The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom; The Spite House

 

Over the years I have managed to read most of the 80+ Perry Mason books that Gardner wrote in his lifetime, but since he died in 1970, some of the titles have been hard to come by. Thankfully there is a resurgence in popularity of Mason due to the new HBO show (which, while a terrific show and stars the amazing Matthew Rhys, does not bear much resemblance to the books). I can't say with 100% certainty that I haven't read "The Dubious Bridegroom" at some point, I just don't have a record of reading it, but I didn't keep careful records of my books for many years. 

Edwin Garvin is a businessman who decided to trade his wife in for a newer, younger model and accomplishes this by getting a shady Mexican divorce and then marrying his new girlfriend Lorraine. Well, the first Mrs. Garvin is not taking this sitting down. She happens to have the same initials as her husband and sends out requests for proxies for the next stockholders' meeting, cleverly using her initials along with the certificate number of the stock she owns. Everyone thinks they're giving their proxy to Edwin, but they're really giving it to Ethel. When Ethel turns up murdered Edwin is the obvious suspect. 

There were some great courtroom scenes (Gardner's specialty) with the San Diego DA for a change, instead of Hamilton Burger from L.A. It was clever and fun, I enjoyed it. 

So Spite Houses are a real thing. One of the most famous examples in the U.S. is in Boston. Apparently a father left a plot of land to his two sons, and one son was off fighting in the Civil War, so his brother built a big house, leaving only a small sliver of land for his brother, assuming it was too narrow to build a house on. He underestimated his brother, who came home and built a 10 foot wide house in the land left. 

Eric Ross is on the run with his two daughters, Dess and Stacy. We don't know why at first, Compton very cleverly strung that out as well as dropping bombshells very casually mid-sentence. So well done! Eric is taking odd jobs for cash here and there, trying to get to Odessa, Texas and his grandparents' house. He sees an add for a caretaker for a haunted house in Degener, Texas. Apparently the previous caretakers have all been scared away. The eccentric multi-millionaire who owns the house, Eunice Houghton, is willing to pay big money to anyone who can deliver proof of what's going on in the house. Eric and his girls move in and the frights immediately start. 

I thought this was going to be an homage to "The Shining", but it actually was quite different. It was told in multiple points of view and like I said, Compton was very clever with his storytelling style.