Review - Turn On the Heat

They're back.

Erle Stanley Gardner's legendary detectives Cool and Lam are back in bookstores for the first time in 50 years.

If you're not familiar with Erle Stanley Gardner, he was the creator of Perry Mason. When he died in 1970, Erle Stanley Gardner was the bestselling American author of all time.

Turn On the Heat tells the story of private detectives Bertha Cool and Donald Lam who are retained by a mysterious "Mr. Smith" to find a woman who disappeared 21 years earlier. In the course of their investigation, Lam finds himself facing a sadistic cop, a desperate showgirl, a deceptive client, and one very dogged reporter.

As he struggles to learn the truth, Donald Lam finds himself kidnapped, beaten up, and framed for a crime that he didn't commit at different intervals during the story. It's very clear in this story that powerful people don't want this missing woman found.

The action and pacing in this novel were great. I particularly loved the dialogue that Gardner constructed in these pages. It rang authentic for the characters and the time that they were operating in.

One can still occasionally find copies of Turn On the Heat in libraries and used book stores. However, since it's been out of print for decards, those copies are getting harder and harder to find. That's why I'm really glad that Hard Case Crime brought it back for a new printing.

Turn On the Heat by Erle Stanley Gardner is available now on Amazon.com and bookstores everywhere.