On the 15th of every month, we publish a review of Our Fave Lawyer
The Case of the Fabulous Fake – Erle Stanley Gardner (1969)
It is 1969 in Los Angeles. Diana Douglas and her brother Edgar are both employees of the Escobar Import & Export Company of San Francisco. Though controls in the company are cool and casual, auditors have tumbled to the fact that about $10,000 ($72,000 in 2021) is missing from the cash safe. Edgar, a charming do-nothing employed as a favor to his sister, may have embezzled it to settled gambling debts to wise guys.
LA blackmailer, Moray (as in eel) Cassell, has heard a rumor of the missing cash and seems to have contacted Edgar to put the bite on him. Sensitive Edgar got knocked out in an auto accident and is in a coma so sister Diana decides to pay The Eel off. Though she lies and frankly conceals information, Mason agrees to help Diana, mainly because he detests blackmailers. Mason admits he made a mistake when he unwittingly gave Diana enough rope to go and stick her pretty neck into an ugly noose. The inevitable murdered corpse in an apartment results in Diana being charged with Murder One since the murder weapon was a wooden-handled .22 owned by Edgar.
I’ll read late career Gardner because I’m a fan. But critical me has to admit this last Mason mystery, #80, has its problems. It is almost a quarter shorter than usual. There aren't many suspects. The plot depends on an especially contrived coincidence revealed very late in the game. Gardner doesn’t play fair with the reader when he withholds facts the reader needs to guess the perp. We long-time fans miss Hamilton Burger and his exasperated outbursts; there are no familiar comfy exchanges with Della or Paul Drake. Slightly grating is Gardner’s habit of making adverbs do more than their share of the work as characters glance meaningly, look quizzically, nod solemnly, and say impressively.
On the plus side, Gardner liked to stay abreast of new trends and he respected technology so we feel the atmosphere of 1969 a little when he references computers, credit cards, electric typewriters, car phones, the Miranda decision of 1966, and the ease of taking guns onto airliners. The other plus is that a familiar Gardarian heroine takes the stage yet again. That is, Diana Douglas is headstrong and like many headstrong people, she's afraid of something. Not of losing money, property, or reputation - but she's afraid something bad is going to happen to her brother Edgar. She’s brave, smart, and loyal to her brother. And she’s starry-eyed with gratitude at the end for Perry foiling the System’s savage determination to put her in the gas chamber.
Gardner must have felt a duty to educate the public so often in the mysteries he made a digression to make a teaching point about the criminal justice system. In chapter 3, Mason is defending a young black man accused of robbing a pawn shop. To the jury, Mason argues the eyewitness evidence is weak compared to circumstantial evidence. He says people get a fleeting glimpse of a stranger and all they remember at first is noticeable points - tall black male with a moustache carrying a paper bag. Then when they cudgel their memories at the insistence of the police, they hypnotize themselves that they remember more than they really do. And when they undergo police-arranged procedures like going over mug shots and identifying people in line-ups, the self-hypnosis and the subtle and not so subtle police priming, prompting, and pressuring make it all but inevitable that the witness will identify the soon-to-be defendant. The stern reality of this social and psychological process is enough to provide the reasonable doubt to acquit.
Showing that Mason does not win all the time, the jury decides “guilty” anyway, but before they deliver the verdict in open court, a police officer comes in to tell the judge the real perp has been apprehended. The deputy DA thinks telling them the jury the truth would weaken the public trust in eyewitness identification. Oh, the tragedy, that would throw a mighty monkey wrench into the criminal justice machine. Since then, research has shown Gardner had a point about the unreliability of eyewitness evidence. Eyewitness testimony is largely unreliable and one of many reasons why is own-race bias. That is, individuals are generally better at recognizing members of their own race and tend to be highly inaccurate in identifying persons of other races.
I’d give the last Mason mystery, #80, a qualified approval.
Notes: The pandemic killed my part-time job of teaching ESL so my teacherly inclinations and ways have to come out somehow. Following is a glossary of terms used in this novel for people under 50 and non-native speakers of English. Both groups may lack knowledge of 1969 and its idioms and its cultural touchstones and assumptions. Glossing was for my own amusement but done in the larger hope that old-school mysteries won’t become inaccessible simply because their vocabulary becomes quaint, embarrassing or obsolete.
You can’t tell
much from a woman’s hands until after she’s turned 30.
When reading old mysteries, allowances must be made to sexist comments and attitudes. Research published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons says most people – male and female - can accurately tell a person's age by viewing only their hands. So if you want to know a person's real age, just look at their hands. Male and female.
Give her a button
and she’ll sew a vest.
This comment by Della Street about imaginative Gerties sounds proverbial but I can’t find any other instances of its use. It does not mean the criticism “she makes big deals out of nothing much” (make mountains out molehills). But rather Gertie’s so imaginative and resourceful that she’ll build a whole story out of just a little information.
You’ve reached
your thumb by going all the way round your elbow.
This comment by Paul Drake also sounds idiomatic, but I don’t think it is. It means you have reached a conclusion though not following a direct line of thinking. Thinking in a roundabout way.
Be on the horns of
a dilemma
When a person is on the horns of a dilemma, they have to choose between two things, both of which are unpleasant or difficult.
Cloak and dagger
(story, situation, situation)
Involving mystery, secrecy, conspiracy, or espionage. It’s from the image of spies wearing roomy coats and capes and killing silently with knives.
Live and let live.
This proverb means that we should live our own lives the way we prefer and allow other people to live the way they want to. As the Japanese say juunin toiro 十人十色 literally “ten people, ten views” for “Different strokes for different folks.”
