The novels are cross-linked to the TV episodes made from them.

Click below on the title of the Novel of your choice to go directly to its synopsis.

Della Street	Maude Elton	Thelma Bell
Perry Mason	Deputy D A Carl Manchester	Cop
J R Bradbury	Dr Robert Doray	Sarah Fieldman
Eva Lamont	Mamie	George Sanborne
Frank Patton	Paul Drake	Riker and Johnson

Internal evidence shows this to have been the first written, though third published, Perry Mason novel. Only at the end is a re-written ending pointing to the fourth novel. So I have listed it as 1/3, first-written, third-published.

Here Perry Mason is a regular smoker, Marlboros. There is much socializing over cigarettes and cigars. 'Clue" is spelled "clew." "Airport" is hyphenated. Della Street is over-worried about Mason's active pursuit of the truth.

Usually a time-shift is the basis of Mason's getting it right, others getting it wrong, but here it is a place-shift, namely, how Bradbury was in a different place than was indicated.

I.	J R Bradbury admits that he sent Mason the photo and letter signed "Eva Lamont." He wants mason to help "put Frank Patton behind bars" because he defrauded the Cloverdale C of C in a Lucky Legs contest. Marjorie Clune, the winner, has disappeared.
II.	Mason pumps general secretary Maude Elton for the name of the Deputy D A who muffed the Cloverdale racket investigation. Carl Manchester informs Perry that he's not interested, but won't interfere with Mason pressing Patton for a confession. Dr Robert Doray is not to be told Mason was at the Deputy D A's office. On way to his office, Mason buys a pack of Marlboros from Mamie, tips her a twenty for her 5 1/2 year old girl and luck. Paul Drake and Bradbury join Mason and Mamie. Bradbury asserts that he, not Doray, is to get credit for helping Marjorie. Paul learns that Mason intends to play hard ball with both Patton and Bradbury.
III.	Drake reports that Thelma Bell was the Lucky Legs contest winner in Parker City. Dr. Doray arrives, wants information, gives none. Bradbury calls and is brushed off.
IV.	Mason arrives at his office at 7:50, is surprised by Bradbury's arrival a few minutes later. Drake calls with Patton's location. Bradbury advises Mason that Doray has a violent nature.
V.	Mason preps Drake on his approach to Patton. As Mason enters Patton's apartment building, a woman in white (white fox-trimmed coat) leaves furtively. Mason finds Patton stabbed to death. As he retreats from the room, a cop and neighbor across the hall (Sarah Fieldman) approach, Mason locks the door and fakes attempt to enter. He phones Della, then gets Bradbury, who identifies woman in white as Marjorie Clune.
VI.	At her apartment, Mason confronts Thelma Bell, then Marjorie Clune. Marjorie denies joint into the apartment, but being seen by the cop. Thelma denies going into the apartment. When Thelma accuses Mason of involving Margy in murder, he has her cornered (how did she know it was murder?). The girls still brazen it out. Thelma suggests that she wear the white fox, because George Sanborne will alibi her. Mason agrees, sends Marjorie into seclusion.
VII.	Mason and Bradbury discuss eve's events at a speakeasy. Bradbury describes an alternate interpretation of the events in which Dr Doray could be the intruder (or even Mason).
VIII.	Mason returns to his office after being advised by Della that two cops await him. Riker and Johnson. They ask the usual questions and Mason points them to Dr Doray. He shows them the photo of Clune; they leave. Mason then tells Della the true story of his involvement and how Bradbury could be dangerous. Della reports a phone call from Bostwick 408 (Marjorie); "check that alibi."
IX.	Drake's report to Mason includes the fact that Doray's car was ticketed near Patton's apartment at the time of the murder. Drake implies that he knows Mason was involved. A telegram reminds Mason to "check her alibi" (signed M). Della phones that police are looking for him because someone describing herself as Della Street tipped Doray that he should get out of town for the sake of Marjorie.
X.	Drake, with Mason, in cab confides that a Vera Cutter came to him with knowledge of the murder (how could she have known?), pretty legs, and a story that Dr Doray came to town to kill Patton. Drake then phoned Bradbury and got permission to "help" Cutter. She gave Drake the tip on Doray's car being parked at a hydrant and ticketed near Patton's apartment. Mason leaves Drake, gets Mr Samuels of the Cooperative Investigating Bureau to put a tag on Cutter. Then he goes to the Gilroy Hotel, Room 925, George Sanborne. His alibi is weak, concocted.
XI.	Mason goes to the St. James Apartments, wakes Thelma Bell. The police have seen her, and she knows Marjorie has left town. He accuses her of being the one who tipped Doray. They go for breakfast; Mason leaves her to get his wallet, left in her apartment, but searches and finds the white shoes and other clothes. He sends the taxi to buy a ticket to College City and check the box on that ticket. He rejoins Thelma, sends her away with the ticket. Samuels reports that Cutter has baggage with E.L. on it. Then Drake reports that the police have traced the murder knife purchase to Doray.
XII.	Morning. Mason checks to see if Drake got any messages. No. Della says Bradbury is threatening unless he sees Mason. Della and Bradbury arrive in taxi. Mason is informed that Bradbury wants him to defend Doray and Clune. They spar. Bradbury threatens to reveal the locked door of the apartment situation if Mason doesn't get Doray acquitted. [By now, we must wonder why he is protecting Doray.] Mason makes certain that Bradbury understands that he will defend Clune and Doray {and now we should see what is implied; even if it means convicting Bradbury!].
XIII.	Mason follows Doray to Summerville via rented airplane, traces Doray to the Riverview Hotel. Doray bluffs that Marjorie never communicated, but she arrives. Mason gives Doray orders to not talk, spirits Clune away as Sheriff arrives.
XIV.	Mason grills Marjorie. Doray loves her, she may love him. Bradbury is the one who sent her out of town, we can surmise. She knows Eva Lamont aka Vera Cutter, a candidate for lucky legs who is infatuated with Doray.
XV.	By pretending to be a drunken salesman, Mason gets the hotel porter to bring a salesman's trunk to the room. Woman's clothes are removed, and Marjorie put in.
XVI.	Mason and Clune arrive back at L.A. Mason calls Della who says T.B. is at College City Hotel. Mason instructs her to get in touch with Thelma, and ask her about a phone call to Marjorie. Then he makes arrangements for getting by the two detectives in the office. Bradbury breaks into the line, again threatens Mason demanding Doray plead guilty so Marjorie can go free. Mason says he is defending Doray. Mason checks with Mr Samuels on Vera Cutter's location, then takes Marjorie there to here Eva Lamont's voice. Vera bluffs, calls Mason's office and fakes a conversation with Mason. Marjorie knocks, Vera opens the door and is confronted as Eva. Eva calls police headquarters as Mason and Clune leave quickly. They drive to Bradbury's hotel. Mason pays off his bill, getting list of phone calls.
XVII.	Mason's office. Della is , as usual this early in the series, terribly worried about the trouble her boss is in, especially bringing Marjorie with him. They put Margy to rest. Mason tells Della that Margy was going to give Doray a week, then marry Bradbury! Della has reached Thelma and learned that Margy got a phone call just before she left Thelma's apartment. Bradbury bursts in, not threatens to ruin both Doray and Marjorie. Bradbury again claims to be a fighter, but Mason says that is not so, only a sideliner, never taking risks like he, the attorney, does. Johnson and Riker interrupt, try to get Mason to go to headquarters but he refuses without a warrant. As they start to leave, Bradbury tells them that Clune is in the private office. Mason tells them they have to have a warrant, but Bradbury tackles Mason and the cops break into the office.
XVIII.	With Marjorie Clune in handcuffs, Mason orders Street to call Detective Sergeant O'Malley to come to the office for the inside information on the crime. Mason has Street take down his confession verbatim. Bradbury constantly interrupts even when the cops tell him to shut up. (If by now we aren't so angered with Bradbury's arrogance, we should be, and should finally have an idea of who must be the murderer. This one is a bit obvious.) Mason details, point by point, what we've known bit by bit over the past 250 pages. Eventually he shows how only Bradbury could have known all he does, particularly about the locked door and, when O'Malley arrives, Mason springs the final bit of evidence that Bradbury cannot avoid.
XIX.	Doray and Clune are basking in the limelight as Mason explains to reporters how he came to suspect Bradbury. "Gentlemen," (Mason says) "I always take risks. It's the way I play the game." He shoos the reporters and lovers out, and Della advises him there is a man in the office who wants "to know if a will would stand up when the person who made it had been executed for murder . . . it was a will he was going to make, and that he had to see you about that and the howling dog."

Perry Mason	Det Sgt Sidney Drumm	[Pete Mitchell]
Della Street	Digley	Esther Linten [Locke's]
Eva Griffin, aka . .	George C. Belter	Burke's housekeeper
Harrison Burke	Mrs [Eva] Belter	Charlie Dagett
Frank Locke	Crandall	Sol Steinburg
Paul Drake	Carl Griffin	Arthur Atwood
Clerk at hotel desk	Detective Bill Hoffman	Harry Loring
Girl at telephone desk	Mrs Veitch	Process server
Locke's girl aka . .	Norma Veitch

Mason is a big smoker. Gardner describes Mason, Street and Drake, the three principals, thoroughly. This novel is a textbook example of the entire series of novels.

Mason gives "the impression of being a thinker and a fighter, a man who could work with infinite patience to jockey an adversary into just the right position, and then finish him with one terrific punch." When asked "Just what is it that you do, Mr Mason?" He answers, "I fight!" He's a "paid gladiator. I fight for my clients. Most clients aren't square shooters. That's why they're clients. They've got themselves into trouble. It's up to me to get them out. I have to shoot square with them. I can't always expect them to shoot square with me."

As Mason says, "I take people who are in trouble, and I try to get them out of trouble. I'm not presenting the people's side of the case, I'm only presenting the defendant's side. . . . My clients aren't blameless. Many of them are crooks. Probably a lot of them are guilty. That's not for me to determine. That's for the jury to determine.

"Della Street was slim of figure, steady of eye; a young woman of approximately twenty-seven, who gave the impression of watching life with keenly appreciative eyes and seeing far below the surface." She has "had to work for everything [she] got. [She] never got a thing in life that 'she' didn't work for." Della doesn't yet refer to Mason as Perry.

Paul Drake is "a tall man, with drooping shoulders and a head that [is] thrust forward on a long neck . . . with protruding glassy eyes that held a perpetual expression of droll humor."

