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 Duplicate Daughter – Erle Stanley Gardner
This 1961 mystery begins with a teasing cat and mouse game where it’s unclear who’s trying to get away with what. So the reader who’s reading too fast may be completely puzzled by the unexpected plot twists.
The events start with investment guru Carter Gilman having breakfast with his daughter Muriel. He still feels a little hungry and asks his daughter to prepare another helping of the old-fashioned bacon and eggs and buttered toast American breakfast that caused widow makers to take guys in their early sixties to their eternal rewards.
When dutiful daughter Muriel returns from the kitchen, she finds her father has vanished. The daughter begins a search and eventually finds a pool of blood, a broken chair, and $10,000 in hundred-dollar bills scattered around pop’s workshop. In father’s briefcase, she finds a note saying to contact attorney Perry Mason if something unexpected happens.
Muriel calculates things are crazy enough to follow the instructions and leaves a message with Perry Mason’s office. Before Perry makes a call back, secretary and office manager Della Street announces that, among other things, Edward Gilman set aside time the day before to come in a few hours to discuss confidential matters.
A person pretending to be Edward Gilman eventually arrives at the meeting against all expectations, and then odd stuff starts to happen. Perry Mason gets a threatening call and a strange assignment. Eventually, what Shemp Howard would call a corpus is found and the puzzle is ready for Perry Mason to figure out.
I’m not partial to late career Mason novels. However,
this is a good story a story involving dodgy private eyes, blackmail, and
murder.
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