Dang, I love me some on-paper Perry Mason. I mean don't get me wrong; for years Raymond Burr's Mason was all I thought a man should be. But the Mason of the books is darker, more ambiguous, and altogether more willing to bend the law if he thinks that will be advantageous. And the titles are to die for, don't you think? The Case of the Daring Divorcee! Oh, darling, isn't it just too risqué!
Read the Perry Mason novel "The Case of the Lonely Heiress" by Erle Stanley Gardner. Not one of his best novels.
It was nice that in this one the murderers were kind of obvious right from the beginning. There is actually no mystery about who were the killers, or why they did it but how it happened. Selma Anson was accused of murdered her husband. Delane Arlington's nephews and nieces were expecting to inherit his money, but he fell in love with Selma. So of course one of them wanted to incriminate her. I read this one faster than the previous one.
The best part, as usual, is Tragg and Mason heckling each other. Also Drake gets a few good lines about eating (his soggy hamburgers vs. Mason's steaks). Mason is classy without being entitled, smart without being overly highbrow, daring without being immoral.
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