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Cool and Lam #8
Cats Prowl at Night
By the time he went to Cool and Lam for help, his luck had turned from bad to worse. The woman he was supposed to be playing around with had turned up dead, his old mistress was being sought as a suspect.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1943
About the author
Erle Stanley Gardner
1,429 books834 followersErle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories who also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray, and Robert Parr.
Innovative and restless in his nature, he was bored by the routine of legal practice, the only part of which he enjoyed was trial work and the development of trial strategy. In his spare time, he began to write for pulp magazines, which also fostered the early careers of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. He created many different series characters for the pulps, including the ingenious Lester Leith, a "gentleman thief" in the tradition of Raffles, and Ken Corning, a crusading lawyer who was the archetype of his most successful creation, the fictional lawyer and crime-solver Perry Mason, about whom he wrote more than eighty novels. With the success of Perry Mason, he gradually reduced his contributions to the pulp magazines, eventually withdrawing from the medium entirely, except for non-fiction articles on travel, Western history, and forensic science.
See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erle_Sta...
Innovative and restless in his nature, he was bored by the routine of legal practice, the only part of which he enjoyed was trial work and the development of trial strategy. In his spare time, he began to write for pulp magazines, which also fostered the early careers of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. He created many different series characters for the pulps, including the ingenious Lester Leith, a "gentleman thief" in the tradition of Raffles, and Ken Corning, a crusading lawyer who was the archetype of his most successful creation, the fictional lawyer and crime-solver Perry Mason, about whom he wrote more than eighty novels. With the success of Perry Mason, he gradually reduced his contributions to the pulp magazines, eventually withdrawing from the medium entirely, except for non-fiction articles on travel, Western history, and forensic science.
See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erle_Sta...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
July 23, 2017
This is another in the Donald Lam/Bertha Cool mysteries written by Erle Stanley Gardner, using the pseudonym of A. A. Fair. In this book, though, Lam is in Europe and does not appear in the book. Lam is really the engine that drives this series and, as a result, this is one of the weaker books in the series.
The book opens when a businessman, Everett Belder, hires Bertha in connection with a difficult problem. Because of a lawsuit against him, he has transferred all of his assets into his wife's name to avoid payment. However the man to whom he owes the debt is in financial trouble, and Belder hires Bertha to settle the judgment for far less than the face amount. Belder is also anxious to settle the case so that he can regain control of his assets. His greedy mother-in-law and sister-in-law are attempting to poison his wife's mind against him, hoping that she will divorce him and keep all the property.
Belder's troubles are compounded when someone begins sending anonymous notes to his wife, accusing him of adultery. Pretty soon, there are a couple of murders and things are impossibly complicated. As is often the case in Gardner's books, the plot is pretty convoluted and the denouement leaves you shaking your head in amazement. Still, this book (which was first published in 1943) is a quick, fun read for those who like classic pulp fiction and who are fans of Gardner's work.
2017 ADDENDUM TO MY EARLIER REVIEW: As I suggested above, this is not among the better books in this series due to the absence of Donald Lam, who is really the principal protagonist and the person who drives the stories along. Erle Stanley Gardner created the series in 1939, and by late 1941, he had written seven of the Lam/Cool books. Things were going along swimmingly, and then the Japanese inconsiderately bombed Pearl Harbor and left Gardner in a serious predicament.
Donald Lam was his principal hero, but he was also of an age when, as an able-bodied young man, he should have been serving in the war. Certainly, Gardner could have devised some scheme that would have made him exempt--his other series hero, Perry Mason, continued to roll merrily along during the war, but Mason was probably too old to serve.
In Lam's case, though, leaving him out of the service might have undermined his sterling character in the minds of readers, and so Gardner has him enlist in the Navy, leaving Bertha Cool on her own. The problem is that she's not nearly as smart as Donald. She's not nearly as good a detective, and she's not nearly as interesting a character. Without Lam to serve as her foil, the books are not nearly as good.
In the first case after Donald's enlistment, Gardner lets Bertha bumble around a bit and then, luckily, Donald comes home on leave just long enough to solve the case. But Gardner can't resort to that device two books in a row and so Lam is completely absent here. Gardner apparently solved the problem by cutting way back on the publication of the series until the issue could finally be resolved two books from now when the war is over and Donald is safely back in L.A. At that point, the series would return to it's earlier form.
As another interesting note, this book was first published in 1943, but the edition I have is a reprint from 1991. In this edition, there is no mention of Donald being in the service. He's simply described as being "on vacation" in Europe while the events of the story unfold. I'm sure that the original edition would have had him in the Navy, although I don't know that for sure. I'm assuming that in an effort to have the book not appear to be dated nearly fifty years after its original publication, the text was altered to have him simply on vacation.
The book opens when a businessman, Everett Belder, hires Bertha in connection with a difficult problem. Because of a lawsuit against him, he has transferred all of his assets into his wife's name to avoid payment. However the man to whom he owes the debt is in financial trouble, and Belder hires Bertha to settle the judgment for far less than the face amount. Belder is also anxious to settle the case so that he can regain control of his assets. His greedy mother-in-law and sister-in-law are attempting to poison his wife's mind against him, hoping that she will divorce him and keep all the property.
Belder's troubles are compounded when someone begins sending anonymous notes to his wife, accusing him of adultery. Pretty soon, there are a couple of murders and things are impossibly complicated. As is often the case in Gardner's books, the plot is pretty convoluted and the denouement leaves you shaking your head in amazement. Still, this book (which was first published in 1943) is a quick, fun read for those who like classic pulp fiction and who are fans of Gardner's work.
2017 ADDENDUM TO MY EARLIER REVIEW: As I suggested above, this is not among the better books in this series due to the absence of Donald Lam, who is really the principal protagonist and the person who drives the stories along. Erle Stanley Gardner created the series in 1939, and by late 1941, he had written seven of the Lam/Cool books. Things were going along swimmingly, and then the Japanese inconsiderately bombed Pearl Harbor and left Gardner in a serious predicament.
Donald Lam was his principal hero, but he was also of an age when, as an able-bodied young man, he should have been serving in the war. Certainly, Gardner could have devised some scheme that would have made him exempt--his other series hero, Perry Mason, continued to roll merrily along during the war, but Mason was probably too old to serve.
In Lam's case, though, leaving him out of the service might have undermined his sterling character in the minds of readers, and so Gardner has him enlist in the Navy, leaving Bertha Cool on her own. The problem is that she's not nearly as smart as Donald. She's not nearly as good a detective, and she's not nearly as interesting a character. Without Lam to serve as her foil, the books are not nearly as good.
In the first case after Donald's enlistment, Gardner lets Bertha bumble around a bit and then, luckily, Donald comes home on leave just long enough to solve the case. But Gardner can't resort to that device two books in a row and so Lam is completely absent here. Gardner apparently solved the problem by cutting way back on the publication of the series until the issue could finally be resolved two books from now when the war is over and Donald is safely back in L.A. At that point, the series would return to it's earlier form.
