The Ides of Perry Mason 48

On the 15th of every month for the past four years, we've run something related to Our Favorite Lawyer. It's unbelievable to me this is the 4th anniversary of this column. 2019 seems as faraway as the age of the mastodons.

The Case of the Buried Clock - Erle Stanley Gardner

Written in 1942, this is one of the few Perry Mason novels with topical references, something Gardner avoided because, ever a professional with an eye on sales, he thought referring to current events would date a novel and make it less likely to survive and sell.

WWII engaged the attention and energy of the whole country, however, so Gardner has his character Harley Raymond, a wounded veteran, warn his Rotarian audience that they had better be prepared to fight and sacrifice for a long time if the US is going to achieve victory. As for shortages, tires were rationed due to the war effort and this regulation gives Perry Mason a clue later in the novel.

Harley’s girlfriend Adele Blane has a sister Milicent whose husband Jack Hardisty has been embezzling money from his rich banker father-in-law Vincent Blane.  After burying the stolen cash near the Blane’s mountain cabin in a heavily wooded area outside of L.A., no-goodnik Jack is knocked off in chapter 3.  Getting the inevitable killing out of the way early follows Gardner’s custom, which is a best practice in a mystery in my book.

Poor Milicent, now widow of Jack the thief and victim, is the suspect. Hey, her prints were on the murder gun, what more does Lt. Tragg need than that? Vincent Blane hires Perry Mason to get his family out of the most serious trouble they’ve ever met.

It turns out that also buried was a wind-up alarm clock, the old kind with a striker that rings two bells on the top. The clock seems to be 25 minutes slow.  Plenty of other clues make the plot elaborate but not incomprehensible: the “truth serum” scopolamine in the vic's body; an uncertain estimated time of death; camera and negative strangeness; and finally Gardner’s dependable old “two guns” muddle.

Other attractions in this mystery: a large cast of eccentric characters; natural dialogue; excellent court room scenes, and Perry really doesn’t have a grip on the case until the end. In the fandom of the Perryverse, this mystery is a favorite because the plot stays clear though it is complex and demanding of the reader’s little grey cells.