#bertha cool

[dirtyriver]

A. A. Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner) - Top of the Heap, the 13th Cool & Lam novel. Cover of the 1963 paperback edition by Robert McGinnis

[tumbling-dyce]

A. A. Fair, Cats prowl at night (Dell edition, original published by William Morrow in 1953)

[rexparker]

Gold Comes in Bricks

A.A. Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner)

Dell 84 (1st ptg, 1945)

Cover artist: Gerald Gregg

[seattlemysterybooks]

pulpcovers

1959 Morrow hardcover

1964 Pocket reissue

Seattle Mystery Bookshop

[uncgarchives]

#WhodunitWednesday scanned the food holidays and discovered that today is #NationalGlazedDoughnutDay: so for a challenge we bring you a detective story that features doughnuts at a pivotal moment in the plot. Challenge accepted!

Fair, A. A. Kept Women Can't Quit. New York: William Morrow & Co, 1960.

The opening chapter tells of a stealth theft from an armored car that was only discovered when the money went missing after the driver and guard stopped for coffee and doughnuts. The "Cool & Lam" agency gets a visit from Detective Sergeant Sellers because their name and number was found on a piece of paper in a suspect's possession - the alleged girlfriend of a criminal found with half the loot. The police think this money was ordered by a big bookmaker. This girlfriend, Hazel Downer, visits Donald Lam to find her missing husband, and the money she inherited. Coincidentally, this money matches the amount missing in the robbery! 

Beware - a good doughnut will distract you!

[dirtyriver]

Erle Stanley Gardner writing as A. A. Fair - Shills Can't Cash Chips (Cool & Lam), cover by Laurel Blechman

[dirtyriver]

A. A. Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner) - Bedrooms Have Windows, cover by Darryl Greene 

[dirtyriver]

Erle Stanley Gardner  writing as A. A. Fair - Double or Quits (Lam & Cool)