The Case of the Daring Divorcee

Perry Mason #74

by Erle Stanley Gardner

Perry Mason and Della Street were both out to lunch. Gertie, the receptionist and telephone operator, was indulging in her favorite noontime occupation - munching chocolates and reading a love story - when the door burst open and a woman rushed in.

Gertie got her name, all right, dimly registered the fact that she was not only very attractive buy very upset at having to wait for Mason, and Gertie even looked up when the woman left before he returned.

But vicarious romance was the rule of that day - much to the annoyance of Lt. Tragg when he later tried to piece together what had happened. And although his plan for surprising Gertie into a identification of the lady was ingenious, Perry's counter-measure was even more so...

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Detective, Thriller, Novels, Legal

172 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1964

About the author

Erle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories who also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray, and Robert Parr.

Innovative and restless in his nature, he was bored by the routine of legal practice, the only part of which he enjoyed was trial work and the development of trial strategy. In his spare time, he began to write for pulp magazines, which also fostered the early careers of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. He created many different series characters for the pulps, including the ingenious Lester Leith, a "gentleman thief" in the tradition of Raffles, and Ken Corning, a crusading lawyer who was the archetype of his most successful creation, the fictional lawyer and crime-solver Perry Mason, about whom he wrote more than eighty novels. With the success of Perry Mason, he gradually reduced his contributions to the pulp magazines, eventually withdrawing from the medium entirely, except for non-fiction articles on travel, Western history, and forensic science.

See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erle_Sta...

Reviews

[Mai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Messy

This one was definitely fun to read, it had a nice mix of complexity, love, betrayal, and all the good stuff that keeps you turning pages. The setup had potential and the pacing wasn’t bad either.

But the plot itself dragged things down a notch. The person who committed the crime felt like they were just tossed in at the last minute. They barely had any presence in the story until suddenly they were the big reveal, with a backstory that felt underdeveloped and honestly kind of wacky.

It was enjoyable overall, but the lack of depth in the resolution made it fall short of being something truly memorable.

[Richa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Extremely confusing! Too many likely suspects for my taste. It almost seemed as if, Gardner held a lottery of suspects and conveniently thought up a plausible explanation for the guilt of the lottery winner! Too convenient.

[Bill Gross · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would be a terrific book had the author developed the ending. Instead, it ends abruptly with the police securing a confession from the real villain, who wasn't suspected previously.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading Gardner's Perry Mason books off and on for many years. Those who are used to really fine mystery writers (in the literary sense) may find Gardner's writing style a bit dry, and the dialog a bit unrealistic. Nonetheless, I still love the general setting: the characters of Perry, Della, Paul, Lt. Tragg, and Hamilton Berger. That, and the ingenious plots, are why I read Perry Mason.

On the whole, the ones written by about 1953 are the best. This is one of the latest ones, written in 1964. It is better writen than many late novels, and is actually quite a page turner for most of its length. The plot is elaborate and carefully constructed.

The opening is good. Perry and Della are out to lunch when a young woman wearing dark glasses comes in to the office eager to see Perry Mason. Receptionist Gertie tells her to have a seat. She abruptly leaves five minutes later saying she will be back. But she doesn't return. OK, not a big deal, except a couple hours later a large woman's purse is found next to the seat where she had been. Perry examines it, and -- you guessed it -- it contains a gun, recently fired. It also has a lot of money, two drivers licenses in the name of Adelle Hastings (one Nevada, one California), and some keys. Intriguing enough, but then a lawyer calls saying he would like to discuss the Adelle Hastings case!

Turns out that one-time secretary Adelle had married her boss Garvin Hastings eighteen months ago, and now they are gettng a divorce. The lawyer who called, Huntley Banner, is representing Garvin Hastings. Why did he think Perry was representing Adelle?

The plot thickens, and Perry decides he and Della should fly to the Las Vegas address of Adelle Hastings given on her Nevada driving license. They find Adelle in that apartment and explain about her handbag. She says it was stolen out of her car yesterday, but she certainly had no gun in it. She is in Las Vegas to establish residence so she can get a Nevada divorce. She most emphatically denies having ever been in Perry Mason's office. Suspicious, she is about to kick Perry out and reaches in a drawer for her gun but finds it missing! Oh ho! She begins to believe Mason's story and be glad that he is there. She is even gladder when Garvin Hastings is discovered shot dead.

This is one of the more intricate plots in the Perry Mason canon. There are two guns, mysterious flights to Las Vegas, possible missing wills, and a very unusual theft from Perry Mason's office.