Erle Stanley Gardner sees no difficulty in calling a Jew a Hebrew and also a kike. He uses the word nigger as well.

I.	Autumn. Della Street announces Eva Griffin who "looks phoney." Eva is "in trouble." She was involved in the hold-up at the Beechwood Inn. She's married, and was with political candidate Harrison Burke. They avoided being listed in the report to the D A. Frank Locke of Spicy Bits knows about Harrison, but not about her, and she wants Mason to pay him off to not print the information. She is trying to save herself, not Burke. Mason suggest that there is something in Locke's past, so this can be settled. Mason writes a note that he passes to Della asking her to have Paul Drake tail Eva. She can only go to nine thousand. She leaves, and Mason explains to Della why he fights for thee likes of Eva Griffin. Della hates Eva. Paul Drake returns from following Eva; she shook him.
II.	Mason confronts Locke. They go by taxi to a hotel. Locke suggests Mason take out advertising, then default. Locke has to consult his boss, leaves the hotel. Mason sees him go to a drug store to make a call. Locke asks for $20,000. Mason threatens to expose the blackmailer.
III.	Mason follows Locke to a hotel. Locke is getting a shave. Mason arranges with the girl at the telephone desk to get the number of the phone Locke calls. He calls Locke with disguised voice and tricks him to call his boss. Locke leaves the hotel with a young twentyish woman, and Mason gets the telephone number.
IV.	Mason pays Detective Sergeant Sidney Drumm $25 to trace the unlisted telephone number. It belongs to George C. Belter. Mason goes to Butler's, is admitted by butler Digley. Mason's confrontation of the owner of Spicy Bits proves fruitless. As Mason leaves, Eva Griffin, Mrs. Belter, appears. Mason does not indicate that he knows her, leaves.
V.	Eva Belter tells Mason that her husband will ruin him. Mason suggests that the high blackmail price suggests something funny and forces Eva to give him information on Locke. Then Mason puts Drake on the trail of Locke.
VI.	Harrison Burke is slow to catch on that Mason knows the whole situation and is trying to help him. Then Burke admits, after Mason asks him to help pay the costs, that Eva had asked him for money. As Mason leaves Burke, Crandall, a reporter for Spicy Bits accosts him; Mason phones Burke to send money in unmarked package.
VII.	Phone call from Eva Belter wakes Mason. In a storm, he meets Eva, drenched, in Carl Griffin's coat. She says that her husband is murdered, and it was the voice of Mason that was arguing with him. She left the front door unlocked, but it is locked, so she enters through the rear door and lets Mason in through the front door.
VIII.	Eva takes two or three minutes to admit Mason. There are three umbrellas as well as coats in the night-light lit hallway, and a trickle of water from the umbrellas. Mason and Eva find the body, and Mason instructs her to tell her story, but with one admission, namely, that she went back up to the room and found the body. He calls the police.
IX.	Detective Bill Hoffman commiserates with Mason. Carl Griffin arrives in car with flat tire, drunk. Hoffman sends Mason to the kitchen to make coffee. He meets Mrs Veitch and her daughter Norma, neither of which knows anything, but mom cuts off daughter sharply when she tries to speak. Mrs Veitch is tight-lipped, doesn't like Mrs Belter. Mason takes coffee to Sgt Hoffman and Carl Griffin who admits "Yes, there's a will." Only $5000 goes to the wife, the remainder to him, because he never licked Belter's boots. Griffin explains how he saw the handwritten will and reveals Belter's comment about "if anything happened to him, his wife wouldn't profit by it." Mason defends Eva, nothing that Carl Griffin is her "reasonable doubt.
X.	3 AM. Mason wakes up Drake to get the owner of the murder weapon. Mason wakes up Della, to get her to the office, where he recaps the events up to now. Drake reports that the gun is licensed to Pete Mitchell. Locke's girl is named Esther Linten. In a Political Letters file, Mason finds a Burke-for-Congress Club letter; in fine print, 15th name, is P J Mitchell. Mason instructs Drake to rouse Mitchell and see if he has the gun or what he did with it. Detective Sergeant Drumm arrives, curious how Mason asked for a phone number, then turns up at the murdered man's house. They spar in friendly fashion.
XI.	Mason asks Della to "hold the fort." He registers at the Hotel Ripley as Fred B Johnson. Eva arrives with the will and suggests that Griffin may have forged it. Mason suggests that she was dolled up to go out; she got a call about shoes (Burke's signal to her). Mason describes how the death penalty is administered. She admits that Burke came to the house and saw her husband before the shot. If Burke didn't do it, as Eva insists, who did, who sounds like Mason?
XII.	Burke's housekeeper admits that he left with a suitcase in the night. Drake reports on phone that Mitchell's wife got a telegram saying "Don't worry." Linten is from Georgia and gets "regular sugar" from Locke. Back at the hotel, Mason is met by Eva and Charlie Dagett, who swears that the will is not in Belter's hand. Mason then orders Eva to put the will back in the house. Della arrives, takes dictation on documents that will get Eva named administratrix. Mason sends Eva home. Della then gives Mason an envelope with $2000 in travelers checks signed by Harrison Burke. Della hates Eva, "all velvet and claws."
XIII.	Mason confronts Linten, leading her to understand that he knows she's blackmailing Locke regarding events in Georgia, but that Locke no longer has a source of funds. Mason calls Drake; Cecil Dawson (aka Locke) killed Linten's roommate and she covered for him. Hung jury, then fugitive. Now Mason confronts Linten and she capitulates, will support his story. Mason drives to Sol Steinberg's Pawnshop and sets up a sting.
XIV.	Mason tells Locke that Eva's running Spicy Bits. He then maneuvers Locke into Steinberg's place, and Sol says Locke is the one who bought the gun. Locke is infuriated but Mason then points out that Locke has embezzled funds and Belter knew about the Georgia misadventure. Locke claims an airtight alibi and takes Mason to Linton who, as Mason has coached her, says she went to sleep by 11:30, thus denying Locke's alibi. Lock is deflated. Mason indicates that he won't press the issue of Georgia if Locke behaves at Spicy Bits.
XV.	Examiner headlines indicate that Griffin and Norma Veitch are engaged and that Eva's told the police it was Mason whom she overheard with Belter. Eva bursts in, holds to the story that it was Mason. The attorney gets Drake to join them, then puts the pressure on Eva, asking her to go over her story point by point as Della writes it down and Paul witnesses. Then Mason redoes the story, identifying Eva as the murderess while Burke waited downstairs. Belter was in a rage because he found in Eva's purse the receipts from Mason and put two and two together. So Eva had to shoot him. Mrs Veitch overheard things, and Mason calls her in from the adjacent room, but turns her back before she can say anything. Eva faints. Awakened, she confesses that she shot her husband and ran out into the rain, grabbing Griffin's coat on the way. Detective Sergeant Sidney Drumm arrives to arrest Mason, but Mason gives him Eva with her confession. Mrs Veitch was simply pressure on Eva, for Mason didn't know what, if anything, she'd say. Drumm notes that it was Eva who'd led them to him.
XVI.	Mason reminds Della that Eva isn't convicted until proven guilty. Griffin, with his lawyer Arthur Atwood, want Mason to act as lawyer to Spicy Bits while Atwood handles the estate. Mason accuses Atwood of being after the property and trying to bribe him. Atwood claims to be in the driving seat, but Mason avers otherwise. As Griffin leaves, he indicates that he has something to say, but doesn't. Della apologizes for having criticized Mason.
XVII.	Mason directs Drake to get "everything [he] can on that Veitch family." Then he instructs Della to get vital statistics on Norma Veitch. Della finds that Norma was married six months ago to Harry Loring. Mason instructs Drake to find Loring. Burke phones to suggest that Mason get Eva to plead to second-degree murder, so that he will be off the hook, and offers Mason $5000. Mason slams the receiver back on the hook. Drake has located Loring, whose wife left him about a week ago.
XVIII.	Drake questions Loring who denies being married. Wasn't he living with a woman who claimed to be his wife? Yes, "Mary Jones." Mason shows him the newspaper photo of Norma Veitch. Loring avoids looking, denies knowing her. Mason and Drake go into corridor, and Mason identifies himself as Loring to a process server. The complaint is for annulment, not divorce, from Norma. They confront Loring, who capitulates; he was never previously married, that was concocted to help Norma get a quick annulment. They spirit him off to the Hotel Ridley. Then Mason calls Drumm and gets him and Hoffman to join them.
XIX.	The four go to Belter's and are admitted by the butler. Mason surveys the murder room, then asks for the Veitches to be brought in. He questions mother and daughter about when she met Griffin, confronts Norma with the summons. Mason then explains that Eva thought she had shot Belter, but had missed. Mrs Veitch heard the shot, then, when Griffin actually shot Belter, she blackmailed him into marrying her daughter. The umbrella and puddle of water, plus locked front door, were the clues to Mason.
XX.	Mason is kibitzing with Drake. Eva's been released and Griffin caved in after Mrs Veitch switched to protecting her daughter when she realized "that Griffin was in a trap." Drake leaves, Burke enters, still believing Spicy Bits can nail him. Mason points out that Eva will inherit as Belter's wife, since will is not applicable since its benefactor is the murderer. Burke leaves message by phone for Eva. He is unctuous to Mason, but is informed that the attorney expects him to pay half of Eva's $5000 fee. She owns Spicy Bits! He leaves, and Della enters; "I'm so sorry . . . I should have known better, chief." [His lips pressed down to hers] (Is this the only time they kiss?) Eva enters; Mason informs her that, like many others, she is just a case. Della interrupts; there is a sulky girl in the office.

Fran Celane,"The girl"	Night watchman	Dr Prayton
Della Street ("the secretary")	Taxi driver	Garage mechanic
Perry Mason	Pete Devoe, chauffeur	John Mayfield (gardener)
Frank Everly	Paul Drake	Harry Nevers
Rob Gleason	Judge B C Purley	Detective (at Mason's)
Arthur Crinston	Policeman at house	Assistant D A Claude Drumm
Don Graves, Norton's secretary	Mrs Mayfield, housekeeper	Judge Markham
Edward Norton	George Blackman	Sgt E L Mahoney (desk officer who answered call)
Norton's Butler, Purkett	B W Rayburn (bank VP)

This is the second-published, though third-written, of the Perry Mason novels. The ending of the final chapter, of course, had to be rewritten to lead into the next-published novel (though first-written), The Case of the Lucky Legs.

