The D.A. Calls It Murder
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By: Gardner, Erle Stanley
Publisher: Pocket Books of Canada, Ltd. (263)
Place of Publication:Montreal, Canada
Catalog #: Kelley Box 254: PS3513 .A6322 D25 1944
Contributor: J. Shorten
General
Era: 1930sAuthor as on Cover: Erle Stanley Gardner
Publication:1944
Original Date: 1937
Setting: urban; small town; suspects and others involved with the case are a mixture of classes: a Hollywood star, her agent, a poor small-town minister, a well-off doctor
Plot Summary
The Reverend Charles Brower, dead in his hotel room from an overdose of sleeping pills and a weak heart turns out to be neither the Reverend Brower nor to have died accidentally. Who is he? Why did he register under a false name? Why would someone kill him? Why does he have $5,000 in an envelope in the hotel safe? And what was movie actress Shirley Arden doing hiding in the fifth floor of the hotel that evening? Mrs. Charles Brower arrives from Nevada and reveals that the dead man is not her husband. The dead man has clippings about Shirley Arden and a lawsuit between Dr. H. Franklin Perry and Herbert F. Perry over who is the legitimate heir to Herbert's father's estate. Arden admits she saw the dead man, but is vague about the reasons. From his glasses, Selby finds that it is the Reverend William Larrabie of Riverbend, California. Dr. H. Franklin Perry killed him because Larabie had proof that his step-nephew, Herbert Perry, is actually the legitimate heir to his brother's estate.Major Characters
Douglas Selby "Doug," adult male, "handsome young man with curly hair, a devil-may-care glint in his penetrating eyes, and a forceful although shapely, mouth," county district attorneyShirley Arden adult female, beautiful eyes, movie actress
George Cushing adult male, middle-aged (early 50s), "tried to maintain smart, urban sophistication, pale filmed (yet insistent) eyes with puffy circles beneath them," hotel owner
Herbert Perry adult male, young, gas station attendant
H. Franklin Perry adult male, middle-aged, veterinarian
Reverend William Larrabie adult male, middle-aged, short, Methodist minister
Rex Brandon adult male, middle-aged, "twenty-five years older (than Selby), his leathery face creased into a friendly smile....hard determination (in his) grey eyes," county sheriff
Sylvia Martin adult female, young, "trimly efficient, reddish-brown eyes," newspaper reporter