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by Erle Stanley Gardner (Author)
A fatal car crash takes a California D.A. for a wild ride in this classic hard-boiled mystery by the author of the Perry Mason series.
"The bestselling author of the century . . . a master storyteller." --The New York Times
Sheriff Rex Brandon is sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner with his wife and District Attorney Doug Selby when the phone rings. A drunken car thief named Carleton Grines wants to turn himself in. Selby and the sheriff race to the scene only to discover they're too late. The man dies in a terrible crash before their eyes. But Mr. Grines hasn't finished stirring up trouble . . .
Nothing about the dead driver makes any sense to Selby. He wasn't carrying any ID but he did have a ten-year-old letter in his pocket. His cheap suit doesn't fit, but his hair and nails are well kept. His handmade shoes belong to a Hollywood grocery magnate named Desmond Billmeyer. The car, meanwhile, was registered to Robert C. Hinkle of Oklahoma.
After the man is finally identified, Selby is certain his death was no accident. Someone expected to profit from killing him. Now Selby and the sheriff must figure out who before the guilty party speeds off into the sunset . . .
Originally published in 1944.Author Biography
Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) was an author and lawyer who wrote nearly 150 detective and mystery novels that sold more than one million copies each, making him easily the best-selling American writer of his time. He ranks as one of the most prolific specialists of crime fiction due to his popular alter ego, lawyer-detective Perry Mason. A self-taught lawyer, Gardner was admitted to the California bar in 1911 and began defending poor Chinese and Mexicans as well as other clients. Eventually his writing career, which began with the pulps, pushed his law career aside. As proven in his Edgar Award-winning The Court of Last Resort, Gardner never gave up on the cases of wrongly accused individuals or unjustly convicted defendants.
