hopefully will encourage a new generation of readers to read and enjoy these almost forgotten classics by the writers who were the immediate heirs of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
There is also a French movie of this book called Confidentially Yours by the great Francois Truffaut that came out in 1983. I have not seen the film, but I will hopefully get a chance to watch it soon. More than a dozen movies have been made out of Williams’s books. One of my favorites is The Hot Spot (1990), directed by Dennis Hopper and starring Virginia Madsen, Jennifer Connelly, and Don Johnson. If you are looking for something different, something edgy, something that will break you out of a reading slump, check out Charles Williams, Charles Willeford, Jim Thompson, Cornell Woolrich, or Fredric Brown. They will turn your coffee to bourbon and your chewing gum into sizzling pop rocks.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
Duke Warren has lived in Carthage, Alabama, for his entire life, except for the years when he went away to school and when he went to Korea. He likes it here. He is never going to get rich or famous, but he is doing well. When the elegant and beautiful Francis moves to Carthage, she is a big city dream giving glam and glitter to a drab small town. Just when he is thinking...Is this all?, life provides him with one more brass ring to grab.
One morning, a morning like many others, he goes out to the blind to hunt ducks and hears two shotgun blasts. When the sheriff calls him to tell him that Dan Roberts killed himself, it doesn’t take long for Warren and the sheriff to ascertain that a man killing himself doesn’t pull the trigger twice. It’s puzzling. Roberts wasn’t the type to kill himself. He was a high flyer chasing every girl in town and seemed to have money to burn.
When Warren receives a drunken phone call from a woman threatening to expose the fact that he murdered Roberts, he is understandably confused. Why would he want to kill Roberts? She has an answer for him. Because Roberts was... screwing his wife.
Quite the revelation to find out you’ve murdered someone for something you didn’t even know he was doing. To say the least, Warren’s simple and steady life is about to get very complicated. When all the evidence starts pointing to him, it is going to take more than one Hail Mary pass to get him on the scoreboard. Time is running out, and the other team has all the points.
I’ve been really enjoying getting reacquainted with Charles William’s fiction. These books are quick, fast-paced, enjoyable reads with characters in desperate circumstances, who can’t rely on the authorities to understand the truth. These characters are typically framed, and the plotting in a Williams book is always quite clever. There is invariably this...oh shit moment for the reader. This one was originally published as The Long Saturday Night, a paperback original by Gold Medal books in 1962. The book I read was published by Overlook Press, who has republished numerous hardboiled genre books in uniform editions that hopefully will encourage a new generation of readers to read and enjoy these almost forgotten classics by the writers who were the immediate heirs of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.
There is also a French movie of this book called Confidentially Yours by the great Francois Truffaut that came out in 1983. I have not seen the film, but I will hopefully get a chance to watch it soon. More than a dozen movies have been made out of Williams’s books. One of my favorites is The Hot Spot (1990), directed by Dennis Hopper and starring Virginia Madsen, Jennifer Connelly, and Don Johnson. If you are looking for something different, something edgy, something that will break you out of a reading slump, check out Charles Williams, Charles Willeford, Jim Thompson, Cornell Woolrich, or Fredric Brown. They will turn your coffee to bourbon and your chewing gum into sizzling pop rocks.
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten and an Instagram account https://www.instagram.com/jeffreykeeten/
August 10, 2020
Charles Williams' 1962 novel, "Confidentially Yours" (aka The Long Saturday Night), is a top-notch thriller that is a lot of fun to read. This is, at base, yet another man- on-the-run story about an ordinary guy in a small town who suddenly finds himself suspected of murder and races to solve the murder mystery before the sheriff's deputies close in on him.
What happens to Warren, as told with Williams' fantastic writing, could happen to anyone. Going duck-hunting before a day at the office, Warren hears a couple of shots over in the next blind and doesn't think much of it until he finds out that an acquaintance was shot that morning and there was no one else around.
Meanwhile, Warren's wife, Frances, is off in New Orleans, spending money like there's no tomorrow and insisting that she will need to spend yet a few more days there and Warren gets anonymous calls pointing somehow to his wife's connection with Roberts, the guy who got shot, and warning him that he will never get away with it, asking why not just shoot her instead, and insisting that Roberts was not the only one. Williams skillfully tightens the noose around Warren's neck inch by inch as, not only means but motive points only to him.
While the underlying man-on-the-run theme may not be new, Williams, as he always does creates a compelling story. It begins with the one person in town who believes in Warren, his secretary, Barbara Ryan, "a girl who knows where everything is buried, including the bodies," a "30-year-old divorcee" with "reddish mahogany-colored hair that always seems a little tousled."
