A Touch of Death by Charles Williams

The score would be an easy one—if it weren’t for the women involved

Out of work and dead broke, Lee Scarborough is a long way from his days as a football hero when he meets the sunbathing Diana James—an innocent-looking creature with a plan to make a fortune. A few months’ back, her lover embezzled $120,000 from a bank, but disappeared before she could get her hands on the cash. The police think he’s fled the state, but Diana is sure he’s dead, and knows who killed him: his wife, Madelon Butler, a sadistic drunk who is capable of anything. The cash is inside Madelon’s house, waiting to be stolen a third time, and all Diana needs is a patsy. Scarborough fits the bill.

The plan sails along smoothly until Scarborough meets Mrs. Butler. By the time his luck runs out, he’d rather face a dozen hulking linebackers than these two beauties, who have been driven to a frenzy by jealousy, greed, and lust.

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

“[Williams] is just about as good as they come.” - New York Times

“One of the neglected hardboiled geniuses . . . his novels were perfect little gems.” - Joe R. Lansdale, author of Savage Season