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Cool and Lam #15
Beware the Curves
Donald Lam and his partner, Bertha Cool, private detectives, are hired by a mysterious client to investigate Karl Carver Endicott, but the first thing they learn is that Endicott has been murdered
176 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1956
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
February 3, 2018
This is a fairly standard entry in the Donald Lam/Bertha Cool series. It begins when a man appears in the detectives' offices and asks them to locate a man named Karl that he met in Paris several years earlier. He can't remember the Karl's last name but remembers that he was on his honeymoon with his bride, Elizabeth, and that he came from Citrus Grove, a small town in California. The client, John Ditttmar Ansel, claims to be a writer and says that Karl gave him a terrific idea for a book. Before he writes the book, he'd like to locate Karl and get his permission to use the story.
As usual, Bertha falls for the client's story and sees the chance to make some easy money. And, also as usual, both Donald and the reader know that the story is ridiculous and that Ansel has some other, darker, motive for trying to find good old Karl.
It takes Donald only a few hours to establish that the new client has never written a book or a story that's appeared in any magazine and to also identify Karl as Karl Carver Endicott, the heir to a large fortune. Donald also discovers that Karl Endicott was murdered in Citrus Grove several years ago, at just about the time Ansel claims to have met him in Paris. The crime remains unsolved and the principal suspect, described by a cabbie who drove the suspect to the victim's house, very closely resembles John Dittmar Ansel.
Donald is thus almost immediately up to his neck in another complicated mystery filled with cops who want him off the case and several sexy women who want other things of him. As always, it will take some pretty fancy footwork for Donald to stay ahead of the police while juggling the women and attempting to solve the crime. The solution to this case is one of the more interesting in the series, and in all, Beware the Curves is another entertaining entry in it.
As usual, Bertha falls for the client's story and sees the chance to make some easy money. And, also as usual, both Donald and the reader know that the story is ridiculous and that Ansel has some other, darker, motive for trying to find good old Karl.
It takes Donald only a few hours to establish that the new client has never written a book or a story that's appeared in any magazine and to also identify Karl as Karl Carver Endicott, the heir to a large fortune. Donald also discovers that Karl Endicott was murdered in Citrus Grove several years ago, at just about the time Ansel claims to have met him in Paris. The crime remains unsolved and the principal suspect, described by a cabbie who drove the suspect to the victim's house, very closely resembles John Dittmar Ansel.
Donald is thus almost immediately up to his neck in another complicated mystery filled with cops who want him off the case and several sexy women who want other things of him. As always, it will take some pretty fancy footwork for Donald to stay ahead of the police while juggling the women and attempting to solve the crime. The solution to this case is one of the more interesting in the series, and in all, Beware the Curves is another entertaining entry in it.
March 14, 2015
My first Cool and Lam novel..it was pretty funny to read all those old fashioned catch phrases and interesting to meet these characters. B. Cool as an abbreviation cracked me up. So did all the female suspects throwing themselves at this Private Eye.
I loved the last minute save where..should I say it?..no, well just know that this Private Eye has one last trick up his sleeve as a legal adviser. He manages to save the day in court, just how I won't say!
I loved the last minute save where..should I say it?..no, well just know that this Private Eye has one last trick up his sleeve as a legal adviser. He manages to save the day in court, just how I won't say!
April 8, 2024
In addition to the eighty-some Perry Mason books and miscellaneous others, Erle Stanley Gardner wrote 30 Cool and Lam novels under the name A.A. Fair, and they're absolutely fantastic.
ESG's plots are bonkers, fast paced, never letting up, and since the Cool and Lam was never adapted for television, (there was a pilot, but it wasn't picked up) I am able to enjoy each ride without ever coming to the moment (as happens with Perry Mason) where I suddenly recall the TV episode and know how it all ends.
The question is, why the hell have I only read half of them so far? I really do neglect my favorites.
This volume is one of my favorites in the series so far. Not particularly because the crime / plot is notably better than the others, but because this one gives us two things that have been rare to nonexistent in the series so far.
1. The courtroom. We get to see actual trial strategies from Lam, a former lawyer, whose entire appeal as a detective is brains, not the hypermasculine bravado we get from Chandler and Hammett's heroes.