Come out cold
turkey
In this novel this idiom means “say clearly and directly.” Nowadays we only say “quit / go cold turkey” to mean quit a bad habit like smoking immediately, not tapering off.
Prices
In a used bookstore, Perry Mason buys some old histories of California for $28.00. This is equivalent to $200.00 today. I enjoy the idea of Our Hero in a used bookstore and paying big bucks to keep them alive. One wonders if back then their proprietors were as mean and grasping as they are now.
Before they
proposition you, men may test you by telling a story that’s a little broad.
In this sentence broad means off color, a little indecent, in poor taste, crude, suggestive, rude. Nowadays I doubt if anybody would use broad in this sense; just say dirty stories.
Helen, Joyce,
Ella, Stella
Helen and Stella were popular names for girl babies in the 1920s; Stella has come back gangbusters in the last couple of years. Joyce was popular in the 1940s. Ella is an old name that has become much more popular in the last 10 years.
Magnetic personality
/ person
This expression is still used for very attractive, charming, charismatic. But to me it sounds a little old-fashioned.
You can say that again.
This is a very informal way to say I strongly agree. Don’t use with bosses, supervisors, elderly people or teachers.
Hell’s Bells!
This is an old expression to express anger of annoyance. If you use this expression, people will ask you if your English teacher was 85 years old.
Get the
heebie-jeebies
This is 1920s slang for feel anxiety or nervous fear. I think most people know what it means but I don’t hear it often in conversation.
ride herd on (this
room, people, employees)
This expression is American English for watch over. This idiom is from cowboy slang when they were driving cattle while riding along with them.
on the square / on
the level
This is old slang from carpenters for honest, open, true, truthful.
badger game
This is an extortion technique in which the victim is tricked into a compromising position to make them vulnerable to blackmail. A noir standby is the photographer bursting into a hotel room where the victim is embracing a femme fatale.
bark up the wrong
tree
This idiom means that a person completely misunderstands a situation and is acting on wrong assumptions.
It was like
rolling off a log
This American idiom means be very easy to do, requiring no skill
a kettle of fish
An awkward, difficult, or bad situation; a fine mess. This informal expression is old but still used.
The taxi driver
started to make time.
In this sentence make time mean proceed rapidly, but usually it means to arrange your schedule to find time to do something.
Don’t let yourself
go, Diana.
Mason is telling her not to allow her emotions to overcome her ability to think clearly. Nowadays we use this idiom more often to mean to allow yourself to become unhealthy and unattractive: It’s easy to let yourself go during a pandemic by eating too much and never exercising.
Make arrangements
This is a delicate expression for to plan a funeral. In the US, almost all references to death are made in mild, gentle words. In middle-class company, anyway.
You’ve had a hard
row to hoe.
This idiom means you are in a difficult position or situation. This is a farmer’s expression from the early 19th century; row crops are, to name a couple, potato, dry bean, and field pea. If you hear a person say a tough road to hoe you can safely assume she doesn’t think about the words she uses and probably puts gasoline in CVS plastic bags. How the hell do you hoe a damn road? It’s like saying, “That really took the steam out of my sails,” which I swear I heard on – where else? - sports talk radio where language goes to curl up and die.
chunky
In the olden days this meant having a bulky and solid body type, but nowadays it means overweight or fat. There is no situation in the US today in which you can safely use the word fat when you are talking about people.
tortoise-shell
glasses
These were out of style for a long time but now they are back in style but in more various colors such as green, orange, and red. The tech to make them from acetate and in bright colors is probably cheaper nowadays.
You’re getting the
cart before the horse.
Doing things in the wrong order.
Put two and two
together
Draw an obvious conclusion from facts or evidence
Good girl!
Male bosses used to use this expression when praising the female help. If you said this nowadays, you would lose your job.
Miranda decision
In the case of Miranda versus Arizona, in 1966, the Supreme Court ruled that, before questioning by the police, suspects must be informed that they have the right to remain silent and the right to consult an attorney, and that anything they say may be used against them in court.
Fountain pen
Nobody uses in 2021 except those who love writing with one, those who want to make a strong statement about fashion or communication, and those who have made using and taking care of one a hobby.
Pull the wool over
one’s eyes
To hide the truth from somebody. This is an extremely old expression: at fairs in the medieval days, thieves would pull down people’s hood over their faces and steal from them.
Shaking hands
Before the 2020 pandemic, it was widely believed that you can tell a lot about a man by his grip when shaking hands. The idea was that by exchanging animal magnetism by touch, one would feel a man was firm and sincere or evasive, oily, manicured, self-conscious, or irritable.
That kind of a
girl
This is an old polite way to say a woman is behaving in a sexually promiscuous (loose) or provocative (teasing) manner. It is often used in the negative, “I would never sleep with a guy on the first date; I'm not that kind of girl!”
He was a nut about
his women being able to protect themselves.
Be a nut about means extremely strong-minded or firm about something. In this case, poor Edgar badly wanted his sister and girlfriends to be able to handle a gun effectively for personal protection. Among many Americans responsible gun ownership and use is a highly cherished right. As for the phrase “his women” or “their women” etc. it’s a good idea not to use language that implies you think women are objects or possessions of anybody.
Keep a stiff upper
lip, Diana.
Repress your emotions for the sake of reasoning clearly. This habit of emotional regulation is associated with British unemotionality, but the phrase in fact originated in the US in the early 19th century.
The deuce! The
deuce you say!
This is an expression of surprise at what someone says. The word 'deuce' is a euphemism for the devil and dates back to late 17th century England.
gadabout
A person who goes here and there for fun
Six months later
she was a girl in trouble and she hadn’t seen her boyfriend in a while.
Be in trouble means
to be single but pregnant
No comments:
Post a Comment