But, that's nothing compared with the description of Warren's wife, Frances, who almost hypnotizes Warren: "All I had to do was stand up," he explains, "take two steps toward her, and we'd be in bed in ninety seconds flat. And the hell of it was that once I started there'd be no more possibility of turning back than of changing my mind halfway down about going over Niagra Falls. Maybe she was a liar, and a cheat, and capable of using sex with the precise calculation of a tournament bridge player executing a squeeze play, but she was good at it."
This is simply a solid stand-alone thriller that skillfully places the reader in the narrator's shoes. Good stuff, indeed.
What happens to Warren, as told with Williams' fantastic writing, could happen to anyone. Going duck-hunting before a day at the office, Warren hears a couple of shots over in the next blind and doesn't think much of it until he finds out that an acquaintance was shot that morning and there was no one else around.
Meanwhile, Warren's wife, Frances, is off in New Orleans, spending money like there's no tomorrow and insisting that she will need to spend yet a few more days there and Warren gets anonymous calls pointing somehow to his wife's connection with Roberts, the guy who got shot, and warning him that he will never get away with it, asking why not just shoot her instead, and insisting that Roberts was not the only one. Williams skillfully tightens the noose around Warren's neck inch by inch as, not only means but motive points only to him.
While the underlying man-on-the-run theme may not be new, Williams, as he always does creates a compelling story. It begins with the one person in town who believes in Warren, his secretary, Barbara Ryan, "a girl who knows where everything is buried, including the bodies," a "30-year-old divorcee" with "reddish mahogany-colored hair that always seems a little tousled."
But, that's nothing compared with the description of Warren's wife, Frances, who almost hypnotizes Warren: "All I had to do was stand up," he explains, "take two steps toward her, and we'd be in bed in ninety seconds flat. And the hell of it was that once I started there'd be no more possibility of turning back than of changing my mind halfway down about going over Niagra Falls. Maybe she was a liar, and a cheat, and capable of using sex with the precise calculation of a tournament bridge player executing a squeeze play, but she was good at it."
This is simply a solid stand-alone thriller that skillfully places the reader in the narrator's shoes. Good stuff, indeed.
February 17, 2022
Tercer libro que leo de Charles Williams este año. Ha sido un gran descubrimiento.
En este caso, la novela sigue la misma estructura dramática que las otras. Unos personajes corrientes que, de repente, se ven envueltos en una espiral vertiginosa de asesinatos y deben iniciar una carrera contrarreloj para resolver la trama que, indefectiblemente, les marca como culpables.
En esta novela, la trama no está tan bien resuelta como en otras ya que el final resulta poco verosímil.
Me gusta mucho el protagonismo que da Williams a las mujeres. No son muchos los autores que, en esa época, dan tanta importancia a la mujer y la dotan de gran capacidad para invertir la situación.
Los personajes son auténticos, con sus dudas e indecisiones.
Este autor escribe muy bien. Muy sencillo. Con tramas sin mucha complejidad. Unos escenarios bien descritos. Una narrativa exquisita.
Disfruto mucho con cada una de sus novelas.
Third book I read of Charles Williams this year. It's has been a great discovery.
In this case, the novel follows the same dramatic structure as the others. Some ordinary characters who, suddenly, are involved in a vertiginous spiral of murders and must start a race against the clock to solve the plot that, unfailingly, marks them as guilty.
In this novel, the plot is not as well resolved as in others since the end is unlikely.
I really like the role that Williams gives to women. There are not many authors who, at that time, give so much importance to women and endow it with great capacity to reverse the situation.
The characters are authentic, with their doubts and indecisions.
This author writes very well. Very easy. With plots without much complexity. Well described scenarios. An exquisite narrative.
I really enjoy each of his novels.
En este caso, la novela sigue la misma estructura dramática que las otras. Unos personajes corrientes que, de repente, se ven envueltos en una espiral vertiginosa de asesinatos y deben iniciar una carrera contrarreloj para resolver la trama que, indefectiblemente, les marca como culpables.
En esta novela, la trama no está tan bien resuelta como en otras ya que el final resulta poco verosímil.
Me gusta mucho el protagonismo que da Williams a las mujeres. No son muchos los autores que, en esa época, dan tanta importancia a la mujer y la dotan de gran capacidad para invertir la situación.
Los personajes son auténticos, con sus dudas e indecisiones.
