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Nothing in Her Way
Welcome to the roller-coaster world of professional con men - and the one wild beauty who can out-swindle and outwit them all. Utterly beautiful, smart as a whip, here is the most fascinating confidence woman in modern suspense fiction.
Her name is Cathy Dunbar - all soft and warm and ready for the taking, until one by one her men find out who is really being taken . . .
Her name is Cathy Dunbar - all soft and warm and ready for the taking, until one by one her men find out who is really being taken . . .
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
2 people are currently reading
141 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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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 15, 2024
Обичам истории за измамници и техните хитроумни комбинации, но попадам на добри такива по-рядко в книжен вид.
Любими филми от този тип са "Щасливото число на Слевин" с Брус Уилис и "Ужилването", 1 и 2 с Робърт Редфорд и Пол Нюман в главните роли. "Ужилването" е по-близо до атмсоферата в тази книга.
Струва си да се прочете, добре е изпипана. Както и почти всички книги включени в тази серия наречена "Криминална поредица".
Любими филми от този тип са "Щасливото число на Слевин" с Брус Уилис и "Ужилването", 1 и 2 с Робърт Редфорд и Пол Нюман в главните роли. "Ужилването" е по-близо до атмсоферата в тази книга.
Струва си да се прочете, добре е изпипана. Както и почти всички книги включени в тази серия наречена "Криминална поредица".
July 14, 2017
“Nothing in Her Way” is a 1953 novel by Charles Williams concerning confidence games and femme fatales. If you are interested in books about long cons, short cons, horseracing, and gambling, this is the book for you. The central plot in the book is about a couple of complicated long cons that Mike Belen and Cathy Dunbar pull on two men (Goodwin and Lachlan) who ruined their fathers years earlier, making off with the dough and leaving their fathers to take the blame.
Mike and Cathy grew up together, playing cowboys and Indians, and other games and, after they matured, becoming lovers and marrying for two years before divorcing. Mike is still haunted by the redheaded Cathy and is surprised to see her when he is convinced to join a con game and is introduced to her by another name. Even when she is not around and he is sitting in a bar, he looks at a girl at the other end of the bar who had red hair, “But it wasn’t quite the same shade of red, . . . it never is.” He wonders if he would “ever break himself of it.” But Cathy- “her hair was the color of a bottle of burgundy held up to the light.” And Mike explains, “The only catch was that her name wasn’t Ms. Holman. I was reasonably sure of that. I’d known her for twenty-three years, and I’d been married to her for two.”
What’s great about this book is Williams’ terrific prose which moves the story along.
The best prose is saved for Cathy- the femme fatale of legend. Mike narrating the story explains: “In Salem, they’d have burned her - - or they would have if there’d been enough women on the jury.” She was “the same loaded little girl with the short fuse.” But, the question Mike faces throughout the entire story and throughout the long cons that the two pull off together is whether or not he can trust Cathy- “it boiled down to that same question: Just who was bamboozling whom?” Throughout the book, Mike keeps harping about the warnings- the buzzing noises that are there “when you’re playing cards with strangers and get an almost perfect hand, and it’s always smart to listen to it.” Cathy is good, though. “If she got the knife in you, don’t think she wouldn’t turn it. She despised people she could walk on.” She was a “redheaded hellcat” and “a whirlpool” he “was trapped in.”
Mike and Cathy grew up together, playing cowboys and Indians, and other games and, after they matured, becoming lovers and marrying for two years before divorcing. Mike is still haunted by the redheaded Cathy and is surprised to see her when he is convinced to join a con game and is introduced to her by another name. Even when she is not around and he is sitting in a bar, he looks at a girl at the other end of the bar who had red hair, “But it wasn’t quite the same shade of red, . . . it never is.” He wonders if he would “ever break himself of it.” But Cathy- “her hair was the color of a bottle of burgundy held up to the light.” And Mike explains, “The only catch was that her name wasn’t Ms. Holman. I was reasonably sure of that. I’d known her for twenty-three years, and I’d been married to her for two.”
What’s great about this book is Williams’ terrific prose which moves the story along.
The best prose is saved for Cathy- the femme fatale of legend. Mike narrating the story explains: “In Salem, they’d have burned her - - or they would have if there’d been enough women on the jury.” She was “the same loaded little girl with the short fuse.” But, the question Mike faces throughout the entire story and throughout the long cons that the two pull off together is whether or not he can trust Cathy- “it boiled down to that same question: Just who was bamboozling whom?” Throughout the book, Mike keeps harping about the warnings- the buzzing noises that are there “when you’re playing cards with strangers and get an almost perfect hand, and it’s always smart to listen to it.” Cathy is good, though. “If she got the knife in you, don’t think she wouldn’t turn it. She despised people she could walk on.” She was a “redheaded hellcat” and “a whirlpool” he “was trapped in.”