As another interesting note, this book was first published in 1943, but the edition I have is a reprint from 1991. In this edition, there is no mention of Donald being in the service. He's simply described as being "on vacation" in Europe while the events of the story unfold. I'm sure that the original edition would have had him in the Navy, although I don't know that for sure. I'm assuming that in an effort to have the book not appear to be dated nearly fifty years after its original publication, the text was altered to have him simply on vacation.
July 24, 2023
This is the 8th Cool & Lam mystery...but it's also the first Bertha Cool mystery. With the U.S.'s entry in to World War II Gardner had to decide what to do with his other mystery series (Perry Mason presumably being too old to serve). Donald Lam was pretty well of draft age and was unmarried and not in a necessary industry. So Donald joined the navy. In the previous novel Donald was able to solve the mystery via telegram and with the help of a three-day pass. But this time Bertha is on her own. And she's in way over her head.
Bertha Cool is a great character. But she's a great supporting character. She unfortunately gets tiring if she's around too long. And that makes this one a hard go, probably my least favorite of the (roughly) half of the books that I've read. Before Donald came along Bertha was a small timer, taking garbage cases for garbage money. She never developed the skills necessary for big cases. And she doesn't have Donald's legal training to help keep her out of trouble. She does come through in the end. But it's due as much to luck and help from police detective Frank Sellers.
The plus is that Gardner's writing is so solid that you just keep propelling forward in the book even while it's bugging the heck out of you.
Bertha Cool is a great character. But she's a great supporting character. She unfortunately gets tiring if she's around too long. And that makes this one a hard go, probably my least favorite of the (roughly) half of the books that I've read. Before Donald came along Bertha was a small timer, taking garbage cases for garbage money. She never developed the skills necessary for big cases. And she doesn't have Donald's legal training to help keep her out of trouble. She does come through in the end. But it's due as much to luck and help from police detective Frank Sellers.
The plus is that Gardner's writing is so solid that you just keep propelling forward in the book even while it's bugging the heck out of you.
August 31, 2008
"Cats Prowl at Night" is the first Erle Stanley Gardner book I've read -- he wrote it under the name A.A. Fair -- and it was a real disappointment. I have to assume his Perry Mason books are better, or I can't imagine why anyone would read him today.
The characters in "Cats Prowl" are cartoonish even for pulp fiction, the solutions to mysteries are given solely through characters explaining to one another what happened, and the crimes themselves come off as passionless and almost completely bloodless -- even when they involve murder.
The book's one saving grace should be the main character, a tough-talking female detective who must have been a bit unusual for 1943, when the book was first published, but Bertha Cool is so bumbling and undeservedly cocksure that it's hard to root for her, and the reader is tempted to label Gardner a misogynist rather than praise him for being ahead of his time.
"Cats Prowl"'s writing isn't great either. Some scenes are loaded down with unnecessary details -- so much so that one wonders if Gardner was being paid by the word, and he might well have been -- and others are rushed through, leaving important questions unanswered. This weakness is particularly true in the final scene, in which most of the book's mysteries are hurriedly explained away in a few pages, taking the form of a letter Bertha writes to her detective-agency partner, Donald Lam.
I can't see myself seeking out other Gardner books, at least not any more Donald Lam-Bertha Cool mysteries.
The characters in "Cats Prowl" are cartoonish even for pulp fiction, the solutions to mysteries are given solely through characters explaining to one another what happened, and the crimes themselves come off as passionless and almost completely bloodless -- even when they involve murder.
The book's one saving grace should be the main character, a tough-talking female detective who must have been a bit unusual for 1943, when the book was first published, but Bertha Cool is so bumbling and undeservedly cocksure that it's hard to root for her, and the reader is tempted to label Gardner a misogynist rather than praise him for being ahead of his time.
"Cats Prowl"'s writing isn't great either. Some scenes are loaded down with unnecessary details -- so much so that one wonders if Gardner was being paid by the word, and he might well have been -- and others are rushed through, leaving important questions unanswered. This weakness is particularly true in the final scene, in which most of the book's mysteries are hurriedly explained away in a few pages, taking the form of a letter Bertha writes to her detective-agency partner, Donald Lam.
I can't see myself seeking out other Gardner books, at least not any more Donald Lam-Bertha Cool mysteries.
September 8, 2022
Bertha Cool at her rambunctious best.
I wonder if people who read this book in 1943 were as puzzled as I am. On the one hand, the author appears to ignore WWII completely, but there are too many home-front war conditions to believe that the story is set in pre-war times. There's much talk about the difficulty of keeping domestic and clerical workers, but no mention that those women were moving to defense plant jobs for higher pay. A husband puts four gallons of gas in his wife's car, which is absurd unless you know about WWII gas-rationing. And the dire shortage of barbers was because all able-bodied American men were serving in the military. Some jobs were exempt, but barbering wasn't one of them.
Yet Donald Lam's absence is explained by saying that he's "vacationing in Europe." With the German army having overrun everything but England and the Allied forces frantically trying to fight back, no one in Europe was vacationing. I think Gardner wanted Lam gone so that Bertha could strut her stuff, but why he chose this awkward way to accomplish it is a mystery in itself.
As always, Bertha's mercurial personality and unreliable temper drive the action. She misses Donald Lam (that "brainy little bastard") but she's still not sure that she was right to make him a partner. She looks back longingly on the days when she ran a small agency handling divorce cases and other stuff most agencies refused to touch. There was less pressure, but also less profit. Can she figure out how to handle the big-money cases that Donald Lam brought in?
Everett Belder is a salesman who made big money at one time. Then a legal judgement against him forced him to put all his money into his wife's hands. That protected his dough, but can he get it back from his wife? She's a nervous woman made even more nervous by her husband's habit of acquiring girl friends. He doesn't look like Romeo, but he must have some appeal because the dames keep showing up. When his wife starts getting anonymous letters about his romantic adventures, things go downhill fast.
Even so, Belder isn't as scared of his wife as he is of her mother. Mama Goldring married money and expects her daughters to do the same. Right now, she's pressuring Mrs Belder to leave her husband and take his cash with her. Sister Carlotta is a loose cannon, currently unemployed and living with the Belders. You'd think Everett would have his hands full without juggling multiple girl friends, but maybe not.
Bertha agrees to negotiate a deal with the former partner who holds the judgement against Belder. It looks like she'll be successful and pick up some easy money, but then those letters start coming and the Belder's pretty live-in maid has an accident and then Mrs Belder goes missing. And Carlotta's birth mother shows up with her own agenda.
It's complicated, but Bertha puts her back into finding out who sent the letters and what happened to the missing wife. Unfortunately, she lacks Donald Lam's charm and finesse. Before you can say "defamation of character" she's facing a hefty lawsuit that would mean the end of Cool & Lam.
As the bodies pile up, her old frenemy Sgt. Frank Sellers of Homicide Division is right behind her. He takes advantage of her shrewd detective work, but worries that she's sailing too close to the wind. Bertha makes progress on the case, but at the risk of losing her business license, if not being tried for murder.
What I love about this series is the sense that Gardner enjoyed writing them and that he was fascinated by Bertha Cool's larger-than-life personality and by seeing how far he could push the envelope without falling into farce. He doesn't mind Bertha getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar, but he makes sure the reader admires her toughness, shrewdness, and determination. She a woman ahead of her time, but it's impossible not to root for her.