Este autor escribe muy bien. Muy sencillo. Con tramas sin mucha complejidad. Unos escenarios bien descritos. Una narrativa exquisita.
Disfruto mucho con cada una de sus novelas.
Third book I read of Charles Williams this year. It's has been a great discovery.
In this case, the novel follows the same dramatic structure as the others. Some ordinary characters who, suddenly, are involved in a vertiginous spiral of murders and must start a race against the clock to solve the plot that, unfailingly, marks them as guilty.
In this novel, the plot is not as well resolved as in others since the end is unlikely.
I really like the role that Williams gives to women. There are not many authors who, at that time, give so much importance to women and endow it with great capacity to reverse the situation.
The characters are authentic, with their doubts and indecisions.
This author writes very well. Very easy. With plots without much complexity. Well described scenarios. An exquisite narrative.
I really enjoy each of his novels.
November 21, 2021
My eighth Charles Williams novel. This was one terrific murder mystery with an unusually high number of plot points and twists. Williams usually writes atmospheric nautical thrillers or books set in backwoods small towns. While The Long Saturday Night is set in a small town where duck hunting is popular, the book is not that big on descriptions of its landscapes.
John Warren (the proprietor of Warren Realty in a small town called Carthage) is accused of murdering his beautiful wife and a man who might have been her lover. He also receives an anonymous phone call accusing him of the murder. The whole book is about how he goes about proving his innocence and finding the real killer with the help of his ingenious secretary Barbara Ryan (a 30 year old divorcee with an air of good-natured cynicism, as though she were still fond of the human race in spite of the fact she no longer expected a great deal of it). Told in first person (like all Williams novels), John Warren's voice is more sardonic and only mildly tortured compared to other Charles Williams heroes like Maddox or John Ingram. He is also more than happy to take the help of his brilliant secretary - a luxury not provided to other Williams heroes who are up against the whole world on their own and usually end up losing.
Charles Williams novels are like manuals for people who are on the run from the law or gangsters. They provide great detail about how to disappear and completely mislead the people who are hot on your trail. The Long Saturday Night is no different. Williams must have had a great time plotting the escapes and misdirection by John Warren in this novel. Of course, these novels were set in simpler times. It would be interesting to see what Williams might have done with mobile phones, ATM's and Google Maps. He might have stopped writing altogether.
John Warren (the proprietor of Warren Realty in a small town called Carthage) is accused of murdering his beautiful wife and a man who might have been her lover. He also receives an anonymous phone call accusing him of the murder. The whole book is about how he goes about proving his innocence and finding the real killer with the help of his ingenious secretary Barbara Ryan (a 30 year old divorcee with an air of good-natured cynicism, as though she were still fond of the human race in spite of the fact she no longer expected a great deal of it). Told in first person (like all Williams novels), John Warren's voice is more sardonic and only mildly tortured compared to other Charles Williams heroes like Maddox or John Ingram. He is also more than happy to take the help of his brilliant secretary - a luxury not provided to other Williams heroes who are up against the whole world on their own and usually end up losing.
Charles Williams novels are like manuals for people who are on the run from the law or gangsters. They provide great detail about how to disappear and completely mislead the people who are hot on your trail. The Long Saturday Night is no different. Williams must have had a great time plotting the escapes and misdirection by John Warren in this novel. Of course, these novels were set in simpler times. It would be interesting to see what Williams might have done with mobile phones, ATM's and Google Maps. He might have stopped writing altogether.
May 15, 2023
REVIEW MISSING only says I gave it 4 stars. This happens all the time, is why One trying to save the existing reviews.
November 20, 2020
The first half of the story was a white-knuckler. The second half was not so gripping. Small-town businessman John Warren scrambles to save himself from a false murder charge. Charles Williams has an unparalleled ability to sustain non-stop tension. But in the second half of the book Warren teams up with his intrepid sleuth-secretary Barbara to crack the case wide open — ugh.
September 30, 2015
Couldn’t put this one down. Fast paced narrative that draws you in quick and then just keeps building as the narrator tries to prove that he didn't kill his wife and her lover. I had read all of Williams’ books back in junior high and he was one of my favorite writer's then but this is the first time I have read him since and had completely forgotten just how good he was. No surprise that so many of his books have been made into movies. Strong characters and great plots with plenty of tension and suspense. As a writer he also excels at describing long action sequences in a way that is easy to visualize and also keeps the reader jumping from clause to clause. Too many writers get bogged down in the details or else just skip over big chunks of the action. Not Williams:
“I hit the front door at full speed, remembering too late that it opens inward, and slammed into it with my shoulder. Glass shattered and rained with a brittle tinkling sound on the tile. I yanked it open and leaped down he steps. Off to the left, as I ran across the street, I saw Barbara pulling out from the curb in the middle of the block. I made a desperate motion of the arm for her to get away, and ran up Westbury. I looked over my shoulder and saw her headlights swinging as she turned into it behind me. I plunged behind a hedge just before the lights caught up with me, and lay down on the ground. She went on past.”
And here’s another example: “On the third lunge the bolt tore out and it swung open. I stepped inside, closed it, and flicked on the cigarette lighter to look about for something to prop it shut. There was a small table next to the refrigerator. I shoved it against the door, holding the lighter with the other hand, and then stood looking down at the linoleum in horror. There were spatters of blood on it. The lighter went out. I flicked it 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 Boy Scout could follow. I let the lighter go out and stood listening to the drip, drip, drip, as it fell and spattered in the darkness.”
“I hit the front door at full speed, remembering too late that it opens inward, and slammed into it with my shoulder. Glass shattered and rained with a brittle tinkling sound on the tile. I yanked it open and leaped down he steps. Off to the left, as I ran across the street, I saw Barbara pulling out from the curb in the middle of the block. I made a desperate motion of the arm for her to get away, and ran up Westbury. I looked over my shoulder and saw her headlights swinging as she turned into it behind me. I plunged behind a hedge just before the lights caught up with me, and lay down on the ground. She went on past.”
And here’s another example: “On the third lunge the bolt tore out and it swung open. I stepped inside, closed it, and flicked on the cigarette lighter to look about for something to prop it shut. There was a small table next to the refrigerator. I shoved it against the door, holding the lighter with the other hand, and then stood looking down at the linoleum in horror. There were spatters of blood on it. The lighter went out. I flicked it 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 Boy Scout could follow. I let the lighter go out and stood listening to the drip, drip, drip, as it fell and spattered in the darkness.”
March 16, 2015
Confidentially Yours is a lean, efficient little thriller with a self-loathing Korean war veteran as the protagonist: ‘I tried to take an objective look at this fellow who called himself John Duquesne Warren’, he says at one point, ‘but I suppose it’s impossible; the picture is always clouded by the mood. Sometimes I was able to see myself as quite a lad—sharp, aggressive, successful, popular—but all that came through now was yesterday’s second-string tackle with a receding hairline, the small town businessman with a beat-up dream or two, beautiful and sometimes puzzling wife, no children, and a few jokes his friends were probably heartily sick of hearing—a nonentity and a crashing bore’. Concluding that ‘Nobody would ever name a bridge after me, or a disease, or a gazelle’, Warren soon finds himself embroiled in a mystery revolving around one of his tenants, Roberts, who is murdered (with a shotgun blast to the head, no less) in a hunting blind. All the evidence points to Warren being the perpetrator, and the small-town accusatory finger becomes even more pointed when an anonymous phone call to both him and the police reveals that Roberts was conducting an affair with Warren’s wife—who soon turns up dead, her face bashed in with an andiron. With only his secretary, a divorcee named Barbara Ryan, to help him, Warren must go to ground and fight to clear his name.
As the narrative progresses, the paranoia that is central to this ‘wrong man’ plot amplifies, heightened by the small town setting. Along the way, Williams demonstrates the almost poetic use of language that characterises his best novels (‘I switched off the light and sat down to wait, conscious of the cold weight of anger in my chest and of the whiskey mounting in my head’). The plotting becomes perhaps a little too condensed towards the climax, and the final chapter might seem a little pat (although it’s saturated with irony), but this is a very good book that doesn’t outstay its welcome.
The Hitchcockian elements (the small town setting, the ‘wrong man’ plot, the increasing sense of paranoia) are amplified in the film adaptation (Vivement Dimanche, 1983), the last film of Francois Truffaut.
As the narrative progresses, the paranoia that is central to this ‘wrong man’ plot amplifies, heightened by the small town setting. Along the way, Williams demonstrates the almost poetic use of language that characterises his best novels (‘I switched off the light and sat down to wait, conscious of the cold weight of anger in my chest and of the whiskey mounting in my head’). The plotting becomes perhaps a little too condensed towards the climax, and the final chapter might seem a little pat (although it’s saturated with irony), but this is a very good book that doesn’t outstay its welcome.
The Hitchcockian elements (the small town setting, the ‘wrong man’ plot, the increasing sense of paranoia) are amplified in the film adaptation (Vivement Dimanche, 1983), the last film of Francois Truffaut.