Here Mason asserts "I specialize in the trial of cases, preferably before juries." Yet of the first three Perry Mason mysteries, this is the only one that goes to court. It is here that Della asks "Are all your clients innocent?" to which Mason replies "That's what the juries say." So this novel sets the standard formula for the Mason we know from TV.

ESG is particularly good at describing physical characteristics of his people. Consider his description of the minor personage, Mrs Mayfield; There was a keen concentration in the intentness of her gaze; she might have been a motion picture director, studying a new star for the strong, as we as the weak, points. She was short and broad, but not particularly fat. She seemed heavily muscled and big-boned; a woman of immense strength, capable and self reliant and in her eyes was a glitter of greedy vitality. Her features were rugged; the chin rounded and heavy, the nose distended at the nostrils. The lips were not thin, but uncurving. The mouth was a straight line, stretching under the nose and calipered at the ends by wrinkles which came from the nostrils. The forehead was rather high, and the eyes black and snapping &emdash; highly polished eyes that glittered as though they had been huge, black glass beads.

Some oddities; tomorrow is spelled to-morrow.

I.	Della Street admits Fran Celane to Perry Mason's inner office. She seats herself and organizes her appearance for best effect. Mason enters, is told she has a question about wills. She wants to get married, now, to Rob Gleason, but her father's will allows her uncle, Edward Norton, to deny her the principle if she marries before twenty-five; she is twenty-three. Mason agrees to get an answer to her dilemma by four. Mason instructs Frank Everly, his law clerk, to get the court records. Della offers that Fran is not trapped or sulky, but both and in a panic.
II.	Rob Gleason is frantic, reports Della. Gleason demands to know if Fran Celane has been to see Mason, and Mason suggests that he ask her. She's being blackmailed. He storms out. Shortly, Fran enters. Mason informs her of Gleason's visit ("You know him then?" Mason asks, even though in her earlier visit she said he was the one she wants to marry - a rare ESG slip-up). Mason says that her only hope is to get her uncle removed as trustee. She suggests he see Norton's partner, Arthur Crinston.
III.	Crinston says neither he nor Fran can change Norton, only Mason. On phone, Fran agrees, and 8 o'clock is set for her to pick Mason up. Crinston will go earlier and soften Norton up. Mason asks Everly to check whether or not Celane and Gleason are already married.
IV.	Fran drives her Packard roadster wildly until Mason shuts off the ignition. Her temper flares, but Mason gets her to settle down. At the mansion, Fran introduces Don Graves, Norton's secretary, then hurries into Norton's office, one minute late. Norton confides that he has cut Fran off entirely for the moment because he believes that she is being blackmailed. Mason wants to discuss the way Norton uses his discretion, not whether he has the right to, but Norton refuses and asks his butler to show Mason out. The attorney insists on choosing himself when to go. Fran rushes in after the butler, and pleads with Mason to leave, which he does.
V.	Everly has left a note that Gleason and Celane were married in Cloverdale (This is not the only time this town appears in the Perry Mason novels, but the real Cloverdale is north of San Francisco). Mason researches wills. At quarter past one the phone rings, incessantly, and it is Fran; "My uncle has been murdered." He rushes down the elevator and takes a speedy cab to Norton's where he is met by Crinston, who informs him that Norton had called the police at 11:15 to pick up the driver of his stolen Buick. The murder was committed by chauffeur Pete Devoe with a club, seen by Don Graves. Crinston explains how he and Purley were in a car when Norton called down to ask if they'd take Graves with them. As the three drove away, Graves saw the murder. Crinston asks Mason to act as Fran's attorney in all matters, and keep her from "too much questioning." They return to the house.
VI.	Mason has Celane tell him her version of the story. She had a big fight with her uncle after Mason left, then went out in the Buick, which was blocking her Packard, at 10:45, got back at 12:15, ten minutes or so after the police got there. Mason hits her with her marriage and blackmail, which she says is irrelevant now that uncle Edward is dead. She writes a promissory note for forty thousand dollars to Mason to protect all her interests. The murder is fixed, she says, because "Graves could look back and see the persons clubbing [her] uncle" at about 11:34." "Persons?" Mason asks.
VII.	Graves recounts how Crinston called up to Norton for permission for him to go with the two already at the car. He saw two people, one of which might have been a woman.
VIII.	Housekeeper Mrs Mayfield approaches Mason for money. From him and Miss Celane. She threatens she gets money or nobody gets money. She knows damaging information such as maybe Gleason was not away as he claims. She strides out to make her point. Judge Purley enters and Mason queries about the timing of events, showing that Devoe would not have had time to quarrel and premeditate a murder. Purley says Norton fell forward on is desk and had the stolen car's insurance policy with him. He never knew Norton. Mason asserts that Norton wasn't killed as the result of a quarrel. So the motive was robbery. Norton had $40,000 on him, and two $1000 bills were found in Devoe's pockets.
IX.	Mason goes over Norton's books, learning that the Crinston-Norton partnership had bad investments, but there was money in the accounts. The trust was over a million dollars net. On the day of the murder, Norton went to the bank. 15,294.3 at start, 15,304.7 at return. Mason departs, slipping into the garage; the Buick odometer reads 15,304.7! Mason returns, encounters the greedy housekeeper, and goes to Fran at breakfast. She gives him ten one thousand dollar bills, but won't say where she got them. He confronts her with the odometer reading. She blanches white, drops her coffee cup and admits she got the money from uncle Edward before his death. The housekeeper knocks, having heard the cup crash (and probably Fran's admission). She goes for another cup and coffee. Fran decides to go out and drive the Buick around. The returning housekeeper probably hears this, too.
X.	George Blackman, representing Devoe, wants Mason to get Fran to accept a plea of manslaughter from his client as sufficient. Mason calls him a "dirty scum" and throws him out of the office. Celane is on the phone saying she must see him at once; the police have sealed the Buick. Mason goes to one of the Crinston-Norton banks where B W Rayburn admits that Norton wanted to catch a blackmailer with numbered bills. Mason returns to the office and tells Della to get Paul Drake into the office as if he were a client.
XI.	Frances Celane knows she's in a mess. She got $48,000 from her uncle, gave all but $10,000 to Mrs Mayfield, then the $10,000 to Mason. She didn't know the bills were consecutively numbered. Mason registers the money to a false address, warns Fran she will be arrested because Devoe didn't do the murder and his attorney wants money. Rob Gleason was at the house with her at the time of the murder, and she went away with him, walked back later. Mason sends her to Dr Prayton's sanatorium.
XII	Paul Drake explains the idea of a "rough shadow" to Mason. The attorney asks for the detective to put a rough shadow on Mrs Mayfield. Crinston suggests that they should play ball with Blackman. Mason explains why not, but Crinston insists, says he'll get his own lawyer and so will Fran when he can find her. Mason calls Crinston a fool and sucker, then gives him Blackman's office address.
XIII.	Mason checks with his garage mechanic on how easy it would be to set a speedometer back. Then he contacts, and meets, John Mayfield, Norton's gardener, and asks about his setting back the speedometer of the Buick. Since the Buick was reported stolen, it had to be out, yet no mileage shows; who set the odometer back? Mason suggests that Mrs Mayfield was the woman in the room at the time of the murder. After reading the latest headlines, Mason spends the night under an alias in a hotel.
XIV.	Mason's office has been rifled over night. The newspapers state the murder club belonged to Rob Gleason, who will be charged with first degree murder. Della wishes Mason wouldn't get so involved in his cases. Mrs Mayfield arrives, says the Buick did not go out or Purkett would have heard the garage door open. She wasn't blackmailing Fran, she just wanted some money and knew Fran would have a lot. She breaks down; she's a poor working woman. Suddenly Mason sees a light, and asks Mrs Mayfield to make certain Puckett will swear the car never left the garage. Finally a detective forces Mason to open his locked door and allow him to take Mrs Mayfield into custody as a material witness.
XV.	Harry Nevers, STAR reporter, tells Mason he expects to see Fran Celane and is willing to trade, but Mason counters that he doesn't know what he wants. He does want to get two or three people back to the scene of the crime and that the Buick never left the garage, and he wanted the newspaper to make this public. Mason has Della get Dr Prayton to release Fran, who then calls him. He instructs her to come to the office to surrender to the authorities. Mason calls Drumm, with Nevers as witness, and tells him Celane is coming to the D A's office to surrender; she will not talk, only he will. Nevers brings in his photographer, asks Mason if he has received any money, a question Mason sidesteps adroitly.
XVI.	With Miss Celane sulking, the photographer gets two good photographs. Then Mason calls Drumm to come and pick her up, then coaches Fran on how to behave. [Here Nevers suggests that Carl Seaward of the Homicide Squad will probably come for Fran; this could be the source idea from which in TV will become Sergeant Tragg.]
XVII.	Drake reports that he's got rough shadows on Mrs Mayfield and Graves, the latter producing results. The police now have a new sworn statement by Graves, and the old one has been lost! Graves identified a woman in pink in the room at the time of the murder, and Fran was wearing pink that night. Mason asks Drake to have his planted operative find out if Mrs Mayfield has a pink dress. Drake explains all the facts that convict Gleason with Fran, and the police know that she had some of the money. Mason's key to the case why Norton reported the Buick stolen. Perhaps the chauffeur drove the Buick and set the speedometer back and was caught by Norton . . .
XVIII.	In jail, Gleason tells Mason he'll repudiate the statement taken down by the court reporter. He wants to plead "guilty," but Mason gives him facts to deter him including the pink negligee. Gleason says he'll confess that it was Mrs Mayfield in the pink negligee and they did Norton in together. Mason says this will get Fran convicted, because only half his story will be believed, orders Gleason to copy his statement over so he can have a copy, and calls him "a rotten liar."
XIX.	Frank Everly is in court with Mason, and is nervous. When Assistant D A Claude Drumm passes on his preemptory, Judge Markham calls on Mason who knows Drumm is expecting to use his option later, so, though Mason has two jurors he'd like to eliminate, he accepts the panel to keep Drumm shut out. Drumm begins his case, calling a surveyor who, when asked if it were possible for someone on the road "to glance back and see into the room," is interrupted by Mason objecting. Sustained. Mason asks the distance from car to crime.
XX.	Drumm calls Judge Purley, instead of Crinston or Graves. Purley testifies as to what he saw, including turning around after Graves indicated what he saw, and driving back, finding Norton dead, and seeing the auto insurance policy. On cross, Mason gets Purley to admit he never spoke to Norton.
XXI.	Sergeant E L Mahoney testifies as to the call from someone who said he was Norton, and that the call was interrupted. Crinston testifies as to the basic facts, then, on cross, has to admit that with Norton the subject of blackmail of Celane had come up with possibility of Mrs Mayfield behind it. Then Mason gets Crinston to admit that he discussed the partnership's indebtedness with Mr Sherman, head of the Wheeler's Trust & Savings Bank. Throughout Crinston tries to avoid answering certain questions because the answer would hurt Miss Celane, but Judge Markham requires answers. Further, Mason doesn't object to certain questions by Drumm, which opens fields of investigation on is part in cross, even when Markham clearly gives Mason the opportunity to object. Don Graves testifies to the basics, and Mason objects when Graves states "he thought he could make the identification." Mason then lets him name Gleason, as well as Celane. Mason then dares Graves to redo the viewing test, such as the police have already conducted, "under the same conditions." Yes. "Will you . . . ?" queries Mason, and Drumm objects. Mason then comments that Drumm is "afraid to have a test made under identical conditions."
XXII.	Mason coaches Nevers to emphasize Drumm's refusal to conduct a test. Nevers says most everyone thinks Mason is conducting a bad defense. Mason hints Gleason may confess. Mason tells Everly that he doesn't just want to clear Fran and Rob, but convict the true murderers. Della says she bet half a month's salary with Drake that Mason would get both clients acquitted, she has so much faith in her boss (note; this conflicts with publication dates of first three novels, for she has doubts in the next novel by publication order, The Case of the Lucky Legs -- it was, however, the first by copyright). Drake reports on Mrs Mayfield; she slept through the murder. Fran had a "stormy interview with Norton and the quarreled bitterly." He was going to terminate the trust and give her only the annuity. Fran gave Mrs Mayfield twenty-eight thousand dollars to keep her quiet. Mrs Mayfield, learning the bills were numbered consecutively, told the police that Fran must have given that money to Mason, and the police are frantic trying to find it. Gleason and Celane plotted the murder when Crinston left. Graves will testify that Norton gave Fran two thousand dollars only, and she planted them on Devoe. She and Gleason came back and took the remainder of the money out of Norton's wallet.
XXIII.	The STAR headlines "WITNESS TO MILLIONAIRE'S MURDER REFUSES TO MAKE TEST." Della has bet the other half of her salary. Drumm phones to say he'll have the test. Mason instructs Everly to represent him in court for the necessary weekend continuance, but to make it necessary for the details of the test to be worked out outside the courtroom. Mason lets Nevers know the test will be held and asks him to detain Graves in the upstairs room as long as he can, until he gets rattled.
XXIV.	Mason argues with Drumm that the test is not fair, as there are only two women, one in black and one in pink, so Graves has a 50-50 chance if he only guesses. There are also only three men. Mason bows to Drumm's take it or leave it. The press will select one woman and one man after the car starts off. In the car Mason suggests Drumm remove his glasses and Purley not turn his head. Both are denied. The signal is given, but Graves doesn't arrive. Eventually Graves appears and Nevers shouts from the window that the test is unfair. Drumm says the conditions are set. The test is performed.
XXV.	The newspapers have reported the results of the test and Graves is vindicated, the accused surely guilty of first-degree murder. Mason resumes with cross of Graves, asking if he has any animus against Celane or Gleason. No. Drumm elicits Graves' description of the identical test. Mason gets Graves to admit the test was not identical, since a reporter, Nevers, held him back until he could call down and get Drumm to insist no changes could be made. Mason examines Crinston regarding the $900,000 owed Wheeler's Trust & Savings Bank. Yet other banks had funds to cover this indebtedness. So, didn't Norton get a letter indicating the loan was coming due? Mason then suggest that Norton confronted him, called the police, and Crinston then clubbed Norton to death. Then, seeing the insurance policy, he called back to the police, identified himself as Norton and reported the theft of the Buick whose information was on the insurance policy. Then, with accomplice Graves, they planted evidence on Devoe, had Graves with light at his back call down to the car as if he were Norton. Judge Purley is recalled, and now he is not so certain it was not Graves who called down both after the murder and at the test. Now it is Crinston upon whom all eyes focus.
XXVI.	The STAR extra screams "MURDER CASE DISMISSED." Mason explains how he had to trick opinionated Purley into realizing what the real situation was, and states he "had all the facts in hand at the moment that Arthur Crinson, in telling me about the murder, discussed the telephone call to the police as though he had no knowledge of it, except what he had learned through the police." He then goes over the facts as they actually happened. Fran expresses her gratitude, with tears in her yes. She and Gleason leave, and Della enters with the telegram that leas to The Case of the Lucky Legs.

