The Count of 9

Cool and Lam #18

by A.A. Fair (Pseudonym), Erle Stanley Gardner

A DOUBLE-LOCKED ROOM...
TWO STOLEN JADE IDOLS...
POISONED BLOWGUN DARTS FROM BORNEO...
—CAN EVEN COOL & LAM UNTANGLE THIS MYSTERY?

Erle Stanley Gardner was not just the creator of PERRY MASON—at the time of his death, he was the best-selling American author of all time, with hundreds of millions of books in print, including the 29 cases of the brash, irresistible detective team of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. Gardner was also one of the most ingenious plot-spinners in the field, coming up with stunning twists and reveals—and THE COUNT OF 9 is Gardner at his twistiest.

Hired to protect the treasures of a globe-trotting adventurer, Bertha and Donald confront an impossible crime: how could anything be smuggled out of a dinner party when the guests were X-rayed coming and going—least of all a 6-foot-long blowgun? But that’s nothing compared to the crime they face next: an impossible murder...

First appearance in bookstores in half a century!
Erle Stanley Gardner remains one of the most popular American authors of all time
Features a new cover painting by legendary paperback and movie poster illustrator Robert McGinnis

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Noir, Pulp, Thriller, Detective

223 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1958

About the author

A.A. Fair is a pseudonym of Erle Stanley Gardner.

Reviews

[James Thane · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a wealthy client hires the firm of Cool & Lam to ensure that nothing gets stolen from his home on the night of a big party that he's throwing, Bertha Cool insists that she can handle the job all by herself--it will be a piece of cake. Of course anyone who's ever read one of the books in this series understands immediately that something very valuable WILL inevitably be stolen from the party, and Bertha will have gotten the firm into a jam. The reader also realizes, of course, that it will be up to Donald Lam to right the ship. Donald ("that brainy little bastard") fairly quickly recovers the stolen items but then somebody gets killed and the stakes are suddenly raised dramatically.

This is a fairly typical entry in this series. Bertha is her usual greedy, irascible self and Donald will get beaten up a lot while attempting to solve the mysteries involved. He will also attract the attention of several women, including a particularly amorous and adventurous nude model. There's big game hunters, blow guns, poisonous darts, pushy cops and Cool & Lam. A quick, entertaining read.

[Oliver Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light and fun locked room mystery. It’s silly, involving an explorer and a blowpipe, but never less than entertaining. It also has a passionate introduction from Erle Stanley Gardner about penal reform which has nothing to do with the actual novel but was an interesting read.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

COUNTDOWN: Mid-20th Century North American Crime
BOOK 211 (of 250)
I thought I'd try a 2nd Cool/Lam novel. And with lines here like, "Good heavens, what is that, a fountain pen in your...pocket," Gardner as Fair can deliver some fun.
HOOK - 2: "As I opened the door and stepped into the reception room, a flash bulb blazed into brilliance and blinded me," is the opening line. "Big Bertha Cool ... glared at me [Donald Lam]..." as Lam had ruined the photograph. So, we begin with Bertha giving Lam a hard time (a recurrent theme in the first Bertha/Lam book I read) but we learn shortly that a Mr. Dean Crockett has hired Bertha's agency to protect his home from further theft. Standard opening for the genre (3 stars) but just too much about Bertha's irritation at the photographer's fixation on the legs of a filing clerk and Bertha's irritation at everything, for a 2-star opening. Enough already!
PACE - 3: Fine, things move along.
PLOT - 2: Basically, this is a 'who-done-it' as a murder occurs. But before the murder, Mr. Crockett's blow-gun (collected during many travels around the world has disappeared: how could it possibly been stolen, given that it's about 5-feet long and Bertha had been guarding the singular entry/exit to Crockett's penthouse apartment?) It's an obvious solution, but someone also took poison darts and then used the blow-gun to murder someone. 3 stars, but you have to know a certain fact to finger the murderer, that that fact doesn't appear until page 218 of the total 223 pages. Minus another star: the author doesn't play fair with readers.
CHARACTERS-3: Bertha and her endless clips like "Fry me an oyster" are funny...once or twice. Frank Sellers (homicide cop) calling Lam "Pint Size" incessantly just gets irritating. But Lam has some good come backs and is a smart, interesting guy. Sylvia, a nude model, has the best line in the book: X-rays are being discussed and she says, "Oh, men carry such an assortment of junk..." Both Mr. and Mrs. Crockett have enough money and time to play around and play games with each other. Syvia, the Crockett's, their staff, and Lam are good enough for a 3-star cast.
ATMOSPHERE - 2: There is much talk about exploring and planting flags and exotic locations, but all that is told via stories about the past. There is very little atmosphere in the here and now of the book's time frame.
SUMMARY: 2.4 stars, and my final Bertha/Lam novel.

[Stven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best of the Donald Lam/Bertha Cool stories, but anyway a fun quick read with a blowgun, poisoned darts, and an actual nude model. "Nudity is interesting," she said, "but nakedness is not artistic." All right.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

If all books were written like Erle Stanley Gardner's "The Count of 9," I would watch a lot less television. A.A. Fair was Gardner's pseudonym for writing these "Cool and Lam" detective novels when writing Perry Mason to pay the bills was just too dull. Hard Case Crime has resurrected the "Cool and Lam" novels, and they are giving them a well-deserved second life.

"The Count of 9" is from 1958 (with love) and has some of the limitations of the author and the period of time it was written. You won't find raw sex or severe violence like the novels of Lawrence Block and Mickey Spillane. I prefer having plenty of graphic sex and graphic violence in my detective stories, but it's a testimony to Gardner that I didn't miss them here.

The story involves an eccentric millionaire world-traveler, a missing blowgun (including poison darts), two stolen jade statues, a trophy wife, a lusty model, a sleazy photographer, and so on. When some of the above items go missing on the watch of the Cool and Lam agency, things get complex. And then a murder involving the stolen blowgun and poison darts makes things even more difficult for the intrepid detectives.

I really enjoyed this novel, despite any small problems I had with parts of it. As I've mentioned before with the Cool and Lam series, the book seems to end before the tale is fully resolved. The mysteries are solved, but the usual "epilogue" I have come to expect from novels of this type is absent. As is the ritual uncovering of the criminals. And a secondary mystery seems to take up a lot more of the author's time and attention than the "main" crime of the tale. The title isn't terribly effective or relevant to the story at hand. I suspect it was just catchy to the author (or the publisher).

Yet this is still a five-star novel for me. I had a lot of fun while reading it, and that is RARE for me.

[Edward Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice little puzzle of a mystery from Earl Stanley Gardner writing under the pen name A.A.Fair.

Dean Crockett is an explorer, philanderer husband, adventurer, collector of valuable native works of art and generally speaking narcissistic ass who winds up murdered in his penthouse apartment by a blowgun/ poisonous dart from his private collection.

This was first published in 1958 and is a solid example of the politically incorrect PI pulp novel of it's time. A story with big tough bad guys, cigar chomping foul mouthed cops, philandering husbands, flirtatious wives, risque photo's, babes, dames, sexual innuendos and beady eyed jewelry fences.

A fun little puzzler.

This novel is being re-released as part of the Hard Case Crime Publication.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun, engaging mystery that surpassed my expectations. Some plot twists I did not see coming, and, in stark contrast to most hardboiled P.I.'s of fiction, Donald Lam mostly works with his brain and not his fists. (Indeed, he's a short guy known for getting the shit beaten out of him.)

Slightly less misogyny than you might expect from a detective story of this vintage, and WAY less racism. Like, none. I sort of assumed Lam was Asian because of his name, but it never comes up. Which, maybe he's white. I don't know. But race and ethnicity almost always come up in these old mysteries, with even the sympathetic characters throwing slurs and stereotypes around. But not this time.

Very entertaining. I'd read more, and I'm happy to see there are about a million in the series.

[Woody Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could have gone another half-a-star on this one. I really like Donald Lam's cleverness & intuitiveness, even if it does cause him to routinely get pummeled. He always seems to land on his feet, though. As the series progresses, we are seeing less and less of Bertha, who was becoming an unchanging, caricature-like character anyway, so no great loss. I need to take a break from the series as I have a library book that I need to read & return on a timely basis.

[Jim Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

A locked room mystery by the creator of Perry Mason. Lighthearted and fun ... more softboiled than hard. First of this series that I've read and would read more.

[Alonzo Church · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool and Lam are called in to protect the assets of a big game hunter who has had a couple of his treasures swiped. Naturally, more of the treasures get swiped. That’s ok. Lam solves that mystery pretty quickly. But then the client gets killed.

Not good. Not bad. Like most in this series, there’s a decent plot but annoying detectives and zero atmosphere. I did like Lam’s confrontation with a reputable photographer who turns out to be a “hound”, but otherwise, this is a mystery on cruise control.

[Rebecca I · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amusing little murder mystery with the detectives Cool and Lam.

[Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is so great to see THE COUNT OF 9 back in print, thanks to the indispensable Hard Case Crime imprint, after a half-century in limbo. This hallmark installment in the Cool & Lam series by Erle Stanley Gardner, under the pseudonym “A. A. Fair,” stands up extremely well, in spite of (or maybe because of) its age. Gardner in his prime was the best-selling American author of all time, and the quantity of his output was matched by the quality of his work. Each of his Cool & Lam novels contained the holy trinity of the crime fiction of the era --- titillation, violence and a twisty, puzzling mystery --- and THE COUNT OF 9 is no exception.

Bertha Cool and Donald Lam are partners in a small but successful detective agency. Cool manages the business side of things with a hard nose and tight fist, while Lam primarily handles the legwork and detection aspects. Gardner took the stereotypes of the genre at that time and turned them upside down. Neither Cool nor Lam was of the mold of females or males who populated the paperback racks in the 1950s and ’60s. Cool was hardly genteel or soft, while Lam’s shortness of stature led to his being on the receiving end of a smackdown at least once or twice per book. However, this did not adversely affect Lam’s appeal with the ladies, as is demonstrated here.

"This reissue of THE COUNT OF 9 serves as a reminder of both what we had and what we lost in the golden era of paperbacks, right down to the new and eye-riveting cover by the incomparable Robert McGinnis."

The first half of the novel is relatively sedate but incredibly interesting, as the agency fails in its assignment to keep a couple of items belonging to a client from getting up and walking out the door during a party. The client is Dean Crockett, a wealthy travel writer who has collected rare objects from all over the world. Missing in action are a poisonous blowgun and a jade statue. Entrance and exit to the party were possible through one closely guarded doorway, and the blowgun, some six feet in length, would have been almost impossible to conceal. Lam figures out how the deed was done, though it takes him a bit of time to discern who took the items and why.

Meanwhile, Crockett never gets to hear the good news because he turns up murdered in his locked office, a victim of one of his own poisoned blow darts. It’s quite a mystery, and Lam has to deal with distractions (such as whichever woman happens to be in the room at any given moment), the police (who resent his presence during an ongoing investigation), and a couple of burly enforcers who attempt to physically threaten him. However, his biggest impediment at times is the difficult but nonetheless entertaining Cool, who often is more concerned with squeezing a nickel until the buffalo squeals, as opposed to getting out of the way and letting Lam work. It is Cool’s intimidating manner and demeanor, though, that keep the doors open and the lights on, whereas Lam would be lackadaisical at best with respect to business matters. They are a mismatched team, but a team they are, and we are the better for it.

This reissue of THE COUNT OF 9 serves as a reminder of both what we had and what we lost in the golden era of paperbacks, right down to the new and eye-riveting cover by the incomparable Robert McGinnis. It is required reading for any fan of hard-boiled detective fiction who is interested in where the wellspring of his or her favorite novels came from, at least in part.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bertha Cool and Donald Lam make for a strange detective team. Lam is too diminutive of stature to be a hard-boiled private eye (one would think, but not necessarily) while Bertha is too plain and plump to be the type of woman in which one would expect Donald Lam to be interested (he isn’t, romantically). But Lam is a solid and creative investigator (sometimes, too creative) and Cool is a hard-nosed, mercenary-minded manager. So, Lam doesn’t have to worry about paying the office rent (as per the Chandleresque or Hammett stereotype) and Cool doesn’t have to spend much time getting beaten up in the field.

The Count of 9, one of Erle Stanley Gardner’s change of pace efforts at variety from the Perry Mason novels, is one of those out-of-print A. A. Fair (pseudonym, of course) novels that Charles Ardai’s Hard Case Crime imprint has brought back to the public’s attention. The title is a boxing reference and ties into all of the times Lam has allegedly been beaten up. In earlier books, Lam was an extremely successful skirt-chaser. Now, he seems seriously committed to his secretary (whose life he put in danger in an earlier novel) and tends to stay out of trouble. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a plethora of sexual tension, suggestion, and (with others) hanky-panky mentioned in the book; there’s plenty! In fact, the Hard Case Crime cover of my edition was so suggestive with its life-drawing model stepping out of her dress that my wife accused me of reading pornography. It isn’t anywhere close to even soft-porn.

What The Count of 9 contains is an intriguing mystery. Gardner doesn’t give us enough clues to sort out the inevitable murderer in the early sections of the book, but he does turn the arrest warrant onto the most likely suspect from the beginning. It just would have been nice to have seen it coming rather than wishing it was coming. It’s an intriguing mystery with an adventurer killed with a poison dart from his own expedition. The intriguing mystery also comes after a heist mystery, so it’s double fun—just like the double-locked-door aspect of the murder itself. Lam uncovers (or conveniently/luckily suspects) scams galore and he pulls a few unethical tricks just to be certain the police don’t overlook (or ignore) those clues he placed on their doorstep either on the level or not.

I loved seeing the scams uncovered and I loved the way Lam played both Bertha Cool and the police to keep the goal in sight and not let anyone take the easy way. There’s humor, sensuality, scandal, skullduggery, and a rollicking good story to keep you reading. For its genre, The Count of 9 is at least a “four,” but for those of you who want literature and deep characterization, this one’s a “two.” I’m rating it as per its genre.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've never read any of the Donald Lam/Bertha Cool you should rush out and buy one now. Why? Because they are absolutely fun! This series was written by the same author who wrote the Perry Mason novels. Bertha Cool is the boss of the detective agency. Despite her name, she is anything but cool. She is excitable, greedy, and complains about anything and everything. A stout woman who resents a woman who uses her good looks to achieve her ends. Donald Lam is anything but a lamb. He is mocked for being short by the cops and he refuses to carry a gun. In fact, a feature of almost every one of these novels includes the obligatory scene where Lam gets jumped and beaten. This time around Bertha asks him why he won't just buy a gun and he tells her that he would have to replace his gun every time he gets jumped and beaten.

This time around the agency is hired to guard a party held by a wealthy travel writer\adventurer. At an earlier party a jade Buddha statue was stolen and the writer doesn't want a repeat. Even though Bertha is on the job, a blowgun is stolen along with another jade Buddha. Never fear, Donald knows how to get on the trail. Within a short period, Donald figures out how the items were smuggled out and plans to return them to the owner. He returns the blowgun, but is concerned that the actual thief is either the man's wife or her friend and holds the Jade Buddha back until he can meet with the writer. Of course, the writer is murdered and Lam finds himself working to find to the killer.

One of the things that makes this one good is that it is almost a locked room murder mystery. When the murderer is revealed the reader is left with the impression that Lam figured it out long before he explains it to the police.

Lam has a real appeal to the ladies. It seems that they all want to get close to him. Even though just about every woman seeks to manipulate him, he picks and chooses the women he will actually help. That doesn't mean he always chooses well. He can be both sympathetic and hard-boiled. He can be either susceptible or immune to their charms.

The Lam and Cool novels span a period from 1939 to the late 1960's. In fact, in at least one of these novels Donald Lam, despite his diminutive size, is off fighting World War II. Solutions come through old fashion detective work and Lam's ability to do a passable impersonation of Sherlock Holmes.

[Craig Childs · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems like good publicity for the firm when Bertha Cool is hired to stop gatecrashers at a wealthy socialite's party, but once someone absconds with a blowgun and a jade Buddha right out from under her nose, she quickly turns the case over to her partner Donald Lam to retrieve the loot.

Soon Lam is elbows deep in insurance fraud schemes and beautiful nude models, all of which eventually lead to finding a dead body inside a twice-locked room.

Gardner is clearly channeling his inner Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in this one, from the exotic Borneo artifacts to the locked-room plot device. At one point, Lam even mockingly modifies one of Sherlock's famous lines, saying "Before you eliminate the impossibilities, you should consider the possibilities." (I think the original line was "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.")

As usual, the cutting banter between Cool and Lam is the most fun part, as is Donald's flirtatious secretary Elsie Brand. This volume also adds comic relief in the form of two exasperated detectives who are always on the receiving end of Lam's shenanigans.

Also as usual for the series, the murder mystery itself is convoluted and of only passing interest. The resolution of this one was particularly unsatisfying as several tantalizing clues were completely ignored. New facts (and even a new murder weapon) were suddenly revealed in the final three pages to wrap things up quickly.

This is not one of my favorite reprints from Hard Case Crime. The Cool and Lam series is not dark or sexy enough for this line. The Count of 9 was its 18th volume. It was tame even compared to its contemporaries, since the books were still rooted in a 1940's sensibility, but it still manages to raise a bit of nostalgia for the pulps of that period. I found it was enjoyable way to spend a few evenings, along with a highball of Kentucky bourbon and jazz vocalist Diana Krall streaming on Pandora.

[C.J. Bunce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally published online at BORG.com.

It’s the first time in print since 1968. Erle Stanley Gardner‘s The Count of 9, sixty years after its first printing, the 18th novel featuring the crime detective agency Cool & Lam is back thanks to the Hard Case Crime imprint. Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason, penned a classic crime mystery of stolen rare artifacts and murder. Featuring protagonist Donald Lam, the low key sleuth who ends up a punching bag by the bad guys as often as not, is joined by the trademark brief encounters of the brash, hard-boiled Bertha Cool, simply the best female detective in all of noir crime novels.

Cool tries to promote the agency, trying to get its name out there to establish a reputation for serving a higher brand of clientele. She personally takes on the security for a wealthy world traveler, when her idea goes bust. So why not bring in Lam and hand off the clean-up to him? This time Lam is left to dodge two sultry art world dilettantes, both accused of the thefts, but only one will be his client. When one of their husband’s is murdered, Lam must double back and solve both cases. But first he must also dodge some hired thugs and worse, the local cops.

Will Donald Lam ever get a break? Favorite noir secretary Elsie Brand is also back, but this time the office picks up a new file clerk, who can’t stop attracting the roaming eyes of the men who stop by the agency. More Cool losing her Cool, more bruises for Lam.

Will the agency ever learn to get its fees upfront? Will their good intentions ever pay off?

Will Lam ever arrive at work on time?

Any fan of noir crime novels will love this latest reprint pulled into from the past for this new edition for a new generation of readers.

Originally published under Gardner’s pseudonym A.A. Fair, The Count of 9 joins previous modern releases, The Knife Slipped, Top of the Heap, and Turn on the Heat. Pick up these and The Count of 9 now.

[Tracy Crawford · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first Hard Case Crime story by Gardiner I’ve read. It started ok with the cast of characters blowing into the story. Just a boring case to solve about a stolen blowgun and a stolen jade statue. So much talk about that blowgun. Of the three female characters, only Bertha Cool (what a name!), wouldn’t dream of pouting and putting on the way the other annoying female characters do.

I thoroughly enjoyed other Hard Case Crime books, "hard-boiled crime fiction from lost pulp classics to new work by today's most powerful writers": Charlesgate Confidential by Scott Von Doviak, The Colorado Kid and Joyland both by Stephen King, and Five Decembers by James Kestrel.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most people know Erle Stanley Gardner as the writer of the 80-novel strong Perry Mason series, but he also wrote nearly thirty novels in the Cool and Lam series about a mismatched pair of detectives, which Gardner wrote under the pen name AA Fair. Unfortunately, Cool and Lam, at this time, is not available in ebook format with two exceptions. Bertha Cool is a heavy-set, loudmouthed, notoriously tightfisted, publicity seeking detective. Donald Lam is a slightly built, bantamweight detective who is cool, clever, and irresistible to beautiful women. Their partnership is odd, humorous, and somehow works. Cool seems to always get the agency in a jam and Lam always seems to deduce a solution.

The Count of Nine is book 18 in the long-running series and features a millionaire, missing artifacts from his world travels, his beauty queen wife, a model who can't keep her clothes on, and numerous other characters. It is Gardner's locked-room mystery where a body is discovered in a mysterious locked room with very little access. All of the action takes place in about a day or two and there are few actual action scenes such as brawls or shoot-outs. Nevertheless, Gardner skillfully writes this one so well that it is a quick read. Every book I have read in this series has been great and this one is no exception.

[False · Rating 2 out of 5]

For serious Gardner fans, this will seem a bit thin. Which means it's still fast-paced, still entertaining, still filled with tidbits of information reflecting the author's ecletic tastes. But it feels a bit more like a novella that a full-blown Gardner who-done-it. If I an e-book publisher looking to release one Cool and Lam title a year, there are several stronger books to choose from, such as his introductory Cool and Lam title, "The Bigger They Come."
THE COUNT OF 9 is part of the Lam and Cool series. Bertha Lam heads a detective agency. She mostly stays behind the desk, ordering her operatives hither and yon, fingering the diamonds which adorn her puffy hands. Donald Lam is her prime investigator. He is short of stature but long on guts and brains.

In this tale they are asked to guard the property of an international adventurer who likes to collect the kinds of things that turn up in classic mysteries—blowguns, jade idols with humongous rubies in their heads, etc. Add to all of that the joys of a locked-room mystery, except that here we have multiple doors, passageways that are opened by secret buttons in paneling, an elevator system that cannot be negotiated without internal help and, oh yes, an X-ray machine to check out the suspicious guests who might want to light-finger the adventurer's goods at the party protected by the Cool Agency.

[Bob Deysach · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Count of 9 was written in 1958 by Earl Stanley Gardner under the name of A.A. Fair. Although I'd seen many of the old Perry Mason shows, I was struck by the hard boiled portrayal of Perry Mason on HBO this Fall. So I wanted to read some of Gardner's work to see if I could bridge the gap. This shortish mystery featured a two person detective firm (Bertha Cool and Donald Lam) and is rich with the entanglements of these private detectives with the police. The plot itself involves crimes angled in a way not usually seen and, though somewhat complicated, is revealed in such a clear manner that the reader is brought along without a hitch or bounce. Donald Lam, rather than the Reacher/Joe Pike/Ranger macho (this is left to the description of the police), is mocked consistently for his small demeaner ("pint size"), has a history of being beaten up and hauled to the police station. But Lam is also given frequent testimonials as "smart," "tricky," and "very clever." One of the delightful aspects of the book is that it reminds me of a time past (no cell phones, DNA) with lingo reminiscent of a time past ("tootsie"). I still have my lingering questions about Gardner's portrayal of Perry Mason - but that can wait for another book.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating between 3 and 3.5

I don't quite now how I feel about the Cool&Lam series of books.
I've read a few of them and still really have no feeling for the characters of the main protagonists. To me they appear simply as generic cyphers at the moment, now admittedly I have not read the first 3-4 books in this series and perhaps everything you need to know is set out in those and never repeated. I also agree that you generally do not read this genre for deep characterization and personal development or drama, but still when reading Westlake or Stark and their (sic) series characters of Dortmunder or Parker I feel I know them better and their thought processes more than Cool&Lam.
In this particular book, the locked room mystery i guessed the answer to within a few minutes of the scene being described, whilst the second story line of stolen art works which took up the majority of the novels length i found rather meh to be honest.

So overall an okay read, despite what i disliked and I will continue to pick up the earlier novels if i see them, but i am not going out of my way to finish the series.

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool & Lam are back, but not in a great tale.

Cool takes it upon herself to be security for a jet setter's party so that he's not the victim of theft, as he was three months earlier. Sadly, Cool can't stop theft happening again, so she gets Lam to search for a missing blowgun and jade idol. Unhappily, Lam does as he's told, but soon finds himself wrapped up in a murder involving a beautiful wife, a nude model, a fence, and some overly physical officers who don't value a private dick.

The highpoints of this novel involve Lam trying to get himself out of trouble with the police, which he does in the smartest and most devious ways. What I didn't like about this book was Cool, who comes across as really dumb compared to the previous novels I've read. She's also frantic, which doesn't seem in character for her. Lam is great, but Cool really took me out of the book since she's so out of character. The reveal of the murderer isn't really a surprise and comes across as secondary to Lam getting out of the hole he finds himself in.

I'll still search for more of these characters' exploits republished by Hard Case Crime, but my expectations won't be as high.

[David Pearce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who is familiar with Earl Stanley Gardner, here using the pen name A.A. Fair, know him from his Perry Mason series, both books and television. This book is, in many ways, much of the same: stock characters, including narrator Donald Lam, a private detective, and a murder that seems cut and dry but isn't. Like most books of this genre from the 50's, stereotypes are common and are there to move the story along. If Lam has a backstory it isn't told here. What we know is he's a sharp little guy with a smart-mouth and a quick mind. His partner, Bertha Cool, is a loud intemperate woman, go figure, who botches a job protecting a rich guy's jade during a party with only one way in and one way out. It's up to Lam to sort it out. Naturally the loutish rich guy is cleverly murdered requiring Lam to figure that out to.
On the plus side, the writing is crisp, the dialog sharp, and if nothing else, Lam isn't a smarmy "ladies man", slaying the babes. And, as with as ESG stories, the intricacies of the murder make the story worth the read.