2. Bertha. I admit I'm stumped by Gardner's constantly comparing 165 pound woman to a hippopotamus, but it's pretty clear from the earliest books he didn't initially intend her as the butt of a joke, the comic relief she is sadly reduced to in so many of the stories. Original Bertha was formidable. And while we do still get a hippopotamus crack at the beginning of this book, we also get a great scene with Bertha interviewing a suspect. That made me happy.
I already have the next three of these on hand, but I enjoyed this so much that before I even finished it I'd hopped on ebay and ordered the 3 after that. (Most of the series is out of print.) I won't binge them, but I really am going to make an effort to stop drawing out this series and get through them in the next year or two. This was a blast.
ESG's plots are bonkers, fast paced, never letting up, and since the Cool and Lam was never adapted for television, (there was a pilot, but it wasn't picked up) I am able to enjoy each ride without ever coming to the moment (as happens with Perry Mason) where I suddenly recall the TV episode and know how it all ends.
The question is, why the hell have I only read half of them so far? I really do neglect my favorites.
This volume is one of my favorites in the series so far. Not particularly because the crime / plot is notably better than the others, but because this one gives us two things that have been rare to nonexistent in the series so far.
1. The courtroom. We get to see actual trial strategies from Lam, a former lawyer, whose entire appeal as a detective is brains, not the hypermasculine bravado we get from Chandler and Hammett's heroes.
2. Bertha. I admit I'm stumped by Gardner's constantly comparing 165 pound woman to a hippopotamus, but it's pretty clear from the earliest books he didn't initially intend her as the butt of a joke, the comic relief she is sadly reduced to in so many of the stories. Original Bertha was formidable. And while we do still get a hippopotamus crack at the beginning of this book, we also get a great scene with Bertha interviewing a suspect. That made me happy.
I already have the next three of these on hand, but I enjoyed this so much that before I even finished it I'd hopped on ebay and ordered the 3 after that. (Most of the series is out of print.) I won't binge them, but I really am going to make an effort to stop drawing out this series and get through them in the next year or two. This was a blast.
June 10, 2017
Erle Stanley Gardner, famed for creating Perry Mason, wrote the Bertha Cool and Donald Lam series under his pseudonym AA Fair. This volume fits in about midway through the series. In it, Lam quickly realizes that the case they are hired to take on is far different than the client let on and involves far more in the matter of murder, blackmail, corruption, and betrayal. It involves small towns, highway racing, and deep jungle adventures. It is smoothly written and ends with a Perry Mason like court trial with Lam actually practicing law as he was trained to before being so rudely disbarred. With the trial scenes, one may even wonder if this was Originally intended as a Mason story, not a Donald Lam story.
June 7, 2024
More of the usual same. Donald Lam is working while Bertha Cool is shouting and lambasting him while taking the client's money. The case centers on a suspect in a 7 year old unsolved murder case and follows his arrest, trial and final sentence.
Good characters although the stories are becoming a little the same as last time. I hope for something away from trials next time. 3 stars.
Good characters although the stories are becoming a little the same as last time. I hope for something away from trials next time. 3 stars.
March 21, 2023
I really love the Cool & Lam series. This was no exception. A great mystery! A real page turner. Totally love Bertha and Donald, what great characters.
April 7, 2021
Donald Lam’s legal background comes into play on numerous occasions toward the end of Beware the Curves. Since an automobile accident is featured prominently in one section of the story, I thought the title might be a double-entendre between a curvy road and a beautifully sculpted woman. I was wrong. Beware the Curves, even as it sounds, is a tale of double-dealing, political corruption, a “Perry Mason”-style courtroom revelation (appropriately enough since the creator of the famous attorney, Erle Stanley Gardner, wrote this book under his very prolific pen name, A. A. Fair), and more inaccurate and deliberately false reporting than seen on certain faux-news networks active in today’s media.
Lam’s ability to “read” clients and sources plays a vital role in Beware the Curves. It is a standard trope in detective fiction for a client to be dishonest with a private-eye, but the PI character doesn’t usually “twig” to it immediately as Lam does. I liked this within this particular context, because it gave Fair (Gardner) an opportunity to show how carefully Lam covered his bases (researching and asking about different cases or potential cases while investigating what seems to be the primary case.
Beware the Curves must have seemed pretty racy when it went on-sale in 1956, as Lam maneuvers between not one potentially treacherous female of interest, but two. If one counts his secretary, Elsie, who is infatuated with him, this becomes a slalom course of beautiful women. I also like the fact that one of those women, Helen Manning, is depicted as attractive, but not perfect. I don’t remember seeing any females to whom the detective is attracted being in the least overweight before. Of course, Lam’s partner (senior partner) Bertha is clearly overweight, but her character and background have an interesting effect on Helen.
