SHILLS CAN'T CASH CHIPS

A flat, dull mystery that makes little sense, with characters who act like dullards more often than not, are saddled with limp dialogue and spout inane catchphrases like “Fry me for an oyster”, and who fall for ludicrous setups. There's a reason no one has published this one in 45 years, and while I generally have very good experiences with Hard Case titles, bringing some books back into print simply because they can should hardly be the benchmark. When crime readers think of famous detectives/lawyers/characters from yesteryear, they rightly think of Marlowe or Spade or Archer or Perry Mason (a creation of the author of this work) or perhaps Parker or even Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson. No one thinks of Cool and Lam. And there's a reason for that.