Review: A. A. Fair and the Donald Lam and Bertha Cool Mystery Books

[nuranar]

(Cross-posted to vintage_crime)A. A. Fair was one of the pseudonyms used by Erle Stanley Gardner, who is best-known for creating the famous defense attorney Perry Mason.  Gardner wrote over seventy Perry Mason books from the 1930s through the 1960s.  Perry Mason is most known from the 1950s television show starring Raymond Burr, but there were also earlier

Comments

[misshoneybee]

Nope, never read them, but they sound interesting! I like the old Perry Mason show, so I'd probably like the books even better, as there's a bit too much of the courtroom drama in the TV series.

[nuranar]

They sound like they're right up your alley, then! I don't know if you've read a lot of crime fiction of this period, so I must say that they do take a middle line between the Agatha Christie-style genteel puzzle-solving and the harder American noir-feel. If anything, they're closer to the Christie-style; they're just a little bit (truly a little bit) franker about, uh, relationships. And there's one brief episode in the first Lam/Cool book that I'd rather wish wasn't in there. Absolutey no detail, but... *makes a face* Rather strange, since that wasn't in either of the later books I read, and not in any of the Masons either. I'm a bit sensitive in this area, though, so I wanted to let you know. It certainly hasn't stopped me from keeping the book or wanting to read more, and I have dropped series for that reason before.

[nuranar]

I forgot to add that I do think you'll really like the Perry Mason books. The Case of the Crooked Candle had some really darling moments. :) Go to StopYou'reKillingMe and try to get the earlier ones first; sometimes prolific authors like Gardner get a little weird, edgy, or simply lose their touch in later decades, especially the 1960s. I always like to try a new author's early books before judging the series. :)

[suededsilk]

I've never read any of the books mentioned, but Bertha and Donald sound like a pair! *chalks up another set of books to look up at some point in the future*

I was never over-fond of Perry Mason - the TV series, not the books. There was some action, but then everyone wound up in the courtroom (same. courtroom. every. time.) with close-ups of the witnesses and Perry's face...meh. OK, but not the best.

[nuranar]

You may take this as a recommendation. ;)

Huh, we have pretty much the same opinion there. There's definitely less courtroom in the books. After all, there's more time for all the action that goes on to make the courtroom denouement effective.