I didn’t mark a lot of memorable lines in Beware the Curves, but I did mark this cynical observation on matrimony versus the reality of divorce: “It doesn’t keep you from falling in love, but after the love part gets to a point where you try to conform to conventional standards and you feel someone owns you, you start fighting, not against the person, but against the idea of being possessed.” (p. 108) It was an interesting way of rationalizing the idea of falling in and out of love.
Beware the Curves is a reading experience much like watching a mystery on television. It has some twists and offers a challenge to solve. The courtroom intrigue is more fascinating than the mystery itself, but I enjoyed the experience throughout.
Lam’s ability to “read” clients and sources plays a vital role in Beware the Curves. It is a standard trope in detective fiction for a client to be dishonest with a private-eye, but the PI character doesn’t usually “twig” to it immediately as Lam does. I liked this within this particular context, because it gave Fair (Gardner) an opportunity to show how carefully Lam covered his bases (researching and asking about different cases or potential cases while investigating what seems to be the primary case.
Beware the Curves must have seemed pretty racy when it went on-sale in 1956, as Lam maneuvers between not one potentially treacherous female of interest, but two. If one counts his secretary, Elsie, who is infatuated with him, this becomes a slalom course of beautiful women. I also like the fact that one of those women, Helen Manning, is depicted as attractive, but not perfect. I don’t remember seeing any females to whom the detective is attracted being in the least overweight before. Of course, Lam’s partner (senior partner) Bertha is clearly overweight, but her character and background have an interesting effect on Helen.
I didn’t mark a lot of memorable lines in Beware the Curves, but I did mark this cynical observation on matrimony versus the reality of divorce: “It doesn’t keep you from falling in love, but after the love part gets to a point where you try to conform to conventional standards and you feel someone owns you, you start fighting, not against the person, but against the idea of being possessed.” (p. 108) It was an interesting way of rationalizing the idea of falling in and out of love.
Beware the Curves is a reading experience much like watching a mystery on television. It has some twists and offers a challenge to solve. The courtroom intrigue is more fascinating than the mystery itself, but I enjoyed the experience throughout.
December 1, 2017
"Beware the Curves" (from 1956, with love) by Erle Stanley Gardner (writing under the pen name A.A. Fair) is a "Cool and Lam" mystery. If you're unfamiliar with this series, it's what Gardner wrote for fun when he wasn't writing the famous "Perry Mason" series of mysteries. And the Cool and Lam mysteries are just that--fun.
Donald Lam is a "brainy runt" of a detective, working for Bertha Cool's (B. Cool, get it?) detective agency. Bertha is a piece of work. She likes money and isn't too particular about how she gets it, as long as she keeps her license. She also likes big meals and diamonds on her fingers. Unlike most other "noir" detectives, Lam uses his brain more than his fists or a trusty pistol. He's no intellectual, just loaded with street smarts and enough gray matter to earn a law school degree.
Cool and Lam get involved with a murder case that happened years before. Someone killed a rich businessman who liked to play fast and loose with everyone--his trophy wife, his mistress, his business partners, and his employees. The accused murderer is in hiding, who happens to be in love with the victim's wife. Turns out, the victim tried to have him bumped off so he could marry the woman they both wanted. So there were grievances all around.
Adding to the "curves" in the case is a woman with a big parcel of land that figures into the wheelings and dealings of the victim and the banker that the trophy wife and the accused killer think is the real killer. It all ends up in a big courtroom drama (but not the Perry Mason kind) with twists and turns and not one, but two buried murder weapons being dug up. And it all resolves in some legal chicanery that dates the story a bit (okay, a lot) but manages to resolve things fairly neatly.
"Beware the Curves" shows that it is from a more simple and naïve era at times, but it's still a fun and solid thriller from the mind that brought us the much more square and stolid Perry Mason.
Donald Lam is a "brainy runt" of a detective, working for Bertha Cool's (B. Cool, get it?) detective agency. Bertha is a piece of work. She likes money and isn't too particular about how she gets it, as long as she keeps her license. She also likes big meals and diamonds on her fingers. Unlike most other "noir" detectives, Lam uses his brain more than his fists or a trusty pistol. He's no intellectual, just loaded with street smarts and enough gray matter to earn a law school degree.
