Kept Women Can't Quit

Rating:
Summary: $50,000 Worth of Trouble
Review: Sgt. Sellers has a bone to pick with Donald Lam even before the case begins. It seems an armored car robbery netted a robber $100,000, but Sellers only recovered $50,000 of it. The crook claims Sellers took the rest of it. His clues led him to a woman who had the address of Cool and Lam in her purse. Donald had never heard of her before, and tells Sellers that - but while in conference the woman in question shows up.

Meeting her in secret, he learns she wants him to track down $60,000 she claims her ex-boy-friend was going to settle with her on. It's a case Donald doesn't like, but agrees to take.

Donald finds $50,000 without much trouble, and even figures out a way to ship it back to his office without detection, but then finds himself in the middle of a murder case - and worse still, the $50,000 disappeared somewhere along the way. It takes all of his skill to figure out the clues while still being detained by the police - and held under "protective custody" in a hotel room.

Rating:
Summary: $50,000 Worth of Trouble
Review: Sgt. Sellers has a bone to pick with Donald Lam even before the case begins. It seems an armored car robbery netted a robber $100,000, but Sellers only recovered $50,000 of it. The crook claims Sellers took the rest of it. His clues led him to a woman who had the address of Cool and Lam in her purse. Donald had never heard of her before, and tells Sellers that - but while in conference the woman in question shows up.

Meeting her in secret, he learns she wants him to track down $60,000 she claims her ex-boy-friend was going to settle with her on. It's a case Donald doesn't like, but agrees to take.

Donald finds $50,000 without much trouble, and even figures out a way to ship it back to his office without detection, but then finds himself in the middle of a murder case - and worse still, the $50,000 disappeared somewhere along the way. It takes all of his skill to figure out the clues while still being detained by the police - and held under "protective custody" in a hotel room.

Rating:
Summary: Talented Writers Can't Quit
Review: The opening chapter tells of a stealth theft from an armored car that was only discovered when the money went missing after the driver and guard stopped for coffee and doughnuts. The "Cool & Lam" agency gets a visit from Detective Sergeant Sellers because their name and number was found on a piece of paper in a suspect's possession - the alleged girlfriend of a criminal found with half the loot. The police think this money was ordered by a big bookmaker. This girlfriend, Hazel Downer, visits Donald Lam to find her missing husband, and the money she inherited. Coincidentally, this money matches the amount missing in the robbery! [Note how the author builds a complicated case while lightly touching on various human errors.] Chapter 2 gives a quick introduction to the public relations racket and its use in merchandising. Donald Lam follows the clues he discovers. A duplicate trunk is shipped to San Francisco, and Lam follows. Lam meets Hazel and goes for a ride. Their meeting is interrupted by Sergeant Sellers. How will Donald Lam get out of this mess?

The 'Foreword' is dedicated to a Federal Warden, and has some advice and wisdom on rehabilitating convicts. Gardner says a vindictive punishment is bad because it doesn't rehabilitate prison inmates and leads them to continue the mental attitude that put them in jail. Warden Preston G. Smith tried to provide the fundamentals, vocational and academic training, counseling, etc. Has anything changed over the last fifty years?

Gardner used this pen-name to provide another outlet for his creative talents. This story demonstrates Gardner's skill as a writer of detective stories. Using a continuing series about a fictional person creates a brand and a market for this type of novel. Examples are A. Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Ian Fleming, Patricia Cornwell, and others.