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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finding a Lost Salesman,
By Acute Observer (N. Jersey Shore) - See all my reviews
This review is from: PASS THE GRAVY, A Donald Lam, Bertha Cool Mystery (Mass Market Paperback)
Pass The Gravy, A. A. Fair
This book is dedicated to Robert A. Heinze, Warden of Folsom State Prison. The general theory is that punishment will put a stop to crime by imprisonment as a deterrent. But it doesn't work that efficiently in practice, the vengeful concept of punishment doesn't work as assumed. Sandra Eden is a fifteen-year old girl who wants to find a missing uncle. Amos Gage sent her mother Eleanore money each month but it stopped. Eleanore has been sick and has medical bills (Chapter 1). Bertha Cool tells Donald Lam that working for free doesn't pay the rent (Chapter 2). A paying client, Daphne Beckley, wants to find her missing husband. In Chapter 3 Lam learns more about her missing husband Malcolm (Chapter 4). He gets Malcolm's picture and a handwriting sample. Lam drives that same route to check the garage where Malcolm stopped (Chapter 5). By checking all the motels in Reno Lam found that "Roadracer" car, and a man who first claimed to be Beckley. Lam finds Amos Gage, who tells what happened. (Believable?) Was it a crime? Using this information Lam drives along country roads until he finds a body, then notifies the sheriff (Chapter 6). A polygraph is used the check the responses of a mechanic at an all-night garage. This information leads to a trip to a restaurant in Central Creek (Chapter 7). After they return they learn the "Roadracer" was found abandoned and wiped clean of prints (Chapter 8). Lam tells Daphne she is a widow (Chapter 9). What will people say? How will the newspapers report the murder? When Lam visits Eleanore Eden he learns surprising news about a picture (Chapter 10). Lam drives back to Reno for the agency car. Chapter 11 summarizes the known facts about the crime. A solid case? Lam looks for Edith Jordan, the missing waitress (Chapter 12). Lam meets Goodwin F. James, Amos Gage's lawyer (Chapter 13). In Chapter 14 Lam talks to Daphne Beckley about the picture in the newspaper. Lam talks to Cool about the coincidences in this case. He takes a new look at the known facts. Then Lam is called to see the D.A. Gage has talked, his story is incredible. In Chapter 15 Lam is questioned by the D.A. as a suspected accessory after the fact. Lam makes a telephone call and this provides the facts to prevent a perfect crime! Lam explains to Cool how he came to understand the coincidences in this case, where Daphne Beckley came in about her missing husband before Sandra Eden showed up about her missing uncle. Erle Stanley Gardner's stories often used a mistaken identification as part of the story. Was there was a deliberate substitution for insurance fraud? Parts of this story remind me of "The Fugitive Nurse" novel, which may be based on an earlier true crime. Lam skates on thin ice when assumptions go bad. A good story, but the coincidence seems implausible. [That "Roadracer" automobile is a thinly-disguised name of the an automobile suitable for a salesman.]
3.0 out of 5 stars
An amusing, fun read.,
By
This review is from: Pass the Gravy - A Bertha-Cool Donald Lam Mystery (Paperback)
Pass the Gravy is one of the Cool and Lam series of detective novels written by Erle Stanley Gardner under the pseudonym A.A. Fair. The narration is provided by Donald Lam, private eye extrordinaire.
No one is likely to mistake this book for great literature...it was never intended as such. It is, however, an amusing, easy to read, page turner of a mystery. The astute reader will notice a couple of flaws in the plot, but overall Pass the Gravy succeeds in sustaining reader interest from the first to the last page. Light reading, perfect for whiling away a few hours on a plane or train.
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