The Transgressors is a crime novel by Jim Thompson, published in 1961. It is one of a very few Thompson novels to feature a traditional love story as a major part of the plot where the lovers have a happy ending together rather than one murdering or betraying the other as is the norm in most of Thompson's novels. As with most of Thompson's novels it takes place in the Southwest (Texas) where Thompson grew up and it leverages Thompson's diverse life experiences in creating the characters and situations in a community dominated by the oil industry.
Plot
The Transgressors opens with deputy sheriff Tom Lord riding on a Texas road with the town prostitute Joyce Lakewood. They are lovers and Lord treats her more respectfully than any man Joyce has been with but he refuses to marry her. This leads to them alternately trading insults and flirting. As they argue it is made clear that although he talks like a local with little education, Lord is highly educated. He almost completed medical school when he was forced to drop out to care for his sick father. His father lingered on for years requiring Lord's full-time care and as a temporary way to bring in money Lord took a job as a deputy sheriff. The job turned out to be permanent as by the time his father passed away Lord felt he was too old to return to school and he uses his clownish yokel way of talking to blend in with the rest of the men in the sheriff's office.
Joyce and Lord have a minor accident. The look on Lord's face after the accident reminds Joyce of another time he had such an intense look and she remembers a feud he had with Aaron McBride, a supervisor for the Highlands Oil and Gas company. There was oil on land that Lord owned and he signed a contract with McBride to have Highlands drill the oil. However, Highlands swindled him by a loophole in the contract. As a result, Lord waited for an opportunity to take revenge on McBride. When McBride wore a gun on his hip into town Lord confronted him for wearing a gun without a permit. McBride pushed Lord into a storefront. This was the opening Lord was looking for and he quickly pummeled McBride. From that point on McBride was a different man. He never came into Lord's town again but he swore that if he saw Lord outside of Lord's legal jurisdiction he would kill him.
Joyce recalls this story as Lord pulls their car off the road. They are in the middle of the desert but Lord spots a wildcat well near by. As they walk towards the well Joyce and Lord see a sign indicating it is a Highlands well supervised by McBride. Joyce tries to dissuade Lord from approaching it but he uses his mock ignorant humor to deflect her pleas. As they approach the well they are greeted by two Highlands workers named Curly and Red who know Lord. They help him repair his car and are almost finished when McBride comes to supervise the site. On seeing Lord McBride is overcome with rage. McBride pulls his gun. Lord never carries a gun so he rushes toward McBride hoping to disarm him before he can fire. The two struggle and McBride is shot and killed.
Curly, Red, and Joyce all tell Lord that they will support him and corroborate that Lord acted in self defense. Lord thinks that their testimony will not be believed since they are all known to be his friends. Instead he asks them to simply say nothing unless they are questioned and to let McBride's body be discovered by some other Highlands employee.
Lord drops Joyce off at her home and then goes directly to the court house where he confesses to his boss sheriff Bradley that he has killed McBride. For quite some time Bradley has had a growing hostility to Lord because it is an open secret that Lord really runs the sheriff's office and the Bradley is just a figurehead. Bradley takes Lord's confession as an opening to come down on him. However, rather than act contrite as Bradley expects, Lord reacts with rage and abruptly quits his job as deputy. As he storms out of the court house Bradley calls after him to come back in vain. Bradley's tone goes from pleading to threatening as he tells Lord that he will get no special favors if Bradley is pressed to investigate McBride's death. Lord returns home and goes on an alcoholic bender, remaining drunk for several days.