This series is long out of print and used copies are scarce, so I'm happy that at least some of them are now available in Kindle editions.
I wonder if people who read this book in 1943 were as puzzled as I am. On the one hand, the author appears to ignore WWII completely, but there are too many home-front war conditions to believe that the story is set in pre-war times. There's much talk about the difficulty of keeping domestic and clerical workers, but no mention that those women were moving to defense plant jobs for higher pay. A husband puts four gallons of gas in his wife's car, which is absurd unless you know about WWII gas-rationing. And the dire shortage of barbers was because all able-bodied American men were serving in the military. Some jobs were exempt, but barbering wasn't one of them.
Yet Donald Lam's absence is explained by saying that he's "vacationing in Europe." With the German army having overrun everything but England and the Allied forces frantically trying to fight back, no one in Europe was vacationing. I think Gardner wanted Lam gone so that Bertha could strut her stuff, but why he chose this awkward way to accomplish it is a mystery in itself.
As always, Bertha's mercurial personality and unreliable temper drive the action. She misses Donald Lam (that "brainy little bastard") but she's still not sure that she was right to make him a partner. She looks back longingly on the days when she ran a small agency handling divorce cases and other stuff most agencies refused to touch. There was less pressure, but also less profit. Can she figure out how to handle the big-money cases that Donald Lam brought in?
Everett Belder is a salesman who made big money at one time. Then a legal judgement against him forced him to put all his money into his wife's hands. That protected his dough, but can he get it back from his wife? She's a nervous woman made even more nervous by her husband's habit of acquiring girl friends. He doesn't look like Romeo, but he must have some appeal because the dames keep showing up. When his wife starts getting anonymous letters about his romantic adventures, things go downhill fast.
Even so, Belder isn't as scared of his wife as he is of her mother. Mama Goldring married money and expects her daughters to do the same. Right now, she's pressuring Mrs Belder to leave her husband and take his cash with her. Sister Carlotta is a loose cannon, currently unemployed and living with the Belders. You'd think Everett would have his hands full without juggling multiple girl friends, but maybe not.
Bertha agrees to negotiate a deal with the former partner who holds the judgement against Belder. It looks like she'll be successful and pick up some easy money, but then those letters start coming and the Belder's pretty live-in maid has an accident and then Mrs Belder goes missing. And Carlotta's birth mother shows up with her own agenda.
It's complicated, but Bertha puts her back into finding out who sent the letters and what happened to the missing wife. Unfortunately, she lacks Donald Lam's charm and finesse. Before you can say "defamation of character" she's facing a hefty lawsuit that would mean the end of Cool & Lam.
As the bodies pile up, her old frenemy Sgt. Frank Sellers of Homicide Division is right behind her. He takes advantage of her shrewd detective work, but worries that she's sailing too close to the wind. Bertha makes progress on the case, but at the risk of losing her business license, if not being tried for murder.
What I love about this series is the sense that Gardner enjoyed writing them and that he was fascinated by Bertha Cool's larger-than-life personality and by seeing how far he could push the envelope without falling into farce. He doesn't mind Bertha getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar, but he makes sure the reader admires her toughness, shrewdness, and determination. She a woman ahead of her time, but it's impossible not to root for her.
This series is long out of print and used copies are scarce, so I'm happy that at least some of them are now available in Kindle editions.
November 19, 2018
3.? This is the second Cool-without-Lam volume in the series, and while in some ways it seems a bit better than Bats Fly at Dusk, it didn't really hold my interest very well and because of that took a lot longer to get through than it should have.
The explanation of the crime was a bit convoluted and on the implausible side, which isn't unusual for Gardner and not really a problem for me. The real issue is Lam being absent and what Bertha's turned into here. While there are some good moments and I enjoyed her interactions with Sgt Sellers, in general this Bertha is a let down.
In the earliest volumes of the Cool and Lam series, Bertha Cool may be fat and greedy, but she's also formidable. It felt, at least to me, as if she was intended as a strong character, and the author intended for her to be respected as such. That Bertha could easily have carried a novel on her own. I'm not sure what happened to that Bertha.
It seems to me Bertha's strength and competence is being undermined in order to play her more for comic effect. It feels like we're supposed to entertained by her behavior and be amused when her greed trips her up. It's quite disappointing. I can't help but wonder if Gardner weakened her in response to audience or editorial feedback, or perhaps she was never as well thought out as I imagine, and the formidable early version was a fluke or my own warped reading. Characterization is not one of Gardner's strengths exactly, and he definitely aimed for commercial success, so either of those explanations seem plausible.
Fortunately, Lam will be back in the next volume so I expect it to be more enjoyable.
The explanation of the crime was a bit convoluted and on the implausible side, which isn't unusual for Gardner and not really a problem for me. The real issue is Lam being absent and what Bertha's turned into here. While there are some good moments and I enjoyed her interactions with Sgt Sellers, in general this Bertha is a let down.
In the earliest volumes of the Cool and Lam series, Bertha Cool may be fat and greedy, but she's also formidable. It felt, at least to me, as if she was intended as a strong character, and the author intended for her to be respected as such. That Bertha could easily have carried a novel on her own. I'm not sure what happened to that Bertha.
It seems to me Bertha's strength and competence is being undermined in order to play her more for comic effect. It feels like we're supposed to entertained by her behavior and be amused when her greed trips her up. It's quite disappointing. I can't help but wonder if Gardner weakened her in response to audience or editorial feedback, or perhaps she was never as well thought out as I imagine, and the formidable early version was a fluke or my own warped reading. Characterization is not one of Gardner's strengths exactly, and he definitely aimed for commercial success, so either of those explanations seem plausible.
Fortunately, Lam will be back in the next volume so I expect it to be more enjoyable.
November 15, 2017
So far, my favorite entry in the Cool and Lam series. Bertha is on her own here and the bad guys better watch out!
Gardner is obviously having a good time playing with the Bertha cool character in this book. Seeing how far to take her and maintain a good story. He pushs the characters in all sorts of areas and it really makes the story come alive. I would have liked this to have continued into other volumes and drop the mystery thing and see what other trouble Gardner might have stuck her in.
The plotting is typical Gardner: Somewhat convoluted and overly complicated. It's the writing that makes this a page turner, even if, at times, you weren't sure what you were turning for. I'd mostly figured key elements early on and really didn't care to see what happened to Bertha next.
Bottom line: i recommend this book. 7 out of ten points.
Gardner is obviously having a good time playing with the Bertha cool character in this book. Seeing how far to take her and maintain a good story. He pushs the characters in all sorts of areas and it really makes the story come alive. I would have liked this to have continued into other volumes and drop the mystery thing and see what other trouble Gardner might have stuck her in.
The plotting is typical Gardner: Somewhat convoluted and overly complicated. It's the writing that makes this a page turner, even if, at times, you weren't sure what you were turning for. I'd mostly figured key elements early on and really didn't care to see what happened to Bertha next.
Bottom line: i recommend this book. 7 out of ten points.
