Not the best Perry Mason book ever. They never even set foot in the courtroom!
Still, after the teaser in the first book, I felt extra disappointed.
Still, after the teaser in the first book, I felt extra disappointed.
This is Gardner's third "Perry Mason" mystery, first published in 1934. While an interesting case, Gardner hadn't by this time perfected his writing. I say this for several reasons, but primarily because I was able to identify the murderer very early on, as that person seemed so obvious.
Gardner still has his characters chain smoking throughout the book. In one case he has Perry lighting one cigarette off the still burning butt of another. In his later Perry Mason books, the tobacco smoking is not so pervasive. It's a good thing too, since if Perry continued to smoke as much as he does in the early books, he wouldn't have lived long enough to have his own TV show in the 50s and 60s. :-)
Gardner still has his characters chain smoking throughout the book. In one case he has Perry lighting one cigarette off the still burning butt of another. In his later Perry Mason books, the tobacco smoking is not so pervasive. It's a good thing too, since if Perry continued to smoke as much as he does in the early books, he wouldn't have lived long enough to have his own TV show in the 50s and 60s. :-)