February 7, 2017
Mike Belen and Cathy Dunbar were friends since early childhood until, a while back, they made the big mistake of getting married. In the two years since the divorce they haven't seen each other, but now Cathy is back in Mike's life with both a vengeance and an elaborate con-trickster scheme to get revenge on the two men who, when Mike and Cathy were still kids, bankrupted the family firm their fathers had built up. Mike goes along with the scheme, not just for the sake of revenge, not just for the money -- although there'll be plenty of that -- but because his desire for Cathy is still burning bright, and hers it seems for him. The only trouble is, as Mike soon discovers, that, just like in the old days, you can't trust Cathy an inch . . .
I enjoy confidence-game novels (and movies), and this one's a humdinger -- like watching a skilled conjurer performing card tricks in that, every time you think you know what's really going on, you promptly discover you don't. I read the novel at speed -- it's pretty short -- not just because of the torrent of events but because of the skill of Williams's writing, his ability to create character with the most economical of descriptions. And, by the end of it all, no matter how despicable and twisty Cathy had been, I was still both fond of and fascinated by her.
This is, I think, my introduction to Williams's work (I may have read something by him decades ago), a read inspired by a discussion among the RARA-AVIS group in which it was generally agreed by the cognoscenti that Williams never wrote a bad book and at his best was scintillating. I have no idea where Nothing in Her Way ranks among his novels, but it sure impressed me!
I enjoy confidence-game novels (and movies), and this one's a humdinger -- like watching a skilled conjurer performing card tricks in that, every time you think you know what's really going on, you promptly discover you don't. I read the novel at speed -- it's pretty short -- not just because of the torrent of events but because of the skill of Williams's writing, his ability to create character with the most economical of descriptions. And, by the end of it all, no matter how despicable and twisty Cathy had been, I was still both fond of and fascinated by her.
This is, I think, my introduction to Williams's work (I may have read something by him decades ago), a read inspired by a discussion among the RARA-AVIS group in which it was generally agreed by the cognoscenti that Williams never wrote a bad book and at his best was scintillating. I have no idea where Nothing in Her Way ranks among his novels, but it sure impressed me!
January 22, 2014
Charles Williams is one of my favorite authors of the Gold Medal Books stable of writers. I haven't read anything by him in a few years, so I tried this neat potboiler of con men and ladies. It's a fun read. Much of the big con involves horse-racing and the betting. The setting is San Francisco where Williams lived for a time. Cathy Dunbar who runs the con reminds me of the actress Jane Greer in Out of the Past. Anyway, I had a ball with this tale. You might, too, if you like crime novels with unsavory con artists.
July 17, 2013
Superb tale of con artistry, double-crosses and triple-crosses, unexpected plot complications, psychopathic thugs with guns, beatings by hired muscle, and relentless suspense.
An excellent example of Charles Williams craftsmanship and a perfect introductory read for those unfamiliar with his paperback originals crime thrillers.
Highly Recommended!
An excellent example of Charles Williams craftsmanship and a perfect introductory read for those unfamiliar with his paperback originals crime thrillers.
Highly Recommended!
September 4, 2009
A novel of the con game--one con involving mining sand for glass, the other involving horse racing--in which Cathy Dunbar and Mike Belen seek belated financial revenge on the men who ruined their fathers' business more than two decades before. A nice read with the obligatory twists and turns.
May 7, 2022
Average pulp crime about a long con. Williams’s is one of the best when it comes to intricate plotting and noir dames.
This novella came off average at best.
3.5 but still recommended
This novella came off average at best.
3.5 but still recommended
June 10, 2019
COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century American Crime
BOOK 222 (of 250)
The author of this 1953 crime/con novel had many of his novels, such as "Dead Calm" filmed. Oddly, I'd say the second half of this novel reads/feels just like the 1970's film "The Sting" with Robert Redford and Paul Newman.
Hook=2 stars: We begin in a bar in which a man's drink is 'accidentally' spilled to get his attention. He is being pulled into a con, but you wouldn't know it for several chapters and you might not even realize you're reading a crime novel.
Pace=1: Jittery. Fast/slow/fast go the novels first, second, and third acts. There are scenes that seem to be from another novel.