May 15, 2017
Erle Stanley Gardner published 28 books in his Cool and Lam series under the pen name A A Fair. At its best, this series juxtaposes two mismatched detectives, heavyset, dense, penny pinching Bertha Cool, and slightly built, clever Donald Lam, the real brains of the outfit. This novel is a bit unusual for the series in that Donald Lam is nowhere to be found -ostensibly vacationing in Europe. Thus, "Fry me for an oyster" this book is lots and lots of Bertha Cool, and no Lam. Also, it involves a hopelessly convoluted case that barely makes sense and lacks the earmarks of a hardboiled fifties mystery that make most of the books in this series so good. One of the few clunkers in the series.
December 27, 2019
Un giallo breve e scorrevole che si legge tutto d'un fiato. Battaglieri i protagonisti Bertha Cool e il detective Sellers: i loro scontri danno pepe alla storia. Godibile.
December 24, 2022
Cats Prowl at Night (The Bertha Cool and Donald Lam Mysteries) 1946. This one Bertha prowls without her pint size dynamo partner -Donald on vacation in Europe, curiously. This probably deserves four stars, but I missed Donald not being in it.
Client comes in looking for Donald. “Know Donald?” “Only by reputation. A man for whom Lam once handled a case told me about him. Said he was the nerviest little guy he’d ever seen; that he was fast thinking, quick moving, and courageous. In fact, he summarized his feelings by a colloquialism which, while perhaps coarse, nevertheless conveyed a perfect picture.” “What did he say?” “It’s a bit on the coarse side, Mrs. Cool. I wasn’t going to repeat it. I—” Bertha Cool said irritably, “Do you think you know any words I don’t? What did he say?” “He said Donald was a combination of brains and guts.” “Humph!” Bertha said”
Bertha convinces him she can handle the matter.
Bertha loses her 😁 Cool. Twist & turns and many suspects later (always a feature of AA Fair/ESG) Bertha being Bertha gets her knickers in a twist mouthing off…. “It means that you had no reasonable grounds for making the accusation you did. That has a tendency to imply malice, and that, in turn, robs you of your privileged-communication immunity.” “Well, you’re making it sound as though, you were the lawyer for the other side.” Drumson smiled. “Just wait until you actually hear the lawyer on the other side. Now that expression of opprobrium—What was it? let’s see…. Oh, yes, a twirp—a twirp, Mrs. Cool. Why on earth did you call her that?” Bertha flushed. “Because it’s the mildest term you could use in describing the mealymouthed little bit—”. …. “Mrs. Cool, the question of malice is one of the most important in this whole case. If you are to win this case, you’ll have to establish that you held no malice toward the plaintiff, none whatever. In the future, refer to the plaintiff in this action as a very estimable young woman of unimpeachable moral character. She is, perhaps, mistaken, but as far as her character is concerned, she is a paragon of virtue. Otherwise, Mrs. Cool, it—is—going—to—cost—you—money. Do you understand?’ “Well, when I’m talking to you, can’t I tell the truth?” … If you use derogatory expressions in your thoughts, or in some of your conversations, those words will unconsciously slip out at inopportune times. Now, repeat after me, ‘This young woman is a very estimable young woman.’” Bertha Cool said, with evident reluctance, “Goddamn her, she’s a very estimable young woman.” “And see that you always so refer to her,” Drumson warned. “I’ll try. If it’ll save me money, I’ll try.” … “ If she was virtually a stranger to you, it seems that reasonable prudence would have caused you to withhold any accusation while she was there. We can’t possibly claim a privileged communication as far as this Carlotta Goldring is concerned.” Bertha said angrily, “I’ll tell you why I didn’t do it; because I was trying to carry on my business. That’s the trouble with you lawyers. All you think about is lawsuits. If a person tried to carry on business so he’d be within the letter of the law, he’d never get anything done.”
Lawyers cost money. “ I’ll want five hundred dollars as a retainer, then we’ll see what can be done. That retainer will carry the case through the pleadings and up to the time of trial. At that time you can make an additional remuneration in case we haven’t been able to get the case disposed of before—” “Five hundred dollars!” Bertha all but screamed. “That’s right, Mrs. Cool.” “Why, fry me for an oyster! Five—hundred—dollars!” “Five hundred dollars, Mrs. Cool.” “What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t make but fifty dollars out of the whole case.” … “ Drumson tapped the papers on his desk with a solemn forefinger, “you have a potential liability of one hundred thousand dollars chalked up against you in a court of justice. My associates and I may be able to beat this case. I can’t tell, but—” Bertha got up from her chair, reached over and pulled the papers out from under the lawyer’s hand. “You’re crazy. I’m not going to pay any five hundred dollars.” “But my dear Mrs. Cool, if you don’t do something within ten days of the time this paper was served on you, you’ll—” … “ The document quite evidently was hastily drawn. I think it is subject to a special demurrer, and perhaps to a general demurrer as well.” “What’s a demurrer?” “That’s another pleading—a paper filed in court—in which you point out defects in the complaint.” “And what happens after you file that?” “You argue it.” “Is the other lawyer there?” “Oh, yes, naturally.” “Then what happens?” “If your point is well taken, the judge sustains the demurrer.” “And that means you win the lawsuit?” “Oh, no. Then the other side is given ten days to amend the complaint.” “So that it makes a better complaint?” “In a way, yes. That’s a layman’s way of expressing it.” “What the hell do you do with the time when you’ve gained it?” Bertha interrupted in a voice which stridently demanded the conversational right of way. “Why, we work on your case, study up on it.” “And I pay for all the time you put in?” “Naturally I have to be compensated—” “So I pay you to tell the other lawyer how to make a better case so you can gain time to charge me more for putting in more time on my case. To hell with that stuff. Don’t you know enough law to know how to try this lawsuit right now?” “The hell with that stuff,” Bertha interrupted. “I don’t want any demurrers. I don’t want to pay fancy prices to gain time I’m going to have to pay for. I simply want to file an answer telling this goddamned little twirp where she gets off.” “My dear Mrs. Cool! Please! I ask you as your attorney, don’t keep referring to the plaintiff as a twirp.” “She’s a damned gold-digging little bitch,” Bertha said, angrily raising her voice. “She’s a mealymouthed hypocrite.”
And so Bertha settles for a $25 fee for simple legal reply. Which never gets filed, no spoilers read the book, but ends up renegotiate the fee down to $2.50.
[Earle Stanley Gardner was first a practicing attorney-see also Perry Mason- and likely immensely enjoyed writing this bit. Also probably enjoyed a good lawyer joke.]
Bertha wants a slice. “Don’t you get it?” Bertha said. “Under the law, a man can’t inherit property from any person whom he has murdered, regardless of a will or anything else. I know that’s the law because Donald told me so once. Now, you just sit here and pound away at the typewriter so the office will look busy as hell, and Bertha’s going in and cut herself a great big slice of cake.”
Betha dictates a letter to Elsie to send to Donald on resolution of the case. “Well, lover, I’m not going to tell you all the details. I kept floundering around in the case. Bertha’s heavy-handed when it comes to things like that. She certainly missed your deft touch, but she huffed and she puffed and she heaved, and damned if she didn’t finally put one and one together and make two. Then Sergeant Sellers took over, and he put two and two together and made four. [A humbled and somewhat wiser Bertha? Fry me for an oyster! A first, and probably last...]