Cool and Lam get involved with a murder case that happened years before. Someone killed a rich businessman who liked to play fast and loose with everyone--his trophy wife, his mistress, his business partners, and his employees. The accused murderer is in hiding, who happens to be in love with the victim's wife. Turns out, the victim tried to have him bumped off so he could marry the woman they both wanted. So there were grievances all around.
Adding to the "curves" in the case is a woman with a big parcel of land that figures into the wheelings and dealings of the victim and the banker that the trophy wife and the accused killer think is the real killer. It all ends up in a big courtroom drama (but not the Perry Mason kind) with twists and turns and not one, but two buried murder weapons being dug up. And it all resolves in some legal chicanery that dates the story a bit (okay, a lot) but manages to resolve things fairly neatly.
"Beware the Curves" shows that it is from a more simple and naïve era at times, but it's still a fun and solid thriller from the mind that brought us the much more square and stolid Perry Mason.
December 2, 2019
Well pickle me for a beet! I finally found one of the books in this series. They are hard to come by in the libraries and used book shops. I wouldn't normally start in the middle of a series, but not much choice. A.A. Fair is of course Erle Stanley Gardner, master of the mystery/courtroom drama in the extensive Perry Mason series. I was hoping for something different here, but didn't really get it. It's an interesting but somewhat convoluted whodunit, with a sub-plot regarding some local small town corruption. The two plots eventually weave together, culminating in a lengthy courtroom drama. Gardner is said to have written the Cool and Lam series as diversion from the Perry Mason books, but he can't seem to suppress his legal background and obvious fascination with the judicial system. There is a high level of detail in the courtroom, as Lam pulls the levers behind their client's attorney. The outcome is hinged on a subtlety of legal definitions and loopholes.
Bertha Cool and Donald Lam make an interesting pair of protagonists. I pictured Jack Sprat (and his wife who could eat no lean) from the famous nursery rhyme. A little research into the series revealed that Lam is a former lawyer, and his legal savvy seems to keep the cash rolling in to the agency. Bertha, constantly exasperated by Lam's ways, can't resist the cash flow. I think I would have liked this more if it was more detective novel and less of a legal drama, but I'll try another if I can find one.
Bertha Cool and Donald Lam make an interesting pair of protagonists. I pictured Jack Sprat (and his wife who could eat no lean) from the famous nursery rhyme. A little research into the series revealed that Lam is a former lawyer, and his legal savvy seems to keep the cash rolling in to the agency. Bertha, constantly exasperated by Lam's ways, can't resist the cash flow. I think I would have liked this more if it was more detective novel and less of a legal drama, but I'll try another if I can find one.
July 18, 2020
I began reading these early Erie Stanley Gardner novels because of the HBO television series about the pre-lawyer, Perry Mason. I have no idea how the HBO screenwriters approached their task, but they could have done much worse than to model the Private Eye Perry Mason on the PI in this series, Donald Lam, the partner in the Cool and Lam Agency. Lam is exactly the type of smart, Insightful private eye who could become the smart, insightful lawyer, Perry Mason. Lam solves cases with his wits, ilnstincts based on a deep understanding of human nature, and steel trap knowledge of the law. Always several steps ahead of the cops, the crooks, the cons, and his Amazon partner. ESG's plots have an abundance of tricky slippery curves. Beware. You won't work out all the answers before Lam.
February 1, 2025
This book from 1956 was masterfully written, with knowledge of courtroom procedures, by A.A. Fair, a pseudonym of Erle Stanley Gardner. Detectives Donald Lam and Bertha Cool stay ahead of the game. They figure out how the crime played out and work with the Defense to get his client off. But does it work?
October 18, 2018
One of the best Cool and Lam books with plenty of chances for Donald to solve the mystery and outwit the bad guys. And Bertha had a trademark moment of showing a shapely manipulator how it works when someone can't be influenced that way. Very satisfying.
August 9, 2020
I read the Cool & Lam novels because I recognize Gardner is a good writer, but Perry Mason is dull dull dull. Unfortunately this Cool & Lam novel turns into a Perry Mason novel (without Perry Mason) about halfway through.
April 12, 2024
I am a big fan of Cool and Lam.
Contrasting characters but so well drawn. In this book Donald reveals the extent of his legal knowledge to devastating effect.
