Monday, September 24, 2012

The Case of the Runaway Corpse

The Case of the Runaway Corpse. Erle Stanley Gardner. 1954. 210 pages. 

Della Street, Perry Mason's confidential secretary, entered the lawyer's private office and said, "There are two women in the outer office who say they have to see you at once."
"What about Della?"
"They won't discuss it with a mere secretary."

The Case of the Runaway Corpse is my first Perry Mason novel, and I was definitely happy with it! In this detective novel, Perry Mason is hired by an unhappily married woman with a dying husband. The husband has been talking badly about her, telling others that his wife is trying to kill him, hinting that his wife has killed before. His wife, Myrna Davenport, knows that her husband has allegedly written a letter that will be delivered to the authorities if/when he dies. A letter that supposedly will paint quite a different picture of her. Her husband hasn't died just yet, though his death seems certain, when she hires Perry Mason to help her manage her estate. She gives Mason a key to her husband's office, a key for Mason to use once her husband has died. She hopes that Mason will discover the letter and the contents of the letter. That's the plan, at least. But that isn't exactly how events unfold....

I definitely enjoyed this one!!!  I would say more...but why spoil a good detective story?!

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

1 comment:

Joyful Reader said...

wow! how suspensful! I think I would like this one a lot!