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Doug Selby #1
The D.A. Calls It Murder
Doug Selby starred in nine novels, beginning with "The D.A.Calls it Murder" which traces Selby's investigation into the mysterious death of a clergyman at the Madison Hotel. Selby suspects foul play although the signs point to suicide.
243 pages, Leatherbound
First published January 1, 1937
8 people are currently reading
270 people want to read
About the author
Erle Stanley Gardner
1,384 books803 followersErle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories who also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray, and Robert Parr.
Innovative and restless in his nature, he was bored by the routine of legal practice, the only part of which he enjoyed was trial work and the development of trial strategy. In his spare time, he began to write for pulp magazines, which also fostered the early careers of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. He created many different series characters for the pulps, including the ingenious Lester Leith, a "gentleman thief" in the tradition of Raffles, and Ken Corning, a crusading lawyer who was the archetype of his most successful creation, the fictional lawyer and crime-solver Perry Mason, about whom he wrote more than eighty novels. With the success of Perry Mason, he gradually reduced his contributions to the pulp magazines, eventually withdrawing from the medium entirely, except for non-fiction articles on travel, Western history, and forensic science.
See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erle_Sta...
Innovative and restless in his nature, he was bored by the routine of legal practice, the only part of which he enjoyed was trial work and the development of trial strategy. In his spare time, he began to write for pulp magazines, which also fostered the early careers of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. He created many different series characters for the pulps, including the ingenious Lester Leith, a "gentleman thief" in the tradition of Raffles, and Ken Corning, a crusading lawyer who was the archetype of his most successful creation, the fictional lawyer and crime-solver Perry Mason, about whom he wrote more than eighty novels. With the success of Perry Mason, he gradually reduced his contributions to the pulp magazines, eventually withdrawing from the medium entirely, except for non-fiction articles on travel, Western history, and forensic science.
See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erle_Sta...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
July 13, 2019
Dave Selby preceded Perry Mason. He's a DA where Mason is a defense attorney. He's not terribly interesting. For the most part his being a DA has little to do with solving the crime. There's none of the courtroom scenes for which Gardner is famous, there are too many characters cluttering the pages, and the crime itself doesn't make a lot of sense. That or it was too convoluted for me to follow. ESG specializes in convoluted crimes. It's best to read them fast (something ESG's prose makes easy to do). I noticed this watching the Perry Mason TV show. They breeze right thru the explanations. It's only after you've seen the rerun a couple of times that it hits you to say, "Hey, wait a minute. That doesn't make sense. What about—" ESG is great entertainment; he's not necessarily great for logic. This first Selby story doesn't entertain. It reads right thru, slicker than...stuff, but when it's over you don't feel any the wiser. I thot at first Selby was a dry run for what would eventually lead to Mason; but that's not the case since he never enters a courtroom or does anything other than serve a few subpoenas. Read this only if you're a BIG fan of ESG. Otherwise skip it and you won't miss a thing.
August 30, 2025
Not part of the Perry Mason series, but the first of nine books featuring newly-elected D.A. Doug Selby. All the titles in the series begin with "The D.A. ... ." Basically a police procedural (no courtroom scenes) with Selby trying to solve a crime with the help of the also newly-elected sheriff and a pretty young newspaper reporter -- rather than Perry Mason proving his clients are innocent (as they always were). Selby is fairly bland but tough when he needs to be and good in a fistfight. He has to be tough because politics is a constant issue, with two competing newspapers battling over his fate, one that supports him and one against him. The D.A. Calls It Murder is entertaining, quick-paced, good for passing the time. Reasonably complex, but not too deep and no Sherlock Holmes magic. Just a lot of basic leg work as directed by the D.A., who's kind of bossy and sends other people to do mountains of investigation while he gads about with a seductive Hollywood actress. A promising start, but this first book in the series didn't send me rushing to acquire the next, as so often happens. Capable, competent, enjoyable, average. [3★]
May 12, 2021
ENGLISH: First novel starring District Attorney Doug Selby. The ending is a bit abrupt, although there were always suspicions about the culprit.
ESPAÑOL: Primera novela con el fiscal del distrito Doug Selby como protagonista. El final es un poco brusco, aunque siempre hubo sospechas respecto a quien resulta ser el culpable.
