Skull Fragments: Noir Stories

“Tim L. Williams probes the darkness in human experience in penetrating detail, with an eye focused especially on those who are marginalized, lost, or desperate. His keen insights lay bare not only the inner drives that lead to violence but the small bright spaces that can be found in almost any life, in which there are glimmers of hope. He’s a writer who never disappoints.”

— Janet Hutchings, Editor-in-Chief, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine

Two smalltime drug dealers having breakfast in a diner consider killing the cop who stops in for a cup of coffee and kidnapping their waitress. When an old geezer asks an unemployed car salesman to murder his son-in-law to be, the salesman isn’t sure if he’s up for such a radical career change. A young man has to come to terms with the fact that his father is a serial sexual predator. In these and ten other noir tales set mostly in the sun-dappled hills and valleys of Western Kentucky, Tim L. Williams plumbs the swamps that lurk inside the heads and hearts and souls of people just trying to get by. Whether in the quiet towns or along the lonely back roads or on the interstates, the protagonists of Williams’ stories discover getting by is no easy task in a world where your most dangerous enemy is often yourself. With crystal clear sentences, Williams paints the dark side with chilling sympathy. You won’t soon forget these stories.

Tim’s stories have appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Plots with Guns and other magazine. Two stories have been included in the Best American Mystery Stories series, for 2004 and 2012. He is the winner of a 2012 Thriller Award, and has been nominated for an Edgar Award and two Shamus Awards. A native of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, he lives there with his family.