February 28, 2012
I truly enjoyed the reading this book. It sucked me in since page 1. It's one of those wrong time, wrong place stories. The main character, Mr. Warren, is the prime suspect of the murder of Mr. Roberts who was found dead and his crime scene appears to be staged to make it look like a suicide. Later, his wife, returns at midnight from a trip in New Orleans and is found dead next to their very own bed. All clues lead to Mr. Warren to be the killer, but he'll have to team up with Barbara, her secretary, a clever and beautiful woman to prove wrong the police about their suspicions.
A great Noir novel, Williams does a pretty good job telling a story full of suspense, murder, blood, cigars, PIs and endless nights.
A great Noir novel, Williams does a pretty good job telling a story full of suspense, murder, blood, cigars, PIs and endless nights.
July 28, 2013
A fun ride through a twisted mess of relationships as a man tries to prove that he didn't kill his unfaithful wife. Williams knows how to pull the reader along, the narrative voice is compelling while one is reading, but I found nothing particularly distinctive about this. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing what Truffault does with the material (Confidentially Yours, his last film).
January 18, 2023
2.5 STARS,
A small town murder mystery. Written in the early Sixties it's set in Western Alabama. Our hero (small town business man) is accused of murdering his wife (who has many skeletons in her closet) and her possible lover. Over approximately one week (give or take a few hours) he scrambles about the town, avoiding the local cops (who are more competent then the usual constabulary in small town noirs), while trying to put together the various pieces of the puzzle. The man against the world plot. However, this time he is assisted very capably by his very competent secretary. While the other main female characters in the novel are shown as untrustworthy bimbos and thieves his secretary is not only the "good girl" that these old stories required, but she actually figures out how to save our man's hide. It's all very smooth and easy going with the denunciation playing out pretty cleverly.
What I find fascinating about these old novels is what they didn't cover in the fictional setting. This novel was written in the early Sixties and is set in Alabama. At that particular time in the United States the Civil Rights movement was gathering momentum and Alabama was at ground zero. However, to read "The Long Saturday" one would get the impression that absolutely nothing tumultuous was occurring or was even on the horizon. Now obviously this is a mystery story, but the local texture is bland to put it mildly. In 2022 we expect our novels to incorporate, or at least mention, the life and times that are occurring during the fictional adventure. In other words the television is always on, and the characters are half listening to the broadcasts. Not in this book. Unless our hero is directly looking for news related to his predicament the world around is essentially blank. The Cold War, communists in Cuba (which is pretty close to Alabama), Civil Rights and so on simply play no part in the story - not even as background. I don't know really have any grand theory as to why this is. It's simply an observation that I personally find interesting. If I didn't I wouldn't bother writing about it.
A fast retro mystery. However, whenever one is reviewing a sixty-year-old novel there are going to be some caveats for the modern reader who might be interested. Our hero isn't above losing his temper with women and going after them physically. He doesn't hurt them, but he certainly does scare the hell out of them and in one case he does batter one of them (unwanted touching not necessarily accompanied with an injury). In this day and age, he would be classified as having anger issues and abusive. Perhaps even "toxic masculinity" would be an accurate descriptor. I suppose in 1961 it was okay because the women he loses his temper with are "bad-girls". There is also a rather off-handed attitude towards rape, but it needs to be stressed there is no rape or attempted rape in the story. To say more would give away the plot. This is definitely an older novel. One might even call it a bit of a relic. You have been forewarned.
A small town murder mystery. Written in the early Sixties it's set in Western Alabama. Our hero (small town business man) is accused of murdering his wife (who has many skeletons in her closet) and her possible lover. Over approximately one week (give or take a few hours) he scrambles about the town, avoiding the local cops (who are more competent then the usual constabulary in small town noirs), while trying to put together the various pieces of the puzzle. The man against the world plot. However, this time he is assisted very capably by his very competent secretary. While the other main female characters in the novel are shown as untrustworthy bimbos and thieves his secretary is not only the "good girl" that these old stories required, but she actually figures out how to save our man's hide. It's all very smooth and easy going with the denunciation playing out pretty cleverly.
