Spill the Jackpot

The diminutive detective and his bulldog of a boss head to Las Vegas to find a runaway bride in this hard-boiled mystery by the creator of Perry Mason.Donald Lam and Bertha Cool make for a couple of unlikely detectives. Donald is a charming ex-lawyer in his thirties who may lack brawn but makes up for it in brains. Bertha, meanwhile, is a fifty-something-year-old widow who won't take lip from anyone. She certainly won't let a bout of illness keep her down. After a stay at the sanitarium, she and Donald are off to Las Vegas for their latest case. Who needs rest?Mr. Whitewell needs Donald and Bertha to find his son's fianc�e and learn why she abruptly left town. Donald quickly gets to work with just a mysterious letter as his only lead. Soon he uncovers a scheme to swindle casinos, along with a brutal murder. Now he must determine what's going on before someone ensures he's the next member of the agency to have a long hospital stay--or worse."The best American writer, of course, is Erle Stanley Gardner." --Evelyn Waugh"Gardner has a way of moving the story forward that is almost a lost great stretches of dialogue alternate with lively chunks of exposition, and the two work together perfectly, without sacrificing momentum." -- Booklist