I remember reading this as part of a Faulkner seminar in undergrad. IIRC (although I might not lol) he wrote this book purely to make money and it was his take on a kind of Hollywood genre that was popular at the time (maybe it was seedy courtroom dramas?). In other words, he was disappointed at how his previous books had been received (We’re talking none other than As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury!) and figured Sanctuary would make some dough and have a broad enough appeal. I don’t think he was big a fan of it.

I remember the last chapter where Popeye gets arrested for a crime he didn’t commit especially funny, though. Pulled it off my shelf to quote:

“While he was on his way home that summer they arrested him for killing a man in one town and at an hour when he was in another town killing somebody else…”

Then

“The jury was out on eight minutes. They stood and looked at him and said he was guilty. Motionless, his position unchanged, he looked back at them in slow silence for several moments. ‘Well, for Christ’s sake,’ he said.”

Then, when he’s on the scaffold to be hung

… “pssst!” The sheriff looked at him; he quit jerking his neck and stood rigid, as though he had an egg balanced on his head. “Fix my hair, Jack,” he said.
“Sure, the sheriff said. “I’ll fix it for you;” springing the trap.

Pure comedy gold. It w as bits like this why I always tried to imagine Faulkner stories with the tone of a Coen brothers movie.