The title: it's not clear which divorcee is daring. It could have been called the Case of the Sexy Secretaries. Almost everybody either is a secretary or has one. Or maybe the case of the Stupendous Sunglasses.

The writing is pretty good, not overly repititious and mechanical. There aren't really very many characters.

Characters who we meet:

Adelle Hastings, former secretary to and third wife of
Garvin Hastings, wealthy bursinessman who has hired lawyer
Huntely Banner, whose secretary
Elvina Mitchell, is very close to
Connely Maynard, second in command in the business.

Minerva Hastings, second wife of Garvin Hastings.
Simley Beason, office manager and man friend of Adelle.
Rosalie Blackburn, secretary of Simley Beason.

Moderate use of Paul Drake and Lt. Tragg. Good courtroom scenes with Hamilton Burger. Burger is really out to get Perry this time! The plot is ingenious, but as sometimes occurs in the Perry Mason stories, some people make intricate plans that seem a bit unreal upon reflection. I liked it that there were some red herrings thrown in quite adroitly.

As often happens in the later books, Paul Drake seems able to discover some remarkable facts on short notice.

Similarities to other Perry Mason stories: two guns and a (possible) gun switch; Perry and Della fly to Las Vegas; a nasty female foil for Perry.

Definitely recommended.

[Aravena · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You think you can show them what actually happened?"

Mason said, "I can show them what could have happened, and the prosecution can't prove it didn't happen."

When I get a sudden craving for a murder mystery with a bunch of legal and courtroom shenanigan, I go straight to my man Perry Mason.

This time, a literal smoking gun was left in Perry's office by a shady woman, landing him and a recent divorcee in a heap of troubles. Cue a murder case, a couple of guns, a bunch of secretaries, plenty of marriages and divorces, and a moral message—about how when you're a rich widow being left alone in your big luxurious house, maybe don't just go marry the first nice ass woman you see. As always, the legal shenanigan part didn't disappoint; you'd get plenty of verbal jousting and nitpicking, courtroom drama, and a scandalous fraud involving a divorce document.

The case itself was a bit predictable (I pretty much figured it out once a certain character behaved very strangely in the middle of the book), and there were not as many twists and turns as the best of Mason mysteries. Still worth it though for the absurdly hilarious scene involving a bunch of random women with sunglasses marching into Perry's office; that was pretty much Perry at his most devilishly clever form.

[Masudur Tipu]

নারায়ণ সান্যালের কাটায় কাটায় সিরিজ অনেক পছন্দের! পিকে বাসুর মতোই প্যারি ম্যাসন কে লাগলো। সুন্দর বিল্ড আপ করে একটা বই এর অপমৃত্যু হলো শুধু মাত্র তারাহুরো এন্ডিং এর জন্য, নয়তো ভালো একটা বই হতে পারতো। এই বই পড়ার মাধ্যমে এই বছরের ১৫০ টা বই পড়ার চ্যালেঞ্জ সম্পূর্ণ হলো।
Peace 🤍 Finally I did it!
এই বছরে পড়া সেরা ১০ টা বই -
চেস্টনাট ম্যান
দৃষ্টি প্রদীপ
খোয়াবনামা
তেইল্যা চোরা
প্রথম প্রতিশ্রুতি
গণদেবতা
বরফ গলা নদী
দ্য ফরগটেন
নীল পাহাড়
ম্যাসন সিরিজ এবং কাগা সিরিজ

এই বছর কয়টা বই পড়লেন? এই বছরের আপনার পড়া পছন্দের বই কোনটি?

[Payal Pasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best by Gardner I would say. 70 % of the book is just conversation with zero action. The last 30 % of the book is about court scenes where again the mystery is solved in just arguments and cross examination. Not your edge of the seat thriller. More like a puzzle or a riddle.

[Mahmuda Emdad · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh

[Jerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this because of the retro title and cover. But it’s also retro in another sense: the entire story revolves around the ease of driving and flying between Los Angeles and Las Vegas (and, to a lesser extent, Carson City). Having used that stupid little two-lane highway in the morning and evening, that’s the biggest blast from the past in this book!

And of course, just hopping a private charter for two as if it were nothing more than renting a car. In fact, I’d love to see Perry Mason’s bill for this case. He chartered that plane before he even had a client—and after he had already started to expect that the person who asked him to represent him was not the same as the person who he was going to represent.

One of the biggest contrasts—and at the same time an oddly convincing portrayal of the stereotypical ambulance-chasing lawyer—is how anxious he was to chase down a client who had clearly never asked him to be a client, and how much he delayed checking up on a very likely murder victim, who he couldn’t have known at the time was not in need of medical assistance.

