Sun 9 Sep 2018
Pulp PI Stories I’m Reading: ERLE STANLEY GARDNER “Cheating the Chair.”
Posted by Steve under Pulp Fiction , Stories I'm Reading[11] Comments
ERLE STANLEY GARDNER “Cheating the Chair.” Sidney Zoom #14. Detective Fiction Weekly, 17 September 1932. [Added later:] Reprinted in The Casebook of Sidney Zoom, edited by Bill Pronzini. (Crippen & Landru, 2006).
Alphabetically the last of the series detectives in the online Crime Fiction Index, I do not know if it is precisely correct to call Sidney Zoom a private eye. In this story, the only one of his adventures that I’ve read, he does not have a paying client, which would, I think, be one of the several criteria that must be satisfied to qualify.
Zoom thinks of himself as a fighter for the underdog, and reads newspapers to find cases in which he believes justice is not being served. He appears to be independently wealthy. He has a devoted secretary named Vera Thurmond, and lives on a yacht with a captain on board to take him up and down the coast to wherever he needs to go.
What attracts him to this current case, in which a disgruntled ex-convict is accused of killing the county attorney who sent him up, is that Zoom is convinced that the prosecutor’s version of what happened does not match the facts.
In this regard, the detective work is fine, but the story gets muddled more than I’ve come to expect from Gardner. Zoom has to depend on bluffing the miscreants involved to secure the release of the accused man.
As you can see from the list below, there were quite a few Sidney Zoom stories, but based on this one, while certainly readable, they may not be at the same level, quality-wise, as some of Gardner’s other series pulp heroes. I’ll have to investigate further.
The Sidney Zoom stories —
The Higher Court (ss) Detective Fiction Weekly Mar 8 1930
(*) Willie the Weeper (ss) Detective Fiction Weekly Mar 29 1930
(*) My Name Is Zoom! (ss) Detective Fiction Weekly Apr 12 1930
The Purple Plume (ss) Detective Fiction Weekly May 24 1930
Time in for Tucker (ss) Detective Fiction Weekly Sep 13 1930
Strangler’s Silk (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Jan 3 1931
The Death Penalty (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Jan 17 1931
(*) Borrowed Bullets (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Mar 21 1931
The Vanishing Corpse (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Aug 15 1931
(*) Higher Up (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Sep 19 1931
(*) The First Stone (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Oct 24 1931
It Takes a Crook (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Feb 6 1932
(*) The Green Door (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Aug 20 1932
(*) Cheating the Chair (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Sep 17 1932
(*) Inside Job (ss) Detective Fiction Weekly Jan 7 1933
(*) Lifted Bait (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Oct 21 1933
(*) Stolen Thunder (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly May 19 1934
(*) Included in The Casebook of Sidney Zoom.
September 9th, 2018 at 7:30 pm
I’ve read a bit of Gardner’s early pulp fiction, and very enjoyable it is too. I’ve never heard of the Sidney Zoom stories but I’d certainly be willing to give them a try if I come across any.
September 9th, 2018 at 9:07 pm
One way to read them now is by obtaining a copy of THE CASE BOOK OF SIDNEY ZOOM, edited by Bill Pronzini and published by Crippen & Landru on 2006. It contains 10 of the Zoom stories, but which 10, I’m still trying to find out.
I don’t know if it’s still in print or not. Even if not, I think it would cost you less than half of what it would coat you to buy the original pulps, if you cold find them.
I have a copy myself, but it’s safely packed away, somewhere.
September 9th, 2018 at 8:22 pm
The Zoom stories I’ve read are far below the Lester Leith and Ed Jenkins series, but have their own charm. Gardner on cruise control though is still pretty good pulp.
September 10th, 2018 at 6:23 am
THE CASE BOOK OF SIDNEY ZOOM, edited by Bill Pronzini:
Willie the Weeper (ss) Detective Fiction Weekly Mar 29 1930
My Name Is Zoom! (ss) Detective Fiction Weekly Apr 12 1930
Borrowed Bullets (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Mar 21 1931
Higher Up (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Sep 19 1931
The First Stone (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Oct 24 1931
The Green Door (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Aug 20 1932
Cheating the Chair (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Sep 17 1932
Inside Job (ss) Detective Fiction Weekly Jan 7 1933
Lifted Bait (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly Oct 21 1933
Stolen Thunder (nv) Detective Fiction Weekly May 19 1934
Sidney Zoom is one of my favorite Gardner characters.
THE CASE BOOK OF SIDNEY ZOOM,is one of many, many reasons we all should feel grateful to Bill Pronzini.
September 10th, 2018 at 6:29 am
I made a mistake:the title word is actually “Casebook”, all one word.
I agree Zoom is not a private eye. He’s a fighter for the weak and downtrodden.
That cover illustration shows Zoom’s “trained police dog, Rip”, as he is often referred to in the tales. “Like an arrow, the dog sped forth into the night”
September 10th, 2018 at 10:51 am
Thanks, Mike. I’ll add the info to the review. I’m going to make an all-out effort to find my copy pf the book. After reading more about the character online, I get the feeling that the story I read wasn’t the most representative of the series.
For example, quoting from the Kirkus review:
“… in the most offbeat of these stories, “‘My Name Is Zoom!’†and “Stolen Thunder,†the schemes Zoom concocts are breathtakingly audacious.”
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/erle-stanley-gardner/the-casebook-of-sidney-zoom/
This sounds more like it!
September 10th, 2018 at 10:52 am
PS. Thanks too to Bill Pronzini for providing a list of the stories in the Crippen & Landru edition.
September 10th, 2018 at 10:07 am
Steve, Many of us have things safely packed away, somewhere. Let us hope we may be able to find them, some day.
September 10th, 2018 at 10:40 am
Randy
It’s good to know I’m not alone!
September 10th, 2018 at 11:22 am
I have a copy on the shelf, yet unread. While you’re thanking Bill Pronzini, also give a nod to Doug Greene, C&L publisher.
September 10th, 2018 at 12:32 pm
More than a nod, how about a big round of applause for everyone at C&L, especially Doug, but including Jeffrey Marks, who’s taken over much of the work that Doug used to do. All of their books are something special, as far as I’m concerned.