The Ides of Perry Mason 38

On the 15th of every month, we publish a topic related to Our Favorite Lawyer.

The Case of the Vagabond Virgin by Erle Stanley Gardner

Despite its subpar ending, this 1948 Perry Mason story features plot twists and red herrings enough to keep the reader turning the pages until the reveal. In fact, some fans argue that it is one of the best Mason tales.

Department store mogul John Racer Addison hires Perry Mason to bail out a fetching maiden named Veronica Dale. Addison had given hitchhiking Veronica a ride. Her hard luck story combined with her chaste manner, wide azure eyes, and platinum blonde gorgeousness all persuaded Addison to call on his connections to get her a room, alone, in a nice hotel. Talking a walk on the streets, however, Veronica is taken to the cop shop to be booked on a vagrancy charge by a policeman who was concerned for her safety. Remember this is 70 years ago, when women could not get into a hotel on their own, and “vagrancy” was the catch-all charge for taking people in who were doing anything the police didn’t think appropriate (nowadays it is “disorderly conduct”).

Things look up for Veronica when Perry gets her out of jail and she lands a job at Addison's department store in the hosiery department (remember those?). The worm turns though when blackmailer Eric Hansell, red-haired and sleazy, gets a whiff of the incident and makes a beeline to Addison to take a chomp out of him. Through Addison’s head dances a headline like, “Dirty Old Goat Lures Girl to Hotel.” On top of Addison’s trouble, moreover, his partner that he can’t stand, Edgar Z. Ferrell, has bought a house out from under Addison in order to set up a love nest very near the culvert where Addison picked up Veronica.

When it rains, it pours.

Poor Ferrell is murdered without ever having a scene or a line. Addison is arrested for the crime. During the courtroom sequence, Mason makes sneering pompous DA Hamilton Burger look a complete tool for reasons I can’t possibly spoil in a review.

I don’t think Gardner believed his readers expected a lot of characterizations so he didn’t spend time or space constructing characters with deep motives. But for some reason, in this one, the characters are exceptionally vivid from series regular Sergeant Holcomb (ominous, mean, and arrogant) to John Racer Addison (impulsive, irritable, nervous).