“And that’s enough,” she snapped. “We’ll leave him something to wonder about so he’ll want to come home before his vacation dough runs out.” “No, the hell with it. Just tell him that we’re doing all right if the income tax doesn’t break us.”
Bertha gets her big slice of the cake! The End.
Client comes in looking for Donald. “Know Donald?” “Only by reputation. A man for whom Lam once handled a case told me about him. Said he was the nerviest little guy he’d ever seen; that he was fast thinking, quick moving, and courageous. In fact, he summarized his feelings by a colloquialism which, while perhaps coarse, nevertheless conveyed a perfect picture.” “What did he say?” “It’s a bit on the coarse side, Mrs. Cool. I wasn’t going to repeat it. I—” Bertha Cool said irritably, “Do you think you know any words I don’t? What did he say?” “He said Donald was a combination of brains and guts.” “Humph!” Bertha said”
Bertha convinces him she can handle the matter.
Bertha loses her 😁 Cool. Twist & turns and many suspects later (always a feature of AA Fair/ESG) Bertha being Bertha gets her knickers in a twist mouthing off…. “It means that you had no reasonable grounds for making the accusation you did. That has a tendency to imply malice, and that, in turn, robs you of your privileged-communication immunity.” “Well, you’re making it sound as though, you were the lawyer for the other side.” Drumson smiled. “Just wait until you actually hear the lawyer on the other side. Now that expression of opprobrium—What was it? let’s see…. Oh, yes, a twirp—a twirp, Mrs. Cool. Why on earth did you call her that?” Bertha flushed. “Because it’s the mildest term you could use in describing the mealymouthed little bit—”. …. “Mrs. Cool, the question of malice is one of the most important in this whole case. If you are to win this case, you’ll have to establish that you held no malice toward the plaintiff, none whatever. In the future, refer to the plaintiff in this action as a very estimable young woman of unimpeachable moral character. She is, perhaps, mistaken, but as far as her character is concerned, she is a paragon of virtue. Otherwise, Mrs. Cool, it—is—going—to—cost—you—money. Do you understand?’ “Well, when I’m talking to you, can’t I tell the truth?” … If you use derogatory expressions in your thoughts, or in some of your conversations, those words will unconsciously slip out at inopportune times. Now, repeat after me, ‘This young woman is a very estimable young woman.’” Bertha Cool said, with evident reluctance, “Goddamn her, she’s a very estimable young woman.” “And see that you always so refer to her,” Drumson warned. “I’ll try. If it’ll save me money, I’ll try.” … “ If she was virtually a stranger to you, it seems that reasonable prudence would have caused you to withhold any accusation while she was there. We can’t possibly claim a privileged communication as far as this Carlotta Goldring is concerned.” Bertha said angrily, “I’ll tell you why I didn’t do it; because I was trying to carry on my business. That’s the trouble with you lawyers. All you think about is lawsuits. If a person tried to carry on business so he’d be within the letter of the law, he’d never get anything done.”
Lawyers cost money. “ I’ll want five hundred dollars as a retainer, then we’ll see what can be done. That retainer will carry the case through the pleadings and up to the time of trial. At that time you can make an additional remuneration in case we haven’t been able to get the case disposed of before—” “Five hundred dollars!” Bertha all but screamed. “That’s right, Mrs. Cool.” “Why, fry me for an oyster! Five—hundred—dollars!” “Five hundred dollars, Mrs. Cool.” “What the hell are you talking about? I didn’t make but fifty dollars out of the whole case.” … “ Drumson tapped the papers on his desk with a solemn forefinger, “you have a potential liability of one hundred thousand dollars chalked up against you in a court of justice. My associates and I may be able to beat this case. I can’t tell, but—” Bertha got up from her chair, reached over and pulled the papers out from under the lawyer’s hand. “You’re crazy. I’m not going to pay any five hundred dollars.” “But my dear Mrs. Cool, if you don’t do something within ten days of the time this paper was served on you, you’ll—” … “ The document quite evidently was hastily drawn. I think it is subject to a special demurrer, and perhaps to a general demurrer as well.” “What’s a demurrer?” “That’s another pleading—a paper filed in court—in which you point out defects in the complaint.” “And what happens after you file that?” “You argue it.” “Is the other lawyer there?” “Oh, yes, naturally.” “Then what happens?” “If your point is well taken, the judge sustains the demurrer.” “And that means you win the lawsuit?” “Oh, no. Then the other side is given ten days to amend the complaint.” “So that it makes a better complaint?” “In a way, yes. That’s a layman’s way of expressing it.” “What the hell do you do with the time when you’ve gained it?” Bertha interrupted in a voice which stridently demanded the conversational right of way. “Why, we work on your case, study up on it.” “And I pay for all the time you put in?” “Naturally I have to be compensated—” “So I pay you to tell the other lawyer how to make a better case so you can gain time to charge me more for putting in more time on my case. To hell with that stuff. Don’t you know enough law to know how to try this lawsuit right now?” “The hell with that stuff,” Bertha interrupted. “I don’t want any demurrers. I don’t want to pay fancy prices to gain time I’m going to have to pay for. I simply want to file an answer telling this goddamned little twirp where she gets off.” “My dear Mrs. Cool! Please! I ask you as your attorney, don’t keep referring to the plaintiff as a twirp.” “She’s a damned gold-digging little bitch,” Bertha said, angrily raising her voice. “She’s a mealymouthed hypocrite.”
And so Bertha settles for a $25 fee for simple legal reply. Which never gets filed, no spoilers read the book, but ends up renegotiate the fee down to $2.50.
[Earle Stanley Gardner was first a practicing attorney-see also Perry Mason- and likely immensely enjoyed writing this bit. Also probably enjoyed a good lawyer joke.]
Bertha wants a slice. “Don’t you get it?” Bertha said. “Under the law, a man can’t inherit property from any person whom he has murdered, regardless of a will or anything else. I know that’s the law because Donald told me so once. Now, you just sit here and pound away at the typewriter so the office will look busy as hell, and Bertha’s going in and cut herself a great big slice of cake.”
Betha dictates a letter to Elsie to send to Donald on resolution of the case. “Well, lover, I’m not going to tell you all the details. I kept floundering around in the case. Bertha’s heavy-handed when it comes to things like that. She certainly missed your deft touch, but she huffed and she puffed and she heaved, and damned if she didn’t finally put one and one together and make two. Then Sergeant Sellers took over, and he put two and two together and made four. [A humbled and somewhat wiser Bertha? Fry me for an oyster! A first, and probably last...]
“And that’s enough,” she snapped. “We’ll leave him something to wonder about so he’ll want to come home before his vacation dough runs out.” “No, the hell with it. Just tell him that we’re doing all right if the income tax doesn’t break us.”
Bertha gets her big slice of the cake! The End.