This is very fast paced, especially compared to the other Erle Stanley Gardner I read recently, Gold Comes in Bricks. There is no extraneous detail, and no long-winded descriptions. This version of Gardner assumes intelligent readers who can deduce for themselves why, for example, Della Street pretends, when talking to police, witnesses, and lawyers and other criminals, not to have just had a detailed conversation with Mason about that very topic or person. There’s not even any sense of pretending, the narrative simply describes what she’s doing as if she hadn’t just hashed over this very scenario a few paragraphs earlier. This makes the book both more fast-paced and much more (for me enjoyable).

The mystery itself is a complex one, and the solution, at least, is much like the solution from Gold Comes in Bricks in that it’s never fully wrapped up. Mason is a lawyer; while his goal is much more a search for the truth than for Donald Lam, his ultimate goal remains to clear his client. Once that goal is reached, everything else doesn’t matter. So we get a likely scenario without the certainties of most detective story endings. Mason didn’t charge Paul Drake with solving the crime, but with tracking down witnesses and exculpatory evidence in favor of his client. To the extent that that helps solve the mystery, the mystery is solved; to the extent that it leaves some facts dangling, they’re left dangling.

The client is, of course, not totally forthcoming, and the other witnesses and suspects are even worse.

Hamilton Burger seems very proactive in this book, but the only thing I have to compare against is occasionally watching the television series at my aunt’s, who is a very big fan of it.

Burger and Lieutenant Tragg are even less interested in the truth than Mason is. Their goal is that they see an opportunity to embarrass the Great Perry Mason—although, again, Gardner does not belabor this point, it’s left to the reader to conjecture. Their investigations go only up to what they can do to pin the crime on Mason’s client, and no further, except insofar as they need to in order to counter Mason’s evidence. This, also, is sadly realistic even today.

Since this is the only Perry Mason book I’ve read in the last four decades, I don’t have anything to compare it with, but it seems like a great initial book for the Mason series.

[Whistler's Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm on a Perry Mason binge, picking them up as they're offered on sale. Last week I read THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE, which was published in 1934. I decided to read THE DARING DIVORCEE (published in 1964) to see how things had changed in Mr. Gardner's fictional world in thirty years. Not much, really. Perry and Della and Paul Drake (who should all be ancient) are still young and energetic and good-looking. They haven't aged a day and I wish I knew how they do it.

Some other things haven't changed much, either. THE CURIOUS BRIDE opens with a young woman coming to consult Perry Mason, leaving abruptly, and accidentally leaving behind a purse with a loaded gun in it. THE DARING DIVORCEE opens with a young woman coming to consult Perry Mason, leaving before he arrives, and leaving behind (you've probably seen this coming) a purse with a loaded gun in it. Either the dames who need Mr. Mason's services are armed better than the Mafia or the author liked this idea so much he decided to repeat it and hope that his readers' memories were failing.

Other than that, the plots are different. This one's all about secretaries. The woman seeking a divorce was a former secretary who married her boss. There's a shady lawyer with a secretary who has her own agenda. The murdered man's business manager has a devoted secretary who's prepared to do pretty nearly anything for him. And at the center of it all (in this and every other Perry Mason book) is that paragon of secretaries - Della Street.

Della Street is the ideal woman. She comes in early and stays late and cheerfully does anything she's told to do. She's protective, but never possessive. She's intelligent, intuitive, witty, and can eat a dinner of consume, prime rib, and baked potato in 28 minutes in order to get back to the office in time for a client's arrival. She's the glue that holds the legal practice together and without her Perry Mason couldn't be Perry Mason.

The author was a lawyer himself and fully aware of the vital role of secretaries. He reportedly started out writing his mysteries in long hand and then (as he became successful and wildly prolific) changed to dictating his books to his staff of SIX secretaries. I'm quite sure that he never found one as perfect as Perry Mason's loyal subordinate. According to one website, some of Gardner's books are published by an outfit called "Della Street Publications." You go, girl.

WARNING: The book description is unrelated to the actual plot. Apparently whoever prepared the Kindle editions was in a rush and got careless. Della Street would NEVER make such a stupid mistake.