ESPAÑOL: Primera novela con el fiscal del distrito Doug Selby como protagonista. El final es un poco brusco, aunque siempre hubo sospechas respecto a quien resulta ser el culpable.
May 23, 2010
I love me a good pot-boiler of a book. Pot-boiler = Page Turner. Oftimes, when I read it is solely to be entertained. To go where the writer will take me. And Gardner took me on a great trip this time.[return:][return:]This is the first book in the Doug Selby, District Attorney series. First published in 1937, I was amazed at how much of the situations ring so true today. For example, the book starts with Our Hero, Doug Selby winning a closely contested and divisive election for the job of District Attorney in a small town north of Los Angeles. The Sheriff was also elected in that same election. Instead of competing TV networks with their muck rakers like today, there were competing newspapers, The Clarion and The Blade. They sling mud in print and make life interesting/difficult for the D.A.[return:][return:]The story starts with a dead body being discovered in the local hotel. From all appearances, his name is Charles Brower. However when Mrs. Brower shows up she says Brower isn't Brower. And he wasn't. That was just the beginning of a bizarre trail that involved a Hollywood Starlet, a lawsuit, a camera and a poisoned dog. Oh, and Doug's "friend" Sylvia Martin. Who just happens to work at the Clarion. [return:][return:]Gardner's other series, Perry Mason, had already developed a successful and winning formula by 1937. The Selby book didn't adhere to that formula so for me it was fresh and new. More like a traditional whodunit, with very little legal angles thrown in. Straight detective work with politics taking more of a center stage than any courtroom antics.[return:][return:]I recommend this book for lovers of a good mystery. It's hardly dated, it was a good, solid page turnin' pot boiler of a novel. You really shouldn't have a lot of trouble finding a good readable copy on Amazon or eBay. Gardner sold so many books between the 30's and 80's that they are still very common...
May 18, 2013
Fast talking, fun mystery novel by Gardner. Reminded me off black and white films with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell or maybe Tracy and Hepburn.
June 12, 2016
I picked this up at book sale. I was specifically looking for this author thinking it was a Perry Mason story. Was surprised to find it wasn't. But it was the first of this series. The main character is a recently elected District Attorney Doug Selby. It did not disappoint. I forgot how much I liked mysteries.... I'll be reading more of this author.
September 26, 2015
I ventured off the normal Perry Mason / Erle Stanely Gardner track, and even though the characters names were different, it was is essence a Mason novel. None the less, a quick read, that kept me on the hook, trying to figure out who dunnit...a quick, fun read.
August 24, 2013
Very entertaining. This was written in 1937 but it has hardly dated.
January 4, 2020
Major characters:
Rev. Charles Brower - the deceased - or is he?
Mary Brower, his widow - or is she?
Shirley Arden, the wealthy femme fatale actress
Doug Selby, D.A.
Amorette Standish, his secretary
Sheriff Rex Baldwin
Chief of Police Otto Larkin
Sylvia Martin, crime reporter for The Clarion
Locale: Madison City, California
Synopsis: Doug Selby has just won election to District Attorney, and Rex Baldwin also just won election to sheriff. The populace is divided, and the election was close. The Clarion supported Selby and Baldwin, and rival paper The Blade opposed them. They have just taken office when a minister, Charles Brower, is found dead in a hotel room. Circumstances point to suicide, but Selby suspects foul play. An autopsy reveals the death is due to morphia (morphine).
The widow, Mary Brower, is notified - but when asked to identify the body, says it is not that of her husband. Either the body is not Charles Brower, or the widow is not Mary Brower - which is it? The deceased is also found to have been fascinated with actress Shirley Arden, who resides in the same hotel.
Review: This first Doug Selby story shows Selby a bit uncertain in his new role as D.A. There is a lot of emphasis on the pressure of the press. Reporter Sylvia Martin is a puzzle, she is sometimes a hard-boiled Brenda Starr with her feet up on his desk, and sometimes she comes to tears as she begs Selby to give her an exclusive story. Which is she? I do like the Brenda Starr version better.
There is a side story occurring about the "Perry estate" - this is a typical Perry Mason puzzle in which a couple die in a car accident, but who inherits depends upon which one died last. It seems unconnected to the main story until the last few pages when it is tied in.
