Art dealer Rankin wants to sue Collin Durant for slander. He told a former model, Maxine, that the painting Rankin sold wealthy art collector Otto Olney is a fake. Maxine told Rankin, who feels slandered. Perry cautions suing Durant himself and encourages him to tell Olney what Durant said and let Olney sue Durant, which is what happens. Then Perry starts to get a funny feeling about the whole thing, especially when the only witness to what Durant said, Maxine, suddenly skips town.
There were a lot of loose ends that didn't get tied up, like Maxine's canary. No one ever found out what happened to it (it wasn't in her apartment, but Durant's dead body was).
How Perry gets involved is actually pretty different. Virginia Baxter, a secretary to a recently deceased attorney, is arrested at the airport for smuggling drugs. She calls Perry, knowing him from her time working for her employer. He represents her in court and gets her case dismissed, but he's curious why someone would go to so much trouble to try to frame a nice lady like Virginia. He tells her to call him if anything weird happens.
Virginia is approached at home by a man claiming to be George Manard. He says that Virginia's former boss drew up an agreement for him and another man, and he's lost the original and would like the lawyer's copy. Virginia tells him her boss' brother has the papers. She has the original typewriter from the office, however.
Things roll along and it looks like now Virginia is being framed for the murder of Lauretta Trent after a motorist witnesses her car running Trent's car off the road. Oh, and the heirs are horrified to learn Lauretta's stomach issues were due to arsenic poisoning, not the spicy Mexican food she loved. It had a surprisingly happy ending, for a Mason story.
Paul's constant whining about not getting to eat anything decent is getting old, though. I wish Gardner would move on.
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