Erle Stanley Gardner 
Gold Comes in Bricks [EPUB ebook] 

Following a money trail leads a PI into danger in this hard-boiled mystery by the creator of Perry Mason and author of Turn on the Heat.   Brainy private detective Donald Lam is always one step ahead of the bad guys—but he’s also smaller than them and typically gets beat up. That’s why his boss, the ever-irascible Bertha Cool, has hired a martial arts master to teach him self-defense. The first class isn’t easy for Donald, but he is rewarded with a new client . . .   Henry Ashbury is concerned about his daughter’s recent spending habits. He wants Donald to find out where her money is going, without letting on that he’s a detective. So, going undercover as Ashbury’s trainer, Donald soon learns the story behind the daughter’s finances. But when his investigation also turns up a dead body, the diminutive detective must teach the killer a lesson in justice . . .  “Lively wit and machinegun dialogue.” —Ralph E. Vaughan, author of Murder in the Goblins’ Playground  “Gardner has a way of moving the story forward that is almost a lost art: great stretches of dialogue alternate with lively chunks of exposition, and the two work together perfectly, without sacrificing momentum.” —Booklist