Sat 8 Jul 2017
A Mystery Review by Dan Stumpf: CHARLES WILLIAMS – Talk of the Town.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[11] Comments
CHARLES WILLIAMS – Talk of the Town. Dell First Edition A164, paperback original; 1st printing, September 1958. Cover artist: Darcy (Ernest Chiriacka). Expanded from “Stain of Suspicion,†a story published in Cosmopolitan, April 1958. This earlier title was also that of the British edition: Stain of Suspicion, Cassell, hardcover, 1959. Reprinted later in the US under the same title: Pocket, paperback, 1973.
The master at the top of his game, crafting a taut, fast-moving tale back in the days when you could tell a great story in less than 200 pages.
Bill Chatham narrates the tale and starts out by getting his car badly wrinkled by someone pulling out of a parking space in a small north Florida town. Stuck there for three days, he meets Georgia Langston, the proprietor of the motel where he’s staying, and quickly gets drawn into her problems.
It seems Ms. Langston is recently widowed and suspected in the death of her late husband. He was found murdered in the pre-dawn hours by a man who was staying at the motel who had connections in Langston’s home town. Moreover, a woman was seen leaving the crime scene, and when police contacted Georgia they found her wide awake at that unghodly hour. The murderer was killed by police, so he’s not talking, but a cloud of doubt has settled over the widow who is ostracized by the community and persecuted by anonymous obscene and threatening calls.
I’m always impressed by the speed with which Williams can set up a plot and establish his characters. As the story unfolds we find that Chatham is a divorced ex-cop, kicked off the force for excessive brutality (Read the backstory and see if you don’t sympathize with him.) and Ms. Langston is a tough and resourceful woman slowly being ground down by the community she once called her home.
Meanwhile, just to keep things roiling, Chatham gets in a fight every few pages, there are threats, vandalism, a near-murder and some colorful side characters to help things along. And it’s here where Williams does a clever bit of writing…
If I may wax philosophical for a moment, I want to say that in my experience there are two kinds of corruption: Selfish corruption of the sort practiced for profit; and the more altruistic sort, committed by those who feel it’s all right to cut a few legal/ethical corners in a good cause. Williams evokes both sorts, from honest cops who don’t feel much like following up a criminal’s complaints to…
Well, that would be telling, and it would be a shame to spoil a story as tightly written as this one. Suffice it to say that when the selfish-corrupt ones finally show themselves, they are a nasty sight indeed — very well-limned by the author in a few deft strokes — but perhaps not so scary as those who thought they had Right or God or Whatever on their side.
July 8th, 2017 at 5:48 pm
My copy is the Dell First Edition paperback and I read the novel back in June 1987. I remember reading many novels on my lunch hour at work. While my co-workers wasted their time eating and gossiping at restaurants(not to mention gaining weight), during the spring and summer I used to find an isolated spot and read. I remember reading this one because I went through a period of reading Gold Medals, Ace Doubles, etc at work during lunch.
During winter and rainy weather, I’d read in my car in the parking lot. I didn’t meet many people who were as interesting as a good book!
This novel I thought was outstanding but my notes indicate that the hero annoyed me at times because he lacked a sense of humor. Great ending.
July 8th, 2017 at 7:11 pm
Charles Williams can get you through a boring lunch time very easily, that’s for sure.
Or at breakfast, a long airplane ride, or just before turning out the night at light.
July 8th, 2017 at 8:38 pm
One of my favorite Williams novels. Gripping from first page to last. It was the basis for a two-part episode of CANNON, the Wm. Conrad TV series, in the early 70s, though as I recall neither Williams nor the novel was credited. Decent adaptation, but the novel is much better.
July 8th, 2017 at 9:03 pm
I’d completely forgotten about the CANNON connection, Bill. Thanks for jogging my memory. It was Jamie Sturgeon who first pointed that out to me.
https://mysteryfile.com/GM_Williams/Williams.html (Scroll down.)
He says:
“…the TV pilot for Cannon, based on Talk of the Town (Stain of Suspicion in my hardcover copy)). Now I know http://www.imbd.com says Edward Hume is the writer, but if you compare the names of the characters, many of those in the book are kept in the film: Georgia Langston (Diane Langston in the film), Kelly Redfield, Magruder, Calhoun etc etc. The plot is definitely the same, though I admit it’s a long time since I read the book. I’m going to read it again now – now if I can only track down a copy of Cannon. I wonder if Charles Williams got paid for it?”
July 8th, 2017 at 8:47 pm
I always thought of Williams alongside MacDonald at the very top of the Gold Medal and Dell lists, a first-class writer who chose the mystery suspense tale the way others might choose the mainstream novel.
Williams is never less than entertaining, and often much more.
July 8th, 2017 at 11:39 pm
I have a small problem. I cannot find my copy of the Dell First Edition paperback. All of the others in this series are on the shelf where they should be.
For bibliographic completeness, perhaps someone can help me. What’s the exact date (month and year) it was published, and if the cover artist is identified, who was he?
July 9th, 2017 at 8:58 am
My copy says first printing is September 1958. Cover artist is Darcy. I forget who Darcy really is but he was a GOH at one of the later Pulpcons. A shorter version appeared in COSMOPOLITAN, 1958 under title “Stain of Suspicion”.
July 9th, 2017 at 9:03 am
Darcy is Ernest Chiriaka, 1913-2010. I see his name is sometimes spelled Chiriacka.
July 9th, 2017 at 9:16 am
Thanks for the big assist, Walker. I appreciate it!
And as you said in your earlier comment, he was a guest at Pulpcon in 2006. I also did a gallery of some of his paperback covers on this blog back in 2007 (https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=453#comments), and I am embarrassed to say that the cover to TALK OF THE TOWN is among them. I’d forgotten!
If the book came out in September, then the condensed version of the story in COSMOPOLITAN (in April) was its first appearance. I’ll revise the credits at the beginning of the review accordingly, and add Darcy as the cover artist.
July 9th, 2017 at 10:51 am
Since I last read this novel 30 years ago when I was only 45 and still working, I’ve decided to reread it and then watch the Cannon adaptation.
I love doing things like this and I guess it’s all part of being a bibliomaniac.
July 17th, 2017 at 1:32 pm
This isn’t the first time the pilot for a QM Productions series was based on a novel, but used different characters.
The first, two-hour episode of THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO was based on Carolyn Weston’s POOR, POOR OPHELIA. Though the characters on the series had only a vestigial resemblance to the characters in Weston’s novel, Kellog and Krug, and its sequels, Ms. Weston always got a “Based on Characters created by . . . ” credit on each of the subsequent episodes.
AFAIK, this was not the case with CANNON. Perhaps because there were no sequels to TALK OF THE TOWN.