The Case of the Cautious Coquette

by Erle Stanley Gardner

Paperback, 1959

Status

Available

Call number

813.52

Publication

Cardinal (1959), Mass Market Paperback

Description

When Perry Mason and Paul Drake ran the ad, all they were hoping for was a clue to the identity of a hit-and-run driver. The first reply looked suspicious. It said that the license number of the wanted car was written down in the notebook of a woman who could be out of her apartment from two to five on a certain afternoon, and a key to the apartment was enclosed. "Could this letter," Mason asked Della Street, "have been written by the woman herself? I want to get the feminine angle." Della laughed. "There aren't any feminine angles--they're all curved." Fast curves. From the very first time Perry met the voluptuous blonde, Lucille Barton, she pitched him trouble. She lied about her past, about her many marriages, about her gun, and about her boyfriends. Then the murders began. And the cops turned up with evidence which pointed clearly to one person as the killer--Perry Mason… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member VincentDarlage
I love the Perry Mason books. This one was good.
LibraryThing member AnnieMod
Gardner needs to make the police look foolish and brutal - so Holcomb is back. By that time in the series, he had been replaced by Lieutenant Tragg but Tragg is too intelligent to fall for the plot the Mason devises - so our favorite sergeant is back.

It all starts easy enough - a hit-and-run victim
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hires Mason to find what happened and get him compensation (or that is what it amounts to anyway). An advertisement in the papers for witnesses brings a few young ladies to the attention of the lawyer - including a letter that lures Perry into investigating in an interesting way and then another woman makes sure he is really suspected in murder - because of course the bodies start dropping at some point. We know he is innocent but in order for him to prove it but because of his earlier actions, convincing the police may not be that easy. Enters Holcomb - the man who is so blinded by his disdain for Mason that he sees only what he wants to see.

It is a throwback to the early tales of the series in a way - Perry is more refined but the story could have fit in the first 15 or so. Reading it among them worked nicely for me - I am not sure how I would have liked it if was later and who close are Perry, Della and Drake to their characters at the time - as it is, they are very close to their late 30s presentations.
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Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

1949

Physical description

193 p.; 17.6 cm

Local notes

Omslag: Ikke angivet
Omslaget viser en pige med revolver i hånd, der kigger frem bag et tyndt gardin
Indskannet omslag - N650U - 150 dpi

Pages

193

Rating

½ (22 ratings; 3.8)

DDC/MDS

813.52
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