Customer Reviews

Bedrooms Have Windows

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Erle Stanley Gardner is justifiably famous for his Perry Mason mysteries. Nevertheless, he had other notable mystery series that have fallen in obscurity. Chief among them were the Donald Lam/Bertha Cool series. Lam, a small wiry ladies man starts out working for and then partnering with Cool, a plus sized penny pinching battleship of a woman, in her detective agency. Lam often finds himself working several cases that tie together by story's end.
In "Bedrooms Have Windows". Lam finds himself in volved in a couple of murderous incidents. First, Lucille, a lady indistress talks him into taking her to a motel using an assumed name. When the lady disappears, the man whose name Lam signed in under is found dead with his mistress in another cabin of the motel. Lam manages to track the Lucille to her home where she admits him into her bedroom. When she ushers him to her sister's room so he can wait for her to finish dressing, Lam finds himself facing a surprised sister. Suggesting a talk with Lucille will clear things up, Lam and the sister walk in on a strangled Lucille.
By the climax of the story, Lam is handcuffed to his nemesis, Sgt. Frank Sellers, as they rush to tie up the murder cases, stop a blackmail ring, solve a woman's mysterious car acccident and get Bertha to take the unusual move (for her)of paying a cab driver and leaving him a tip.
Cool and Lam with supporting characters Sgt Sellers and their secretary Elsie Brand are part of a great series by a superior writer that doesn't deserve obscurity.

Even though the plot of this Bertha Cool/Donald Lam book is tight, twisting and has an unexpected climax, it suffers from the serious flaw that so many of Gardner's books have. It is that the police (Sellers) have it in for Donald, so despite Donald's record of success, Sellers is blind to many things that should be obvious.
The story opens with Donald on what should be a routine shadowing job; things take an unusual twist when he becomes involved with a strange woman. She is refused entry into a nightclub because she is unescorted. Not to be deterred, she sits by Donald and after a few minutes of conversation, they walk hand-in-arm into the lounge. It quickly gets even stranger when they end up in a motel room registered as Mr. and Mrs. under another name. Donald's smooth nature is ruffled when the woman disappears and there is an apparent murder-suicide in another room.
Donald manages to track down the mysterious woman and starts to get some answers to his questions, but when the woman is murdered while he is in the house, Donald becomes wanted for murder. After some detailed talking by Donald and some wild action, the mystery is solved and Donald is once again the brainy hero of the day.
It is unfortunate the Gardner felt the need to have the police officer be so narrow-minded in this story, it would have been tighter and more tense if Sellers have been a little more imaginative. This is especially true after Sellers is wounded by one of the criminals. That feature diminishes the story and turns what could have been an excellent mystery into one that relies too much on a formulaic gimmick so often used by Gardner.

Bedrooms Have Windows, by A.A. Fair

A beautiful young woman is led out of a cocktail lounge. The rule was "no unescorted women allowed". Donald Lam was sitting in the hotel lobby and chose to be her escort. The drinks they ordered were watered (to show they weren't wanted). Lam was shadowing a man, and figured Lucille Hart was following someone. She says no, they leave for another cocktail bar and talk (Chapter 1). Then Lucille asks Lam to drive her to her sister's house (Lam is suspicious). A gas station attendant checked the air in the tires, washed the windshield. Then Lucille asked Lam to stop at a motor court and rent a cottage. After a few minutes Lucille stepped outside for fresh air, and vanished. Lam wiped out his traces, walked down the road, and called Bertha Cool to avoid leaving a backtrail (Chapter 2). Lam wonders if Lucille wasn't a clever decoy to derail him from his job. Lam telephones the car owner to check out Lucille's story (Chapter 3). Chapter 4 has the story of a murder-suicide at that motor court. The police are investigating "certain phases if this case". Lam goes to see the client Claire Bushnell who hired them, and finds an important clue.

Sergeant Frank Sellers catches up to Lam (Chapter 6). Mrs. Dover Fulton is questioned, and others. None of them have seen Lam before. Lam realizes there is a problem in the third bullet. Chapter 9 has a character study. Lam has a trick to get a telephone number. Lam tracks down Lucille, but a problem occurs so Lucille can't talk (Chapter 11). If you get a check cash it in at the bank it was written on (Chapter 12). Lam deduces why Claire's check bounced. Lam looks up a number and finds the couple who followed him last night (Chapter 13). There is some funny dialogue here. Lam is now wanted for murder. Lam surmises the reason for his hiring (Chapter 14). After Sgt. Sellers arrests Lam, Lam suggests what really happened from the known facts. It was a double murder at that motor court. Lam explains how a cocktail club can be used by a blackmailer. There is a shocking surprise that solves this case! Who could have walked in on Lucille without alarming her? Will the murderer get away? Lam advises Sgt. Sellers so there is a happy ending. Chapter 17 ties up the loose threads.

This book is longer than the usual "A. A. Fair" novels, as if the author was having more fun in writing this complex tale that warns about certain establishments.