Book Review: The Case of the Daring Divorcee by Erle Stanley Gardener (1964)
Synopsis: While Perry Mason and Della Street are out for lunch, Adelle Hastings came into the office seeking an appointment but left after a few minutes and didn't return. Soon after, her purse is found in the outer office and inside is a gun that has been fired. A phone call from an opposing attorney alerts Mason to the fact Hastings was looking for someone to represent her in a divorce settlement. However, when he and Della travel to Vegas in search of their client, she claims she wasn't the woman who came to visit them. As Mason correctly suspects, Hastings' soon-to-be-ex-husband is later found murdered, and all evidence points to her.
Review: The Case of the Daring Divorcee wasn't available at my library when I was reading the Perry Mason series in order, so I wound up skipping it. Once the other books were read, however, I decided to try to locate it, and my library was finally able to acquire a copy from another library. I finished reading it and it was worth the wait.
I think the thing I liked best about this mystery was, up until the very end of the book, it was unclear if his client was innocent. While it could have been someone framing her, everything from the gun being kept in her apartment in another state to one of her friends risking his neck to steal that gun from Mason's desk sure did make it seem like it was much more likely she was guilty. Not to mention, she was the last person to see her husband alive.
Even Mason himself didn't seem convinced of her innocence. While preparing for trial, his goal clearly was to plant the seed of doubt with jurors regarding evidence and positive identification rather than trying to theorize about who else could have done it.
The fact he was also representing his client in a property battle following her husband's death was also an intriguing twist that may or may not have had anything to do with the murder trial, as was the revelation she may not have been legally married to her husband because his previous divorce wasn't finalized.
At first, I thought the end of the book would be a bit predictable, but it had one final twist that didn't seem to play out exactly the way Mason wanted but only because he had some other plan cooking. It made the finale interesting to the point I couldn't put the book down once I got to the last few chapters.
Final Opinion: This was an interesting murder mystery with a few nice twists and some seeds of doubt regarding his client. It was one I enjoyed reading and would recommend.
My Grade: A
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Here are some reviews of other Perry Mason books:
Book Review: The Case of the Singing Skirt by Erle Stanley Gardner (1959)
Book Review: The Case of the Queenly Contestant by Erle Stanley Gardner (1967)
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