Charles Willeford Trilogy: High Priest of California, Wild Wives
Unusual plots, tough dialogue starring anti-heroes both brutal and complex, and women living outside the lie of chivalry: “She wasn’t wearing much beneath her skirt. In an instant it was over. Fiercely and abruptly.” Plus the first publication of a play. 304 pp. 5X8″. 2 introductions; bibliography; 15 photos by Bobby Neel Adams.
HIGH PRIEST OF CALIFORNIA – The hairiest, ballsiest hard-boiled ever penned. One continuous orgy of prolonged foreplay! WILD WIVES: sex, schizophrenia and sadism blend into a recipe for sudden doom!”
–Dennis McMillan
Both novels evoke San Francisco in the Fifties, with rich details of place and lushly etched characters of every stripe. Willeford’s genius has never been more more pugnacious than in these two early works.
Editions:
Paperback
Hardback signed by Charles Willeford
TWO COPIES LEFT BRAND-NEW! Our homage to the great ACE Double Books of the Fifties: this atmospheric, photo-illustrated Deluxe Hardback with Dust Jacket (only 250 made) of 1953 San Francisco Noir. The first two novels by Charles Willeford surpass the works of Jim Thompson in profundity of hard-boiled characterization, simultaneously offering a deep critique of contemporary morality… San Francisco in the Fifties must have been quite a place… a place where you could get away with murder!
RE/Search’s publication of this book sparked the reissue of Willeford’s other early novels by Black Lizard Books…they had passed on him, saying, “Too dated,” but when they heard RE/Search had grabbed the first two, they realized they had f–d up… and grabbed the rest of the vintage Willeford mystery novels…
“A totally hard-edged and unsentimental fiction.”
– J.G. Ballard
“Nobody writes like Charles Willeford. . . . He is an original—funny, weird and wonderful.” –James Crumley
“Elegant, tough, and rhythmic as a championship boxing match.” –San Francisco Chronicle
“Willeford has a marvelously deadpan way with losers on both sides of the law.” –The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Wow! He gives you . . . the viewpoint of the most fascinating asocial trash.” –Tony Hillerman