Secretary Amorette Standish has a minor role. I was hoping she would be a Della Street but she is only marginal to the story. Perhaps she is developed more later in the series.
Overall, a good start to the series. Selby is not so confident and assertive as Perry Mason, and is bewildered at times by clues unravelling all about him as the press pounds at his door.
Rev. Charles Brower - the deceased - or is he?
Mary Brower, his widow - or is she?
Shirley Arden, the wealthy femme fatale actress
Doug Selby, D.A.
Amorette Standish, his secretary
Sheriff Rex Baldwin
Chief of Police Otto Larkin
Sylvia Martin, crime reporter for The Clarion
Locale: Madison City, California
Synopsis: Doug Selby has just won election to District Attorney, and Rex Baldwin also just won election to sheriff. The populace is divided, and the election was close. The Clarion supported Selby and Baldwin, and rival paper The Blade opposed them. They have just taken office when a minister, Charles Brower, is found dead in a hotel room. Circumstances point to suicide, but Selby suspects foul play. An autopsy reveals the death is due to morphia (morphine).
The widow, Mary Brower, is notified - but when asked to identify the body, says it is not that of her husband. Either the body is not Charles Brower, or the widow is not Mary Brower - which is it? The deceased is also found to have been fascinated with actress Shirley Arden, who resides in the same hotel.
Review: This first Doug Selby story shows Selby a bit uncertain in his new role as D.A. There is a lot of emphasis on the pressure of the press. Reporter Sylvia Martin is a puzzle, she is sometimes a hard-boiled Brenda Starr with her feet up on his desk, and sometimes she comes to tears as she begs Selby to give her an exclusive story. Which is she? I do like the Brenda Starr version better.
There is a side story occurring about the "Perry estate" - this is a typical Perry Mason puzzle in which a couple die in a car accident, but who inherits depends upon which one died last. It seems unconnected to the main story until the last few pages when it is tied in.
Secretary Amorette Standish has a minor role. I was hoping she would be a Della Street but she is only marginal to the story. Perhaps she is developed more later in the series.
Overall, a good start to the series. Selby is not so confident and assertive as Perry Mason, and is bewildered at times by clues unravelling all about him as the press pounds at his door.
November 1, 2017
#1 in the Doug Selby series. Author Gardner turns from his celebrated defense attorney, Perry Mason, to start a series about a District Attorney in a rural county north of L.A. The debut has honest Doug Selby narrowly winning the DA election against the corrupt incumbent. Now with the aid of a newspaper, The Blade, that supported the crooked regime, there is a movement to recall him for incompetence. With the aid of the sheriff and a reporter from a friendly newspaper, Doug has 24 hours to perform and name the murderer. Fun read and slam bang finale.
Newly elected district attorney Doug Selby has a problem on his hands. While he may have beaten the corrupt political machine in the election, a death takes place shortly after the recount election confirms his position. Aided only by his friend, a newly elected Sheriff who puts justice over politics, and a woman reporter, he finds himself in a case where he has only 24 hours to solve the case - or be recalled and let Madison City fall back into the hands of crooks who subvert justice.
Newly elected district attorney Doug Selby has a problem on his hands. While he may have beaten the corrupt political machine in the election, a death takes place shortly after the recount election confirms his position. Aided only by his friend, a newly elected Sheriff who puts justice over politics, and a woman reporter, he finds himself in a case where he has only 24 hours to solve the case - or be recalled and let Madison City fall back into the hands of crooks who subvert justice.
June 23, 2020
The first Erle Stanley Gardner book I’ve read. Watched many Perry Mason’s so thought I’d give this 1937 book a try. While this isn’t a Perry Mason story I can understand why it was so successful.
May 11, 2020
Бодрый детектив, несколько сумбурный, и построенный на совпадениях, но в целом вполне увлекательный.
June 18, 2025
It made me realize how much mystery writing has changed since the 1930s.
July 25, 2025
about as potboiler as a novel can get, but makes perfect sense once you know Gardner was a lawyer who wrote like 2000 words a day after work that resulted in like 200 novels eventually. Makes for enjoyable reading though so I can't blame the guy!
May 19, 2024
Full review on my book blog, Market Garden Reader.
