Forgotten Books: The Count of 9 - A.A. Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner)

I don’t actually remember the first Donald Lam/Bertha Cool book I read—I think maybe it was SHILLS CAN’T CASH CHIPS—but I know I checked it out from the bookmobile that came out to our little town from the library in Fort Worth, so it was at least 55 years ago. I checked out several of the series from the bookmobile, and the guy who drove it out there told me that the author, A.A. Fair, was actually Erle Stanley Gardner, who wrote the Perry Mason books I was also reading. You can tell that from the plots and pacing of the books, although the Cool and Lam books always had more humor in them than the Masons.

Anyway, I’ve continued to read the series over the years, but it’s reached the point where I don’t know, based on the titles, which ones I’ve read and which ones I haven’t. And I’m not sure it matters, because I don’t remember the ones I read 50 years ago. However, I can say with some degree of certainty that I’d never read THE COUNT OF 9 until now.

Originally published by William Morrow in 1958, reprinted several times by Pocket Books and also by Hard Case Crime, THE COUNT OF 9 follows a well-established pattern. The Cool and Lam private detective agency is hired to protect some valuable African artifacts at a party given by wealthy explorer and adventurer Dean Crockett. Bertha Cool is actually in charge of that job, but her associate, pint-size, wise guy narrator (and actual crime solver) Donald Lam gets drawn in when a couple of items get stolen from Crockett’s penthouse despite Bertha’s presence. One of the missing artifacts is an African blowgun, and wouldn’t you know it, somebody turns up murdered with a dart from said blowgun. That sends Donald galloping off on a lightning-paced investigation involving nude models, jade Buddhas, and brawny hoodlums who hand him a beating that they have cause to regret, since Donald is not only smart, he also has a bit of a mean streak in him and knows how to get his revenge.

As always, Gardner’s plot is complex, although maybe not quite as labyrinthine as in some of his other novels. It was plenty twisty enough that I didn’t figure it out before I got to the end and Donald explained everything. I don’t think THE COUNT OF 9 goes in the absolute top rank of A.A. Fair novels, but it’s still very good and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.