Della Street	Elizabeth Walker (deaf)	Sam Marson, cab driver
Perry Mason	Paul Drake	Mae Sibley
Arthur Cartright	Paula Evelyn Cartright	Carl Trask, who drove Benton
Mrs Clinton (Evelyn Foley) aka . . .	Clinton Forbes	. . . aka Agnes
Prince (the dog)	Bessie Forbes	Brownlee
Asst D A Pete Dorcas	Policeman at headquarters	Another taxi driver
Dr Cooper	Det Sgt Holcomb	Alex Bostwick
Taxi driver	Shorthand reporter	Dr Phil Morton
Clinton Foley aka . . .	3 homicide squad men	Judge Markham
Dep Sheriff Bill Pemberton	Ed Wheeler	Claude Drumm
Thelma Benton, housekeeper	George Doake	Frank Everly
Ah Wong, Chinese manservant	. . . aka Mrs C M Dangerfield	Sporting goods store clerk
Three immigration officers

From client Arthur Cartwright's statements about his coming to Mason because of how the attorney handled the case in the courtroom, we know this is, in terms of the order it was written, the direct follow-up to The Case of the Sulky Girl.

Perhaps it is nothing more than "'30s" language, but Gardner uses the term "Chink" to refer to the Chinese cook.

I.	Della Street admits Arthur Cartright to Perry Mason's office. Cartright wants to write a will giving everything, not to his wife, but to the woman living as wife next door with Clinton Foley, who has a howling dog, which suggest a death in the neighborhood. He also wants Mason to prosecute Foley over the dog's howling, and to protect him from malicious prosecution. Mason suggests they go to a deputy D A and tell the story to achieve the latter. Mason arranges with Pete Dorcas for a meeting.
II.	Assistant D A Peter Dorcas and Dr Cooper listen to Mason and Cartright. Dorcas suggests a warning be sent Foley, and Mason suggests it be taken by a deputy sheriff right away. After Cartright leaves, Dr Cooper says the man isn't normal, but not insane.
III.	Della gives Mason the morning mail, and he reads a note from Cartright with a holographic will and ten thousand dollars retainer. The will leaves most of his estate to the legally-married Mrs Foley. Mason is called to Dorcas' office where he meets Clinton Foley. After much argument, Dorcas calls Deputy Sheriff Bill Pemberton to arrange for a visit to Foley's to see if the dog howls. A list of witnesses is stated by Foley when Pemberton arrives.
IV.	Foley instructs Bill Pemberton to go into the driveway as contractors are putting an addition onto his garage. Foley's housekeeper Thelma Benton reports that the dog was poisoned. She give a note to Foley; it indicates that Mrs Foley has run away with Cartright. She states that he is a magnetic personality and she doesn't blame him for what has happened in the house (the hint is clearly re the housekeeper) or that there is no love in the marriage.
V.	Mason phones Della to get Paul Drake waiting for him. He tries to get a photo of Mrs Foley from Miss Benton. Then he goes to Cartright's and rouses Elizabeth Walker. She doesn't give him any help.
VI.	Paul Drake is waiting for Perry, who brings him up-to-date. Mason wants Drake "to find out everything you can about Foley . . . also the same thing about Cartright." He then has Della "cancel every appointment that [he's] got . . . Clear the decks for action."
VII.	Mason calls Dorcas. Foley's wife has sent a telegram from Midwick saying don't "do anything that would bring about a lot of newspaper publicity." Mason sends Dorcas a box of 50¢ cigars. Drake reports that Mrs Foley is Paula Cartright, Foley is Forbes whose real wife is Bessie. The whole thing was a scandal in Santa Barbara. Mason makes an appointment to see Foley, 8:30 by Foley but 9 by Mason.
VIII.	Mason arrives at 8:30, finds the door open, Prince shot twice inside, and Foley lying dead in the library with an automatic nearby. Mason calls Drake to have him sequester the men who've been watching Foley's house, then find Mrs Forbes. He then calls police headquarters and reports the body. Then he cases the house.
IX.	Det Sgt Holcomb, a shorthand reporter and three men from homicide grill Mason under bright lights. Mason continually points out flaws in Holcomb's theories of the murder. Mason gets paid by ability, and Holcomb "might have to go hungry a few months - unless [he] showed more intelligence. . ." Mason gets a headache from the lights.
X.	Ed Wheeler and George Doake tell Mason and Drake what they saw re. Foley's house. At about 6:15 a Chevrolet picked up Thelma Benton. At 7:25 a Checker cab brought a woman, who left at 7:47. She might have rung the bell, or used a key, to enter. Mason arrived at 8:29. The boys are sent to get the Checker driver. A report to Drake indicates that Mrs C M Dangerfield, aka Bessie Forbes, is at the Breedmont Hotel, Room 764.
XI.	Sam Marson gets five dollars plus the meter for telling Mason and Drake about the jane he delivered to Foley's house, her high-pitched voice, her scented handkerchief, which scent Della can identify as Vol de Nuit.
XII.	Mason, with Drake, confronts Bessie Forbes. Her voice and perfume are those indicated by the cabbie. Mason pours her perfume down the drain, has Paul smoke a cigar to cover the odor, tells Bessie to buy cheap perfume and put it all over everything after registering at the Broadway Hotel. She is to answer no questions unless her lawyer is present. Then Mason asks Drake to get a stand-in for Bessie.
XIII.	After Della covers Mae Sibley with the expensive perfume Mason instructs Mae, the stand-in, in what how she must retrieve Bessie's handkerchief. He wants handwriting specimens from four women. Mae reports with the handkerchief; she gave cabbie name of Agnes Brownlie. Mason calls Holcomb, tells him he has a handkerchief that is evidence.
XIV.	Mason catches a cab to the Broadway Hotel. Bessie Forbes says she found the dog and Clint dead. She denies the gun is hers. She expects Arthur Cartright to come over, as she'd asked the taxi driver to phone him. Mason informs her of her lost handkerchief and that he's given it to the police. She's to say she wants to tell her story, cut her lawyer won't let her. Sergeant Holcomb and two men arrive to arrest Bessie.
XV.	Della wants Perry to throw Arthur Cartright to the wolves to get Bessie off quickly. He explains the duty of a lawyer for the defense, and of the prosecutor. Drake reports that he's been unable to locate the taxicab driver who went to Foley's when Mrs Cartright left. Mason wants a quick trial. Ah Wong is to be deported; Mason wants an interpreter to make certain he'll claim the dog howled. Report to Drake indicates the murder weapon was bought by Bessie Forbes two days before her husband ran away with Paula Cartright. Mason tips off Alex Bostwick, city editor of The Chronicle, to talk to Cartright's housekeeper Elizabeth Walker.
XVI.	Bessie says she forgot that she purchased the gun, because her husband took it from her when she first threatened to kill herself. Trask is Benton's alibi, he's a gambler. Her weak spot is 7:30 to 7:50, and her hand is badly mangled (so says Dr Phil Morton)., reports Drake. Mason poses as Chronicle writer, offering money if she has a diary. Handwriting of Paula, Thelma and Elizabeth don't match Paula's note.
XVII.	The jury is chosen, then sworn in by Judge Markham. Claude Drumm, chief trial deputy from the D A's office, gives a strong opening statement. Thelma Benton testifies to finding the bodies of man and dog, that she came from Santa Barbara with man, dog, posing wife and Ah Wong about a year before, and Paula Cartright left the house in the morning. Sam Marson testifies that the accused was the woman he took to the house and who claimed the handkerchief. Mason shows that he's been coached by the D A, then has Mae Sibley stand up. Marson denies this was the woman who picked up the handkerchief "but if [he] was mistaken on one, [he] could be mistaken on the other." Drumm is infuriated and Mason takes him, his two deputies and Mae with himself into Markham's chambers. Mason points out that he cross-examined the taxi driver "by an object lesson, rather than by questions." The judge instructs Drumm to keep hand off Mae, who is quickly surrounded by half a dozen newspaper reporters as they exit back into the courtroom.
XVIII.	Perry explains to Della how all he did was go one step farther than the usual methods of testing the cabbie's identification, capitalizing on his uncertainty, thus beating the authorities to the punch. He dictates a confession to Della who uses a new portable typewriter to conceal the source. Arthur Cartright confesses to killing his wife, but not Forbes! He buried her where the contractors were to pour a cement floor the next day. Mason signs it, imitating the signature on Cartright's will. Mason has figured that Cartright finally figured his wife was already dead, therefore he changed how the will disposed of his estate; he'd "undoubtedly been in touch with Bessie Forbes, and knew that she was in the city, so he left the property to her." Mason mails the confession to The Chronicle and throws the portable typewriter into the reservoir.
XIX.	Mason has Drake send a man to get Thelma Benton's October 18th diary page. Mason explains "We're a dramatic people. We're not like the English. The English want dignity and order." Frank Everly then argues that "Everybody knows that [Bessie's] innocent." So Mason cannot put her on the stand, because he "can't make the jury think she's any more innocent."
XX.	Drumm pounds home the gruesome details of the murder. Over lunch, Mason points out to Everly how the mass mind, the jury in this instance, cannot hold an emotion for more than three minutes. They will want relief, and Mason will give it to them.
XXI.	Drumm has the sporting goods store clerk identify Bessie Forbes as buyer of the murder weapon. Mason gets a ruling from Judge Markham that his cross-examination cannot be interrupted no matter how long. She testifies that the dog was devoted to Paula Cartright and Mrs Forbes and her. She identifies the letter Mrs Cartright left when she rejoined her husband. Mason shows her writing supposedly by Mrs Cartright, but Benton says it is not. Same with a sample of Bessie Forbes. Benton is asked to write, and it is not that of Cartright. At the usual afternoon recess, Everly gets a copy of the Chronicle's extra; the bodies have been found (as expected, the newspaper would break up the concrete when they got the faked confession). When court is resumed, Drumm tries to get a postponement, but Markham is reminded by Mason that his cross is not to be interrupted. Mason asks about Paula Cartright's leaving the morning of the 17th and, when she hesitates, Mason calls attention to her hesitation. Benton backs off; "I can't say that I saw her personally." Mason now makes Benton identify the telegram and the letter by Cartright as the same person. Drumm claims the witnesses ill, the case should be continued and it might be dismissed. Mason states this is not what he wants, he wants the defendant acquitted. Mason asks Benton to explain how Cartright could send the telegram on the 17th when she was murdered the 16th. Mason asks if she didn't send the telegram and write the letter. Her right hand was bandaged because the dog bit it. Her hand was mangled the 17th, 18th, 19th. Yes. Then didn't she keep a diary? He produces the page from the 18th. The handwriting is the same as on the telegram and letter, because Benton is ambidextrous. She screams, then faints. Drumm demands "in the name of common decency, in the name of humanity" a continuation. Benton was his last witness and Mason has finished his cross. Drumm is forces to rest. Mason also rests. Drumm again wants a dismissal, but is forced to give his summation. Mason then explains one possible scenario. The dog was shot attacking the murderer, who couldn't have been Mrs Forbes because Prince liked her. The howling dog was howling at the grave of a loved one! When Paula found Forbes had lost interest in her, for whom she'd sacrificed social position and friends, she had to be silenced. When Cartright investigated, he, too, was silenced. The conspirators then made it look like the two Cartright's had reunited and run away. Benton, against whom Mason is "making no case," returned with her accomplice and the dog attacked him and was shot. In a struggle, Forbes was shot. Mason sits down, and Drumm has "No argument."
XXII.	Mason has brought a police dog to his office, and puts him in a closet. Mason Of course, his scenario was all conjecture. Bessie Forbes arrives, and the police dog forces the closet door open and rushes to Bessie with joyous howls. It is, of course, Prince, whose owner had exchanged it the eve of the 16th at a kennel for a similar police dog. She leaves, at Mason's insistence, with Prince. Mason now explains that, though Bessie could not have been the murderer because the Prince would not have sprung at her, if the dog were not Prince . . . On the other hand, maybe it was Bessie who killed Forbes, but in self-defense. Says Mason, "I feel certain that it was. She had to defend herself against a dog and a man. But I acted only as her lawyer." Since it is an acquittal, not a dismissal, she cannot be tried again. Della says a Curious Bride will be coming back and Mason says "I'll wait for her."

Crocker, a.k.a. . . .	Benjamin & Ellen Crandall	Fat man in Balboa hall
Perry Mason	Carl W Montaine	Doris (Pender) Freeman
Della Street	Woman neighbor of Moxley	Yet another cab driver
Paul Drake	Safe taxi driver	Oscar Pender
A ladies' man	Two detectives in Ford	Judge Frank Munroe
Taxi driver	Chronicle editor Bostwick	Bailiff
Nell Brinley	Joe of the Chronicle	John C Lucas
Rhoda Montaine aka Rhoda Lorton	Second Chronicle reporter	Bessie Holeman
A Printer	Mabel Strickland, nurse	Judge Markham
Telegraph attendant	Dr Claude Millsap	Court Clerk
Second taxi driver	C Philip Montaine	Mr Simpson
Gregory Moxley, aka Lorton, Carey, Freeman	A messenger	Officer Harry Exeter
Drug store clerk	Bertie, Otis' daughter	Frank Lane
Newsboy	Sidney Otis	A deputy sheriff
Overbearing man in elevator	Danny Spear

Here, as in previous novels, Gardner has different people repeat the basic facts in several different circumstances; the reader is clearly given the info that will break the case long before Mason uses it in the denouement.

Here, also, as he will in the early novels, Gardner has Mason plant fake-evidence to confuse the D A.

I.	Helen Crocker, whom Della Street, at the end of The Case of the Howling Dog believed she was a bride, is nervous. She is calling upon Perry Mason to help her "on behalf of a friend." Her friend's husband died in an air crash over seven years ago. Can her friend re-marry without a divorce? Without the corpus delicti, can one be convicted of murder. Mason wants the "friend" to come to the office. Ms Crocker leaves.
II.	Mason tells Della he failed to help the curious bride. Paul Drake arrives, says he tailed Mason's client, who was being followed by a man "about thirty-two or thirty-three, light hair, brown eyes. . .something of a ladies' man." The lady didn't notice either him or Drake following her.
III.	Della gives Perry Helen's address and phone number. Della tries the number and finds that it was disconnected and the address doesn't exist. Mason finds a brown purse and he empties it as Della records the inventory, which includes a .32 caliber Colt automatic, Ipral, and a telegram to R Montaine at 128 East Pelton Avenue from Gregory. Mason takes a taxi to the address and is met by Nell Brinley, who passed the telegram on to Rhoda Montaine aka Rhoda Lorton. Mason takes the taxi around the corner to a phone and instructs Della to call Nell with a message from Gregory to get back to his office. Then, check marriage licenses to Montaine, bride Lorton. Then find a phone for the man and have Drake put an operative on him. Check the Colt number.
IV.	Mason has a printer make a card with "R W Montaine" on it, uses this to get a telegraph attendant to find who sent the telegram to R Montaine, then addresses a telegram to the sender, Gregory Moxley. With the address now in hand, he goes to Moxley at the Bellaire Apartments, passes himself off as a friend of Rhoda. The fake telegram arrives. Moxley is now worried by Mason, particularly when the lawyer suggests that Rhoda may have been mistaken in thinking she is a widow. A phone call from Rhoda; Moxley mentions Mason's presence and Mason tries to get a message to her, but Moxley hangs up. Della reports on the phone that Rhoda was married to Gregory Lorton who died of pneumonia. Her gun was sold to Dr Claude Millsap, who signed Gregory Lorton's death certificate. Mason tells Della to have Drake get info on Moxley, but not tail him.
V.	A drug store clerk explains that Ipral is a hypnotic, "a species of sedative." Mason returns to the taxi, but sees a car swaying and approaching. Mason steps from the curb, and Rhoda Montaine stops. Mason gets her to tell her story. She married Carl Montaine, son of wealthy C Phillip Montaine who dominates his son and doesn't like her. She can't get a divorce and re-marry Carl. She leaves.
VI.	A newsboy gives Mason a newspaper; the headline reads "MIDNIGHT VISITOR KILLS CROOK" and details the murder of Gregory Carey alias Gregory Lorton early this morning. Neighbors heard it all, including the name "Rhoda," though apparently she was with a man. [On the way up in the elevator, a man asks if Mason's read the paper, boasts of "talking things over with Perry Mason."] Before he finishes the article, Della admits Carl Montaine. He is certain his wife, Rhoda, is shielding Dr Millsap, whom he believes murdered Moxley while his wife was with him. She thought that she put him to sleep with Ipral in chocolate, but he saw her dosing the drink and threw it out. He faked deep sleep, saw her go out, carefully shutting the garage doors as she left (double sliding doors, so only one car can exit at a time); he tried to follow her but was too slow getting dressed. Upon her return, she had to leave the garage open, for she didn't have the strength to lift the door off the other car on which it was caught, and he asked her about this, but she had an excuse. So he didn't confront her on this or why she'd been out, but tried to call Millsap only to get his Japanese servant. Because of the Montaine name, he wants his father protected, but his wife first, and he is going to tell the police what he knows. Mason warns Carl of his jealousy to Millsap, and says that he'll make his overbearing father pay.
VII.	Mason goes looking for Rhoda, but she is not home. He questions a neighbor; Rhoda left with a small bag, and sent a large trunk express. Mason figures she's gone to the Municipal Airport, catches a taxi. The taxi driver notices a tail, and Mason has him shake it, but they reappear at the airport. Mason finds Rhoda waiting for a plane, slips her into telephone booth where he warns her that flight is an indication of guilt. He calls Bostwick at the Chronicle to surrender her to the newspaper, telling him the details about Lorton/Carey/Moxley. She tells him her version of the story in detail; She "had done something awful . . . that would put [her] in jail." She was not so much afraid of jail as what it would do to her marriage to Carl. She had thought Gregory had died in a plane crash, but he wasn't on the plane. Gregory was in trouble and had again contacted Nell Brinley. He wanted money from her and Carl. She slipped out, after drugging Carl, to Gregory's place, getting a flat tire on the way; the spare was flat, too, with a nail in it. She refused to pay Gregory. When he got abusive, she tried to phone Mason, then grabbed a fireplace poker and swung, hitting Gregory as the lights went out. Someone else was there, lighting matches, and someone was at the door, ringing the bell, insistently. She left after the bell stopped ringing. She didn't know that she'd dropped her keys until she saw them in the paper. She thought she'd locked the garage, but apparently hadn't, and couldn't close the door after she opened it. She declares that Millsap was not with her. Joe and another Chronicle reporter accept Rhoda's surrender as two detectives rush up to claim her.
VIII.	Mason, Drake and Street plot actions to take. Perry has Della write up a habeas corpus for Rhoda. Drake suggests a routine for finding Carl. Mason is worried the authorities will have Rhoda's marriage to Carl declared void. Mason writes a letter to the Chronicle to shape the discussion about the husband's betrayal of the wife rather than the wife's actions. Looking at photos of the crime scene, Mason notes that Gregory had only ten minutes to get ready for his appointment. He notes that there are no fingerprints on the doorknob. Rhoda was wearing gloves, so someone else wiped the doorknob clean, meaning she did not commit the murder.
IX.	After upsetting Mabel, Dr Millsap's nurse, Mason upsets Millsap with knowledge of the .32 Colt. The doctor tells how he took a charity patient who was dying of pneumonia and got him admitted to the hospital when he agreed to pose as Gregory Lorton. Thus they got a death certificate. Yes, he asked Rhoda to marry him, but at the time she was off men for good. Her maternal instinct came to the fore, however, with Carl, whom she is trying to nurse back to life. Then Moxley showed up wanting money "Because some one was threatening to send him to jail for a swindle he'd worked." He gave Rhoda the gun for protection, suggested she threaten she'd have him arrested for embezzlement. Mason asks where the doctor was at two o'clock, and notes that his Japanese servant answered a call at that hour. Millsap says the caller seemed drunk. He went to Gregory's, rang the bell repeatedly, got no answer, saw Rhoda's car. He drove his own around to another parking spot, came back, and Rhoda's car was gone. Mason suggests that the doctor looks ill and a good trip such as an ocean voyage might do him good. Before Millsap can take action, the two detectives who picked up Rhoda enter and take the doctor into custody.
X.	Della tells Mason that the police have called, gloating, and he can now see Rhoda, since she's confessed. Drake says she claims to have gone to Moxley's, rung the bell, got no answer, and left. Of course, she dropped her keys on an earlier visit. Mason notes, "And all of this time, Carl Montaine is insisting that he locked the door of the garage when he put his car in, and that Rhoda must have had her keys in order to get the garage open; that she herself, told him she had left her purse in the car and that she went out and unlocked the door in order to get the purse just before she went to bed." C Phillip Montaine has arrived, and Paul goes out through the main office to get a look, returns quickly; Montaine was in a car when Drake first noticed Helen/Rhoda being tailed. Montaine enters, clearly with a plan in mind. He's spoken to the D A, in confidence, and so cannot state certain things to Mason, but if Mason already knows them . . . Mason understands the D A will seek an annulment, and Montaine wants this, so he can get rid of Rhoda, as well as easy treatment of his son. Otherwise, no fee. Mason challenges Montaine's motives behind wanting to get rid of Rhoda at any cost, and notes that he must have been in the city long before he claims, gathering, with detectives, information on Rhoda's power over Carl. After Montaine leaves, Mason speaks to Drake, who now notes that Carl and father must have been working together! And father then knew about Moxley and the two o'clock appointment. Della reports that a messenger has brought annulment papers, and Dr Millsap rang up and said he told the police nothing.
XI.	Mason has rented the Colemont Apartments, next the Bellaire Apartments. He goes upstairs to the former Moxley apartment, disconnects the kitchen bell with a buzzer, then does this for the three other apartments. He discovers discarded matches on the floor and discovers how someone could have slipped from downstairs into the upstairs apartment. He finds the match container with "Compliments of the Palace Hotel, the best in Centerville" on it.
