The Count of 9 - Erle Stanley Gardner

Famous for his Perry Mason series, Erle Stanley Gardner also wrote the entertaining Cool and Lam Private Investigation team series under the name A.A. Fair. I say PI team, but essentially most of the work is done by 'pint size' Private Detective Donald Lam, while the business side of the arrangement is taken care of in the rather larger shape of Bertha Cool. Bertha has a tendency to explosive outbursts at the unconventional way Lam operates and is always trying to improve the reputation and class of clientele of the agency, but although it's an arrangement that generally works surprisingly well, this familiar/repetitive operation is certainly put to the test in The Count of 9.

Bertha has landed a nice little engagement with a wealthy socialite and is making the most of the promotion and status such a commission will bring. Dean Crockett the Second has hired Cool and Lam to look over the guests invited to the party at his penthouse apartment to make sure nothing gets stolen from his collection of exotic artefacts, as the last time a jade statue worth six thousand bucks went missing. Bertha doesn't want anything going wrong so decides to manage the guest list herself. Unfortunately for her the reputation of Cool and Lam looks like taking a hit when, despite precautions and even an x-ray device installed in the lift that is the only entrance to the penthouse apartment, not only does another jade Buddha statue disappear but also a pygmy blowgun that shoots poison darts.

Luckily for Bertha, Donald Lam is quick to recover the stolen items, but decides to play it 'cool' until he finds out what is going on with the thefts. He knows it's more than just a light-fingered guest, but it remains to be seen just what kind of scheme is being played here. That suits Bertha, as not only is the reputation of the agency restored but it means they can pick up a few side jobs related to the theft. The matter takes a serious turn however when their client Dean Crockett the Second is found dead in his inaccessible private office with a poison dart in his chest.

There are a lot of intriguing crime elements involved in this case that definitely set Cool and Lam apart from regular crime fiction. The murder here is not quite a locked room mystery, but similar in that there seems to be no obvious way to carry out the crimes and yet they occur. The manner in which they are investigated and partly resolved in record time by Donald Lam also make this thrilling. Of course the other standard classic pulp elements are brilliantly handled as well, as you would expect with Erle Stanley Gardner, from the frisky wives of rich men to sleazy photographers and women who like to flaunt their curves (and more). Fortunately Lam is not one to be easily distracted.

If anything, it's the murder of Dean Crockett the Second that feels like a distraction in The Count of 9; a not entirely necessary escalation of the crime mystery, although if it was just about recovering a couple of stolen jade statues it might not appear to be much of a case. Don't be fooled though, there are more than enough complications, traps, false leads and all kinds of violence, tricks and schemes running beneath the surface to make this hugely entertaining, and encourage the reader to pick up the next Cool and Lam mystery. Fortunately for me, Shills Can't Cash Chips is just a click away on my eReader.

Reading notes: The Count of 9 by Erle Stanley Gardner is one of several Cool and Lam crime thrillers published by Titan under their Hard Case Crime imprint. I read this one in published eBook format.