Young D.A. Doug Selby and older sheriff Rex Brandon have only just been elected, replacing a Sam Roper, a D.A. who was rumoured to be corrupt. In fact, their election is so recent that their campaign office in the Madison Hotel has not yet been dismantled. By chance they travel up in the hotel lift with the unprepossessing minister Charles Brower. Later that day, Brower is found dead in his hotel room, presumably a heart attack after taking sleeping tablets. However, something about the room where he was found niggles at the back of Selby’s mind so that he can’t sleep. But what really throws a spanner in the works is Brower’s wife. After being informed by phone of her husband’s death, she is very keen to collect her husband’s life insurance money and immediately flies in to set the wheels in motion. But when she sees the body, she claims the man is a stranger and demands that her travel costs be reimbursed. All most peculiar.
Of course, all is not as it seems. There’s a beautiful and famous actress also staying in the hotel and the D.A. noticed the dead man knocking on her door the day before he died, before he knew who was staying in that room. There are also other documents in his room that don’t seem to explain why he was there. The hotel manager is extremely keen to keep the death under wraps and the actress’s agent is excessively protective. The D.A.’s investigation is not helped by two competing newspapers in the town, one that supports him and the other strongly against him. Fortunately for Doug, the reporter for one of the papers is an attractive and enthusiastic young female reporter, keen to make her mark. She will do some of the legwork for Doug if he gives her some of the intel to use in her reports.
The coroner warns Selby that it would be better if he didn’t have any notable cases for a month or two after the election so that even the people who didn’t vote for him get the chance to get used to him being there. He warns him a murder case will be ‘a boomerang’. I assume he means it will come back to haunt him; it’s an American phrase for something that backfires on someone. But Selby has morals: the facts have to add up to make a case.
As you would expect from such a popular author, the twists, turns and red herrings are many and unexpected. He is wrongfooted more than once, discovers some good clues by following up his hunches and leads, makes some interesting observations along the way and finally solves the puzzle. Last-minute ‘confession’ and solution. Some people may be put off by the fact that a previous non-suspect is implicated at the last minute by a new development that turns out to be relevant to concluding the case. Not me! I prefer to have that than to have the solution revolve around something that was mentioned in passing and I have since completely forgotten. This was all good fun and a most enjoyable and engaging read.
Young D.A. Doug Selby and older sheriff Rex Brandon have only just been elected, replacing a Sam Roper, a D.A. who was rumoured to be corrupt. In fact, their election is so recent that their campaign office in the Madison Hotel has not yet been dismantled. By chance they travel up in the hotel lift with the unprepossessing minister Charles Brower. Later that day, Brower is found dead in his hotel room, presumably a heart attack after taking sleeping tablets. However, something about the room where he was found niggles at the back of Selby’s mind so that he can’t sleep. But what really throws a spanner in the works is Brower’s wife. After being informed by phone of her husband’s death, she is very keen to collect her husband’s life insurance money and immediately flies in to set the wheels in motion. But when she sees the body, she claims the man is a stranger and demands that her travel costs be reimbursed. All most peculiar.
Of course, all is not as it seems. There’s a beautiful and famous actress also staying in the hotel and the D.A. noticed the dead man knocking on her door the day before he died, before he knew who was staying in that room. There are also other documents in his room that don’t seem to explain why he was there. The hotel manager is extremely keen to keep the death under wraps and the actress’s agent is excessively protective. The D.A.’s investigation is not helped by two competing newspapers in the town, one that supports him and the other strongly against him. Fortunately for Doug, the reporter for one of the papers is an attractive and enthusiastic young female reporter, keen to make her mark. She will do some of the legwork for Doug if he gives her some of the intel to use in her reports.
The coroner warns Selby that it would be better if he didn’t have any notable cases for a month or two after the election so that even the people who didn’t vote for him get the chance to get used to him being there. He warns him a murder case will be ‘a boomerang’. I assume he means it will come back to haunt him; it’s an American phrase for something that backfires on someone. But Selby has morals: the facts have to add up to make a case.
