What do you think?
Rate this book
Cool and Lam #12
Bedrooms Have Windows
It started as a routine tail — shadowing an oily hustler who'd been courting a well-healed matron. But the assignment soon led Donald Lam to a sleazy hotel room with a sexy barfly.
And now she's left him high and dry with a pair of corpses dumped in his lap. Suddenly he's the cops' prime suspect. And it'll take some fancy footwork to sidestep the law — and the real killer, who intends to leave Bertha Cool partnerless.
Dell #511.
And now she's left him high and dry with a pair of corpses dumped in his lap. Suddenly he's the cops' prime suspect. And it'll take some fancy footwork to sidestep the law — and the real killer, who intends to leave Bertha Cool partnerless.
Dell #511.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1949
5 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 15, 2017
The thirteenth novel in the Donald Lam-Bertha Cool series begins with Lam hanging out in a hotel lobby. He's shadowed a man to the hotel on behalf of a client and is then distracted when a young woman is thrown out of the hotel's bar for being unescorted. (Back in 1949, many upscale establishments apparently refused service to women dining or drinking alone, figuring that the women might be of "ill repute.") The woman in question "was a small, well-formed package of dynamite. A pocket edition Venus--high breasted, thin-waisted, smooth-hipped--with large brown eyes and taffy-colored hair. She couldn't weigh much over a hundred pounds, but she was perfect, and she was buzzing like an angry hornet."
Who could resist such a woman? Certainly not Donald Lam. She introduces herself as Lucille Hart, and, ever the gentleman, Donald escorts her back into the bar and buys her a drink. One thing leads to another, and she asks him to drive her home. Donald agrees and on the way Lucille says she's suddenly feeling ill. She asks Donald to pull over and check into the Kozy Dell Slumber Court, so that she can rest for a bit.
Obviously, an evening at a place like the Kozy Dell Slumber Court is bound to be interesting, and sure enough, shortly after they arrive, Lucille disappears. While Donald is searching for her, three gunshots go off in another cabin and Donald realizes that he could be in Big Trouble. He wipes his prints from the cabin he rented with Lucille and makes his way back to town.
Well naturally, all hell breaks loose, and before long, Donald is the prime suspect in a couple of murders. His partner, the tough and mercenary Bertha Cool, is furious with him for getting into yet another mess; the bumbling police detective Frank Sellers is hot on Donald's trail determined to put Donald behind bars, and if Donald is going to avoid getting framed for murders he didn't commit, he's going to have to save himself.
This is another entertaining entry in the series. Lam remains nimble and clever as ever and the cast of characters is suitably pulpy, including a "cute little trick" who's "as supple as the greased cable out of a speedometer." They certainly don't make women (or speedometers) like that anymore, and they don't write books like this one anymore either. But every once in awhile it's fun to pull one of these books off the shelf and return to the early, formative years of crime fiction.
Who could resist such a woman? Certainly not Donald Lam. She introduces herself as Lucille Hart, and, ever the gentleman, Donald escorts her back into the bar and buys her a drink. One thing leads to another, and she asks him to drive her home. Donald agrees and on the way Lucille says she's suddenly feeling ill. She asks Donald to pull over and check into the Kozy Dell Slumber Court, so that she can rest for a bit.
Obviously, an evening at a place like the Kozy Dell Slumber Court is bound to be interesting, and sure enough, shortly after they arrive, Lucille disappears. While Donald is searching for her, three gunshots go off in another cabin and Donald realizes that he could be in Big Trouble. He wipes his prints from the cabin he rented with Lucille and makes his way back to town.
Well naturally, all hell breaks loose, and before long, Donald is the prime suspect in a couple of murders. His partner, the tough and mercenary Bertha Cool, is furious with him for getting into yet another mess; the bumbling police detective Frank Sellers is hot on Donald's trail determined to put Donald behind bars, and if Donald is going to avoid getting framed for murders he didn't commit, he's going to have to save himself.
This is another entertaining entry in the series. Lam remains nimble and clever as ever and the cast of characters is suitably pulpy, including a "cute little trick" who's "as supple as the greased cable out of a speedometer." They certainly don't make women (or speedometers) like that anymore, and they don't write books like this one anymore either. But every once in awhile it's fun to pull one of these books off the shelf and return to the early, formative years of crime fiction.
