Erle Stanley Gardner

From Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner—during his life, the best-selling American author of all time—comes a lost classic of detective fiction featuring private eyes Donald Lam (once played by Frank Sinatra!) and Bertha Cool. Top of the Heap poses the question: SHE PLAYED THE ODDS – AND LOST! When the beautiful girlfriend of a notorious gangster vanishes, the last...

About the best of the series... perhaps since the very first. — Raymond Chandler Private investigators Bertha Cool and Donald Lam, stars of five of Hard Case Crime’s most popular novels, return to solve their toughest case yet. Hired to prevent a socialite from poisoning her husband, Donald Lam dreams up an ingenious scheme involving a carton of anchovy paste...

At the time of his death, Erle Stanley Gardner was the best-selling American author of the 20th century, and world famous as the creator of crusading attorney Perry Mason. Gardner also created the hardboiled detective team of Cool and Lam, stars of 29 novels published between 1939 and 1970—and one that’s never been published until now. Lost for more than...

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. Among those books were the 29 cases of the brash, irresistible detective team of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. Last year, Hard Case Crime brought out...

Sleuthing attorney Perry Mason can't resist a good mystery, so when he sees an older woman being accused of shoplifting during a department store outing with his assistant, Della Street, he doesn't hesitate to intervene. Armed with an assumption of innocence and the legal acumen to silence her accuser, Mason leaps to the woman's defence—until her niece appears, acknowledging her...

Bertha Cool is the gruff, tough-talking, corpulent head of her private detective agency, opened after the death of her husband. Donald Lam is her meek, slight, and nervy new hire, who makes up for a lack of boldness with brilliant deductive work. The duo couldn't be any more dissimilar but, with their skills combined, they are an unstoppable force when...

Bertha Cool is the gruff, tough-talking, corpulent head of her private detective agency, opened after the death of her husband. Donald Lam is her meek, slight, and nervy new hire who makes up for a lack of boldness with brilliant deductive work. The duo couldn't be any more dissimilar, but with their skills combined, they are an unstoppable force when...