This is the fifth book in Erle Stanley Gardner's long-running Perry Mason series, originally published in 1934. By then, at least according to the storyline, Perry and his principal associates, Della Street and Paul Drake, were already in the prime of life and Perry had already mounted an impressive record of courtroom victories. Given that, one would assume that Perry, Della and Paul all must have been somewhere in their seventies or early eighties by the time they finally won their last case in 1973. But fortunately they aged well and seemed to be just as physically fit and mentally alert at the end of their careers as they had been in the beginning.The case opens when a nervous young woman appears in the office to consult Perry "on behalf of a friend." She needs to know when a woman can have a missing husband legally declared dead so that she might be free to marry again. Naturally, Perry sees through the ruse and questions the woman aggressively. He figures that she will soon fold and reveal that she is there he own behalf and they can then get down to business. But the woman fools him and instead of caving, she gets up and leaves in a huff. Perry starts to feel bad because he was so gruff with the poor young thing, and he feels even worse when Della informs him that the woman had paid a $50.00 retainer!The plot thickens when Perry discovers that the woman accidentally left her purse in the famous leather client chair. Naturally, there's a gun in the purse. Perry now feels morally obligated to assist the woman even though she has given Della a fake name, address and phone number. Of course this won't deter Perry in the slightest. He puts Paul Drake on the case and inevitably, by the end of the afternoon, he knows more about the woman than she knows about herself.Naturally there will be a murder; Perry's client will be arrested and charged and things will look awfully black. Of course the D.A. will not play fair and this leads Perry to resort to some clever trickery of his own. Things move a mile a minute and at one point, the D.A. is actually checking up on everyone who owns a Buick in the entire city of Los Angeles! In the end, of course, there will be a great courtroom scene and Mason will again demonstrate his agile mind and his incomparable skill at cross-examining hostile witnesses. This is a quick fun read that would be enjoyed by anyone who likes to occasionally return to the golden age of the pulp paperback novel.
Do You like book The Case Of The Curious Bride (2000)?
THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE. (1934). Erle Stanley Gardner. ***.This is one of Gardner’s early cases for Perry Mason. These early novels tend to have a more active, though less cerebral Mason on the scene. Gardner still manages to have Mason upstage his competition in the courtroom. In this episode, Mason is hired by a young woman who was a recent bride of a man who turned out to be someone other than who she thought him to be when she married him. Our bride was Rhoda Montain. She had married Gregory Moxley, also known as Gregory Lorton, also known by several other names. His particular mode was to marry naïve young women who had managed to save up a little money. After a while, and after fleecing the young woman of her case, he would disappear. The problem with this time around was that Gregory Moxley was found dead in his apartment and Rhoda was one of the prime suspects. Rhoda claimed she was innocent, and Mason believed her. The real problem arose when Rhoda told the DA a totally different story under oath. Mason now had to put on his thinking cap and turn its dial to “devious” to get his client off. This is a good, light reading adventure featuring our favorite crew of legal eagles.
—Tony
Rhoda Montain is bride who seeks the help of Perry Mason. However, overcome by emotion she leaves her purse behind and rushes out of his office. Believing that her first husband was deceased, she has remarried a very wealthy man. Since he was supposedly dead she wants him declared legally deceased when he is found dead in his apartment. Rhoda is a primary suspect. Gregory Moxley, alias Gregory Lorton, had returned to try to blackmail her. His mode of operation was to marry young women, take whatever money they have (to invest) and vanish. Now Mason, believing Rhoda innocent, must discover who really murdered Moxley/Lorton.Once again the mystery is so well written that I could not determine who did the murder. Clues abound but, for me, do not come together to point to the murderer. This mystery closes in the courtroom where Mason and the DA battle over the fate of Rhoda Mountain. Good fast paced read.
—Rusty