What I find fascinating about these old novels is what they didn't cover in the fictional setting. This novel was written in the early Sixties and is set in Alabama. At that particular time in the United States the Civil Rights movement was gathering momentum and Alabama was at ground zero. However, to read "The Long Saturday" one would get the impression that absolutely nothing tumultuous was occurring or was even on the horizon. Now obviously this is a mystery story, but the local texture is bland to put it mildly. In 2022 we expect our novels to incorporate, or at least mention, the life and times that are occurring during the fictional adventure. In other words the television is always on, and the characters are half listening to the broadcasts. Not in this book. Unless our hero is directly looking for news related to his predicament the world around is essentially blank. The Cold War, communists in Cuba (which is pretty close to Alabama), Civil Rights and so on simply play no part in the story - not even as background. I don't know really have any grand theory as to why this is. It's simply an observation that I personally find interesting. If I didn't I wouldn't bother writing about it.
A fast retro mystery. However, whenever one is reviewing a sixty-year-old novel there are going to be some caveats for the modern reader who might be interested. Our hero isn't above losing his temper with women and going after them physically. He doesn't hurt them, but he certainly does scare the hell out of them and in one case he does batter one of them (unwanted touching not necessarily accompanied with an injury). In this day and age, he would be classified as having anger issues and abusive. Perhaps even "toxic masculinity" would be an accurate descriptor. I suppose in 1961 it was okay because the women he loses his temper with are "bad-girls". There is also a rather off-handed attitude towards rape, but it needs to be stressed there is no rape or attempted rape in the story. To say more would give away the plot. This is definitely an older novel. One might even call it a bit of a relic. You have been forewarned.
May 6, 2021
Saturday night I watched Truffaut's Vivement Dimanche! and fun it was. Fanny Ardant carries the film. Then I remembered I'd bought and read the original thriller by Charles Williams back in 1983. I dug it off the shelf, read the first paragraph and thought a good Sunday read - and sure enough it was. Truffaut takes the basic outline, some liberties and makes the secretary the central character. Ardant works really, well, the liberties not so much. The film is full of holes, but Williams had gifted Truffaut a well worked out plot that reads well and holds together. His style is good, not too racy but moves along at a pace, the characters are strong and despite knowing who the bad guy was (the same as the film), it is a compelling read, even second time round. I have The Hot Spot somewhere. I may well re-visit that one Sunday.
July 10, 2018
Liked this one very much. Short, lean, and fast. The writing is great almost throughout. I mean I enjoyed it almost throughout, which is not exactly the same thing but whatever. There's no big twist or anything, in case you are partial to that like I am, but there's much to make up for this absence like the awesome atmosphere that rolls moody and sweet from office buildings to dark neighborhood streets. Charles Williams is considered a master of this hardboiled crime thing but, unlike many other crime writers, kind of slipped into obscurity since his death in 1975, except, for whatever reason, in France where he, from what I've read online, still carries much weight. Very cool, France, very cool.
July 8, 2009
Decent mystery but it started to fizzle out for me in the second half. I don't remember much about the Truffaut adaptation (Confidentially Yours) and that will likely be the case with this book before too long also.
February 18, 2016
More great pulp fiction from Charles Williams. This one involves a real estate broker on the run after being falsely accused of murder. Francois Truffaut's last film (1983's 'Confidentially Yours') was an adaptation of this book
June 9, 2016
I first read Charles Williams a couple years back and enjoyed them. Got back to this one just recently, and enjoyed this one as well. These are what i would describe as "original noir" set in the 1950's.
good read, quick pace, the kind of story and characters I would like to read more. 4.0
good read, quick pace, the kind of story and characters I would like to read more. 4.0
December 11, 2023
Standard pulp fare. Worth a read if you're rounding out your pulp library.
Want to read
September 10, 2018Synopsis: one man is the suspect in the murder of another but was it staged? Then his wife dies too.
September 16, 2022
Besides writing Dead Calm, which became a hit movie, Charles Williams wrote some other sailing-themed thrillers and a number of noirish crime tales set in small southern towns. This is one of them, the story of a rough weekend in the life of a real estate broker in a little Alabama town.
John Warren, Duke to his friends, is a typical Williams hero, a tough guy with a bit of polish, a Korean war veteran, prosperous businessman and pillar of his small community. He has a beautiful but somewhat wayward new wife, who breezed into town from Florida just a couple of years back. As the book opens she is in New Orleans on a junket with friends and has just called to say she's prolonging her stay and by the way will need some more money. Our hero is mildly irked but he's an indulgent sort and says OK. Things take a turn for the worse when the cops call; the local ladies' man has been found shot to death in a duck blind near where our hero was hunting just this morning. When rumors surface that the victim had been dallying with Duke's wife, the cops get very interested. When the wife comes breezing back into town to find her hot-headed husband wanting some answers, things go spinning wildly out of control. There is another murder, also a perfect frame for our hero; he goes on the run and has to stay out of the clutches of the law while finding out who's doing the killing and what his wife's mysterious past has to do with it.
