The D.A. Goes to Trial
Cover Artist: Frank McCarthyBy: Gardner, Erle Stanley
Publisher: Pocket Books, Inc.
Place of Publication:New York, NY
Catalog #: Kelley Box 254: PS3513 .A6322 D28 1946
Contributor: J. Adams-Volpe
General
Era: 1930sAuthor as on Cover: Erle Stanley Gardner
Publication:1946
Original Date: 1940
Setting: rural, small town eastern California
Plot Summary
The newly elected and young district attorney of Madison County, California, Doug Selby, has his hands full when the battered body of an apparent hobo is found near a railroad track. The case becomes politically sensitive with pressure from the ex-D.A. and influential citizens, especially when the local bank president is also murdered. The hobo turns out to be an accountant, John Burke. Burke's wife and her previous husband become the prime suspects as they flee and disappear. The new technology of fingerprinting becomes the focus of the novel and the means of identifying the double murderer. Young Doug Selby deals with the ire of a former girlfriend, now a lawyer, who defends the wife and her former husband. Through fingerprints and the help of a newspaper reporter, Sylvia Martin, Selby solves the double murder resulting from a motive of embezzlement.Major Characters
Doug Selby adult male, late 20s, tall, handsome, district attorneyMark Crandall adult middle-aged male, dignified, muscular, owner of a lumber company
John Burke adult middle-aged male, found dead at the beginning of the novel; accountant
Oliver Benell middle-aged male, overweight; bank president
Rex Brandon adult male, tall, large; sheriff of Madison City
Sylvia Martin adult female, 20s, beautiful, blonde; newspaper reporter
Inez Stapleton adult female, 20s, beautiful and a vixen; lawyer
Jim Lacey adult male, tall and big cowboy, rancher and ex-husband of Thelma Burke
Thelma Burke adult female, attractive, wife of John Burke
Sam Roper middle-aged male; former district attorney of Madison City