When Bishop William Mallory of Australia pays a call on Perry Mason, the lawyer had no idea of how complex a case he would soon be involved in. The inheritance of the millionaire Renwold C Brownley is at stake – apparently the woman who is living with him as his granddaughter is an imposter. Or is the woman being championed by the bishop the imposter?
When a murder happens – and the body disappears – Perry finds himself with far more questions than answers. Who was the rightful heir? Who shot who and where is the body – if there is one? And what sort of person can become a bishop, preaching to the masses, when they have a really bad stutter?
So my Secret Santa this year decided to help me with converting me to Perry Mason. Of the four I’ve read to date, I enjoyed three of them with the fourth – The Case Of The Shoplifter’s Shoe – disappointing.
I’m planning on reading a lot more Perry Mason this year – mainly because I’ve got a few piled up and I’d hate to see them go to waste. Along with the few extra that I’ve picked up on eBay earlier today. Luckily it’s a series where the order doesn’t really matter. I’ve tried to put work out the chronology – well, copy it from Wikipedia – so this one is, I think, the ninth (out of eighty-two) title. Having said that the order doesn’t matter, there does seem to be a direct run into the next book at the end, but it’s only a brief teaser.
The thing that I’ve found about Perry Mason books is that to get the most out of them, you have to concentrate. Don’t do what I did, and read a bit of it, clear off, read something else and then come back to it having completely forgotten who some of the characters were, especially the various female characters whose names all seem to begin with “J”.
Despite getting lost a few times along the way, I won’t deny this is an enjoyable read. There are a fair few twists and turns along the way, and the denouement is suitably complex. The reader can have fun trying to work out exactly what the relationship is between Perry and Della is – do people really take their secretaries out for dinner and dancing? – and the court section towards the end is well done.
All in all, I wish I’d read this straight through in a few sittings – that was the same problem that I had with Shoplifter’s Shoe come to think of it – I’ll bear that in mind next time…
In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel 
The first ten years of books especially are noirish and contain convoluted plots that you have to focus on. I loved this one. The TV-series really changed it up, but there’s a 30’s movie that, while probably the worst of that series, is faithful to the novel.
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Looking forward to reading more, both from this period and from later – I really enjoyed the much later Foot-Loose Doll.
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I disagree about Shoplifter’s Shoe, not because I thought the story made much sense (there’s usually a point in a given Perry Mason book where I stop totally following and just go along for the ride) but because the opening scene and central character were both hilarious and that just made it kind of delightful. Stuttering Bishop, in contrast, is one that barely stuck in my memory- I recognized the opening premise from the title but I couldn’t at all tell you what happened.
As far as needing to go in order, I’ve only read fifteen or so books, but I’d say that it’s mildly helpful to have read Lame Canary before Substitute Face- but not enough to go out of your way to read them in order. I happen to have read them the same weekend and a subthread in LC made the setting of SF make much more sense. (Also, LC will give you much more info about what’s going on with Perry and Della lol- pretty good one, though IMO SF wasn’t as good. From my records, I think I read Howling Dog that same weekend and that was easily the best of the three.)
I’m currently watching the 50s TV show and having a lot of fun, though I feel like Della is given less to do and I miss that the books follow Perry/Della/Paul the whole time, unlike the show which has set-up scenes with characters at play in the mystery. In some ways, while on the other side of the law, I feel like Law and Order is a much closer parallel to the concept behind the Perry Mason books than the Perry Mason TV show is!
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Ah, I’ve got LC and SF – I’ll take your advice. At some point I’ll go back to Shoplifter as I wasn’t in a desperately good mindset for reading when I read it and I definitely seem to be in a minority on it.
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[…] a fan, naming Gardner one of his four Kings of Crime ten years ago, but now The Puzzle Doctor at In Search of the Classic Mystery is getting into the act. I think even Kate at Cross-Examining Crime has one up her sleeve among […]
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I read all of these about 40 years ago when I was a student and I used to get through one a night, so I definitely agree that doing them in one sitting is the way to go.
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I like the Gardner stories from the 1930s. This one features Our Favorite Lawyer skating on thin ethical ice. Closer to his pulp roots, Mason is more hard-boiled than he was to be after WWII when he became dapper and unflappable. The novels from the first two decades are more convoluted than the postwar ones which are straightforward but formulaic. this was one of the few that were very well adapted for the teevee.
https://majoryammerton.blogspot.com/2014/09/mount-tbr-20.html
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