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 Gilded Lily – Erle Stanley Gardner
The typical Perry Mason mystery kicks off in his office with a damsel in distress describing her vulnerable position. But Gardner starts this entry from 1956 with a long set-up. A rich but honest business executive is blackmailed because his trophy wife has a felony arrest on her record. Perry Mason is not called in until the blackmailer has been ushered to his eternal deserts, which hopefully involve pressure parboiling.
The other unusual aspect is that Mason does not do much interviewing of his own. He leaves it to PI Paul Drake and others to investigate. Mason also seems to go off the ethical rails to the extent that even his loyal secretary Della Street, who’s always willing to accept risk, gets alarmed about his falsifying evidence. DA Hamilton Burger does not see Mason coming, however, is flummoxed as usual. Mason relies on his super power of being able to sniff when witnesses are being economical with the truth.
I think Gardner’s decision to have Mason arrive later dampens the compulsion his eager fans usually feel to keep turning the pages. This is still worth reading because Gardner respects his reader’s intelligence enough to expect them to follow an intricate flim-flam by Mason. It’s a neat maneuver with fingerprints that makes us reader almost – that’s almost – feel sorry for DA Hamilton Burger.
I recommend this distinctive Mason novel.
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