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The Bigger They Come
A Cool and Lam Mystery
Series: An American Mystery Classic
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 548 ratings, 82 reviews)
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See moreA private detective searches for a missing person in this "breathlessly dramatic" (Los Angeles Times) whodunnit from the creator of Perry Mason
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Description
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 it comes to solving crimes, as evidenced by their over two dozen successes in the long-running series penned by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner.
In this, their first outing, Donald Lam is tasked with delivering divorce papers to a man who reportedly made a fortune in rigged slot machines. The only problem is that nobody—not even the police—can find him. Before long, Lam's seemingly simple assignment finds him caught up in a web of money, mysterious safety deposit boxes, and a gang of toughs every bit as desperate as he is to find the runaway husband.
Reissued for the first time in decades, and originally published under the A.A. Fair pen name, The Bigger They Come is an enjoyable private eye novel replete with puzzling scenarios and a humorous tone. As fast and twisty as anything Gardner ever wrote, the novel (and the series it spawned) is more Paul Drake than Perry Mason, but it is sure to please any fan of the Golden Age whodunnit.
Includes discussion guide questions for use in book clubs.
Series: An American Mystery Classic
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The Bigger They Come
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Waltz into Darkness
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
The Bigger They Come by Erle Stanley Gardner, co-authored with A. A. Fair, presents an intense and original narrative in the crime and thriller genre. It features characters leading thrilling, if not entirely admirable, lives, and has been praised for its dramatic flair and unique style. The book is seen as a strong contribution to detective fiction, reminiscent of Dashiell Hammett yet original in its execution.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781613163573
Publisher: Penzler Publishers
Format: Hardback
Date Published: 04 October 2022
Country: United States
Imprint: American Mystery Classics
Contributors:
- Series edited by Otto Penzler
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 23.0mm
Width: 142.0mm
Height: 213.0mm
Weight: 370g
Pages: 288
About the Author
Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) was the best-selling American author of the 20th century, mainly due to the enormous success of his Perry Mason series, which numbered more than 80 novels and inspired a half-dozen motion pictures, radio programs, and a long-running television series that starred Raymond Burr. Having begun his career as a pulp writer, Gardner brought a hard-boiled style and sensibility to the early Mason books, but gradually developed into a more classic detective story novelist, showing enough clues to allow the astute reader to solve the mystery. For more than a quarter of a century he wrote more than a million words a year under his own name and numerous pseudonyms, the most famous being A.A. Fair. Otto Penzler, the creator of American Mystery Classics, is also the founder of The Mysterious Press (1975); MysteriousPress.com (2011), an electronic-book publishing company; and New York City’s Mysterious Bookshop (1979). He has won a Raven, the Ellery Queen Award, two Edgars (for the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, 1977, and The Lineup, 2010), and lifetime achievement awards from NoirCon and The Strand Magazine. He has edited more than 70 anthologies and written extensively about mystery fiction.
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Top of the Heap
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...Paperback$2599Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
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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...PaperbackSold Out -
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The Bigger They Come
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