REVIEWED BY TINA KARELSON:         


A. A. FAIR [Erle Stanley Gardner] – Crows Can’t Count.

William Morrow, hardcover, 1946. Paperback reprints include: Dell 472, mapback edition, 1950; Dell D373, McGinnis cover art, September 1960 (shown); Dell 1625, September 1972.

A. A. FAIR Crows Can't Count

   Bertha Cool and Donald Lam, two of the best-named characters in American crime fiction, are hired by the trustee of an estate to find out why an emerald necklace belonging to the estate has gone missing. Complications ensue when the other trustee is murdered, leaving behind a pet crow whose behavior is the key to the title.

   This is as irritating a well-crafted book as one might encounter. The plot is convoluted, with the motives and behavior of several completely offstage characters playing important roles. A portion of the book takes place in Colombia, and south-of-the-border stereotypes are pervasive. Bertha Cool comes across as completely useless.

   As an example of craft, here’s how Lam describes a meal:

    “At seven-thirty I had breakfast: the thick, piquant juice of some tropical fruit; bananas, which had a distinct pineapple flavor, rather tart and very delicate; papaya, the black seed giving it a distinctly peppery flavor, the whole garnished with juice of a fresh lime. Then there were soft-boiled eggs, Melba toast, and Colombian coffee which had none of that slightly acrid bitterness which frequently distorts the taste of a strong brew. It was black in the cup, amber in the spoon, and nectar to the palate.”   (Pages 154-155).

   Gardner is worth reading, but this one is for completists.

Previously reviewed on this blog:

      Crows Can’t Count (by Steve Lewis)
      Owls Don’t Blink (by Marcia Muller)
      Kept Women Can’t Quit (by Steve Lewis)