Honest Money and Other Short Novels

Rating:
Summary: The Forerunner to 'Perry Mason'
Review: These short stories about a crusading lawyer who fought injustice in a corrupt city were first published in the early 1930s. Ken Corning protected the rights of the unjustly accused who were framed by bribed city officials and their crooked police. Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) then went on to create the immensely popular Perry Mason novels that inspired movies, and a radio and television series. Gardner was a noted attorney who investigated miscarriages of justice in his Court of Last Resort. He was well read in psychology, criminology, forensic medicine, and penology.

Justice is not served in the ideal, but Corning's clients walk. These stories are about municipal crime and corruption, and are similar to the stories of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and others. They reflect popular interests of the time. Since the 1950s these kind of stories have been scarce. (I suspect censorship and the rise of powerful corporations that now control the media.) There is one difference between the above authors and fantasy heroes. Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe, and Perry Mason all make sure they get their money up front. Fantasy heroes (The Lone Ranger, Superman, etc.) don't seem to need money, as if they were on a government payroll. Does this reflect the loss of small owner-operated businesses?

'Honest Money' is the story of a woman who had a minor auto accident. She knows too much, and is arrested for a felony; her husband is assassinated. After Ken Corning investigates, she is released and paid off.
'The Top Comes Off' begins with a wife looking to clear her husband of a murder charge; she shot her boyfriend in the latter's office. But there is a complication: the lights went out before the shooting. Ken Corning finds out what really happened, and her husband is cleared.
'Close Call' tells how the editor of an anti-administration newspaper was deliberately killed by a nit-and-run car. This car was stolen, used for the killing, then put back as forged evidence. The driver of the hit-and-run car may have been the witness against the reformer. But the guilty flee when no man pursues.
'Making the Breaks' tells how stolen money is planted for a frame-up. Lawyer Corning defends a man accused of murder; he thinks it was a frame-up, and needs a witness. If Corning can't catch a break, he makes a break.
'Devil's Fire' is about a murder on the street. A fleeing man is arrested, Corning defends George Pyle. A witness says Pyle threw away a gun. But Corning uses a contest to pick out the best female shooter. The contest leads to the real killer, and frees George Pyle.
'Blackmail with Lead' tells how Sam Driver is found with a dead body in his car. A witness saw two men put something into Driver's flivver. But after she is arrested for possessing booze her memory fails. Corning's investigation leads to the reason for the killing, and the cover-up. The case against Driver is then dismissed.