From the archives….
The Ehrengraf Fandango is the twelfth short story featuring the lawyer Martian H. Ehrengraf. He has a small room at his home reserved for attorney-client meetings. The room is a bit reminiscent of such a room at a police station as both the table and the chairs are bolted to the floor. The surroundings lean towards the austere and Ehrengraf may or may not be recording everything that goes on in the room. It is not exactly clear from the start that he pushes the legal boundaries hard if not flat out obliterating them. That talent comes in handy with his latest client, Cheryl Plumley, as the story begins.
The entire world knows she fired the gun that killed
three people in a house on Woodbridge Avenue. She has no memory of actually
going into the home and shooting Mary Beth and Richard Kuhldreyer as well as
their neighbor, Patricia Munk. While her only explanation other than sheer
madness for the crime would be satanic intervention, Ehrengraf has a much more
down to earth explanation. Not only does he know how he can help her with the
case, he has a few other ideas to help her and her future.
Along with a touch here and there of subtle humor, The
Ehrengraf Fandango by Lawrence Block is a complicated multiple case
mystery. The Plumley case is just part of a much larger tale in this work.
Martian H. Ehrengraf is a lawyer who bends the law to suit himself and enjoys
the fruit of his labors in the process. He only defends innocent clients and he
never loses a case. If you need his services, it is always best to pay his free
promptly and without delay.
Also present at the end of the book is the original introduction to the first story, The Ehrengraf Defense, written by Edward D. Hoch for the 1978 initial appearance in Ellery Queen’s mystery magazine. That is followed by two different afterwards from the author, first in 1994 and then 2014. Those pieces by Hoch and author Lawrence Block provide intriguing details about the dapper lawyer, the other eleven tales in the series, as well as publishing in general.
Material was picked up to read and review when the
author made it free back in January.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2016, 2021
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4 comments:
Cool...I've read a couple of the stories as they've appeared in EQMM, but not this one...thanks for the pointer/reminder...
Kevin, I added this review to my latest short story Wednedsday post about the Ehrengraf stories. I also used your link to go and buy that story so I could read it (since it is not in Enough Rope, the anthology), but also so I could read the Afterwords by Lawrence Block. Even his afterword pieces are good reading.
Oh, wow, thank you, but you did not need to do that. It is much appreciated.
He is so very cool. I got to meet him, for the first time, at Bouchercon Dallas and the legend knew who I was and walked up, said so, and introduced himself. Blew my mind.
Kevin, that is such a nice story about meeting Lawrence Block and so thrilling. He seems like such a real person, and thoughtful.
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