Cool and Lam - Bibliography

Bibliography

The series consists of the following 29 books:

• The Bigger They Come (1939) - Donald Lam is hired by Bertha. His first assignment is to serve a subpoena on a man that nobody can find.
• Turn on the Heat (1940)
• Gold Comes in Bricks (1940) A blackmailing gambler, a corrupt lawyer and an expert in salting gold mines, all are grist to Donald's mill.
• Spill the Jackpot (1941) Donald falls in love with a fugitive but learns that love is, also.
• Double or Quits (1941) "The mysterious death of a client forces Donald Lam and Bertha Cool into a legal battle with an insurance company over double indemnity, a game of wits with a trio of fortune hunters, and a search for missing jewelry, while constantly avoiding the clutches of the police."
• Owls Don't Blink (1942) Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Donald has two intertwining cases: finding a lost girl and bringing to justice a murderer.
• Bats Fly at Dusk (1942) Donald has joined the Navy, and Bertha solves a case involving a blind man and a pet bat, with help from Donald via telegram. Donald's frenemy - Police Detective Frank Sellers - is introduced for the first time.
• Cats Prowl at Night (1943) Without Donald, Bertha must locate the missing wife of a client.
• Give 'em the Ax (1944)
• Crows Can't Count (1946) A case involving both stolen and smuggled emeralds, the latter half of which is set in the nation of Colombia.
• Fools Die on Friday (1947) Donald Lam tries to put 'psychological handcuffs' on a potential poisoner, but things don't work out the way he planned. Raymond Chandler wrote to Gardner in 1948 "'Fools Die on Friday' is about the best of the series since the first two. Perhaps since the very first."
• Bedrooms Have Windows (1949) Case involving the murder of "a pocket edition Venus", in which Donald himself is suspected by the police.
• Top of the Heap (1952) Cool & Lam are used as a cat's paw to prove a phony alibi, in a case involving gangsters, gambling houses, Point shaving, a former stripper, an income tax scam, and phantom gold mines. Available in the Hard Case Crime series.
• Some Women Won't Wait (1953) Set in Hawaii. Did Donald's beautiful young client poison her rich and decrepit husband, or didn't she?
• Beware the Curves (1956)
• You can Die Laughing (1957) Donald clashes with a lying client, with whom he has a written contract to locate a certain woman. When Donald notifies the client that he has located her, the client drives all the way from Los Angeles to Banning, California, in record time, hoping to speak to the woman. When the client shows up, Donald rips a blanket off the nude, dead, and hideously bloated form of the woman - murdered by her husband and secreted in a dry well. After the client has finished vomiting, Donald tells the man to "come in tomorrow and settle up on your contract". The client ends up paying in full.
• Some Slips don't Show (1957)
• The Count of Nine (1958) A rich dilettante "Explorer" is murdered with a poisonous blow gun he himself had brought back from the Amazon.
• Pass the Gravy (1959)
• Kept Women Can't Quit (1960) An armored car is robbed while the two guards are inside having donuts and coffee and ogling the waitresses; and when Police Detective Frank Sellers catches one of the robbers, he is accused of pocketing the loot for himself. Naturally, he puts the pressure on Donald to solve the case for him, gratis, and get him off the hook.
• Bachelors Get Lonely (1961)
• Shills Can't Cash Chips (1961)
• Try Anything Once (1962)
• Fish or Cut Bait (1963)
• Up for Grabs (1964)
• Cut Thin to Win (1965)
• Widows Wear Weeds (1966)
• Traps Need Fresh Bait (1967)
• All Grass isn't Green (1970) Dope smuggling and a witness who is both more, and less, than he seems.