April 10, 2022
This was great. I've said it before, but OMG Erle Stanley Gardner's plots! I love them. Everybody knows Perry Mason from TV, but I don't think the author, ESG, gets the recognition he deserves. Maybe because he didn't have the stylistic chops of Hammett, Chandler, or the later Ross Macdonald (Macdonald's early works were rough, tbh) and maybe there's a presumption he couldn't be that good because of how prolific he was. (He published more books than Hammett, Chandler, and Macdonald put together a couple times over.) And the characterization in his books isn't exactly the greatest either. I don't feel like we ever get to know Lam as a person very well. But ohhhhh, the plots. They are so convoluted. It's an absolute treat to read a fast paced mystery and have absolutely no clue what's going on, or whodunit.
Very pleased to notice we seem to be getting some more Cool & Lam kindle reissues in May. All ones I've read, but I'll buy them anyway and hope they get the whole Cool & Lam series out sooner than later. Finding decent used copies in paper is expensive, and ugh, the dust, it burns my eyes...
I will not wait as long this time before reading the next one.
Very pleased to notice we seem to be getting some more Cool & Lam kindle reissues in May. All ones I've read, but I'll buy them anyway and hope they get the whole Cool & Lam series out sooner than later. Finding decent used copies in paper is expensive, and ugh, the dust, it burns my eyes...
I will not wait as long this time before reading the next one.
August 29, 2020
We expect all the Donald Lam/Bertha Cool mysteries to deliver action and quick thinking. This one does not disappoint. In fact it's among the more tightly plotted of the series and stands out for some higher notes than usual of physical danger and tension. Our guy Donald Lam is great at seeing through the fog and is one smooth talker to boot. I guess there's not a lot of deep insight here, but man is it fun to read!
November 19, 2022
Bertha Cool is her usual irascible self. An attractive woman walks in and asks that the agency tails a man whom she suspects of trying to steal her aunt's money. Donald gets the job and soon finds that the agenda is something quite different he is soon pulled into the plot and finds himself pursued by Sergeant Frank Sellers.
The plot is the usual convoluted tangle and takes some attention so as not to get lost. Fast action, a short book equals a good read. 4 stars.
The plot is the usual convoluted tangle and takes some attention so as not to get lost. Fast action, a short book equals a good read. 4 stars.
June 2, 2017
Bedrooms Have Windows is the 12th book of the 28-book strong Cool and Lam series that the creator of Perry Mason wrote under the pen name AA Fair. If you are new to the series, it is a terrific hardboiled detective series featuring a mismatched pair of detectives. Bertha Cool is a heavyset loudmouthed penny-pincher. Donald Lam is slightly built, has a knack for solving confusing cases, and a magnetic attraction for beautiful women.
This story is all about a femme fatale that catches Lam's eye while he is taking a break from another case. A "small, well-formed package of dynamite. A pocket edition Venus - high-breasted, thin-waisted, smooth-hipped -with large brown eyes and taffy-colored hair." There are no-tell motel rendevouses, nightclubs, prowlers, peeping toms, maniacs on the loose, cheating spouses, and, of course, murder most foul. And Lam finds himself suddenly up to his eyeballs in all of it and a sex crazed murder suspect to boot.
It is, as all the books in this series are, a smooth easy read that draws the reader in quickly. At times, they are so many players and so many criss-crossing motives that it can be a little confusing, but Lam manages to figure it all out before its too late. A fine read.
June 17, 2020
The last time I read any of the A.A. Fair Bertha Cool/Donald Lam mysteries, Nixon was President. One of my Pandemic Projects is to reread Erle Stanley Gardner's entire ouevre. This gem kind of works against the idea.
I do understand the conventions of detective noir novels, but this one . . . alright, good aspects first. The plot itself is first-rate although the mechanics of it are dated. Attractive young ladies float around seedy nightclubs taking pictures of patrons as souvenirs, and sell them for a dollar apiece. There is a mug, and I don't mean the kind that holds coffee. Women are referred to as "janes". And Donald Lam really is up against it in ways that had me riveted to the end. He pulls the solution to the mystery out of desperate straits, and it both is fair (the clues are presented to the reader) and convoluted enough that I arrived at it around the same time Lam did. Gardner has no style at all, unlike Mickey Spillane, and not one character speaks in a manner that makes him or her sound like an actual human being. Not in 1949, and not in 2020. But the plot is excellent.
