The Ides of Perry Mason 5

The 15th of every month until I don't know when I will post a review of a Perry Mason mystery. For the hell of it.

The Case of the Rolling Bones – Erle Stanley Gardner

In the waning days of the Klondike Gold Rush, Alden Leeds and his partner Bill Hogarty mined a pocket of gold. In lawless country and murky circumstances, the partnership dissolved like the hungry dreams of busted prospectors.

In noir fashion, however, the past exerts a baleful sway over the present.  In 1939, 33 years later, Leeds’ avaricious relatives worry that Leeds is bent on marrying former taxi dancer Emily Millicant and cutting them out of the will. In a desperate attempt to prevent this, they kidnap and commit Leeds with the connivance of a greedy doctor. 

As Mason works to get Leeds sprung from the sanitarium, Leeds escapes with the help of an old crony. Emily's black sheep brother, John, later ends up with a carving knife in his back with Leeds’ prints all over the apartment.

Readable as usual albeit mildly confusing. A highlight for hardcore Masonites is the first appearance of Gertie the Office Switchboard Girl. Uncharacteristically since he was not great at characterization, Gardner makes vivid the ole pard relationship between Leeds and Hogarty.