Uncle Sagamore and His Girls

By Charles Williams

It's election season in Blossom County, and that means it's time for moonshine.

Educated at the racetrack, Billy has never had a firm grip on his ABCs, but he sure knows how to read a racing form. When a family court judge threatens to put the seven-year-old in a foster home, Billy and his father go to live in the countryside, at the wholesome little farm owned by Billy's Uncle Sagamore, where the air is pure, the grass is green, and the liquor from his hidden distillery is clear as water -- and about 120 proof.

But pressure from the law has kept Sagamore's still silent, and the stash of white lightning is starting to dwindle. To get his home-brewing operation back underway, Sagamore needs a distraction -- and there's none better than local politics. When Uncle Sagamore throws his weight into the Blossom County elections, democracy will never be the same.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784089290

Charles Williams

Charles Williams (1909–1975) 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 before leaving to work in the electronics industry. 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. Williams died in California in 1975. 

Reviews for Uncle Sagamore and His Girls

[davewilde-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In addition to suspense thrillers, Charles Williams also wrote a handful of Southern comedies in the vein of Huckleberry Finn and Dukes of Hazard. Told in the backcountry voice of an eight-year-old and never leaving that voice, Uncle Sagamore’s Girls is a humorous look at the adventures of Billy’s Pop and his Uncle Sagamore in Blossom County. Uncle Sagamore is one of those clever fellows who hides behind a caricature as the town buffoon. He has been making moonshine for many years, but lately things have been getting too hot with the law and all. Through a series of hijinks, he uses his moonshining know- how to effect the county election for Sheriff. Williams does a great job of getting the backcountry voice of the narrator, but this story might have been better as a short story or novelette rather than a feature-length tale. Although amusing, in the end, it was a little thin on plot.