The Case of the Substitute Face

"The Case of the Substitute Face" is an early Mason. At the end of the "Case of the Lame Canary" (which I will probably skip rereading, as I just read it a little over two years ago and didn't care for it) Mason and Della are on a much needed cruise to the Orient. On their way back, one of the passengers on the ship, Mrs. Newberry, asks Mason to help her daughter, Belle. Mrs. Newberry has reason to believe her husband, Carl, has embezzled $25,000 from his company. He quit work, changed their names, and took them on this vacation. He told his wife and stepdaughter that he won the money in a lottery. Belle's a wonderful, vivacious girl who is having the time of her life, meeting eligible, rich young men. She falls for one and he likes her back, but there's a rich young woman on board who is doing everything she can to sabotage Belle's chances with this young man. Mrs. Newberry wants Mason to do everything he can to protect Belle, should Mr. Newberry be arrested once they dock. Mason starts looking into it, and before they reach the mainland, Mr. Newberry is murdered. Mrs. Newberry is left holding the gun and Della actually saw her push him overboard, so she runs off, hoping Perry won't find her so she won't have to testify against their client. Perry drops everything to hunt Della down, terrified she's been kidnapped. Paul suggests she got tired of him and took off, not wanting to be found, and I thought Perry was going to slug him. Of course Della would never leave her trusty Chief! Silly Paul.