Topical Note. With the police in the news so much lately, I feel it relevant to point out that in both the Mason and Cool/Lam novels, ex-lawyer for underdogs Gardner often points out improper police procedures such as witness priming that lead to wrongful convictions. Misconduct on the part of the police happens so often in Gardner's novels that any reader will take to heart the advice, "Say nothing without your lawyer present."
The Case of the
Terrified Typist - Erle Stanley Gardner
A sharp mind with the speed of light, a cloud of flim-flim
and a hearty "Objection." Perry Mason. "Incompetent, irrelevant,
and immaterial!" With his faithful helping companions Della and Paul, the
daring and resourceful attorney for the common guy, leads the fight for justice
in the middle part of the twentieth century. Return with us now to those
thrilling days of yesteryear.
If you recognize the allusion, you’re old enough to like
Perry Mason novels. If you don’t, read them anyway for the fast-paced narrative
and the good guys winning.
Della and Perry hire a temp from an agency to type
briefs. An woman with the symptoms of high anxiety appears in the office and
types “like a house afire.” But she disappears even before collecting her pay.
Perry and Company are nonplussed as they find that another office in their
building – a diamond importer - has been ransacked and that in their office
stuck on the underside the temp typist’s desk is a wad of chewing gum with two diamonds. Yuck.
Perry is hired by a large diamond company to defend one
of its employees in the local office, Duane Jefferson, who has been accused of killing the smuggler who smuggled the
gems into the country but whose corpse has never been found. With a client that’s
economical with the truth Mason doesn’t know how to proceed.
Featuring many twists and turns, this 1956 puzzler will
satisfy both fans of the Mason stories and readers wondering which Mason novel
would be representative of the 80-some book canon. Highly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment