The Case of the Glamorous Ghost

This was the longest Perry Mason mystery by Erle Stanley Gardner that I'd ever read. There was quite a bit going on, but it was really good, easy enough to follow, and the ending didn't seem too far-fetched, which is unusual for Gardner (see Screaming Woman post below). A beautiful young heiress is faking amnesia after the man she ran off with to elope in Arizona is found dead, killed with her gun. Perry learns that the man was an informant for the U.S. government regarding smuggled gems, and then finds gems buried in his client's luggage. In the end the real killer is found, but not until Perry actually has to put on a defense in court, something I haven't read him doing before. In all the previous books, he was able to foil the prosecution during their case.