XII.	Otis Electrical Company. A young woman, Bertie, greets Mason who identifies himself. Sidney Otis, who was once on a Mason jury, comes running from the back. Mason offers him the use of Moxley's apartment for six months, rent free, if he'll put in a doorbell to replace whatever is there. He should keep the old bell/buzzer, marked for identification. Mason gives him $50 for expenses.
XIII.	Drake and Street greet Mason with the latest D A's announcement; they are going to exhume the body of Gregory Lorton. Drake has discovered that a Gregory Freeman registered at the Palace Hotel in Centerville, and married a Doris Pender. Doris Freeman has recently moved in to the Balboa Apartments, and made a phone call to Moxley early the 16th. A record of the phone call was made by photographer Danny Spear.
XIV.	Mason and Drake tell Spear how to get a look at Doris Freeman at the apartment. They then enter, encounter Mrs Freeman, and catch her off guard with the possibility of using the phone for blackmail, demanding money. "We didn't do that" she states. Mason fakes a call to the "investigations department" and learned she called to murdered Moxley. Drake and Mason then discuss the murder situation and leave Freeman wanting to give them a sob story, but no lead to her accomplice. Spear waits outside in the car to follow her.
XV.	Mason is dictating a divorce decree which he explains to Della is better than an annulment, for then Rhoda can get alimony and her husband cannot testify against her. Rhoda made the worst mistake possible in saying she was at the scene of the crime when it happened, for her falsehood, though more plausible than the truth, will not convince a jury. Danny Spear calls for Mason to come to the Greenwood Hotel. He gets a cab. At the Hotel, Danny, bruised and beat up, tells Mason how he tailed Doris Freeman to the room, then followed her out, doubled back and found Oscar Pender, who beat him up. Oscar phoned his sister Doris at the Balboa Apartments and suggested they leave town together. He's got Drake chasing them.
XVI.	Judge Frank Munroe enters to the intoned formula of the bailiff. Deputy D A John Lucas has Carl Montaine state when he married Rhoda. When Lucas tries to call Rhoda, Mason objects, stipulates as to the marriage, but challenges any entry of evidence of who the man named Gregory Lorton who died in the hospital was, as it is of no consequence, as a Gregory Lorton was alive at the time of Rhoda's marriage to him! Mason calls Mrs Bessie Holeman who says she married Gregory Moxley. She divorced him, but after Rhoda married him. Therefore Rhoda's marriage to him is null and void. Mason takes Rhoda aside and presents the divorce decree he wants her to press. She loves Carl, doesn't believe his father would want her convicted, but signs.
XVII.	Mason explains to Drake why he wants Oscar and Doris on the run, but not caught. He wants to use their flight as proof of guilt. Oscar and one other, plus Rhoda, claim to have rung the bell. One is the murderer. Drake tells Mason that someone has agency detectives looking for Pender. Perry suggests father Montaine. Paul leaves as Della shows a crying Mabel Strickland in. She claims that Millsap has been kidnapped by two men with automatics in a black Buick. Perry finds that her handkerchief is soaked with tear gas. So Millsap went away, but Mabel can reach him.
XVIII.	Judge Markham opens the case and the clerk calls men to the jury box. Markham makes a brief challenge to the jurors. Mason then asks one juror, Mr Simpson, if he could be truly impartial, if he could, were he the defendant, trust the other jurors. He says "Yes." So Mason ask if any other juror "who would not answer that question as Mr Simpson has answered it?" Thus Mason shows he trusts the jurors. This makes Lucas certain Mason has "'planted' some very friendly person on that jury." So he relentlessly examines everyone, thus alienating the jury. Lucas calls Officer Harry Exeter, who found the dead body. He testifies to finding the keys. On cross, Mason asks about the clock, the time to which it was set. Frank Lane, the man who changed Rhoda's tire, testifies he was with him from 1:45 to 2:10. Benjamin Crandall testifies he was in an apartment across from Moxley's room. When Lucas presents a map, Mason raises the issue of elevations regarding actual distance. Since no elevation is available, the jury will go to the site later. Now Crandall testifies to what he heard, the telephone ringing, the phone conversation and mention of "Rhoda," the struggle and ringing of the doorbell. Mason makes him swear that the later ringing was certainly not a telephone. Mason challenges; "it is a physical impossibility for one who in Apartment 269 of the Bellaire Apartments to hear the doorbell ringing in Apartment B in the Colemont Apartments. Crandall insists he heard the doorbell, though he'd never heard it before or since.
XIX.	The jurors are at the murder apartment. A deputy sheriff rings the bell, and Mason asks that the doorbell be removed as evidence. The jurors go to the Crandall apartment, crowd around the open windows, when a "whirring bell exploded the silence." Mason complains this is improper and Lucas feigns innocence when Mason suggests he is an accomplice in the bell being rung. Back at the court Lucas calls Ellen Crandall who testifies exactly as her husband; the court adjourns for the evening. Mason tells the judge that he has to take a deposition in the morning of Carl Montaine in the civil case brought by Rhoda Montaine. Lucas cannot be present at a civil hearing. Mason calls father Montaine and leaves a message to have him meet him at seven-thirty in the eve, then asks Della to follow through. The next day when the court resumes, Mason quotes Benjamin Crandall's description of the whirring bell sound. Then Lucas puts Sidney Otis on the stand to testify to the bell, and learns that it has been changed. Lucas is enraged, dismisses Otis to call another witness, but Mason reminds him that Mrs Crandall was on the stand and he wishes to continue his cross. Mason primes her that she couldn't have heard the doorbell, brings out the photograph showing the alarm clock, and demands that it be brought so he can test its sound on the witness. Over Lucas' objections, the judge notes he opened this line of argument, and the alarm clock is produced. Mason winds it, turns the hands, and it whirrs, stops a while, whirrs again. "Now, Mrs Crandall, since it appears that it couldn't have been the doorbell that you heard, since you are equally positive that it wasn't the telephone bell that you heard, don't you think that the bell you heard must have been that of the alarm clock?" "Yes." Mason recalls Mr Crandall; "Do you desire to contradict your wife's testimony that it was the alarm clock she heard, or . . ." Lucas objects and is sustained, but after a further statement of the question, the witness blurts "If you fellows think I'm going to contradict my wife, you're crazy!" Now Lucas argues that Rhoda Montaine can't possibly have been the murderer because she could not have been at the house when the alarm clock rang, at which time the murder was committed (this is the first of Gardner's time-shift-of-the-murder plots, which are the best of his mystery genre). So he continues that the testimony should be excluded because he couldn't check if the clock had been shut off or run down. The judge says couldn't is didn't; namely, he sat like a sulky child when offered to check the clock. Court is adjourned to the next day.
XX.	Mason tells C Phillip Montaine that it is he who has kept his son sequestered by the D A even though he cannot testify. Mason then has Della read the deposition given by Carl. Carl put the nail in the spare tire. Thus, he was able to slip out to Moxley's while his wife was getting the tires fixed. Mason queries, " Didn't you hear your wife state she was going to telephone me? And then the sounds of struggle? And didn't you, in a sudden panic, lest your name and the name of your family should be dragged into such a mess and bring disgrace or fancied disgrace to your father, pull out the master switch . . ." and enter the apartment, strike a match and then hit Moxley with the poker? Then you met Oscar Pender in the hall, tell him you'd found Moxley dead, wipe finger prints off door knobs and the murder weapon, and turn the lights back on, then return home just before your wife got back. Here you found you'd dropped your keys at Moxley's, so you couldn't lock it, and took your wife's as your own when she returned. Your car now was not fully in the garage, so Rhoda couldn't shut the door after opening it. C P now admits he had detectives following Rhoda, but so did his son. His detective got lost when Rhoda headed to Moxley's. Mason gets money for himself and Rhoda, two signed blank checks.
XXI.	Perry explains to Rhoda that Miss Pender was being helped by her brother to collect from Moxley whom she'd married as Freeman. Della gives Rhoda the deposition to read; she understands that she "wanted to get a man who was weak and mother him . . . wanted a child. A man can't be a child. He can only be weak and selfish." She's cured. She wants Della to get Millsap on the phone. During this, Della has told Perry that a man has been telephoning whose glass eye has been stolen; The Case of the Counterfeit Eye is next.