Plot=2: The first section of the book is unnecessarily confusing. Well, at least that describes the first half of the novel for me. I had to start again after about five chapters, then take notes. It still didn't make sense. My notes just made things more confusing. And at one point Williams has his characters say, "But...but why...but how..." so many times that I was convinced even the author was confused. However, the third act, like I said above, read like "The Sting" which was a simple, typical type of con. Yes, con games and con books should have the reader conned also, a bit, but ultimately all books should be entertaining. Some of this was just a mess.
People=3: Cathy is leading the guys down the wrong/right paths and like the title reads, there is "nothing in her way." She's a strong, relentless character but at times I wasn't sure who she was conning or why. Her last-second lies were often way too smart for the last second. She was interesting, though, and wildly inventive with cons. She lives and breathes for cons. As for the rest of the characters, I'm not sure who was bad, or good, or what.
Place=3: It seemed like about half the action takes place off-the-page in Mexico. A Texas land purchase con sounds like the author knows Texas, and when the action moves to Reno, the author is confident with that area also. (I've lived in Texas, I've been to Reno and to parts of Mexico and the author's knowledge seemed first hand, especially since he was born in San Angelo, Texas.)
Summary: My overall rating is 2.2. I do like to "figure things out" and I love to unweave a tangled plot along with the author and characters. But this is just an unnecessary mess: it was as if the author hadn't planned ahead and was just typing stuff. But on the back cover, there are many rave comments about Williams' work, so I'm going to try another novel by Charles Williams.
BOOK 222 (of 250)
The author of this 1953 crime/con novel had many of his novels, such as "Dead Calm" filmed. Oddly, I'd say the second half of this novel reads/feels just like the 1970's film "The Sting" with Robert Redford and Paul Newman.
Hook=2 stars: We begin in a bar in which a man's drink is 'accidentally' spilled to get his attention. He is being pulled into a con, but you wouldn't know it for several chapters and you might not even realize you're reading a crime novel.
Pace=1: Jittery. Fast/slow/fast go the novels first, second, and third acts. There are scenes that seem to be from another novel.
Plot=2: The first section of the book is unnecessarily confusing. Well, at least that describes the first half of the novel for me. I had to start again after about five chapters, then take notes. It still didn't make sense. My notes just made things more confusing. And at one point Williams has his characters say, "But...but why...but how..." so many times that I was convinced even the author was confused. However, the third act, like I said above, read like "The Sting" which was a simple, typical type of con. Yes, con games and con books should have the reader conned also, a bit, but ultimately all books should be entertaining. Some of this was just a mess.
People=3: Cathy is leading the guys down the wrong/right paths and like the title reads, there is "nothing in her way." She's a strong, relentless character but at times I wasn't sure who she was conning or why. Her last-second lies were often way too smart for the last second. She was interesting, though, and wildly inventive with cons. She lives and breathes for cons. As for the rest of the characters, I'm not sure who was bad, or good, or what.
Place=3: It seemed like about half the action takes place off-the-page in Mexico. A Texas land purchase con sounds like the author knows Texas, and when the action moves to Reno, the author is confident with that area also. (I've lived in Texas, I've been to Reno and to parts of Mexico and the author's knowledge seemed first hand, especially since he was born in San Angelo, Texas.)
Summary: My overall rating is 2.2. I do like to "figure things out" and I love to unweave a tangled plot along with the author and characters. But this is just an unnecessary mess: it was as if the author hadn't planned ahead and was just typing stuff. But on the back cover, there are many rave comments about Williams' work, so I'm going to try another novel by Charles Williams.
February 26, 2018
Един бърз пълп трилър на класическата тема за измамите. Само че гледната точка на автора е доста по-различна от стандартната за времето му. Вместо да възхвалява хитрите измамници, той успява да ни вътрешния им свят. Студен, безскрупулен и граничащ с лудост.
Отмъщението е нещо, за което Майк и Кати мечтаят от десет годишни, но когато им се отдава случай да изиграят хората, провалили бащите им, Майк усеща, че играният е той.
Кати е разкошно изграден образ – красива, умна и брутална, измамата се е превърнала за нея в начин на живот и единствен източник на емоции. Няма да се спре пред абсолютно нищо да изпържи следващия шаран, а миналото е само бонус. Майк ще разбере всичко това по трудния начин.
Измамите използвани в книгата бяха класически. Единственото, което ми хареса повече като план, беше алтернативното разиграване на „цигулката” в първата част на книгата.
Бързо и леко четиво, но учудващо за жанра си заредено с истинска емоция.
Става.
Отмъщението е нещо, за което Майк и Кати мечтаят от десет годишни, но когато им се отдава случай да изиграят хората, провалили бащите им, Майк усеща, че играният е той.
