Customer Reviews

Try Anything Once

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Carleton Allen visits the Cool & Lam agency because he has been indiscreet in taking a young woman to a motel. But an argument erupted, and Sharon Barker left Carleton, who slept it off before he left for home. But a Deputy DA was murdered that night, and the police are looking for those who were at that motel! This may affect his wife, his social position, and his job. So Carleton wants Donald Lam to return and pretend he was there that night, since Carleton would have in-law trouble if he went to the police. This red-herring act could be dangerous, but money and the promise of future business wins in the end. Deputy DA Fisher had been prosecuting a murder case, and the police investigation was red-hot. So the meeting occurs, but the detectives recognize Donald Lam, and the security officer knows it wasn't Lam that night. Another plan that goes awry due to an overlooked detail?

Donald Lam soon finds out that the police were watching his act, and knew everything except who hired him. Keeping the client's name secret is now a very hot potato (Chapter 6)! Lam returns to the motel room to try to identify the previous occupants (Chapter 8). But more complications and problems arise to advance the plot, and bring in other suspects. Chapter 14 tells what its like to spend the night in a drunk tank. The continuing investigation leads to the solution of Deputy DA Fisher's death, and conviction in the murder case. Cool & Lam keep their license and the monies.

Erle Stanley Gardner escaped the formula of the Perry Mason series here. This novel is rawer and grittier, but unlike some short stories of Hammett. The fame and wealth of "The Saturday Evening Post" required a certain style in the Perry Mason stories. Gardner showed that he could match the pre-war styles of the "hard-boiled private eye" as he saw it.