Perry Mason	Hazel Fenwick, Dick's wife	Two D A officers
Della Street	Police officer	Thelma Bevins
Peter Brunold	Sergeant Holcomb	Judge Kenneth D. Winters
Harry McClane	Policeman in hall	Newspaper reporters
Paul Drake	Hamilton Burger	Dalton C Bates, glass eye specialist
Bertha McClane	[Stephen Chalmers]	Jackson Selbey, Downtown Optical Co
Hartley Basset	Two policemen in police car	[Woman on plane]
Arthur (Colemar), secretary	Maryland Hotel desk clerk	[Bellhop]
Mrs Sylvia Basset	Waitress in hotel dining room	Deputy sheriff
James (Overton), chauffeur	Muldoon, house detective	George Purley, handwriting expert
Richard (Dick) Basset, Sylvia's son	Second waitress	Three newspaper men
Broad-hipped woman, Edith Brite	Cashier	[Carl] Jackson

This novel marks the first appearance of Mason's long-term nemisis, Hamilton Burger. Mason's aide is called Jackson. Here we learn his first name, Karl.

I.	Perry Mason is convinced by Della Street to see a man with a glass eye, Peter Brunold. Glass eyes can be a work of art, says Brunold, and shows Mason the counterfeit bloodshot eye as well as good eyes. He thinks a murder may be committed and the original stolen eye will be used to convict him. Mason explains how he can avoid this. As Brunold heads out of the office to retrieve his hat, he sees Harry, turns back and is ushered out directly to the corridor. Mason has Della hold Harry McClane and sister Bertha until he can speak to Paul Drake. Mason instructs Drake to go the Hotel Baltimore and register under a false name as a dealer in glass eyes, contact a wholesaler and buy several eyes and ask him to match the bloodshot one he then gives Drake.
II.	The two McLanes enter. Brother has embezzled from Hartley Basset, nearly $4000, on $100 month salary. Sis wants Mason to pay off Bassett on her $40 a week out of which she sends her mother $70 a month. Mason tells her that her brother has $750 a month based on salary and theft, and she must stop supporting the weakling. Mason says he'll do what he can.
III.	Mason arrives at Hartley Basset's office on time, and Basset has his secretary Arthur get the numbers on McLane. Basset wants his money by tomorrow. Mason says he can get $1500 and $30 a month. Basset wants $100 a month. Basset says McLane has an accomplice who is a gambler and wants to keep enough to continue gambling, but he wants the money. Mrs (Sylvia) Basset tries to join the twosome, on the side of Bertha McLane, but Hartley says "no." She leaves, Mason leaves and finds her in his car. She suggests that the sister can make the payment; her mother can get charity, and she's afraid what Hartley would do if not paid. She is afraid to come to Mason's office; Hartley would kill her. She wants to leave Hartley; she already wants to marry someone else, bigamy or no. They are being followed by James, Basset's chauffeur. Mason drops her off at the house-office and Basset and chauffeur confront Mason, who stands them down. Mason calls Bertha McLane and says he won't represent her unless he gets her brother to come clean.
IV.	Mason gets an hysterical call from Sylvia Basset saying that she's leaving her husband who's "been guilty of a brutal attack. . . . [her] son (by a previous marriage) is going to kill him. . . ." A woman has been injured by her husband. He drives to the Basset's, is met by son Dick, who has .38 cartridges in his hand and a gun that had been fired. His wife, Hazel is unconscious, being tended by a broad-hipped woman. Mason calls the police, identifying himself as Richard Basset. Hazel comes to enough to whisper to her husband, who states that it wasn't Hartley who hit her, but a man who was with him in a black mask with but one eye. Mason crosses into the adjacent room, then in to Hartley's inner office, and finds him dead. A suicide note in the portable typewriter states that he is "a failure . . . cannot even hold the respect and love or even the friendship of my own wife . . ." and in his hand is a glass eye. Mason asks if this means anything to Sylvia, and she says "nothing" until he threatens "there's no further need for my services. Hazel Fenwick is now standing; Mason sends her to his office and calls Della to meet her, calls a cab for Della. Mason discovers that Arthur Colemar knew of the attack on Miss Fenwick; Basset is instructed to get his story straight with mom, particularly about the single shot; then he takes Mason to Colemar, who proves uncooperative. In his room< Mason finds the paper he gave Bertha.. An officer begins questioning Mason, then discovers a second gun. "Mason stared at Mrs. Basset. . .She made no answer. Her lips were bloodless, her eyes dark with terror."
V.	Mason asks why Sylvia planted the gun; so it would look like suicide. She seems dumb about fingerprints and identification of bullets. She won't talk with Mason until she's talked again with Dick. He advises her to act crazy with the police. Sergeant Holcomb of the Homicide Squad arrives and is surprised to find Mason, but gets nowhere with questioning. A third gun is found, on the dead man. Mason was there on business, discovered the problem with Miss Fenwick, who is at his office. Holcomb sends police to pick her up, then sends Mason to his office in a police car.
VI.	Perry finds only Della at his office. She's had a time wisecracking with the police who didn't find Miss Fenwick at the office. They discuss the case. Mason notes the probable murderer had a carbon paper mask on when he left the murder scene, and the good eye and the socket had holes in the paper. Mason then orders Drake over the phone to get information on Mrs Basset, Dick and Brunold. Brunold arrives and Mason informs him how and where to get his stolen eye. Did Brunold know Mrs Basset? Yes. For a year. He lies about the most recent visit, last night, where he saw her, Dick, Colemar. Holcomb arrests him.
VII.	The police call Mason to inform him that his car has been found in front of the station next a fireplug in a 20 minute zone, getting tickets every 20 minutes. Drake reports his news; a two-eyed Pete Brunold was the beau of Sylvia Berkley until, in a train crash in which he was returning to her urgent call, he lost an eye and his memory. When he regained his memory, Sylvia had disappeared. She had married Basset under the name of Loring, to support her boy, whom Basset adopted so he could inherit.
VIII.	Bertha and Harry arrive and he says he's paid off Basset in cash about 11 pm. Mason shows the two how Harry could be the murderer in the eyes of a jury. Drake reports on the phone, so only Mason hears it, that the police have found that the suicide note was typed on Mrs Basset's portable typewriter by someone with touch system. Harry admits that he's used Mrs Basset's typewriter, with touch system. Drake then reports he's found Sylvia "Lorton" and that detectives are watching her.
IX.	Mason and Drake, posing as window washers, gain access to Sylvia's hideaway apartment at a window. She is hiding from the police, and gasps when Mason tells her there is a policeman in the hall. She says she used hysteria during the police interrogation. She denies knowing Brunold until Mason points out that "he's the father of [her] child." She says "Even Dick doesn't know." She admits that Brunold "left just before [she] discovered Hazel Fenwick unconscious." She had hopes Hazel would make a good impression on Basset; no one knew she was married to Dick. She denies seeing Harry McLane that night. Someone was in Basset's office when Hazel went there, though she thought Basset was alone. The back door could have been used and Brunold and McLane knew of it. Brunold was with her, but left to find Overton, and couldn't. Sergeant Holcomb shows up and Mason and Drake make a quick escape.
X.	Mason signs a habeas corpus on Brunold. Drake enters, suggest Fenwick "was kidnaped, met with an accident, or she skipped out." Mason notes that her fingerprints should be on a mirror at Basset's, and Drake should identify them. Perry asks Della to look up "how easily [glass eyes] can be jarred loose." Hamilton Burger, the new D A is discussed, just before he arrives to see Mason. Burger knows Mason is tricky, but legitimate and, as D A, he can't be unorthodox. Mason tells him "if I should find one of my clients was really guilty of murder and wasn't morally or legally justified, I'd make that client plead guilty. . ." Burger asks Mason to produce Hazel Fenwick, whom he believes may "meet with foul play" if she hasn't already. He give Mason a 48 hour ultimatum.
XI.	Drake reports on Fenwick. She's "a female Bluebeard." Her men die of arsenic poisoning. She got caught once, skipped out and disappeared. A Stephen Chalmers identified her from a photo he sneaked from Basset's watch. Mason suggests he'll provide a free divorce for Chalmers. He then has Drake get a ringer for Fenwick and send her to Nevada. Also, get close-up photos of everyone at Basset's house in his chair. Harry calls from the Maryland Hotel registered as George Purdey.
