Alan Prendergast

When I tell friends that my new book, Amateur Hour, is a true story about a murder case in Boulder, Colorado, in 1948, the response is often a kind of polite befuddlement. Although the case drew a flood of media coverage at the time, most people have never heard of the perpetrator or the victim. They wonder why I have put so much time into revisiting a brutal killing that took place almost eighty years ago and digging into obscure archives to piece together what really happened.

I tell them my interest in this subject isn't all that hard to understand. There are at least three compelling reasons that I was drawn to this project. First, the case itself is full of surprising twists and turns, a saga riddled with troubling questions that still linger decades after the mystery of who killed Theresa Foster was officially solved. It also provides a window into the bold but flawed innovations in crimefighting of the 1940s (such as the lie detector and sodium amytal, better known as "truth serum"), as well as the crime-soaked popular culture of the time, the heyday of the paperback mystery, film noir, and aspiring amateur detectives. But the most intriguing aspect of the story, from my point of view, is the involvement of Erle Stanley Gardner, the creator of Perry Mason, whose efforts as a "consultant" in the murder investigation helped to solve the case--and throw it into confusion.

To call Gardner a popular mystery writer would be an understatement. He was the most successful living author of his time. His Perry Mason mysteries dominated the best-seller lists, were translated into dozens of languages, and were eagerly adapted into movies, radio shows, and comic strips--and later, of course, into one of the most influential television shows of all time. Yet little discussed until now is his evolving interest in true crime, which led to his curious role in the Foster investigation--and so much more. 

A prolific writer and tireless adventurer, Gardner was the consummate amateur detective, able to draw on on the services of a network of esteemed crime experts to aid in his sleuthing. But the Foster case was a turning point for him--the first and last time that he became directly involved in a homicide investigation before trial. After that experience, he turned from catching killers to challenging flaws in the justice system, freeing dozens of innocent people serving time (and in some cases, facing execution) for crimes they didn't commit, with the aid of a team of criminologists known as the Court of Last Resort. Amateur Hour looks into the trailblazing transformation of this singular American icon, which began (spoiler alert) with this long-forgotten case in Boulder. With such rich material to explore, I knew it was high time that this story received the attention it deserved.