As you would expect from such a popular author, the twists, turns and red herrings are many and unexpected. He is wrongfooted more than once, discovers some good clues by following up his hunches and leads, makes some interesting observations along the way and finally solves the puzzle. Last-minute ‘confession’ and solution. Some people may be put off by the fact that a previous non-suspect is implicated at the last minute by a new development that turns out to be relevant to concluding the case. Not me! I prefer to have that than to have the solution revolve around something that was mentioned in passing and I have since completely forgotten. This was all good fun and a most enjoyable and engaging read.
July 15, 2020
HBO has everybody watching the backstory of Perry Mason. I wanted to see a bit of the back story of his daddy, Erie Stanley Gardner. ESG wrote several series, Mason being one. The others form the same pattern-- the jigsaw puzzle where none of the pieces seemed to come from the same box, let alone the same puzzle picture. Today, the murder squad would have the pieces pinned to the wire board and lines and arrows and circles trying to connect the pieces. ESG has the pieces scattered through the pages of action and dialogues. The pace is relentless and the puzzle stays baffling. Until the end. Then pieces are tossed aside. The lines connect the pieces. The picture is clear. And ESG's hero (and his faithful bright female sidekick) nail somebody. It works. ESG sold a million books a year. What can be more fun than watching his Sherlocks fit that puzzle picture together right before our eyes?
January 3, 2021
My first read by this author and I really enjoyed it. The clues (or clews, as it was spelled in the 1937 book), were laid out but there were red herrings to confuse us. Douglas Selby begins this first in the series as the newly elected D.A. of a small California county facing his first murder inquiry. He keeps getting clues and being baffled, but his training and intellect come through and he fits it all together for the big finish. I admit I didn't see the solution coming, even though I kept wondering about the side story that wove in and out and finally became vital. It was an entertaining story and a great dip into the vintage era of mystery for me. I'm restraining myself from going online and ordering the next several Doug Selby novels as I need to read what's currently on my shelves. We'll see how long I last. :)
December 18, 2021
A well-written start to the Selby series. It's interesting to see how we were actually supposed to meet the characters in the beginning - although what happened between Selby and Brandon between this and Holds a Candle I can't imagine. Gardner's plotting in this one is tight, with lots of threads hanging around here and there for you to pull on, but in the end this acts equally as the expected legal thriller and as a carefully-plotted, mostly fair-play whodunit with a smart solution. I'll be honest in saying that I didn't enjoy this as much as I did The D.A. Holds a Candle, but it is still recommended by me.
June 7, 2020
2nd book in the summer reading with my son :)
Really enjoying these books - am going to haveto put these authors on my reading lists. Can see why they are classics . Thought this was going to be a Perry Mason story but it was his adversary across the court. Mason wasn't even mentioned. Anyway really liked it!!
Really enjoying these books - am going to haveto put these authors on my reading lists. Can see why they are classics . Thought this was going to be a Perry Mason story but it was his adversary across the court. Mason wasn't even mentioned. Anyway really liked it!!
June 12, 2017
This was the first Doug Selby novel I've read and it also happens to be the first one in this series by Erle Stanley Gardner. It was very good. I'll be reading more books in this series -- maybe even all of them.
August 14, 2018
It’s a shame that Gardner’s non-Perry Mason books have fallen out of favor. He has puzzle-perfect plotting and a real sense of pacing for the lead characters, especially for the era he wrote in. The first of his DA series is a good introduction to Doug Selby that is worth looking for.
July 21, 2020
An easy, if old-fashioned, read. Not Perry Mason, but a similarly forceful and attractive young District Attorney and a confusing murder.
March 28, 2023
I never knew Earle Stanley Gardner wrote other than Perry Mason, so this was a very pleasant surprise. And I wasn't expecting the ending at all.
September 13, 2023
I had no ideal ESG wrote a series about a Southern California D.A.
This was a very fast read, and my copy was a beautiful edition, with silver edges on very hearty paper put out by The Franklin Library.
The plot is interesting, and although Madison City is a fictional place, Riverbend appears to be in Fresno County.
The newly elected DA Doug Selby and Sheriff Rex Brandon are immediately hit with an apparent natural death at the Madison Hotel. When the body turns out to not be the person who's name the deceased was registered as, Doug begins to believe that this was not what it appeared.
The characters ran the gamut from famous actress, her business manager, Doug's steady secretary, an effusive Hotel Manager to the crusading yellow press. The politics of being a D.A. were fully exposed.