And Bertha is allowed to show her colours.
Would recommend
Contrasting characters but so well drawn. In this book Donald reveals the extent of his legal knowledge to devastating effect.
And Bertha is allowed to show her colours.
Would recommend
August 16, 2018
Unique book with a good ending. Perhaps the only book where the murderer was known by the middle of the book. Also very rarely do we see so many courtroom scenes in a Cool and Lam book.
December 2, 2018
This book was pretty action-packed in a very noir kind of way. I liked the twist at the end. What a fun series.
March 13, 2019
These books keep my rapt attention. I read them in about two hours. They're very formulaic and predictable, but entertaining none-the-less. I enjoyed this story.
January 21, 2020
That Gardner calls 165-pound Lam a hippo on the first page should tell you all you need to know about the book.
September 6, 2020
Nonsense, but it’s silly and cute! kinda like reading an episode of Law and Order, you love to see it
February 25, 2023
Masterful drama
A great story, told in the masterful style of A A Fair that keeps you turning the pages. A good balance of detective work and courtroom drama.
A great story, told in the masterful style of A A Fair that keeps you turning the pages. A good balance of detective work and courtroom drama.
April 14, 2025
Another winning story by the author. I love the characters Lam and Cool. This story is no exception. The story was a joy to read. Each one of the stories are all different.
January 2, 2024
There are, as one might expect, some similarities with the author’s Perry Mason formula in this novel from the Cool and Lam series, particularly with the dramatic courtroom revelations as the culmination of a fragmented investigation which hovers in the fringes of legality.
There is much sharp and spirited dialogue and several sharp and spirited women also feature. Most of the men,apart from Donald Lam, are frail, flawed and,often, venal creatures.
Justice is done and the guilty punished but not quite as the reader might expect.
Highly readable, highly entertaining and great value in this edition.
3.5 stars.
There is much sharp and spirited dialogue and several sharp and spirited women also feature. Most of the men,apart from Donald Lam, are frail, flawed and,often, venal creatures.
Justice is done and the guilty punished but not quite as the reader might expect.
Highly readable, highly entertaining and great value in this edition.
3.5 stars.
June 5, 2012
Say what you will about the Cool and Lam novels. They tend to be formulaic. There's never any doubt as to how they'll end. This one dipped deeeep in to the arena of Perry Mason.
But there's one positive thing they'll always do. Keep you turning the pages. I literally lost sleep over this book which is a really rare event. I just had to find out what Donald Lam was going to pull next. To be fair, I figured most of this one out about the same time he did. But it was still a page-turner...which about all you can ask for in this type of book.
But there's one positive thing they'll always do. Keep you turning the pages. I literally lost sleep over this book which is a really rare event. I just had to find out what Donald Lam was going to pull next. To be fair, I figured most of this one out about the same time he did. But it was still a page-turner...which about all you can ask for in this type of book.
July 26, 2016
Not as salicious as the cover or title advertised, but still an interesting read. Not your typical detective story, I enjoyed how the character was portrayed as far smarter (yet not arrogant) than others and seemed to have the solution figured out far ahead of time.
Strange how the book ended in the courtroom (although perhaps not since the author created Perry Mason), and focused on a penal code revelation, but nice to have something different.
Strange how the book ended in the courtroom (although perhaps not since the author created Perry Mason), and focused on a penal code revelation, but nice to have something different.
September 28, 2023
BEWARE THE CURVES
Rating 2.5/5
Enjoyed up to first 80 pages or so.
After that it became pretty normal.
Not up to the mark.
Rating 2.5/5
Enjoyed up to first 80 pages or so.
After that it became pretty normal.
Not up to the mark.
November 17, 2015
A typical scamper through the witnesses for Lam & Cool. Added interest with a court case at the end where Donald Lam advises the defense attorney on courtroom strategy.
November 2, 2020
*2.9/5
This Whole Scenarioes Was Strange But Good!
This Whole Scenarioes Was Strange But Good!
June 3, 2023
Perry Mason would be proud. Lam, the former lawyer, pulls a rabbit out of his hat to help an innocent man.
March 28, 2024
Il mio primo libro in italiano che non e un fumetto. Passi da gigante.
April 5, 2017
ESG/AAF seems to have forgotten who his protagonists are in this series with this one! It was far too courtroom-oriented, ala Perry Masonmint, for my taste. At least it was a quick read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews