Quality-wise, this book is somewhere in the middle of the pack for A. A. Fair's series featuring Detectives Donald Lam and Bertha Cool. This deep into the series Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner) was clearly writing on autopilot and not about to deviate from the formula he had established twenty-five years earlier in 1939. In fact, this book could have been written in 1939. Save for the fact that Donald takes a trip on a jet airplane rather than on a prop plane, there's really nothing here to suggest that the book might have been written in 1964 or in any year close to that.
The story opens when an insurance company executive hires the firm of Cool and Lam to try to get the goods on someone the executive believes is attempting to defraud the company. The man claims to have suffered a whiplash injury when his car was hit from behind by a driver insured by the company.
Whiplash pain is almost impossible to prove and the company fears that it's going to have to make a big settlement. The company has arranged for the man to "win" a trip to a dude ranch in Arizona in a contest. The idea is that Donald will go to the ranch and attempt to get film of the claimant riding horses, playing golf, and doing all sorts of things that would be impossible were he as seriously injured as he claims.
Naturally, the situation will almost immediately become much more complicated and, as usual, Donald will find himself in a serious mess. He will then have to extricate himself and unravel another very complex mystery before his usual adversary, Sergeant Frank Sellers, can screw things up entirely.
Those who follow the series will know exactly what to expect from the opening pages of the book. Those who are interested in sampling the series would be better off seeking out one of the first few books from the 1940s, which were fresher and truer to the time period in which they were written.
The story opens when an insurance company executive hires the firm of Cool and Lam to try to get the goods on someone the executive believes is attempting to defraud the company. The man claims to have suffered a whiplash injury when his car was hit from behind by a driver insured by the company.
Whiplash pain is almost impossible to prove and the company fears that it's going to have to make a big settlement. The company has arranged for the man to "win" a trip to a dude ranch in Arizona in a contest. The idea is that Donald will go to the ranch and attempt to get film of the claimant riding horses, playing golf, and doing all sorts of things that would be impossible were he as seriously injured as he claims.
Naturally, the situation will almost immediately become much more complicated and, as usual, Donald will find himself in a serious mess. He will then have to extricate himself and unravel another very complex mystery before his usual adversary, Sergeant Frank Sellers, can screw things up entirely.
Those who follow the series will know exactly what to expect from the opening pages of the book. Those who are interested in sampling the series would be better off seeking out one of the first few books from the 1940s, which were fresher and truer to the time period in which they were written.
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