February 7, 2016
I really enjoy these old mysteries, penned by the same pen or typewriter from which came the great character, Perry Mason. A.A. Fair was the pen name Gardner used when he wrote his private eye novels featuring Donald Lam and Bertha Cool.
This time around, Donald is vacationing in Europe, perhaps a euphemism for being in the war, since the copyright date in the jacket indicates 1943. I know that other novels reference him having served. I think, if I recall correctly, Lam saw enlisting as his duty and Cool disagreed, and therefore refers to it as a vacation until he returns. So, I think the reference to vacation is an inside joke, prerhaps between Gardner and a friend, but most certainly between Bertha and Donald.
Bertha is determined to resolve a case, she smells money--- but it isn't long until the case becomes one of those old fashioned half a dozen suspects type messes that not only Lam and Cool find themselves in, but so do Charlie Chan, Perry Mason, the Thin Man and the other private eyes of the 40's. By today's standards I would have become more and more angry at each introduction of new characters who are possible suspects, but for 40's gumshoe stuff it is par for the course.
This one is quite readable. There is a hugely comic scene when Bertha consults with her attorney that Perry Mason himself would have been chuckling over.
Not a great mystery, but not a bad one, either. Worth reading for its style, its nostalgia, and its main characters.
This time around, Donald is vacationing in Europe, perhaps a euphemism for being in the war, since the copyright date in the jacket indicates 1943. I know that other novels reference him having served. I think, if I recall correctly, Lam saw enlisting as his duty and Cool disagreed, and therefore refers to it as a vacation until he returns. So, I think the reference to vacation is an inside joke, prerhaps between Gardner and a friend, but most certainly between Bertha and Donald.
Bertha is determined to resolve a case, she smells money--- but it isn't long until the case becomes one of those old fashioned half a dozen suspects type messes that not only Lam and Cool find themselves in, but so do Charlie Chan, Perry Mason, the Thin Man and the other private eyes of the 40's. By today's standards I would have become more and more angry at each introduction of new characters who are possible suspects, but for 40's gumshoe stuff it is par for the course.
This one is quite readable. There is a hugely comic scene when Bertha consults with her attorney that Perry Mason himself would have been chuckling over.
Not a great mystery, but not a bad one, either. Worth reading for its style, its nostalgia, and its main characters.
May 16, 2020
Donald Lam is on holidays travelling in Europe. Left on her own Bertha becomes involved in a mysterious case involving poison pen letters, "other" women and eventually murder.
Bertha is bumbling and generally inefficient and runs a fine line on legality. Often saved by the cops.
I found that this book was often going round and round in circles and eventually became frustrating to the extent of being almost thrown down. The ending summary has a number of ends that left the reader in some doubt about what had been going on. Hey ho! a good enough light reading material for another late night.
3stars
Bertha is bumbling and generally inefficient and runs a fine line on legality. Often saved by the cops.
I found that this book was often going round and round in circles and eventually became frustrating to the extent of being almost thrown down. The ending summary has a number of ends that left the reader in some doubt about what had been going on. Hey ho! a good enough light reading material for another late night.
3stars
October 21, 2018
This one is all about Bertha. I prefer Donald, but Bertha is interesting too. And I liked the surprise ending.
October 5, 2023
"Cats Prowl at Night" by Erle Stanley Gardner (a.k.a. A.A. Fair) is singular among the "Cool and Lam" series of mystery/detective novels. Why? This book is all "Cool" and no "Lam." It's feminism from 1946 (with love) and Bertha Cool is the main detective in the novel.
If you're a fan of the "Cool and Lam" series, you may know how the "lost" second novel in the series "The Knife Slipped" was rejected in part because the character of Bertha Cool was too strong and competent compared to the main protagonist, the undersized and brainy Donald Lam.
While Donald Lam is across the ocean in Europe on vacation, Bertha Cool is left to rule the roost and gets involved in a thorny case that would test even the serious mental mettle of Donald Lam. It starts with a salesman who comes in with a proposition about her collecting a court's judgement against him--which is not how it usually works, obviously--proceeds through anonymous poison-pen letters, multiple illicit affairs of the client, and ends up in more than one murder, plus scheming of the most insidious nature.
On her own, Bertha is VERY different than the brainy Donald Lam. She is more street-smart than book-smart and prefers to use her force of will and imposing presence to smash through challenges rather than circumvent them. This gets her in the same hot water her client is in when bodies start dropping and the anonymous letters point to him as the main suspect.
Bertha's foil in "Cats Prowl at Night" is Sergeant Sellers, who is usually a supporting character. In Lam's absence, he gets a lot more attention. Sellers manages to be both an enemy and an ally for Bertha as the case progresses, sometimes turning from one to the other without warning. I doubt the author or the publisher felt that Bertha Cool was ready for the entire focus on the novel to be on her, though modern readers might disagree.
I think it was refreshing and somewhat bold for the author to sideline pint-sized Brainiac Donald Lam and let let Big, Bad Bertha bull and bully her way through a case mostly on her own. Before all is said and done, she has to start thinking like Lam to get out of the jam her less-than-intellectual tactics land her in.
"Cats Prowl at Night" was a refreshing change of pace for the Cool and Lam series--and an interesting example of mid-1940s feminism. If that appeals to you, check it out!
If you're a fan of the "Cool and Lam" series, you may know how the "lost" second novel in the series "The Knife Slipped" was rejected in part because the character of Bertha Cool was too strong and competent compared to the main protagonist, the undersized and brainy Donald Lam.
While Donald Lam is across the ocean in Europe on vacation, Bertha Cool is left to rule the roost and gets involved in a thorny case that would test even the serious mental mettle of Donald Lam. It starts with a salesman who comes in with a proposition about her collecting a court's judgement against him--which is not how it usually works, obviously--proceeds through anonymous poison-pen letters, multiple illicit affairs of the client, and ends up in more than one murder, plus scheming of the most insidious nature.
On her own, Bertha is VERY different than the brainy Donald Lam. She is more street-smart than book-smart and prefers to use her force of will and imposing presence to smash through challenges rather than circumvent them. This gets her in the same hot water her client is in when bodies start dropping and the anonymous letters point to him as the main suspect.
Bertha's foil in "Cats Prowl at Night" is Sergeant Sellers, who is usually a supporting character. In Lam's absence, he gets a lot more attention. Sellers manages to be both an enemy and an ally for Bertha as the case progresses, sometimes turning from one to the other without warning. I doubt the author or the publisher felt that Bertha Cool was ready for the entire focus on the novel to be on her, though modern readers might disagree.
I think it was refreshing and somewhat bold for the author to sideline pint-sized Brainiac Donald Lam and let let Big, Bad Bertha bull and bully her way through a case mostly on her own. Before all is said and done, she has to start thinking like Lam to get out of the jam her less-than-intellectual tactics land her in.
"Cats Prowl at Night" was a refreshing change of pace for the Cool and Lam series--and an interesting example of mid-1940s feminism. If that appeals to you, check it out!
February 11, 2025
Největší šok v dějinách série! Berta Coolová vyšetřuje sama! Donald je mimo hru a tudíž je nutné zasáhnout. Ono už se v minulosti něco podobného stalo, ale to se musel Donald vrátit a všechno zachránit, ale teď je to čistě v její režii. A hned je to zábavnější, jak máte detektiva, která má nějaké omezení, ne všechno mu vychází... a občas se sám zaplete i do větších malérů.