Running in the background is a civil trial about who the inheriting beneficiaries are in the Charles Perry estate, the local veterinarian H Franklin Perry or Charles second wife's son Herbert F Perry.
More interesting names are Carl Bittner of The Blade and Ben Trask the business manager.
I was interested in the typewritten note in the hotel room, and the issues with the camera. Who was typing in the dead man's room at 3 am, and who took pictures with his camera after his body was discovered. Confusing the issue further is the five thousand dollars placed in the hotel safe.
I had a hard time believing the DA would travel with Sylvia Martin, a member of the press, despite the limb she crawled out onto on his behalf.
I borrowed a copy from the public library.
This was a very fast read, and my copy was a beautiful edition, with silver edges on very hearty paper put out by The Franklin Library.
The plot is interesting, and although Madison City is a fictional place, Riverbend appears to be in Fresno County.
The newly elected DA Doug Selby and Sheriff Rex Brandon are immediately hit with an apparent natural death at the Madison Hotel. When the body turns out to not be the person who's name the deceased was registered as, Doug begins to believe that this was not what it appeared.
The characters ran the gamut from famous actress, her business manager, Doug's steady secretary, an effusive Hotel Manager to the crusading yellow press. The politics of being a D.A. were fully exposed.
Running in the background is a civil trial about who the inheriting beneficiaries are in the Charles Perry estate, the local veterinarian H Franklin Perry or Charles second wife's son Herbert F Perry.
More interesting names are Carl Bittner of The Blade and Ben Trask the business manager.
I was interested in the typewritten note in the hotel room, and the issues with the camera. Who was typing in the dead man's room at 3 am, and who took pictures with his camera after his body was discovered. Confusing the issue further is the five thousand dollars placed in the hotel safe.
I had a hard time believing the DA would travel with Sylvia Martin, a member of the press, despite the limb she crawled out onto on his behalf.
I borrowed a copy from the public library.
July 21, 2025
This 1937 murder mystery is a recent American Mystery Classic reprint. Gardner wrote 84 Perry Mason books. He wrote another fifty or so, some under different names. He had several other series characters.
This is the first book of nine featuring Doug Selby, the newly elected district attorney of Madison County, California. It was a hotly contested election and one of the local papers is out to get him.
Selby gets the report that a minister is found dead in his room at a local hotel. When the minster's wife shows up to identify the body, it turns out that it was not the minister. The body is unidentified and has been murdered.
The plot gets fairly complicated very quickly. There is a Hollywood starlet in the middle of things. A big-time city crime reporter gets brought into town to try to get embarrassing stories on the job Selby is doing. A female reporter from the friendly local paper is trying to help Selby. All the loose ends get wrapped up in the end.
At the time of his death in 1970, Gardner was the bestselling American author of the twentieth century. He produced at an amazing clip. He worked in what he called his "fiction factory". He would dictate books. a team would type them up. He didn't worry about style. He wrote in a plain straight forward style. There was none of the cleverness of a Chandler or Hammett. There was almost no humor. It was "just the facts".
Selby never comes alive as a character. The plot is all over the place. This is a mediocre Gardner story.
This is the first book of nine featuring Doug Selby, the newly elected district attorney of Madison County, California. It was a hotly contested election and one of the local papers is out to get him.
Selby gets the report that a minister is found dead in his room at a local hotel. When the minster's wife shows up to identify the body, it turns out that it was not the minister. The body is unidentified and has been murdered.
The plot gets fairly complicated very quickly. There is a Hollywood starlet in the middle of things. A big-time city crime reporter gets brought into town to try to get embarrassing stories on the job Selby is doing. A female reporter from the friendly local paper is trying to help Selby. All the loose ends get wrapped up in the end.
At the time of his death in 1970, Gardner was the bestselling American author of the twentieth century. He produced at an amazing clip. He worked in what he called his "fiction factory". He would dictate books. a team would type them up. He didn't worry about style. He wrote in a plain straight forward style. There was none of the cleverness of a Chandler or Hammett. There was almost no humor. It was "just the facts".
Selby never comes alive as a character. The plot is all over the place. This is a mediocre Gardner story.
