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Aspiring actress Stephane Olger just wants to be in pictures. But she may end up in mug shots instead when she gets herself caught up in a crime. Shortly after quitting her job and moving to Hollywood, she is picked up by a well-dressed man while hitchhiking. The man loses control of the car and they end up in a horrible accident. Both Stephane and the driver escape unscathed but the strange man flees the scene leaving Stephane to face a charge of manslaughter.Stephane's rich uncle hires Perry Mason to defend her and he and the private detective Paul Drake immediately start gathering evidence. It turns out that the car, of course, was stolen, and belongs to a Hollywood producer who has been in contact with the mystery man who is from San Francisco. A woman has been promised a job by him, but is given one by Perry Mason instead. She, too, disappears, and in another room of the hotel her luggage is found with a man who has been shot. In the courtroom Perry Mason discovers many other facts, but in the meantime the film producer's chauffeur is murdered, making his task much harder.It's up to Perry Mason to find the truth behind a suspicious scenario starring a menacing movie mogul, a hoodwinked housewife, and a man no one has ever seen--alive… (more)
User reviews
And he is off - against Hollywood and its influence, working with Lt. Tragg (for most of the story anyway), trying to find not only how to save his client but also who was driving the car at the time. Tragg cannot go after the Hollywood magnate (or at least is not allowed to) so he works with Mason, probably giving him some more liberty than usual.
Of course everything would have been a lot easier if Drake and Mason did decide to play white knights and bring a woman from New Orleans to Los Angeles. They believe her to be the wife of their suspect - but then as soon as she gets where she wants to be, she disappears. Which makes the case harder - and puts Mason in a bad situation. Especially when people start getting murdered.
Usually in the novels, Mason's client is accused of the murders fast enough - that almost do not happen here. And the cooperation between Tragg and Mason continues from the previous book (and Drake now is prominently featured) and Tragg almost manages to outwit the lawyer. It is another enjoyable story.
As for the mystery - all the clues are in place, it is just down to disproving any other theory. And Mason, Della, Drake and Tragg end up doing it marvelously.
When you open up one of Gardner's Perry Mason novels, you find something which is very much like a classic pulp detective novel with a strange situation, a possible frame-up, corpses, vague clues, and keeping evidence close to the vest until Mason can figure
This mystery opens up on a pitch-black night on a deserted highway with a young blonde hitchhiker naively thumbing her way to Hollywood, a creepy driver who picks her up, a flask of booze, and a terrible accident. This isn't really Mason's usual kind of case, but somehow the earthy goodness of the blonde's friend convinces him that he needs to clear her name, particularly when it means going up against the power of the Hollywood elite. It is a thrilling ride as the story develops and gets ever more complex.
Perry Mason mysteries are not necessarily meant to be solved before he's ready to unveil the secret to the riddle. And the solution here is rather hopelessly complex, perhaps too complex to really be satisfying.