THE SAILCLOTH SHROUD: Stuart Rogers leaves Panama with two shipmates. One of them, Baxter, dies of a heart attack midway back to the States, and is buried at sea. Once they dock, the other man, Keefer, is fished out of the bay three days later after having been pistol-whipped to death. He had been seen flashing a lot of money around the night before. But as far as Rogers knew, Keefer was broke. Now the cops want to know where the money came from. They don't believe that Baxter really died at sea. Neither do the goons who pick up Rogers one night to beat the truth out of him. But if Baxter wasn't who he seemed to be, one thing Rogers knows for sure is that he's definitely dead-but who the hell was he? ALL THE WAY: Marian Forsyth made Harris Chapman the prosperous man he is today. As his private secretary, she advised him on his acquisitions, and turned him into a very wealthy man. She assumed she would become his second wife. But Harris made a foolish mistake: he fell in love with a younger, prettier woman. And now Harris must pay. And to that end, Marian creates a brilliant and detailed plan to steal $175,000 from him. All she needs is someone who sounds enough like Harris that he can become Harris long enough to pull it off. That's where Jerry Forbes comes in-footloose, morally flexible, and completely obsessed with Marian. It's the perfect match.... for the perfect crime.

チャールズ・ウィリアムズは、日常の亀裂から立ち現れる底なしの恐怖を描く名手です。「帆布の経帷子」では、海の静寂が死と疑惑へと反転するスリルが圧巻。単なる犯人探しを超え、死者の正体が生存者の存在意義さえも脅かしていく実存的な恐怖が、乾いたハードボイルドの文体で研ぎ澄まされています。 「オール・ザ・ウェイ」は、情念が緻密な犯罪へと昇華される傑作です。復讐に燃える女の冷徹な知性と、彼女に魅了され破滅へ進む男の危うい均衡。ウィリアムズの真骨頂は、完璧な計画の裏側に潜む「逃れられない人間の業」を鮮烈に描く点にあります。ノワール文学の極致とも言える、美しくも残酷な罠の連鎖にぜひ酔いしれてください。