The Case of the Haunted Husband; Jessica Lange: an Adventurer's Heart; The Case of the Calendar Girl; The Case of the Signing Skirt; The Case of the Duplicate Daughter; The Fourth Rule; The Case of the Spurious Spinster

 

Okay, let's get this party rolling!

This is one of the best Mason books I've read so far. Stephanie is hitchhiking from San Francisco to L.A. The first driver who picks her up and leaves her in Bakersfield was a nice guy, but the next guy who picks her up is a wolf. He's drinking, driving too fast, and can't keep his hands to himself. He causes a terrible wreck, and when Stephanie comes to she's behind the wheel of the car with the man nowhere in sight. She's taken to the hospital and accused of vehicular manslaughter, despite her insistence that she wasn't driving. 

Perry comes on the case and starts looking for the driver. Turns out the car belongs to a wealthy Hollywood producer who claims it was stolen earlier in the day and he has no idea who could have been driving it. There were some really fun scenes with Lt. Tragg being part of the gang, and Paul, Perry, and Tragg shamelessly flirting with Della all at the same time. 

Jessica Lange is a terrific actress, I absolutely loved her in "American Horror Story". I had no idea she was with Sam Shepherd for as long as she was: over two decades, and they had two kids together. She also had a daughter with Baryshnikov, the famous ballet dancer. It was a very interesting story about a woman who doesn't lead a typical Hollywood life. 

This was another terrific one, I loved it. Contractor Ansley is being given rough treatment by the crooked inspectors. He's been resistant to paying out a bribe to Meridith Borden, a self-proclaimed "public relations expert". He finally caves and goes to visit Borden, pays him off, and goes to leave. As he's turning out of his driveway, another car is turning in and hits him. He's fine, but the other car turns on its side. It's dark, so he goes fumbling around trying to see if the driver needs help. He can just make out an unconscious female in the grass, and he starts for the house to get help. The woman starts yelling, so he turns back and helps her up. She claims she's fine and he offers to give her a ride home. She gives him a phony name and address and he drops her off. 

Afterwards, he goes to restaurant and starts wondering if he should report the accident to the police. Luckily (for him, obviously, not so much for them) Mason and Della are eating dinner, and he interrupts to ask for advice. The three of them return to the estate. Perry suggests there may have been two women in the car, but before they can make a really thorough search, the automatic gates close and lock and some ferocious dogs come running. They barely make it over the wall in time. 

Borden is found murdered the next morning and Perry was right: there were two women in the car, each telling a very different story. Ansley is arrested for the murder and Perry is able to successfully prove his innocence. Burger turns around and charges one of the women, Dawn, with murder. Perry ends up defending her and also gets her acquitted. I think that was the first time Perry defended two people for the same crime. 

I liked this one a lot, too. Ellen Robb is a singer and cigarette girl in a gambling joint in Rowena (a stand in for Gardena, which was apparently quite the local spot for illegal gambling back in the day). Her boss wants her to help him cheat a man named Ellis during a poker game and Ellen refuses, so he frames her for theft and throws her out. She goes to Mason for help. 

Ellis's wife turns up dead, and Ellen is the prime suspect. Ellis had a thing for her, but according to Ellen, it was one sided. A gun shows up in Ellen's bag (one of many in this book, I think there were five total). Perry pulls some fast tactics with the guns. Nothing *technically* illegal, just not 100% on the up and up. 

As usual, Gardner makes the D.A. look like a chump. Two bullets were recovered, and he seems rather blasé as to if they were fired from the same gun (spoiler: they weren't). 

A fun twist that hasn't been used in a Mason book before (at least not that I recall): identical twins! Although we don't find that out until the end, I felt like I really should have guessed it. 

Carter Gilman asks his daughter, Muriell, to fix him another egg and sausage for breakfast. While she's in the kitchen, her father disappears, leaving behind his briefcase and a note not to call the police, but rather go to Perry Mason. 

Muriell does, and Mason is intrigued. He goes out to visit the house and finds $10,000 in one hundred dollar bills strewn around Gilman's woodworking shop, along with a broken chair and a spilled can of red paint. 

Vera Martell, a P.I. from Las Vegas is found murdered. Word on the street is that she was blackmailing Gilman's second wife because her daughter, Glamis, is illegitimate. There were some fun scenes with Mason and Tragg again and of course the awesome courtroom battles. 

Taking a brief break from Perry Mason, I finished the fourth Riley Wolfe book by Lindsay. It was pretty good. 

Riley is in London to steal the Rosetta Stone. Why? Well, why not? He needs a new challenge. While casing the Museum of London he meets a young woman named Caitlin. The two of them get along like a house afire, and even though Riley realizes there are red flags all over the place, he lets Caitlin get close. Typical man. Throw a pretty girl in front of them and they lose all common sense. 

Riley barely manages to get away when the heist goes sixes and sevens, and Caitlin is kidnapped by a uber villain named the Cobra. So now he has to save her from the Cobra. Fun twist at the end that I didn't see coming. 

And finally (whew!) "The Case of the Spurious Spinster". Sue Fisher is Endicott Campbell's assistant, and the wealthy majority stockholder of their company is due to show up Monday from South America to look over the books. Sue comes in on Saturday to make sure things are in good order. Elizabeth Dow, Campbell's nanny, drops by with Carleton, Campbell's little boy, and asks Sue to keep an eye on him for a little bit. Sue agrees and Dow leaves. Sue asks Carleton about the shoebox he's carrying, and Carleton tells her he and his dad switched treasures. His dad has his, and he has his dad's. Curious, Sue finally manages to get a peek inside the box and finds it's stuffed with hundred dollar bills. She manages to convince Carleton to put it in the safe. 

Dow comes back for her charge, and just in time, too. Amelia Corning, the wealthy stockholder, calls from the airport, disgruntled that no one is there to meet her, claiming she cabled that she was coming early. Sue hops in a cab and meets the frail woman in the wheelchair and gets her set up in her hotel. She frantically tries to find Campbell to warn him that Miss Corning wants to see him, but she can't find him anywhere. Amelia insists on looking at the books right then and there, so Sue takes her to the office. Amelia sends her out to buy suitcases so she can pack up the books and papers and take them back to her hotel room. Then, of course, she vanishes. Oh, and so does the shoebox full of money. 

But wait! On Sunday *another* woman claiming to be Amelia Corning shows up. Which one was the imposter? Where did the money that was embezzled from the company go? Oh, and by the way, who killed Ken Lowry, the manager of the fake mine that was at the cause of the whole mess?