Some Women Won't Wait [Mass Market Paperback]

A. A. Fair (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Dell # 8104; First Printing edition (January 1, 1972)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0012GDVIE
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,045,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Donald and Bertha solve yet another murder. Donald gets beat up, typical Gardner comments about women, June 27, 2008

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

A man named Bicknell hires the firm of Cool & Lam to protect a widow named Mira Woodford and her friend Norma. Mira is a young woman who was married to Bicknell's business partner Ezra until his death. There was a significant difference in their ages and Mira will inherit a great deal as a consequence of Ezra's death. Bicknell wants to hire a woman, namely Bertha Cool, to make friends with Mira and Norma on a cruise ship to Hawaii, but Bertha wants Donald to go along. However, Donald does not want to go, so Bertha uses deceitful tactics to get Donald on the ship, locking him in a room until the ship has left port.
The cruise to Hawaii is one where the people get to know each other, other than that it is uneventful. After a short time in Hawaii, Bertha and Bicknell find a blackmailer named Bastion murdered and the suspicion immediately falls on Mira and Norma. Donald begins falling for the feminine charms of the girls, their being scantily dressed certainly helps them achieve that, and he manages to get them around some of the worst of the problems. Donald runs afoul of another blackmailer, gets beat up and then escapes. With Donald's help, the police manage to unmask the real killer and Donald and Bertha's work is done.
This is typical of Gardner's stories, with the interspersion of elements of feminine exposure and desire in a murder mystery. For example, on page 173 Mira is in the back seat of the car and Donald is driving. Mira says, " If you haven't seen legs before I'm going to shock you." `She pulled her skirt up above her knees and came over to the front seat.' The climactic exposure of the murderer is not all that dramatic, to me, it was clear for some time who the murderer was.
If you are a fan of the Gardner style of writing, then you will enjoy this book. It is sexist, chauvinistic and typical of the style of detective stories of the forties and fifties.