Není to, logicky, psáno v ichformě, ale mám pocit, že tady vidíme do nitra detektiva víc než v klasické řadě. Pokud dělá Coolová Lama, tak Coolovou jí tady dělá poručík Sellers, který ji ustavičně vtrhává do kanceláře, přistihuje při nepravostech a nutí jí vařit mu vajíčka a čaj. A nějak mezi nimi vzniká poutu, které bylo pak v dalších dílech spíše ignorováno.
Knížka je o dost živější a víc se tady pracuje s humorem... když je kupříkladu Berta obžalována z nactiutrhání a musí se naučit o své protivnici nemluvit jako o malé hnidě, ale jako o úctihodné mladé ženě. Nebo když se se střetne s právníkem a jeho cenami.
I když je případ jednodušší, tak novým pojetím je mnohem zábavnější. Škoda, že v následujících knihách spaskla Berta Coolová opět do podoby jednorozměrné chamtivé figurky. Pryč s Donaldem Lamem, sem s Bertou Coolovou!
Není to, logicky, psáno v ichformě, ale mám pocit, že tady vidíme do nitra detektiva víc než v klasické řadě. Pokud dělá Coolová Lama, tak Coolovou jí tady dělá poručík Sellers, který ji ustavičně vtrhává do kanceláře, přistihuje při nepravostech a nutí jí vařit mu vajíčka a čaj. A nějak mezi nimi vzniká poutu, které bylo pak v dalších dílech spíše ignorováno.
Knížka je o dost živější a víc se tady pracuje s humorem... když je kupříkladu Berta obžalována z nactiutrhání a musí se naučit o své protivnici nemluvit jako o malé hnidě, ale jako o úctihodné mladé ženě. Nebo když se se střetne s právníkem a jeho cenami.
I když je případ jednodušší, tak novým pojetím je mnohem zábavnější. Škoda, že v následujících knihách spaskla Berta Coolová opět do podoby jednorozměrné chamtivé figurky. Pryč s Donaldem Lamem, sem s Bertou Coolovou!
February 14, 2024
Another Cool & Lam without the Lam. Donald is off in Europe and so Bertha doesn't have her foil. As a result she gets in over her head. The story misses Lam's sparkle and the romance that seems to pursue him. Sgt. Sellers picks up the slack as a supporting character and the mystery is as thorny as you could as for. Not the best of the series, but not a disappointment either.
April 7, 2023
A bit too Much
Story held my interest in that the complex, twisting plot provided an ongoing, indeed, increasingly intriguing, puzzle, that it was only upon completion that I felt there was too much confused plot to be credible. But what a ride!
Story held my interest in that the complex, twisting plot provided an ongoing, indeed, increasingly intriguing, puzzle, that it was only upon completion that I felt there was too much confused plot to be credible. But what a ride!
October 8, 2023
1943 1st New Dell July 1961 224 pages
Cover painting Robert McGinnis
In this Bertha Cool/Donald Lam mystery Donald is gone so Bertha and Elsie hold down the fort. Or as Bertha likes to say “Fry me for an oyster!” (p. 89, 103) and “Can me for a sardine”.
Cover painting Robert McGinnis
In this Bertha Cool/Donald Lam mystery Donald is gone so Bertha and Elsie hold down the fort. Or as Bertha likes to say “Fry me for an oyster!” (p. 89, 103) and “Can me for a sardine”.
July 10, 2023
Ando a gostar sempre de andar com um Vampiro Gigante no fundo da mochila.
Quando colocado ao lado de gigantes da literaturo policial cai um pouco aquém, mas consegue ser satisfatório.
Atira muitas ideias à parede no final, mas isso não deprecia a história em si.
Talvez leia a outra metade do Vampiro. Veremos.
Quando colocado ao lado de gigantes da literaturo policial cai um pouco aquém, mas consegue ser satisfatório.
Atira muitas ideias à parede no final, mas isso não deprecia a história em si.
Talvez leia a outra metade do Vampiro. Veremos.
June 26, 2023
In this installment in Fair's/Gardner's Cool and Lam series, Bertha Cool is running the partnership alone because Donald Lam is away at war.
Bertha, who is an experienced private detective, is short on patience and finesse. No one ever has to wonder what Bertha is really thinking; she makes her thoughts known whether those thoughts will make her popular or not. In the course of her investigation this time, she finds out that being so blatant with her words may end up costing her plenty of money when a slander suit is brought against her.
Bertha, who is an experienced private detective, is short on patience and finesse. No one ever has to wonder what Bertha is really thinking; she makes her thoughts known whether those thoughts will make her popular or not. In the course of her investigation this time, she finds out that being so blatant with her words may end up costing her plenty of money when a slander suit is brought against her.
May 15, 2015
In this story, Bertha is on her own, as Donald Lam is vacationing in Europe. A man (Everett Belder) comes to her with a problem. Some time ago, he was facing a judgement, so he transferred his assets into his wife’s name. The ploy worked, but now he is in difficulty, as he needs to pay off a debt and things are not well between him and his wife. The man Belder owes the money to is also in financial difficulty, so Belder wants Bertha to act as a go-between and arrange a reduced payoff.
Belder is a bit of a womanizer and his mother-in-law and sister-in-law are greedy and want to break up his marriage. There are a few other devious women in the mix; in this case all of the crooks are female. An anonymous person is also writing letters to Belder’s wife, telling her of his actions with women, “as a friend.” The plot quickly changes from one of marital intrigue to murder when two of the women are found dead. Although the situations have been constructed to give the appearance of accidents, it is clear that they were most likely murdered. It is also clear early on that a woman committed the murders. However, there are so many that it is difficult to identify the perpetrators(s).
The best part of the story is the interaction between Bertha and police Sergeant Frank Sellers, the lead detective on the case. His actions towards Bertha are very heavy-handed, her response is typical Bertha, and yet it is clear that they very much like each other. In the end, despite her mistakes and battles with Sellers, Bertha manages to help determine the guilty parties and Sellers wraps up the case. After the case is closed, Sellers shows his affection for Bertha and she has no ready response to his advances.
I don’t consider this one of the strongest Donald Lam-Bertha Cool stories, simply because Donald is absent. The subtle and thoughtful style that he uses in solving his cases is the strongest thing that appeals to me in the stories and it was absent. While Bertha doesn’t go around pounding on or shooting people, she is the verbal equivalent of a tank.
This review also appears on Amazon
Belder is a bit of a womanizer and his mother-in-law and sister-in-law are greedy and want to break up his marriage. There are a few other devious women in the mix; in this case all of the crooks are female. An anonymous person is also writing letters to Belder’s wife, telling her of his actions with women, “as a friend.” The plot quickly changes from one of marital intrigue to murder when two of the women are found dead. Although the situations have been constructed to give the appearance of accidents, it is clear that they were most likely murdered. It is also clear early on that a woman committed the murders. However, there are so many that it is difficult to identify the perpetrators(s).