That said, Gardner's world view is ultimately creepy. If a woman isn't a seductive vixen (there are at least three of them here), she is dismissed as either a predatory cougar (a more polite description than she gets in this novel), a suspiciously mannish female friend of an attractive woman (Susie and the photographer's partner) or Bertha Cool, whose unpleasant characteristics defy description. It almost seems as though Gardner regarded any professional woman above the level of secretary --- Donald's Elsie Brand, Perry's Della Street --- as being innately not female. Bertha is presented as an avaricious tank. I think when I first read this novel 50 years ago I just didn't appreciate how impoverished Gardner's view of women was. This time around I liked the book less because of it.
I do understand the conventions of detective noir novels, but this one . . . alright, good aspects first. The plot itself is first-rate although the mechanics of it are dated. Attractive young ladies float around seedy nightclubs taking pictures of patrons as souvenirs, and sell them for a dollar apiece. There is a mug, and I don't mean the kind that holds coffee. Women are referred to as "janes". And Donald Lam really is up against it in ways that had me riveted to the end. He pulls the solution to the mystery out of desperate straits, and it both is fair (the clues are presented to the reader) and convoluted enough that I arrived at it around the same time Lam did. Gardner has no style at all, unlike Mickey Spillane, and not one character speaks in a manner that makes him or her sound like an actual human being. Not in 1949, and not in 2020. But the plot is excellent.
That said, Gardner's world view is ultimately creepy. If a woman isn't a seductive vixen (there are at least three of them here), she is dismissed as either a predatory cougar (a more polite description than she gets in this novel), a suspiciously mannish female friend of an attractive woman (Susie and the photographer's partner) or Bertha Cool, whose unpleasant characteristics defy description. It almost seems as though Gardner regarded any professional woman above the level of secretary --- Donald's Elsie Brand, Perry's Della Street --- as being innately not female. Bertha is presented as an avaricious tank. I think when I first read this novel 50 years ago I just didn't appreciate how impoverished Gardner's view of women was. This time around I liked the book less because of it.
March 2, 2025
Another entertaining story by Mr. Gardner. Even though the story is a great literary work, the story is fun to read. The banter in the story may be out of date but it is interesting the expressions used in the story. Betha Cool is a woman who is in the front of strong women. To think, we are reading about a woman in the 30's and 40's who runs her own detective agency and is a match for any man. Donald Lam is another character. He is a real "ladies" man. Read and enjoy.
December 27, 2023
I really enjoyed this one and like I usually do, I have the voice of my Erle Stanley Gardner-loving Grandmother in the back of head and trying to see it through her eyes.
As a follow up to Fools Die On Friday it's a tiny bit of a letdown, but when paired so soon after a Perry Mason, it was much more enjoyable. I still wish that Cool and Lam had been as big of a hit as Perry Mason was.
As a follow up to Fools Die On Friday it's a tiny bit of a letdown, but when paired so soon after a Perry Mason, it was much more enjoyable. I still wish that Cool and Lam had been as big of a hit as Perry Mason was.
August 24, 2020
Even though the Cool & Lam stories usually surprise me, this one had a particularly unexpected ending. The beginning and middle were pretty typical: Bertha yelling and Donald figuring things out and applying his own peculiar methods, and of course young women.
May 27, 2018
a very pleasant Sunday reading!
September 24, 2018
Ebook Univers Enigma 1969
April 18, 2024
I read during the communist period ... before 1989, more than ten copies, maybe even more ... that's all they had at the local library in the city ... they are the best police and espionage books ...
December 22, 2025
Another satisfying B. Cool D. Lam installment with snappy dialogue, humor, and insane plotting.
January 24, 2025
(dvojrecenze)
Opět studijní materiál pro Rudou žeň – Earle Stanley Gardner je slavný autor Perryho Masona, ale to mu nestačilo, a tudíž vyhnal hrdinu ze soudní síně, přihodil mu víc hlášek (ale ne moc), šéfovou, vedle které vypadá si Strýček Skrblík jako charitativní šílenec, a pustil ho vyšetřovat případy. Tak vznikl soukromý detektiv Donald Lam.
Zatím jsem stihl znovupřečíst dvě knihy (Do ložnic je vidět a Falešný kufr) a všiml jsem si několika styčných bodů. Jednak jsou postavené na informačních dialozích. Na nějaké poetické popisy se moc nehraje. Jasně, je zmíněno, jak které dívka skvěle naplňuje svůj kostýmek, ale to je prostě povinnost. To, co tu Fair předvádí, je vlastně soudní proces bez soudu.
