Bill Hagen:
<<Perhaps this is a case of a writer's reading more
widely than his fans?>>
Well, Erle Stanley Gardner was very prolific, and not
everything he wrote is first-rate, but at his best he was
dynamite. His pacing of a story is nearly always perfect, and
his dialogue, superb. The plots were sometimes recycled, or
indistinguishable, which is more or less the same
thing.
I am very fond of his Cool-Lam series written as A.A. Fair.
They are fast and exciting reads, with plenty of humor and
great dialogue. His old stories from the pulps are also very
interesting. They guy had a tremendous imagination in those
days (some of the Ed Jenkins stories were reprinted by
Carroll & Graf). If Gardner had continued in this vein,
he could have become a Bellem. He certainly knew how to do
the hardboiled "primitive" act.
We should talk more about Gardner. It seems that Perry Mason
swallowed his reputation while filling his pockets. You can't
have everything...
Regards,
MrT
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