Today marks Erle Stanley Gardner's birthday. He was born on July 17, 1889. I thought I'd blog about the only appearance of a birthday for any of Gardner's series characters.
Traps
Need Fresh Bait begins with a rare event in any of
Gardner’s series, a character aging. The office surprises Lam with a birthday
party in his honor. Barney Adams, an executive at an insurance company,
interrupts the celebration. The company is concerned because advertisements
have begun to appear in local newspapers, requesting witnesses who saw a particular
automobile accident. Adams is concerned because the accident had clearly been
caused by one party. The advertisements appear to want to subvert justice as only
witnesses willing to testify that the innocent party was actually to blame for
the accident are requested. Lam suspects something even more suspicious after
he receives Adams’ business card.
Donald investigates and learns that the accident
has already been settled with the insurance companies, leaving no possible
lawsuit or reason for the advertisement. Donald tries to apply for the job as
witness, but is rejected. He meets another applicant for the job of witness
there. Lam is accused of murder because he is in the vicinity of a murder while
tailing the woman. The plot device had been used before when characters lied to
implicate Lam, but in this case, it just appears that Sellers has it in for
Lam.
Gardner is especially cynical about
women in this book, calling them “creatures of intrigue. They love to set
obscure causes in motion to bring about results that will take place behind the
scenes.”[i]
[i] Gardner,
Erle Stanley (as A.A. Fair). Traps Need
Fresh Bait. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1967. Page 104.
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