Za druhé, hrdina je ustavičně v ohrožení ze strany police. Pohybuje se na hraně zákona (někdy i dost za hranou) a aby se dobral k pravdě, neváhá lhát a podvádět. V obou knížkách je podezřelý, jednou z ukrývání peněz a podezřelé (což skutečně dělá) a v druhé z vraždy (v tom prsty nemá). A vždycky jde tu časový press. Musí odhalit zločince dřív, než ho zhaftne policie… a i tak obvykle objasňuje detaily případu už málem s želízky na rukách. Vždycky má své plány a vždycky okamžitě reaguje na vzniklou situaci, aniž by lidem okolo (včetně čtenářů) vysvětloval, čeho chce dosáhnout.
A třetí věc je tempo. Sledovat Faira je jako sledovat profesionálního skořápkáře. Jen tady na vás chrlí podezřelé, informace, zvraty a občas i nějakou mrtvolu. Ani se nesnaží o nějaké emoce, stejně vám většinu energie zabere to, že se snažíte sledovat kuličku.
Není to rozhodně nečitelné a pořád je to zábavné, byť jeho postavy jsou z kartonu vystřižené figurky bez nějaké větší osobnosti. Chybí tam emoce, atmosféra a nějaký pohled na svět, prostě to, co vytváří žánrovou klasiku. Jde čistě o zápletku, všechno ostatní je jen omáčka.
Opět studijní materiál pro Rudou žeň – Earle Stanley Gardner je slavný autor Perryho Masona, ale to mu nestačilo, a tudíž vyhnal hrdinu ze soudní síně, přihodil mu víc hlášek (ale ne moc), šéfovou, vedle které vypadá si Strýček Skrblík jako charitativní šílenec, a pustil ho vyšetřovat případy. Tak vznikl soukromý detektiv Donald Lam.
Zatím jsem stihl znovupřečíst dvě knihy (Do ložnic je vidět a Falešný kufr) a všiml jsem si několika styčných bodů. Jednak jsou postavené na informačních dialozích. Na nějaké poetické popisy se moc nehraje. Jasně, je zmíněno, jak které dívka skvěle naplňuje svůj kostýmek, ale to je prostě povinnost. To, co tu Fair předvádí, je vlastně soudní proces bez soudu.
Za druhé, hrdina je ustavičně v ohrožení ze strany police. Pohybuje se na hraně zákona (někdy i dost za hranou) a aby se dobral k pravdě, neváhá lhát a podvádět. V obou knížkách je podezřelý, jednou z ukrývání peněz a podezřelé (což skutečně dělá) a v druhé z vraždy (v tom prsty nemá). A vždycky jde tu časový press. Musí odhalit zločince dřív, než ho zhaftne policie… a i tak obvykle objasňuje detaily případu už málem s želízky na rukách. Vždycky má své plány a vždycky okamžitě reaguje na vzniklou situaci, aniž by lidem okolo (včetně čtenářů) vysvětloval, čeho chce dosáhnout.
A třetí věc je tempo. Sledovat Faira je jako sledovat profesionálního skořápkáře. Jen tady na vás chrlí podezřelé, informace, zvraty a občas i nějakou mrtvolu. Ani se nesnaží o nějaké emoce, stejně vám většinu energie zabere to, že se snažíte sledovat kuličku.
Není to rozhodně nečitelné a pořád je to zábavné, byť jeho postavy jsou z kartonu vystřižené figurky bez nějaké větší osobnosti. Chybí tam emoce, atmosféra a nějaký pohled na svět, prostě to, co vytváří žánrovou klasiku. Jde čistě o zápletku, všechno ostatní je jen omáčka.
January 28, 2018
Probably the weakest of the Cool & Lam books that I've read thus far. Fair seems to have fallen in to a pattern that I hope he breaks out of in future books. Donald is smitten by a woman. Donald is suspected of murder. Donald convinces Detective Sellers to listen to him while he's in handcuffs and explains the whole thing (with probably not enough info to reach his conclusion).
What still makes it work is that Fair/Gardner is such a damn fine writer and the characters and dialogue are so likable. But we're moving deep in to "samey" territory here.
What still makes it work is that Fair/Gardner is such a damn fine writer and the characters and dialogue are so likable. But we're moving deep in to "samey" territory here.
December 20, 2009
Loved it! It reads like a 1940s or 50s movie- with the detective with his feet propped up on the desk and calling his long legged client a "dame."
Read
May 5, 2016Erle stanley Gardiner
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews