"There are countless horrible things happening all over the world and horrible people prospering, but we must never allow them to disturb our equanimity or deflect us from our sacred duty to sabotage and annoy them whenever possible." -Auberon Waugh
The coin stratagem reminds me of The Bigger They Come by A.A. Fair (alias of Erle Stanley Gardner), the first in the “Cool & Lam” series: our hero, Donald Lam, shews how he could get away with murder (though innocent, of course) by being charged with committing a misdemeanor in Arizona, being extradited from California against his will, and then arguing successfully that since he did not flee California but left against his will, so that State, by handing him over to Arizona, proved it didn’t want him and couldn’t extradite him.
The Bigger They Come is the only ES Gardner book I’ve read to my sons (so far), and they enjoyed it immensely—particularly when Lam (apparently) gets away with murder after being disbarred for saying he knew how.
Rather than trespassing further on your space, I have transcribed some juicy bits from the novel onto my site.
At one point in my life I tracked down and read every novel that Gardner had written. At least as far as I could tell back then. The guy had a lot of pen names.
The writing and plotting style didn't change much, but the characters did.
I probably missed some under pen names but I sure read a lot of them.
The only problem was that guessing who was actually guilty in Perry Mason stories was easy. It was whoever was possible but seemed least likely. ;->=
Still fun, and the legal explanations were fun.
I like Donald Lam better than Perry Mason. He was more fun.
At one point in my life I tracked down and read every novel that Gardner had written. At least as far as I could tell back then. The guy had a lot of pen names.
The writing and plotting style didn't change much, but the characters did.
I probably missed some under pen names but I sure read a lot of them.
The only problem was that guessing who was actually guilty in Perry Mason stories was easy. It was whoever was possible but seemed least likely. ;->=
Still fun, and the legal explanations were fun.
I like Donald Lam better than Perry Mason. He was more fun.
The coin stratagem reminds me of The Bigger They Come by A.A. Fair (alias of Erle Stanley Gardner), the first in the “Cool & Lam” series: our hero, Donald Lam, shews how he could get away with murder (though innocent, of course) by being charged with committing a misdemeanor in Arizona, being extradited from California against his will, and then arguing successfully that since he did not flee California but left against his will, so that State, by handing him over to Arizona, proved it didn’t want him and couldn’t extradite him.
ReplyDeleteSay, that yarn sounds pretty interesting!
ReplyDeleteThe Bigger They Come is the only ES Gardner book I’ve read to my sons (so far), and they enjoyed it immensely—particularly when Lam (apparently) gets away with murder after being disbarred for saying he knew how.
ReplyDeleteRather than trespassing further on your space, I have transcribed some juicy bits from the novel onto my site.
Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAt one point in my life I tracked down and read every novel that Gardner had written. At least as far as I could tell back then. The guy had a lot of pen names.
ReplyDeleteThe writing and plotting style didn't change much, but the characters did.
I probably missed some under pen names but I sure read a lot of them.
The only problem was that guessing who was actually guilty in Perry Mason stories was easy. It was whoever was possible but seemed least likely. ;->=
Still fun, and the legal explanations were fun.
I like Donald Lam better than Perry Mason. He was more fun.
At one point in my life I tracked down and read every novel that Gardner had written. At least as far as I could tell back then. The guy had a lot of pen names.
ReplyDeleteThe writing and plotting style didn't change much, but the characters did.
I probably missed some under pen names but I sure read a lot of them.
The only problem was that guessing who was actually guilty in Perry Mason stories was easy. It was whoever was possible but seemed least likely. ;->=
Still fun, and the legal explanations were fun.
I like Donald Lam better than Perry Mason. He was more fun.