July 31, 2024
Madison City şehrinde seçimlerle yeni savcı olan Douglas Selby, yeni Şerif Rex Brandon işe beraber ilk vakasını ertesi gün alır. Bir otelde bir rahip ölmüştür. İntihar etmiş gibi durur. Charles Brower adındaki rahibin odasına girince bir şeyin olması gerektiği gibi olmadığını görür Selby. Otopsiden de mprfinle ölüm çıkınca cinayet vakası kesinleşir. Blade gazetesi savcı aleyhine bir kampanya başlatır. Doktor Perry de bir evlilik davası sebebiyle istediği mirası alamamıştır. Brower'ın karısı gelir ve cesedi teşhis edemez. Çünkü ölen adam Larribie adında bir rahiptir ve kasasından 5000 dolar çıkar. Hollywood yıldızı Shirley Arden de işin içindedir. Parfümünü değiştirmiştir. Aslında parayı o vermiştir. Otelin sahibi de öz babasıdır. Bu sırada Selby'nin cesetten aldığı kameradaki fotoğraflar değiştirilir. Çünkü adli tıp doktorunun köpeği zehirlenir ve Perry'ye götürülür. Blade Selby'yi Arden mevzusu sebebiyle paçavraya çevirir. Ona iyi davranan Clarion gazetesi yazarı Slyvia Martin ise akşam dörde kadar olayı çözmesi gerektiğini söyler. Çünkü gazeteye işi çözdüğün söylemiştir. Eğer Selby çözemezse Şerif ve gazeteci de işinden olacaktır. Otel müdürünü araştırırlar. Bir senaryo, 500ü dolar, kayıp fotolar vardır? Peki zehirleri iyi bilen bu katil kimdir? Neden cinayeti işlemiştir? Köpeğin zehirlenmesi konu ile ilgili midir? Selby Katili yakalayabilecek midir? Keyifle soluksuz okunan bir roman.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 15, 2024
This story involves the main character of Douglas Shelby, the District Attorney of Madison City. When a rather nondescript clergyman is found dead in the Madison Hotel and the cause of death seems to be an accidental overdose of sleeping powder, there is pressure to close the case. However, Shelby has his doubts and keeps the investigation open.
The case moves rather methodically, until it is proven that the man was in fact murdered. Unlike the much more dynamic Perry Mason stories by Gardner, this one has no real high point of tension. The dialog is also much tamer than in the Mason stories and this one lacks the high tension between Mason and the members of law enforcement. It is clear from reading this book how critical those relationships are to the success of the Mason series.
As a mystery, this one has some of the requisite twists and turns. However, it lacks riveting dialog or a great deal of action. In that sense, as a fan of the Mason stories, I found this one disappointing and somewhat dull.
The case moves rather methodically, until it is proven that the man was in fact murdered. Unlike the much more dynamic Perry Mason stories by Gardner, this one has no real high point of tension. The dialog is also much tamer than in the Mason stories and this one lacks the high tension between Mason and the members of law enforcement. It is clear from reading this book how critical those relationships are to the success of the Mason series.
As a mystery, this one has some of the requisite twists and turns. However, it lacks riveting dialog or a great deal of action. In that sense, as a fan of the Mason stories, I found this one disappointing and somewhat dull.
September 29, 2020
The first in the Doug Selby series. Selby, the newly elected district attorney investigates the death of a minister. He is assisted by Rex Brandon, the local sheriff and must fight against the city police chief and the local paper that had not supported his candidacy. He gets assistance from Sylvia Martin, a reporter for the other local paper which did support him.
January 21, 2025
Doug Selby won his campaign for district attorney after a hard-fought battle that is only referenced.
When you start a brand-new job, you expect some tough days. Doug Selby faces a dead body after 24 hours in office (in the second chapter no less). Gardner's "Fighting D.A." has an uphill battle to find the solution to this mystery.
I was happy to visit this new-to-me series.
When you start a brand-new job, you expect some tough days. Doug Selby faces a dead body after 24 hours in office (in the second chapter no less). Gardner's "Fighting D.A." has an uphill battle to find the solution to this mystery.
I was happy to visit this new-to-me series.
May 12, 2025
Run of the mill mystery book, runs you around the different clues, all to then reveal it in the end. Some lil plot holes though and you really could read the last three chapters to get all of the books peak plot points.
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