XII.	Mason finds Harry dead. He places a bloodshot eye in his hand. When he returns to his car, he finds two men in a police car watching, then Sgt Holcomb joins them. Mason slips back into the hotel, asks the desk clerk for Harry McLane. No one registered under that name. Mason goes to the dining room, has a sandwich and bottle of beer, tips the waitress 50¢. In the lobby, Sgt Holcomb is behind a potted palm. Mason phones for Holcomb, leaves a message for him to come to the hotel. He then calls Burger, informs him McLane is supposed to be there with a tip. Burger says he'll send a man. After smoking a cigarette, Mason suggests to the desk clerk that McLane may have registered under a different name. The clerk calls the house detective, Mr. Muldoon. Holcomb interrupts, won't believe Mason tried to reach him, but is finally convinced by the waitress after Mason identifies a wrong waitress and a cashier who heard Mason's phone calls. Mason and Holcomb go to McLane's room; Holcomb enters, then sends Mason away. Back at his office, he finds Brunold (released just before Harry was murdered). Two men from the D A's office enter, arrest Brunold for murder. Mason destroy's the remaining glass eyes.
XIII.	Thelma Bevins is the ringer for Fenwick. Mason sends her to Reno to accept papers which he'll have sent. She exits, then Paul enters. He has the pictures but Colemar caught on he wasn't from the Journal and refused. He notes that Dick Basset "kept letting his gaze wander down to a spot on the floor." Mason sends Drake to Reno. He has Della "Take a divorce complaint" for desertion, defendant Hazel Chalmers, aka Hazel Fenwick, or Mrs Richard Basset.
XIV.	Judge Kenneth D. Winters presides over the preliminary hearing of the two accused murderers. Hamilton Burger calls James Overton, chauffeur and former private detective. Mason stipulates that Overton "was employed to spy upon the wife of Hartley Basset and that he endeavored to ingratiate himself with his master by reporting facts which made such espionage seem necessary." Burger is outraged. He identifies the glass eye found in Basset's hand and is the same one he'd seen 25 hours before, in Mrs Basset's bedroom. He'd gone to her room, heard someone escape through the window before she admitted him, and found the glass eye on the floor. He didn't see any man, and the murderer did not escape in Basset's car, though he didn't check the radiator. The man who escaped was not Richard Basset, but someone who talked "in a quick, excited manner . . ." Dalton C Bates testifies that the glass eye held by Basset "was made by a very expert craftsman" and that "The man who wore it is one who has a very high degree of bodily acidity." The eye found with McLane was "a stock eye." Mason's cross examine leads to the admission that a murderer bending over a man would not have his artificial eye drop out. He would have to deliberately remove it. Jackson Selbey identifies Brunold as someone who ordered a bloodshot eye made for him, on the morning of the 14th, the day after the murder. Brunold's excuse for wanting the eye was that he lost it jumping from a window and he needed it to claim he'd never lost the original or, if necessary, that it had been stolen. Mason asks him to identify the specific eye, but Selbey says he "refused to make the eye."
XV.	During a recess, Paul Drake pushes his way through the crowd into the courtroom and to Perry Mason, whom he tells he's blown it. A woman on the plane was clearly a plant and, while he was showering, a fake bellhop stole the telegram from Della Street telling him where to go. When he got there, the local police and newspaper reporters were waiting. Newspapers arrive with "MYSTERY WITNESS FOUND IN RENO, ADMISSIONS IMPLICATE LOCAL ATTORNEY." Burger wants an immediate adjournment to go to a Brand Jury. He's found Hazel Fenwick in Reno and Mason paid her expenses.
XVI.	Burger nods to a deputy sheriff who heads towards Mason. Burger argues that Mason will be a witness at the Grand Jury. With the subpoena in hand, he winks at Della. Burger calls George Purley, who attests to the typewritten note being from Mrs Basset's typewriter, typed by the touch system. Arthur Colemar then testifies to having discussed Basset's life insurance with Mrs Basset. He says he saw Brunold coming out of the house when he returned. He saw someone on the couch, but was sent to his room. Mason's cross elicits the idea that whomever killed Basset had to be well-known to him and that a man exhibiting an empty eye socket, his most distinctive feature, was improbable. Two men try to bring Thelma Bevins into the room, Burger threatens her, and Mason cautions her to refuse to answer first, because she doesn't have to, then on the grounds that it might tend to incriminate her. He admits having sent the lady to Reno. Mason then explains why all this is so, seeming to convince the lady supposedly aka Hazel Fenwick. Hazel must have seen the murderer's face when she tore off the mask. The crime was premeditated, the escape not. The murderer saw the glass eye in Basset's hand, realized he could stick its owner with the murder. The woman left a set of fingerprints and these showed that she was a female Bluebeard. He gives documents to Burger. Mason says he was protecting not himself but his client. Burger has looked at the photograph among the documents Mason gave him, and it is not of the woman they've brought in!
XVII.	In Judge Winters' chambers, Burger tries to have Sgt Holcomb place Mason in custody. Mason points out that Burger forced Thelma to be brought to court from Nevada. Mason explains only one man fears "Hazel Fenwick more than any other mortal on earth . . . the murderer of Hartley Basset." He resorted to flight when he thought a woman he couldn't recognize but whom the D A had identified as Hazel Fenwich was brought into court. Only Colemar refused to have his photo taken, for a photo of a person "facing a bright light would show pupils of unequal diameter if he had one glass eye." The phone rings; Della says she followed Colemar to the Union airport. Sgt Holcomb is rushed off to the airport. Mason explains that Harry McLane were partners in embezzling Basset, who had begun to suspect Colemar. McLane went to the house to get Colemar to cough up money to pay off Basset. When Bunold escaped from Mrs Basset's room, he dropped a spare eye from his pocket, which Colemar used. McLane was probably killed because he was going to talk. Mason was certain Burger would find a way to get Thelma there, which would trigger flight by the murderer. Three newspaper men burst in; Sgt Holcomb's been wounded and Colemar is dead. Mason lets Burger take the credit.
XVIII.	Mason explains to Della that Thelma couldn't have fouled up, for no matter what she said, Burger would not believe her! Now, to the correspondence; a memorandum from Jackson, "When a man inherits a caretaker, does he inherit the caretaker's cat?"

Perry Mason	Nathaniel Shuster	Reverend Milton
Carl Jackson, asst attorney	Paul Drake	Det Sgt Holcomb
Della Street	Winifred Laxter	Newspaper reporters
Ashton, caretaker	Douglas Keene, fiancé	Babson,crutch & cabinetmaker
Peter Laxter	[Taxi driver]	Newsboy
Samuel C Laxter	Hamilton Burger	Bellboy
Frank Oafley	Dr Robert Jason	Biltmore desk clerk
Clinker, the cat	Tom Glassman	Judge Pennymaker
Thelma Pixley, housekeeper	Gravediggers	Deputy D A Dick Truslow
Edith DeVoe, nurse	James Brandon, chauffeur	Autopsy surgeon
Nora Abbington	Mr Hammond	Various other witnesses
Man in Packard	Two other poker players

"There was something suggestive of a huge bear about Hamilton Burger, the district attorney. He was broad of shoulder, thick of neck, and, when he moved, his arms had that peculiar swinging rhythm which speaks for a network of perfectly coördinated muscles rippling under the skin." Hardly the Burger of the TV series.

I.	Carl Jackson, assistant attorney to Mason, is explaining about the will of Peter Laxter and how it affects his heirs, Sam Laxter and Frank Oafley but not Winifred Laxter, and caretaker Ashton. Mason brings up the instance of Fenwick who didn't see a client as an example of why Jackson was wise to bring this to him. [Is there any significance in Gardner's using the name Fenwick here, when that is the female Bluebeard's last name in the previous novel?] Ashton explains that Sam Laxter doesn't like his cat Clinker because he jumps on Ashton's basement apartment bed with dirty feet and Sam has to pay high laundry bills. Peter Laxter originally left Winifred his money, ten dollars to the other two, then two days before he died he changed it and cut her out. She's disappeared. No one can find his money. Ashton has saved money, carries a big sheaf of bills, but refuses to pay $500, then agrees to $250, what is reasonable to protect his cat, but Mason eventually accepts only $10 to write a letter, dictated to Della Street, telling Samuel Laxter he'll lose his inheritance if he hurts the cat. Ashton leaves, but Della notices out the window that he is being followed by a man in a new Packard.
II.	Della tries to get Perry to take a cruise. Jury-briber and pettifogger Nathaniel Shuster, with Sam Laxter and Frank Oafley, wants to settle with Mason if he will give him a release from Winifred Laxter. Mason says he'll deal only regarding the cat, Clinker.
III.	Mason informs Paul Drake that he intends to break the will "over a cat." He asks Drake to find Winifred and get info on Peter Laxter and the two grandsons. Then Jackson and Mason discuss the handwritten will. He then has Della call Paul to