Lester Leith Series by Erle Stanley Gardner
Lester Leith #1
The Monkey Murder
Erle Stanley Gardner
THERE IS A RICH tradition in mystery fiction of the Robin Hood thief, the sympathetic figure who steals from the rich to give to the deserving poor. Lester Leith, the hero of more than seventy novelettes, all written for the pulps, approached his thievery from a slightly different angle. He did steal from the rich, but only those who were themselves crooks, and he gave the money to charities—after taking a 20% "recovery" fee.Debonair, quick-witted, and wealthy, he enjoyed the perks of his fortune, checking the newspapers in the comfort of his penthouse apartment for new burglaries and robberies to solve, and from which he could reclaim the stolen treasures.He has a valet, Beaver, nicknamed "Scuttle" by Leith, who is a secret plant of Sergeant Arthur Ackley. Leith, of course, is aware that his manservant is an undercover operative, using that knowledge to plant misinformation to frustrate the policeman again and again.Leith is only one of a huge number of characters created by the indefatigable Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970), many of whom were criminals, including Ed Jenkins (the Phantom Crook), the sinister Patent Leather Kid, and Senor Arnaz de Lobo, a professional soldier of fortune and revolutionary."The Monkey Murder" was first published in the January 1939 issue of Detective Story.
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Lester Leith #3
Hot Cash, Cold Clews
Erle Stanley Gardner
Ninety-years ago, before Erle Stanley Gardner began writing the very successful Perry Mason series, he wrote for the pulp magazines. The hundreds of pulp magazines that published his works can be difficult to get these days. The pulps were called that because the magazines used cheap wood pulp for its paper, a process that created pages that were not meant to last a century. One of his most popular characters was Lester Leith, the urbane Robin Hood, who steals from the rich and gives to the poor, after taking his own commission. Written mostly during the Great Depression, these stories showed wit and humor that Gardner often displayed in his personal life, but infrequently in his works. Only a handful of the Lester Leith stories have appeared since their original publication dates. Hold Cash, Cold Clews will double the number of Leith stories anthologized. This is the fourth collection of Gardner s pulp characters in Crippen & Landru s Lost Classics series
contents
IntroductionHot CashA Tip from ScuttleThe Girl With TheDiamond LegsLester Takes the CakeThieves' KitchenPut It in Writing!Cold Clews
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