[Samyuktha jayaprakash · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book xD Quintessentially Perry Mason <3
However I think I just may have uncovered a Loophole :O ( which I guarantee mus be a misconception of mine :P)
Elvina Mitchell steals the gun from Adelle and plants the fatal gun in her handbag right. Then who tampered with the sealed package in Beason's golf bag? Is it the Blackwell Secretary female? Or Beason himself? If it is the secretary - why would she? as the fatal gun is already in the package?!
This point remains unexplained and kind of hangs in the air. Kinda lot of evil characters roaming in this book but it ends pretty fast =( Could've been more dangerous but 5 stars nevertheless <3

[Serdar Poirot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mason bir gün ofisine geldiğinde Della'nın ilginç bir olaya şahit olduğunu öğrenir. Gertie'ye Adelle Hastings adında güneş gözlüklü bir kadın gelmiş ve görüşmek istemiştir. Ama fazla bekleyemeden gitmiştir. Della bir iş için bekleme odasına gidince orada bir çanta bulur. Bu çantayı açan Mason içerisinde bir silah bulur. Las Legas'a giden Mason çantadaki anahtar ile evi açar ve Adelle ile karşılaşır. Çanta ve silahtan bahseder. Silaha el koymuştur ama diğerlerini verir. Kocasının üçüncü karısı olan ve daha önceden sekreterlik yapan Adelle Simmon adında bir yönetici ile arkadaştır. Onun yöneticisi Maynard ve avukat Hartley ise ikinci eş Minerva ile yakındır. Kocası ile görüşmesini söyler Mason ama Adelle ona ulaşamaz. Ve polis onun cesedini bulur. Hartley adındaki avukat Adelle ve Hastings arasındaki boşanma işn çalışmaktadır. Sekreteri Elvira Mitchell de ona sadıktır. Mason bu görüşmelerde bir zarf atar ve avukat Hastings ile görüşüp fiyatı artırdığını söyler. Halbuki ölmüştür. Tragg ile görüşen Mason bilgi verir. Ama Tragg geldiğinde silahı çekmecesinde bulamaz. Biri onu çalmıştır. Bir süre Drake ile araştırma yapar ve çalanın Simmon olduğunu anlar. O da sekreterine söyler ve bir paket gelir. Ama bu silahın cinayet silahı olup olmadığı kesin değildir. Çünkü bay Hastings 2 silah almıştır. Bu sırada Minerva çıkagelir ve aslında boşanmadığını ve ölüm sonrası vasiyet ile şirketin tek sahibi olduğunu iddia eder. Hartley ve sekreteri Elvira bir vasiyete imza atmıştır. Adelle cinayet şüphesi ile alınır. Bir pilot o gece uçuş yapan bir kadını hatırlar. Ama o da gözlük takmaktadır. Mason tüm tanıkların güneş gözlüğü takmasını ister. Ve bir tanığa Gertie'ye gözlüğünü vermesini söyler. Acaba pilot Adelle'i mi teşhis edecektir? Yoksa o gün gelen başka biri midir? Acaba cinayeti kim işlemiştir? Mason müvekkilini kurtarabilecek midir? Keyifle okunan bir roman.

[False · Rating 2 out of 5]

One wit scratched the the title of my library copy and wrote "The Case of the Suspicious Sunglasses." It could equally have been called "The Case of the Rushed Hamburgers." A little too much of both. Not one of my favorites. If anything I prefer the earlier Perry Mason books where there were flappers, running boards on cars and Perry was quick to get into fisticuffs.

Perry Mason goes to lunch to discover that while both he and Della were out a woman saying her name was Adelle Hastings walked in the office and told Gertie she HAD to see Mr. Mason, but when Gertie looked away the woman left leaving a purse with over three thousand dollars and a pistol with two spent shells. The mystery deepens when Perry locates Adelle Hastings in Las Vegas who says she was not in the office, had her purse stolen and her gun was not in it. When he husband turns out to have been murdered with the gun found in her purse, Adelle is the murder suspect. As I said, sunglasses recur, and recur and recur. For once it seems Perry and Della are burning the midnight oil with lots of hamburger sandwiches, which is usually Paul Drake fair. It's been a few decades since Gardner had Paul drapping his lanky legs over Perry's armchair, but it makes an appearance again in this book.

Given these sunglass lineups, I'm surprised this book wasn't used for a television episode as there could have been some strong visuals. The book was published in 1964. Hard to believe. It could have been 1944. There's not a whiff of modernity to it.

[Gregory · Rating 2 out of 5]

(2.5 stars)
This is a late entry in the Perry Mason series, published in 1964. I’m afraid that by this time the series has definitely entered the formulaic phase. We find all the typical plot devices and legal twists that we are familiar with: a wealthy man who meets an untimely end, warring wives/ex-wives, a disputed will, disappearing murder weapon, chartered flights to Nevada, and poor Hamilton Burger saying, “I’ve got you this time, Perry. I’m calling the grand jury, and I’ll see you indicted for obstruction!”

I don’t mind the formula so much, if it’s all resolved in an interesting way. However, the answer to the mystery is a very long and involved story that Perry recites at the end, involving minor characters and relationships that were not documented in the story. The murder itself is also extremely implausible. There is no way that Mason could have figured all this out given the evidence we’ve seen... it’s just a possible scenario that the author declares is the answer in order to end the book on time. So, I found it rather disappointing.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perry Mason novels are Gardner's unique way of plotting a detective mystery, but using a lawyer as the main character. In Perry Mason novels, often clients arrive at his office in unusual ways and this novel is no exception. Here, a mysterious woman, identifiable only by her giant sunglasses, leaves her purse at his office with something rather incriminating in it. The mysteries abound as Mason tries to unravel who the woman is, whether he represents her, whether she is getting divorced, and whether she was in Las Vegas or Los Angeles at the time of a horrendous homicide. What makes this novel and all the others in this series is Gardner's excellent writing. Even when the plot becomes convoluted, his writing always carries the day. This novel is easy to read and you will find yourself cruising through it, probably before you turn off the lights tonight. There is simply something about the way Gardner writes that makes his novels nearly impossible to put down.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set up was good...just confusing enough to make you wonder what actually happened. Two out-in-the-open clues as to who was involved (if not the defendant). But basically this was a lot of jibber-jabber with not much happening. Perry gets an idea, sends Paul on a wide-ranging investigation, Paul comes back with more information than was requested, rinse and repeat. Now your may think all of the Mason stories are like this, but here it was worse than usual. And what's with all these people flying in private planes to Las Vegas? A lot of clever plot twists, but this book really didn't stack up to some of the earlier ones.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm an accidental fan Perry Mason

There was a period in my lifetime that as a result of brain surgery I couldn't watch television so I started reading and I stumbled across a Perry Mason novel and really liked it so I started looking for more. There are 85 books in the whole series and I bought the hardback first editions and paperbacks but I ended up with about 60 that I read.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this plot a bit of a stretch. It’s one of the books where everything is tied up neatly, but it’s a little hard to digest. I couldn’t quite get my head around how that happened. Still, the characters were interesting, although I would’ve preferred more of an admission on the witness stand than having the conclusion dissected with so many branches of the resolution tied up in an analysis by Mason.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

What started out as an amicable divorce ends in murder and Perry Mason is accused of concealing evidence, leaving Hamilton Burger furious and threatening to have Mason's license to practise revoked.

Gardner has a formula, but uses it well and maintains readers' interest throughout. The novel accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do: entertain the audience.

[Khurshid Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always liked courtroom dramas and in my top 2 is Earle Stanley Gardners Perry Mason.

The plot, story and discourse is brilliant.

What do we have

A smoking gun left in a bag in Perry Masons Office
Mistaken Identity
A client who is not guilty but hiding something
A premeditated murder

Enter Perry Mason with his antics,

[John Bunyan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book 74 out of 85 and Gardner is slowing down, or maybe not even writing them anymore.
The books are now under 200 pages and a lot of the spark is gone.
Another case with duplicate guns. In fact Garvin Hastings bought two guns, wrote two wills, wedded two wives and has two bullet holes in his head.
Disappointing string of books but I’ll still finish out the series.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

adelle Hastings

Another Adelle Hastings. But a different one. Fraudulent marriages, bigamous marriages. Lots of chartered flights between LA and Las Vegas. Burger is humiliated, Mason’s client is, of course, innocent, and Mason figures it out by constructing a timeline and having Paul investigate EVERY clue.

[Nabo Preo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read a translation of it and thought maybe the translation was off. The other reviews made me think that the actual story was really shitty. The story's presentation was terrible and why did no one question why the criminals tried to use Mason, a renowned criminal attorney (?), to set up the crime???

[James Vest · Rating 4 out of 5]

Red herrings fly from Los Angeles to Las Vegas as Perry Mason juggles two identical guns between a cavalcade of suspects leading up to lots of eleventh hour courtroom heroics to sort out fact from fiction.

[Carlos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una mujer deja su bolso olvidado en la oficina del abogado Perry Mason y éste se da cuenta de que hay una pistola en su interior. Ello despierta su interés y con la ayuda de su secretaria Della Street y su detective Paul Drake trata de descubrir la procedencia del arma.

[Gautam Mitra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most convoluted and unbelievable plot

Not one of the best Perry Mason stories. Erle Stanley Gardner has churned up one of his worst plots.

Feel cheated into buying a very bad book at an exhorbitant cost by Kindle. Wish there was a way to get my money back.

[Huma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this Mason, I rather felt it was too short.

[Andrew Bisacre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good story!

[Bob Box · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read in 1975. Perry Mason mystery courtroom drama.

[Dr Hanif Hassan Barbhuiya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good