[Rabb_eye · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Donald,: she said, "it's terrible. I don't want to tell you, but I have to."
"All right, go on. Tell me," I said.
"That jade idol."
"What about it?"
"I took it."
"Uh-huh," I said. "Mind if I smoke?"

-Cool, hardboiled dialogue from Count of 9.

There are Whodunnit mysteries, Howdunnit mysteries, and Whydunnit mysteries. This is really more of a Whydunnit.

MILD SPOILER ALERT
HOW the blowgun and the jade idol are stolen from a penthouse apartment with an X-ray - fitted elevator is pretty simple, and that is cleaned up in a few pages.
WHO stole the items is pretty clear early on, and the items are actually recovered in the first few chapters.
END SPOILER ALERT

WHY these crimes are committed is a winding trail that can only be followed by smart, cool-headed P.I. Donald Lam of Cool & Lam Detective Agency.

Another fun read by A.A. Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner, author of the Perry Mason books.)

[Peter Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Count of Nine is one of the Cool & Lam novels written by Erle Stanley Gardner (of Perry Mason fame) which he wrote under the pen name of A. A. Fair.

The private investigative firm of Cool & Lam (Bertha and Donald, respectively) are hired by Dean Crockett the Second to guard his valuables during his upcoming soiree – given that one of his two priceless jade buddhas was stolen at his last soiree. Unfortunately, even with Bertha like a bulldog checking the guests in, not only is the second jade buddha stolen, but the blow gun Crockett recently brough back from Africa.

Lam figures out who took them and recovers them fairly quickly, but in attempting to return them, he finds that Crockett has been murdered with a blow gun dart in a locked room. The obvious answer is his wife did it.

A twisty and satisfying mystery.

[This review appears on my blog, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]

[Darius Ostrowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fine Cool and Lam mystery from the 1950s.

This time they're hired by Dean Crockett, a globe trotting explorer who's throwing a party for himself to celebrate his latest adventure. Bertha Lam decides she can do the security for the party all by herself, which can only lead to trouble. A jade figure, along with a blowgun, are both stolen during the party even though there's a hidden x-ray to prevent just such an occurrence.

Bertha realizes that she needs Don Lam to help her solve this problem, which he does very quickly. However, the recovered blowgun i then used to murder their client (in a locked room!), leading to round two of the puzzle.

A great pulp novel that fits all of the stereotypes one would expect. Not politically correct, definitely a book of its time.

[Vultural · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gardner, Erle Stanley - The Count Of 9

Private eyes Cool & Lam are involved in another mystery.
Bertha, less so much in this outing.
While she provides security for a shindig, guarding the penthouse elevator, a second jade statue is still stolen, along with a six foot blowpipe.
Donald Lam is a charmer, though, and soon sweet talks a bevy of lovelies.
Extremely fast moving read filled with arrogant boasters and brawny cops.
Did I mention the females? Ripe curves who find testosterone the greatest aphrodisiac.
Overall mystery is pretty fair, and Gardner keeps one guessing throughout.
The writer also plays fair and never cheats or adds revelations.
Typical of 50’s innuendo, don’t expect corks to pop in your presence.

[John Bunyan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters of Lam and Cool are very different than in earlier books. Cool has almost nothing to do with the investigation. She’s not bold, crude, and in charge. Lam is in control. He’s also apparently in a relationship with the secretary at this point. The women in the case still are enamored our at least pretend to be as they try to seduce him but he’s no interest. The plot is still good but the resolution is out of nowhere. It seems that Gardner was setting up some thing else that then just dropped it- maybe it was too racy for the publishers?

[Geoffreyjen · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's something very sly about this pair of detetectives, particularly Lam. Cool is a straightshooter, but Lam doesn't do things by the book. He goes out of his way to do them differently. The writing is lean and fast, so you get through the books in no more than a day or so, but there is kind of cleverness that is worth the entry price. The case seemed fairly predictable, but the story goes in unexpected directions. The story would not be acceptable by today's standards, but it has a certain charm.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading too much detective fiction this year. It's not my favorite genre. There's always a moment midway through where there's a red-herring and he's collecting clues and it just feels like the author is wasting my time. Not to mention a lot of it is brimming with weird sexism and incredulous sexual encounters.

I liked this a little bit better at the end on account of all the scheming and tampering with evidence the protagonist was up to. He's kind of a little stinker, and I like that.