It's a wild ride, entertaining, not especially memorable but good fun for fans of pulpy fast-paced tough guy yarns. Williams did this kind of thing very well.
John Warren, Duke to his friends, is a typical Williams hero, a tough guy with a bit of polish, a Korean war veteran, prosperous businessman and pillar of his small community. He has a beautiful but somewhat wayward new wife, who breezed into town from Florida just a couple of years back. As the book opens she is in New Orleans on a junket with friends and has just called to say she's prolonging her stay and by the way will need some more money. Our hero is mildly irked but he's an indulgent sort and says OK. Things take a turn for the worse when the cops call; the local ladies' man has been found shot to death in a duck blind near where our hero was hunting just this morning. When rumors surface that the victim had been dallying with Duke's wife, the cops get very interested. When the wife comes breezing back into town to find her hot-headed husband wanting some answers, things go spinning wildly out of control. There is another murder, also a perfect frame for our hero; he goes on the run and has to stay out of the clutches of the law while finding out who's doing the killing and what his wife's mysterious past has to do with it.
It's a wild ride, entertaining, not especially memorable but good fun for fans of pulpy fast-paced tough guy yarns. Williams did this kind of thing very well.
December 3, 2024
La trama més complicada en una novel·la negra que he llegit mai. Si, amb la muntanya d'informacions que va desgranant l'autor, m'haguessen obligat a esbrinar qui era l'assassí, m'hauria estimat més confessar que l'assassí era jo mateix. Amb tot i això, la novel·la es llegeix prou bé. I si realment tot funciona com una maquinària de rellotgeria (i no tenc cap motiu per a sospitar que falla per algun cantó, però no en puc estar segur), he de dir que aquest autor devia tenir una ment fora de sèrie. No sé si va matar ningú en la vida real, però segur que no l'haurien atrapat.
La traducció de n'Oriol Carbonell és d'aquestes que haurien pogut ser molt bones si el corrector s'hi hagués esforçat una mica més. Gramàtica acurada, diàlegs versemblants... però de tant en tant comet errors que fan riure: menys mal que... (sort que...), les cataractes del Niàgara (les cascades del Niàgara), un final de setmana (un cap de setmana), havia pegat un obrer (havia pegat a un obrer), al roig viu (roent), el podia haver trucat (li podia haver trucat), li vaig persuadir (la vaig persuadir), a mida que... (a mesura que...), Déu sigui lloat! (Gràcies a Déu!), fer-se amb les claus (aconseguir les claus), i alguns altres. En resum, bona (però complicadíssima) novel·la i deixadesa de l'editorial.
La traducció de n'Oriol Carbonell és d'aquestes que haurien pogut ser molt bones si el corrector s'hi hagués esforçat una mica més. Gramàtica acurada, diàlegs versemblants... però de tant en tant comet errors que fan riure: menys mal que... (sort que...), les cataractes del Niàgara (les cascades del Niàgara), un final de setmana (un cap de setmana), havia pegat un obrer (havia pegat a un obrer), al roig viu (roent), el podia haver trucat (li podia haver trucat), li vaig persuadir (la vaig persuadir), a mida que... (a mesura que...), Déu sigui lloat! (Gràcies a Déu!), fer-se amb les claus (aconseguir les claus), i alguns altres. En resum, bona (però complicadíssima) novel·la i deixadesa de l'editorial.
February 5, 2025
La primera meitat del llibre m’ha atrapat completament. El misteri i tot el que li va succeint al protagonista i els moviments que va fent. Que ben escrit en primera persona.
Desprès comença una part menys dinàmica, en que ell ―amb ajuda― fa multitud d’elucubracions, destriant noms, passats, situacions, records, intentant entendre que ha pogut passar.
El final torna a ser emocionant, molt bo.
És la tercera novel·la de Charles Williams que llegeixo i altre cop els personatges i ambients m’han semblat molt ben retratats.
Bona novel·la.
Posteriorment hem vist el film “Vivamente el domingo”, de François Truffaut, força fidel a la novel·la en el seu començament per desprès diferir-hi, els elements espinals es mantenen, però Truffaut poda branques i branquillons i hi afegeix escenes que espongen el dramatisme de la situació.
Ens ha semblat un bon film.
Desprès comença una part menys dinàmica, en que ell ―amb ajuda― fa multitud d’elucubracions, destriant noms, passats, situacions, records, intentant entendre que ha pogut passar.
El final torna a ser emocionant, molt bo.
És la tercera novel·la de Charles Williams que llegeixo i altre cop els personatges i ambients m’han semblat molt ben retratats.
Bona novel·la.
Posteriorment hem vist el film “Vivamente el domingo”, de François Truffaut, força fidel a la novel·la en el seu començament per desprès diferir-hi, els elements espinals es mantenen, però Truffaut poda branques i branquillons i hi afegeix escenes que espongen el dramatisme de la situació.
Ens ha semblat un bon film.
November 12, 2020
I don’t know if this is considered a hard boiled novel or soft - it did’t drive me away, so I know it isn’t completely a hard boiled novel.
It was enjoyable even if I can’t decide upon the genre. It is a fast-paced thriller set in a small town, and really kept the pace through out.
I wanted to read more of Charles Williams after reading The Hot Spot., which was the same sorta style. They both fringe upon the hard boiled world without fully engaging in it, which is why I think I like his work - it’s different and he finds his own style among what was a mass produced genre.
It didn’t turn me into a Charles Williams nut, but I’ll be a casual reader of his from now on when I need a quick thriller to turn to.
It was enjoyable even if I can’t decide upon the genre. It is a fast-paced thriller set in a small town, and really kept the pace through out.
I wanted to read more of Charles Williams after reading The Hot Spot., which was the same sorta style. They both fringe upon the hard boiled world without fully engaging in it, which is why I think I like his work - it’s different and he finds his own style among what was a mass produced genre.
It didn’t turn me into a Charles Williams nut, but I’ll be a casual reader of his from now on when I need a quick thriller to turn to.
April 11, 2020
Mi primera acercamiento a la obra de Charles Williams.
Una novela entretenida que se lee con facilidad.
El manejo de la intriga y la tensión es harto efectivo.
El personaje de Barbara Ryan resulta inédito con respecto a otros personajes femeninos de la novela negra clásica; aunque se gana la vida como secretaria, su inteligencia y capacidad de deducción está a la altura del mejor investigador privado.
Una novela entretenida que se lee con facilidad.
El manejo de la intriga y la tensión es harto efectivo.
El personaje de Barbara Ryan resulta inédito con respecto a otros personajes femeninos de la novela negra clásica; aunque se gana la vida como secretaria, su inteligencia y capacidad de deducción está a la altura del mejor investigador privado.
March 7, 2023
A cracker of a little noirish murder mystery: terrifically paced and structured, pulpy but not too clichéd, and with Barbara Ryan, who is surely one of my favourite female characters in hardboiled literature so far. I'd even make the case that I'd like this book just a little more if the story had been told from her perspective, just to round out her character a little more and to give a much fresher take on the traditional macho pulp hero archetype, but that's probably asking a bit too much.
October 31, 2016
Чарлс Уорън е обвинен в убийствата на собствената си жена и наемателя си. Преследват го полицията на целия щат. Криейки се, Чарлс решава да разплете самостоятелно този заплетен случай, а да му помогне може само неговата секретарка Барбара Райън.
Великолепна криминална история. С неочакван край.
Великолепна криминална история. С неочакван край.
December 30, 2022
The Long Saturday Night is about a small-town business man, John Warren, who becomes a murder suspect and also finds out that there's more to his wife and her past than he thought. With the help of his secretary, Barbara Ryan, the two try to clear his name.
I liked Barbara. She was so resourceful and smart that it had me kinda wishing the book was more about her and her sleuthing skills.
Overall though, it was a fun suspenseful mystery to read.
Movie adaptation:
Confidentially Yours (1983)
François Truffaut's final movie has a noirish Hitchcockian atmostphere about it, and while it sticks fairly close to the book's plot with some omissions, I liked the changes that were made to have it show things more from the plucky secretary's point of view (played wonderfully by Fanny Ardant) and how she went about to solve the mystery.
I liked Barbara. She was so resourceful and smart that it had me kinda wishing the book was more about her and her sleuthing skills.
Overall though, it was a fun suspenseful mystery to read.
Movie adaptation:
Confidentially Yours (1983)
François Truffaut's final movie has a noirish Hitchcockian atmostphere about it, and while it sticks fairly close to the book's plot with some omissions, I liked the changes that were made to have it show things more from the plucky secretary's point of view (played wonderfully by Fanny Ardant) and how she went about to solve the mystery.
May 5, 2022
This tense, fast moving novel of a small town businessman on the run from charges of killing a friend and his wife is a perfect example of why Charles Williams was one of the best crime writers of the '50s and 60s.
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
April 6, 2022
As other readers said, it loses steam in the second half.
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