The Case of the Stuttering Bishop by Erle Stanley Gardner, 1936

 

Major characters:

• Bishop William Mallory
• Janice Seaton
• Renwold C. Brownley
• Oscar Brownley, Renwold's son (deceased)
• Julia Branner, Oscar's widow, Perry Mason's client
• Janice Brownley, Oscar & Julia's daughter
• Philip Brownley, Oscar's nephew
• Perry Mason, attorney at law

Locale: Los Angeles

Synopsis: Bishop William Mallory consults attorney Perry Mason - he is concerned about the statute of limitations on a drunk driving/manslaughter charge from 22 years ago. It is gradually revealed that the driver was Julia Branner, daughter-in-law of wealthy Renwold C. Brownley. She had become widowed upon the death of her husband, Oscar Brownley prior to the story. She has not been heard from for years. As there is no statue of limitations on a manslaughter charge, she is still a fugitive.

Renwold Brownley is about to change his will, reducing the inheritance to grandson Philip Brownley, and in favor of his granddaughter Janice Brownley, who is living with him. Several people suspect that Janice is not his real granddaughter, but a fake planted there by a rival detective agency to get the inheritance. It seems that the bishop's friend, Janice Seaton, may be the real granddaughter.

Renwold Browney is lured to the waterfront one night, and is shot by a woman unknown. Julia Branner calls on Mason, and although a fugitive, Mason takes her on as a client. The case hinges on identifying who the real granddaughter is, and the one person who can vouch for that - Bishop Mallory - is missing.

Review: This is one of the earlier (#9 in the series) Masons, and has the hard-boiled, more dominant Mason than in later books; and he is a better character for it. He is not afraid to kick in doors and punch faces. His relationship with D.A. Hamilton Burger is one of mutual wariness.

Early in the story Mason has a tense standoff discussion with Renwold Brownley. It is a long, excellent scene. Mason has met his match, and neither one budges an inch. 

The plot device of announcing a will change to the relatives - in advance - always means a murder in the offing, and this one is no different. 

The story ends with a teaser of the next book, The Case of the Dangerous Dowager; reminiscent of the teasers at the end of a Hardy Boys book.

The Saint at Large by Leslie Charteris, 1942

 

About the author: Leslie Charteris (1907 – 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of his charming hero Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". Charteris spent 55 years – 1928 to 1983 – as either writer of or custodian of Simon Templar's literary adventures, one of the longest uninterrupted spans of a single author in the history of mystery fiction, equalling that of Agatha Christie (from Wikipedia). 

This is a collection of 14 short stories, all reprinted from earlier 1930's collections. 

Mini-synopses:

The Export Trade - Simon's old friend is an expert at making copies of jewelry. Then a priceless necklace is stolen, and Simon is hired to take a small package to Paris. Light and predictable.

The Owner’s Handicap - Patricia Holm steps in to convince an ungodly race horse owner that it would be to his benefit to intentionally lose a race.

The Perfect Crime - The Saint gives an unscrupulous moneylender a taste of his own medicine, with what appears to be a swindle, but isn't.

The Unpopular Landlord - The Saint is on the trail of a devious landlord whom none of the real estate agents will touch. The Saint rents an apartment from him, then turns the tables on him.

The Five Thousand Pound Kiss - The Saint is after a valuable diamond necklace at a society party. Unfortunately, he has a pretty competitor who wants it, too. The Saint grabs it first - and gets caught.

The Unfortunate Financier - W. Titus Oates has perfected a stock scheme. The Saint devises a way to get Oates out of the picture at the critical time, and turn the scheme to his own advantage. 

 
The Prince of Cherkessia - The prince is in London to oversee the purchase of a priceless new crown, a tempting tidbit for The Saint. Scotland Yard provides a ring of extraordinary security around the prince and the crown, but Simon manages to penetrate it easily.

The Treasure of Turk’s Lane - A quaint row of cottages is being gobbled up by a real estate developer, and Simon figures out a way to mitigate the damage. 

The Uncritical Publisher - a publisher runs a vanity printing press (still common nowadays) in which desperate authors pay dearly to have their book published. Of course, Simon cannot resist and becomes an author himself.

The Man Who Liked Toys - A locked room murder mystery. Lewis Enstone is found murdered in his room, the gun in his hand. But who shoots a gun using their thumb on the trigger?

The Wicked Cousin - Jacqueline Laine had been caregiver to her elderly grandmother for years before she passed away. Jacqueline is peeved as the grandmother changed her will in favor of Jacqueline's cousin,  stiffing her with only $100 and some worthless old love letters. Simon finds a way to increase the value of the letters tremendously.

The Charitable Countess - A dilettante countess loves to do charity work. She and Simon hatch with a amusing idea: At a fundraising dinner, Simon will steal her $100k necklace for charity as the guests watch. This sells lots of tickets. But the necklace is safely in the bank vault while she wears an imitation. How can the Saint get it?

The Mug’s Game - A couple Simon encounters are in deep trouble - the husband has been gambling away their house fund. Simon also meets a salesman for a marked cards system. Simon figures the husband must be one of the marks. 

The Man Who Liked Ants - Simon encounters a mad scientist who is breeding ants to extraordinary size, capable of dominating mankind. While Simon ponders this, some of the ants escape from the lab.

Mini-reviews: 

The good:

The Perfect Crime and The Unpopular Landlord are The Saint at his best - when he is not out for his own gains, but is out to right wrongs inflicted upon the innocent. 

The Unfortunate Financier contains a hilarious episode when Titus Oates is misdirected to an insane asylum and tries to convince the administrators he is sane, in this Manning Coles style adventure. 

The Wicked Cousin has a clever plot by which Simon saves the heroine, and makes a fool of the wicked cousin. Perfect. 

The Mugs Game has a lot of tedious poker play-by-play (yawn), but the real sparkler is the sudden twist at the end which redeems the whole story if you stick with it. 

The so-so:

The Owner's Handicap is all about horse racing, and heavy on mathematical odds discussions. Not knowing anything of the topic, I was really unable to follow the plot other than Simon and Patricia convince an owner to throw a race. 

The Treasure of Turk’s Lane is different in a couple of aspects... Simon cannot save the cottages from being developed, and I found the ending ambiguous and could not really figure out what happened.

The Man who Liked Toys is a longer story, a bit predictable. Was is suicide, accident, or murder? It is left to the reader to decide.

The Man Who Liked Ants is really a science fiction story. No mystery to it, but puts the Saint in the position of making an ethical choice. 

Murder Roundabout by Richard Lockridge, 1966

 

photo: AbeBooks

About the author: Richard Orson Lockridge (1898 –1982) was an American writer of detective fiction. He began the Captain Heimrich series with his wife Frances (1896-1963), and continued the series following her death.

This book concerns the murder of Annette LeBaron Weaver, former actress. She was on her third marriage at the time of her death. She lived next door to matriarch Emily Drake, mother of her first husband Stephen Drake. Emily also has another son, Oliver Drake, an architect.

Annette's husbands, in order:

1. Stephen Drake (now married to Florence Drake)
2. James Brennan (now married to Leslie Brennan)
3. Ralph Weaver, current husband, theatrical agent

Everyone else:

• Leslie Brennan, real estate agent, married to James Brennan
• Father Jonathan Cunningham, Leslie's father, a bishop
• J. K. Knight, potential house buyer
• Harriet Larkin, cleaning woman
• Captain Merton Heimrich
• Sgt. Charlie Forniss

Locale: Westchester County, NY

Synopsis: Real estate agent Leslie Brennan is on her way to show a house to potential buyer J.K. Knight. The house is for sale by current owner, glamorous ex-actress Annette Weaver. (Leslie is married to James Brennan, Annette's ex #2). Annette had recently hosted a Fourth-of-July party - confident her house had been sold and she was moving away for good, and used the opportunity to tell off her low-life Van Brunt guests over the musician's P.A. system. This was a move she came to regret when the real estate deal fell through and she had to stay on. Leslie, finding no one (apparently) home, uses the key from the real estate lock box, opens the door, and finds Annette's body, shot to death.

Harriet Larkin, cleaning woman, arrives the next morning and is the second to find the body. She notifies authorities. Captain Merton Heimrich and Sgt. Charlie Forniss set about untangling the family relationships. The prospective house buyer, J. K. Knight, had been a no-show; but he calls Leslie on the phone. Leslie suspects it is a different person entirely, and consults with her father, bishop Jonathan Cunningham who is somewhat of an expert on voices. Then, on her way home, she disappears.

Review: I had a bit of trouble getting oriented in the first chapter (in which Leslie finds the body). It is told in first person, but the narrator's identity is not revealed. The narrator seems to be someone going to the house with Leslie, but in a separate vehicle.

Beginning in the second chapter, the rest of the story is told in the normal third person. Suddenly cleaning lady, Harriet Larkin, becomes the second person to find the body - huh? A bit startling, that. What happened to Leslie? Did she flee the scene and not bother to tell anybody? It eventually comes out that she was scared off by hearing a loud Porsche leaving the scene - and her husband, James, has one - and maybe he had done away with his ex.

The parade of Annette's ex-husbands and subsequent remarriages could be confusing to the casual reader, but I had made notes along the way to keep them straight (list above). The ex's all remained surprisingly cozy with Annette, as she enjoyed going out to lunches (and other after-dessert activities) with them. She is termed a 'nympho' by one of them.

Leslie's disapperance and pursuit in the woods was a tense, dramatic episode which kept me turning pages past my bedtime. Lockridge succeeded in fooling me - I had two prime candidates for murderer picked out, but neither of them turned out to be the one.

The question of who-is-the-Chapter-One-narrator finally got resolved in the end. Please also note one occurrence of the n-word.

Please also see this review by Bev Hankins on My Reader's Block.