The Case of the Backward Mule

For within a short time, Clane's favourite young lady was up to her neck in murder. And Clane's beloved statue of the peaceful and fatalistic Chow Koh Koh was covered with the blood of the killer's victim! Born in Malden, Massachusetts, Erle Stanley Gardner left school in and attended Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana for just one month before he was suspended for focusing more on his hobby of boxing that his academic studies. Soon after, he settled in California, where he taught himself the law and passed the state bar exam in The practise of law never held much interest for him, however, apart from as it pertained to trial strategy, and in his spare time he began to write for the pulp magazines that gave Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler their start.

Not long after the publication of his first novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws , featuring Perry Mason, he gave up his legal practice to write full time.

He had one daughter, Grace, with his first wife, Natalie, from whom he later separated. In Gardner married his long-term secretary, Agnes Jean Bethell, whom he professed to be the real 'Della Street', Perry Mason's sole although unacknowledged love interest.

He was one of the most successful authors of all time and at the time of his death, in Temecula, California in , is said to have had million copies of his books in print in America alone. How does Rebus keep on getting better and better? Ian Rankin is a genius. Beautifully told, superbly constructed and utterly engrossing. Clever, gripping, a fabulous read. I didn't sleep for three nights reading it. Everyone has something to hideA missing private investigator is found, locked in a car hidden deep in the woods.

Worse still - both for his family and the police - is that his body was in an area that had already been searched.

Everyone has secretsDetective Inspector Siobhan Clarke is part of a new inquiry, combing through the mistakes of the original case. There were always suspicions over how the investigation was handled and now - after a decade without answers - it's time for the truth. Nobody is innocentEvery officer involved must be questioned, and it seems everyone on the case has something to hide, and everything to lose. But there is one man who knows where the trail may lead - and that it could be the end of him: No one in Britain writes better crime novels today.

In A House of Lies is a must-read. Just read the book. It says it better than I can. He's always been at the top of his game, and this latest is no exception.

KIRKUS REVIEW

A real joy - Rebus still makes sparks fly. Rankin's at the top of his form here, and no reader will go away disappointed. As this story begins, all odd pounds of her are quivering happily at the thought of a fat fee to come. All Bertha has to do is guard the priceless treasures of wealthy explorer Dean Crockett II, who is about to throw a fabulous party.

But somebody's hand is quicker even than Bertha's gimlet eye, and one valuable jade Buddha and a primitive blowgun disappear. That's when brainy bantam-weight Donald Lam steps in, and the pace sets off fiercely, before reaching a sensational, unexpected climax.

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Money in the bank had always been a persuasive factor in Bertha Cool's life - and Lamont Hawley represented a lot of it. He also represented an insurance company that smelled a rat about a traffic-accident claim. The trouble was the claimant had drifted away - a beautiful blonde who had been co-operative and level-headed. In fact, too level-headed Donald Lam didn't like it. It's certainly excellent mystery fare. The Murder Room Availability: Vasan Book Depot Availability: Case of the Backward Mule Author s: HarperCollins Distribution Services Availability: Erle Stanley Gardner Publisher: The Case of the Backward Mule Author s: Usually it is Perry Mason.

Terry Clane has just returned to San Francisco from time spent in China and finds himself in the middle of murders and an escaped prisoner who is appealing his conviction. Between Inspector Mallory and Clane's ex Cynthia Renton it seems to be full time action and little in picking up clues to solve the situation. A good portion of the action takes place in the Chinatown area, with hidden tunnels, Terry Clane and Inspector Malloy are two characters I am not familiar with.

A good portion of the action takes place in the Chinatown area, with hidden tunnels, mysterious doors and inscrutable characters.

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The one part I wasn't big on the the way Mallory talked on and on. He was a bit annoying in that aspect. Otherwise it would have been a better read. Mar 17, Glen rated it really liked it Shelves: The second and final entry, in the Terry Clane series.

A marked improvement from the first, I wish there had been a third. Similar in a lot of ways to ESG's Ed Jenkins, The Phantom Crook series, with a similar triangle with the protagonist, a White woman, and a Chinese woman, and a friendship with an important personage in Chinatown. In this case, Clane isn't a crook, just an amateur seen as a nuisance and a suspect by the police.

I enjoyed it, but it could have been better. I suspect ESG was using his plot wheels on this one. Jun 23, Stven rated it liked it. Not a Perry Mason story, but a reasonably good yarn anyhow.

Terry Clane, the hero, is a man of action much like Mason, but has some of the mysterious wisdom of the Orient at his command as well. We get a San Francisco setting with some Chinatown touches. Nice and readable except when the excessive pretense of dull-wittedness practiced by Inspector Malloy is on scene. Jul 01, Sreedhar Pothukuchi rated it really liked it. A thrilling novel from ES Gardner, albeit of completely different style. Gripping murder mystery, brain games between the police and the "good people", all laced with amazing lines of Chinese philosophy.

Many visits to China wouldn't accomplish what this book does. Feb 08, Rupesh Goenka rated it it was ok. The average plot of the murder mystery is without the usual courtroom drama. Olga rated it liked it Jul 24, Cecil Joseph rated it really liked it Feb 07, Lexi Davies rated it it was ok Aug 01, Kajehas rated it it was ok Dec 12, Liam Hughes rated it it was amazing Nov 29, Usha Kamath rated it liked it Apr 18, Juuhhii rated it it was ok Dec 13, Sonal A rated it it was amazing Oct 11, The Tewathias' Library rated it it was ok Dec 01, Alok rated it really liked it Aug 06,