Кати е разкошно изграден образ – красива, умна и брутална, измамата се е превърнала за нея в начин на живот и единствен източник на емоции. Няма да се спре пред абсолютно нищо да изпържи следващия шаран, а миналото е само бонус. Майк ще разбере всичко това по трудния начин.
Измамите използвани в книгата бяха класически. Единственото, което ми хареса повече като план, беше алтернативното разиграване на „цигулката” в първата част на книгата.
Бързо и леко четиво, но учудващо за жанра си заредено с истинска емоция.
Става.
December 3, 2021
I have read several Charles Williams pulp fictions and this was another enjoyable quick read. I enjoyed the characters and interactions, and the never ending cons from professional con artists. Some of the methods would not hold up today, but still make a good read. It becomes apparent only at the end that like many things its not just the con, but working the con and the thrill of expectation that they crave.
December 18, 2024
When Cathy Dunbar and Mike Belen were childhood friends, two men named Lachlan and Goodwin worked a con that destroyed the company that their fathers had founded, leaving both of their families destitute. Cathy and Mike later married, but despite the fact that they had known each other virtually all of their lives, it was a stormy relationship and the union only lasted for a couple of years.
Although they've gone their separate ways, both Cathy and Mike are still thirsting for revenge against Lachlan and Goodwin, and Mike is still pinning for his very beautiful and sexy ex-wife. Both are working as con artists themselves now, and then, one night in New Orleans, Cathy walks back into Mike's life with a scheme to finally wreak revenge on the men who ruined their fathers.
She's hatched a very elaborate scheme, and Mike is easily sold both on the plan and on the idea of having Cathy back in his life. Published in 1953, this is a very good trashy pulp novel that will delight the heart of anyone who longs for the days when practically every drug store in the country had a revolving rack of Gold Medal paperback novels. There are a lot of twists and turns, crosses and doublecrosses, and it's impossible to know ahead of time where this road might lead.
The cons are intricate and it's fun to watch them unfold, and the characters and dialogue are right out of the golden age of the pulp novel, All in all, Nothing in Her Way is a very enjoyable novel.
Although they've gone their separate ways, both Cathy and Mike are still thirsting for revenge against Lachlan and Goodwin, and Mike is still pinning for his very beautiful and sexy ex-wife. Both are working as con artists themselves now, and then, one night in New Orleans, Cathy walks back into Mike's life with a scheme to finally wreak revenge on the men who ruined their fathers.
She's hatched a very elaborate scheme, and Mike is easily sold both on the plan and on the idea of having Cathy back in his life. Published in 1953, this is a very good trashy pulp novel that will delight the heart of anyone who longs for the days when practically every drug store in the country had a revolving rack of Gold Medal paperback novels. There are a lot of twists and turns, crosses and doublecrosses, and it's impossible to know ahead of time where this road might lead.
The cons are intricate and it's fun to watch them unfold, and the characters and dialogue are right out of the golden age of the pulp novel, All in all, Nothing in Her Way is a very enjoyable novel.
May 7, 2022
I keep reading rave reviews about this one, but it did nothing for me. Maybe I was in the wrong frame of mind when I read it? But to me it was confusing, with lots of poorly drawn characters, coincidences and people reacting just so when the plot needed them to, and very little in the way of good descriptions. The action sequences seemed simple and short and there was rarely any tension. Sure, the long cons were well described, but...
Actually, I guess what the issue probably is, is that I'm comparing it to the works of the incomparable John D MacDonald. This is the third in a series of investigations I've undertaken into JDM's contemporaries - Charles Williams, Gil Brewer, and Orrie Hite - and despite reading numerous essays and reviews on all three that have espoused their greatness, I have to say they all suffer in comparison to MacDonald. So maybe I'm doing all three a disservice and should be reading and experiencing them for what they are, rather than what they're not.
Anyway, there it is. Your mileage will almost certainly vary, based on the glowing reviews I've read elsewhere.
Actually, I guess what the issue probably is, is that I'm comparing it to the works of the incomparable John D MacDonald. This is the third in a series of investigations I've undertaken into JDM's contemporaries - Charles Williams, Gil Brewer, and Orrie Hite - and despite reading numerous essays and reviews on all three that have espoused their greatness, I have to say they all suffer in comparison to MacDonald. So maybe I'm doing all three a disservice and should be reading and experiencing them for what they are, rather than what they're not.
Anyway, there it is. Your mileage will almost certainly vary, based on the glowing reviews I've read elsewhere.
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