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Owls Don't Blink

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There are two primary reasons why the Bertha Cool/Donald Lam stories have worn so well for at least sixty years. Bertha Cool was a feminist before feminism was cool and Lam was a detective that operated on brains rather than muscles and guns. Most of the detectives back then and even now were active with their fists and often shot it out with their opponents. Lam owns a gun but finds it distasteful and uses judo rather than a fist.
In this case, the Cool and Lam agency is hired to find a woman that has gone missing for three years, while Bertha is overjoyed when Donald finds her right away, Donald smells a rat. The stench overpowers him so he moves deeper into the case, where two women named Roberta and Edna swapped identities. There is also a reference to a murder case in Roberta's life years before, although she was cleared in that case the new murder in her apartment is one murder too many.
From the way Donald approaches the case, you know that he has suspicions, even to the point that he protects the women when they are wanted by the law for questioning. One very appreciated difference from the "Perry Mason" books is that the representatives of the law are not stupid and self-serving in this book. In true Gardner fashion, it all is made clear in the last twenty pages, when the culprit is literally unmasked. In an ending right for the times, the copyright is in 1942; Donald enlists in the Navy and lists his forwarding address as "Donald Lam, Care U. S. N., Tokyo." Unfortunately, another characteristic of the times is not so pleasant, the portrayal of black people. In many ways I prefer the Bertha Cool/Donald Lam stories to the Perry Masons and this one is a demonstration of the reasons.

Owls Don't Blink

Donald Lam woke up because of someone pressing the horn button on his car. Other noise came from the bar across the street in early morning New Orleans. He was there to search for a missing woman, Roberta Fenn. Chapter 4 shows how to search for a person from a photograph. Lam asks Roberta about their client, she knew nothing. They meet a Marco Cutler who is looking for his wife Edna, who left him years ago. She resembles Roberta Fenn. Bertha Cool calls their client to tell of the results. When they return the next morning to talk to Roberta Fenn they notice a dead body in the room; they leave. After calling the police they slip away. They learn the police are now looking for Roberta Fenn.

Chapter 11 tells about life in a New Orleans nightclub circa 1942. Lam wants to learn more about the witness who hears the shot. When Lam and his client Hale search the apartment they find newspaper clippings about a murder from years earlier and a revolver hidden in a desk. Lam used a hoax letter to contact Edna Cutler, an offer of hard to find silk stockings (wartime rationing). When Lam is talking to Edna and Roberta the police show up! Lam and Roberta leave before the police enter Edna's apartment. This all ties to the divorce action of Marco Cutler.

In Chapter 17 there is a meeting between Bertha and Donald that recapitulates the case and tells what could be the cause of those events. Lam visits Sergeant Rondler to find out the details of that 1937 murder; and about Roxberry Estates (Chapter 19). Hale returns from New Orleans with Lt. Pellingham (Chapter 21). In Chapter 22 the pieces of the story come together. We learn more at Sergeant Rondler's office (Chapter 23). Lam explains what he saw in New Orleans (Chapter 24). Then Donald Lam joined the Navy for the duration.

Currency figures date this novel. It tells what a tourist may find in the French Quarter. If the drinks served there don't affect you as elsewhere you may suspect watered liquor. It also suggests where to find good restaurants not tourist traps.