The best part of the story is the interaction between Bertha and police Sergeant Frank Sellers, the lead detective on the case. His actions towards Bertha are very heavy-handed, her response is typical Bertha, and yet it is clear that they very much like each other. In the end, despite her mistakes and battles with Sellers, Bertha manages to help determine the guilty parties and Sellers wraps up the case. After the case is closed, Sellers shows his affection for Bertha and she has no ready response to his advances.
I don’t consider this one of the strongest Donald Lam-Bertha Cool stories, simply because Donald is absent. The subtle and thoughtful style that he uses in solving his cases is the strongest thing that appeals to me in the stories and it was absent. While Bertha doesn’t go around pounding on or shooting people, she is the verbal equivalent of a tank.
This review also appears on Amazon
September 16, 2018
oh wow, the plot holes are so large and plentiful in this one, I can't believe that anyone read the story before it got published! *Spoilers in this review*
How is it that for 2 days, not one of the characters, including Bertha and police, wondered why the cat that was seen riding with Mrs Belder was not asphyxiated along with her? It escaped and returned home.
Why did Mr Belder happily go to work the day after a body was found in his house and his wife went missing?
How could Carlotta and her two mothers plant the case with the dental bridge in Mr Belder's overcoat, when 1. They couldn't possibly know that he would lose it at a barber shop 2. He was at the barber's when the murder happened and they realized they needed to implicate him. 3. They would not have had access to the overcoat at any point after the murder?
Why would a young lady kill her sister for roughly $15,000? She was trained by her mother to be scheming. Why not just marry a rich man like mama did?
How can you have a car running in an attached garage and not have the three people in the house hear it?
How did they get the body of Mrs Belder to the garage of the second house, where it was found? It was in the trunk when Mr Belder took it to be serviced? It couldn't have been hidden in the house, the police were searching it after Sally's body was found.
And how convoluted to have Mr Belder take a bus to work, return home to get the car for servicing, see the letter, look for the maid, get the car serviced and gassed, hire Bertha, and return the car to the driveway, all before 11am? What? I could go on with several other mistakes....sigh...
I liked the character of Bertha, I just wished Gardner had developed her more. She is very bumbling and uptight and angry through much of it, and really wasn't using her wits at all.
I would be interested to read more of the 20+ books in this Cool and Lam series, just to see if some have a better plot.
How is it that for 2 days, not one of the characters, including Bertha and police, wondered why the cat that was seen riding with Mrs Belder was not asphyxiated along with her? It escaped and returned home.
Why did Mr Belder happily go to work the day after a body was found in his house and his wife went missing?
How could Carlotta and her two mothers plant the case with the dental bridge in Mr Belder's overcoat, when 1. They couldn't possibly know that he would lose it at a barber shop 2. He was at the barber's when the murder happened and they realized they needed to implicate him. 3. They would not have had access to the overcoat at any point after the murder?
Why would a young lady kill her sister for roughly $15,000? She was trained by her mother to be scheming. Why not just marry a rich man like mama did?
How can you have a car running in an attached garage and not have the three people in the house hear it?
How did they get the body of Mrs Belder to the garage of the second house, where it was found? It was in the trunk when Mr Belder took it to be serviced? It couldn't have been hidden in the house, the police were searching it after Sally's body was found.
And how convoluted to have Mr Belder take a bus to work, return home to get the car for servicing, see the letter, look for the maid, get the car serviced and gassed, hire Bertha, and return the car to the driveway, all before 11am? What? I could go on with several other mistakes....sigh...
I liked the character of Bertha, I just wished Gardner had developed her more. She is very bumbling and uptight and angry through much of it, and really wasn't using her wits at all.
I would be interested to read more of the 20+ books in this Cool and Lam series, just to see if some have a better plot.
May 30, 2023
Definitely the weakest of the series that I have read so far.
Bertha Cool usually doesn't have much to do in these books, just busting Donald Lam as he goes about and solves the case. But with this book being written during the height of WW II, Donald is fighting in the Pacific while Bertha is on her own, and the story suffers without Donald's intelligence and cool head.
The plot is a typical complicated story that Mr. Gardner is known for. Everett Belder hires Bertha to settle a judgement, but he signed over all his money to his wife, and the wife now thinks he is cheating on her, but her mother also wants a piece of the pie, and her sister is actually adopted, and the maid dies under mysterious circumstances, and then the wife disappears, etc., etc. Things only get more complicated from there.
Read this if you're a completist. Look elsewhere if you want to enjoy this series.
Bertha Cool usually doesn't have much to do in these books, just busting Donald Lam as he goes about and solves the case. But with this book being written during the height of WW II, Donald is fighting in the Pacific while Bertha is on her own, and the story suffers without Donald's intelligence and cool head.
The plot is a typical complicated story that Mr. Gardner is known for. Everett Belder hires Bertha to settle a judgement, but he signed over all his money to his wife, and the wife now thinks he is cheating on her, but her mother also wants a piece of the pie, and her sister is actually adopted, and the maid dies under mysterious circumstances, and then the wife disappears, etc., etc. Things only get more complicated from there.
Read this if you're a completist. Look elsewhere if you want to enjoy this series.
June 20, 2024
Mostly it's a good book for it's vibrating dialogues. It was the first time that I read a book from this author, and so I met for the first time Bertha Cool, the main caracter. She's the kind of manly woman who puts people in their right place and doesn't get intimidated by anyone; I liked her. The plot also is good, and the deaths are elaborated in a different way; smart.
November 6, 2015
I wasn't aware A A Fair was Earl Stanley Gardner, and hadn't read any of this series before. I enjoyed Bertha Cool as a detective. She's almost the opposite of the usual female detectives of the time period (I'm thinking of Miss Marple or Miss Silver) so adds some fun to the plot. I'll definitely pick up more of the series as I run across them.
August 26, 2022
Solid 4 star. Bertha is on her own as Donald Lam is on vacation. I really liked her in toys one. Gardner plays her for comedy a bit and she makes some mistakes Lam would never make but she solves it in the end.
It would be good if there was less misogyny about it but it is a very good story. It would be interesting if she could just continue on her own as the star of the series.
It would be good if there was less misogyny about it but it is a very good story. It would be interesting if she could just continue on her own as the star of the series.
April 3, 2023
This was a Bertha Cool story in the sense that her partner Donald Lam was almost entirely absent. I liked it, it was a way to get to know Bertha without the other. This book follows Bats Fly at Dusk which also was primarily Bertha. The resolution of the mystery in Cats Prowl at Night was interesting, also. Solid fair.
August 29, 2020
A great read. Bertha Cool manages to get into quite a mess, but digs deep and does herself proud. Quite an interesting twist and lots of mayhem, but full of very interesting legal information as usual. Gardner writing as A.A. Fair did an excellent job writing this story!
July 22, 2014
Donald is away on vacation in this edition, changed from his original war-time service, so Bertha gets the full spotlight. An interesting character, but the cleverness of Donald is missed.
March 15, 2016
i - 00:51
f - 22:48
f - 22:48
August 16, 2018
No Donald in the book :(
But still a great book!
But still a great book!
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