The Case of the Lame Canary

Perry Mason #11

by Erle Stanley Gardner

Do birds of a feather plot murder together? The extraordinary Perry Mason never handles straightforward divorce cases, but this one is an especially strange bird. Rita Swaine is dating her sister’s ex-boyfriend. Her sister, Rosalind, is married to shady insurance adjuster Walter Prescott, who’s got dollar signs in his eyes and ice water in his veins. When Rita’s beau gallantly steps in to warn Rosalind about her heinous husband’s designs, Prescott hatches a plan to prey on them all …by suing for big profit. For Mason, this case should be a lark. But when a murdered man is found in the Prescott home –and a nosy neighbor sings an incriminating song about illicit love and a hidden gun-legal eagle Mason suddenly finds himself defending a sitting duck.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Detective, Audiobook, Thriller

177 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 1937

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

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It always seems to me that Perry Mason is as much, or more, a private investigator than an attorney. I'm not at all sure that's an accurate reflection of what criminal defense attorneys really did back in Mason's day, or if it was just Gardner's way of making these stories more exciting.

In any case it's a winning formula, and The Case of the Lame Canary in particular seems to be a success on all accounts, having twisted my brain into a pretzel trying to absorb all the little clues and timeline of events. The finer points of the mystery Mason uncovers get quite intricate, and I was sufficiently overwhelmed by the boatload of suspicious characters and red herrings that I didn't put all that much effort into guessing who the guilty party/parties might be, knowing that I'd be way off the mark. Indeed, the court room theatrics in the final scene and the revelations in the denouement came as quite a surprise. Gardner was really a master at constructing these clever and unbelievably intricate mysteries, which often seem to start with his clients being less than completely truthful with him. Unlike Sherlock Holmes, Mason does not seem to figure things out until the very end, and while certainly using some deductive reasoning he relies just as much, or more, on his innate sense of human psychology, a dogged approach, and a healthy amount of bluffing and even sketchier and questionably ethical tactics (by today's standards) .

At the outset I loved how Mason was sucked into the case, a victim of his own overactive curiosity about a lame canary (lame because his toenails were clipped unevenly) despite his inclination to pass up what initially seems an uninteresting divorce case. He can't resist discovering why the client has come in with this canary, and quickly digs himself into a hole that he can't get out of.

There are some great scenes between Mason and Della Street as they fantasize and plan about getting away on a cruise around the world. Their plans in fact lend urgency to resolving the case, which seems to evolve in completely unexpected directions until the very end. There seem to be some romantic overtones, but they don't really go there so it was hard to tell to what extent it really went. On the other hand, a boss and his assistant just don't take off on a casual cruise around the world together, do they? Anyway, we all know that Mason is ultimately married to his work :)

[James Thane · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this outing, Perry gets suckered into taking a divorce case when a young woman shows up in his office carrying a cage with a lame canary in it. Under normal circumstances of course , Perry would never touch something as boring as a routine divorce suit and the woman insists that the lame canary is incidental to the whole business and that she just happened to have it along with her. But Perry is so damned curious about the injured bird that he takes the woman's case against his better judgment.

Happily for Perry--and for the reader--this messy divorce case soon turns into a nasty murder and, naturally, Perry's client is the principal suspect. Even worse, the cops take possession of the poor canary and God only knows what's going to happen to it.

As is always the case in these books, things get terribly convoluted. But happily, Perry is on the case assisted by Della Street, his beautiful and efficient secretary, and by Paul Drake, who continues to run the most amazing detective agency in all of crime fiction. Mason can call at any hour of the day or night with a list of 147 people who need to be followed 24/7 and reams of information that need to be dug up within the hour. Drake always has enough operatives hanging around the office to get the job done and he always comes up with the information that Perry desperately needs. One can only marvel at what the guy might have been able to do with a high speed Internet connection!

This book first appeared seventy-eight years ago and the times, as they say, have definitely changed. Still these books are always a lot of fun--a nice way to while away an evening with a glass of good wine in hand.

[Melindam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 stars

Perry Mason does asks Della to marry him after all, even though not in a very romantic fashion, but then he wouldn't be Perry Mason if he did. :D

[Freya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The case starts out interesting but got quite complicated as it progressed. The finish was really twisted and made sense only after the explanation was provided.

[Ver · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the beginning the case seemed quite trivial and uninteresting so it took me ages to go through it. They were going round the same clues for ages. Fortunately, later it got much more complicated and unexpected. The ending was much more complex and I am sorry it finished in haste without going deeper into the case first. It would make the book much more interesting. Instead, it was finished in a Sherlock Holmes' style, deducting what happened from a different angle.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

What stands out as the best parts of 'The Case of the Lame Canary is the interaction between the Perry Mason, Della Street and Paul Drake characters. Gardcner is at the top of his writing skills with consistency and character development.

This is also true of the rest of the cast of this novel. Distinct characters developed throughout the book. This all helps wading through a very convoluted and overly concocted story by Gardner.

This book revels Gardeners ability to write great characterized and his ability to work too hard to use elements to create a book.

As I read the book I could see how Gardner had a set of distinct parts he worked real hard to fit together. This makes the book feel very forced to a conclusion. You know there is a conclusion at the end, but keep seeing many pages ahead as Gardner tries to weave in some nonsense leads that,in any other of his books, Mason would have been written to figure out.

Though I don't care for the overall story, the writing is top notch and,again, just reading character interaction is outstanding.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 6 of 10 points.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best in the series so far. There are the usual problems -- clunky prose, somewhat wooden dialogue -- but the plot works well with an effective twist at the end.

I get a little tired of Gardner's excessive and unconvincing focus on people's eyes: Perry's are "patient, sympathetic" (a softer side of him than we have seen before), a "redhead with snappy blue eyes" (what on earth is a snappy eye?), a banker with "watery blue eyes" and a lawyer with "china-blue eyes [which] glittered a devil-may-care twinkle (making "glittered a transitive verb). Paul Drake comes off even worse: a "fish-like mouth, looks like a drunken undertaker" (another image I have trouble visualizing).

The central shortcoming in the plot is that Walter Prescott seems like an awful man, and it is hard to understand why Rossy married him. She knows within months that she has made a mistake.

But warts and all, this is still fun. Now on to the next one.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is guilty of some classic mystery tropes, but the legal procedures and wrangling make this book well worth reading, and doubly worth reading for fans of the classic television series.

[Rick Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

Major characters:
Rita Swaine
Rosalind "Rossy" Prescott, her sister with the canary, Mason's client
Walter Prescott, Rosalind's husband, a shady insurance adjuster
George Wray, Walter's partner
Jimmy Driscoll, Rita's boyfriend, a broker
Stella Anderson, "Mrs. Snoops", a neighbor
Carl Packard, a.k.a. Jason Braun, car driver involved in accident
Harry Trader, van driver involved in accident
Attorney Perry Mason
Secretary Della Street
Private Investigator Paul Drake

Locale: Los Angeles

Synopsis: Broker Jimmy Driscoll used to be boyfriend to Rosalind "Rossy" Swaine. They broke up, and Rosalind married insurance adjuster Walter Prescott. Now Jimmy is cozy with Rosalind's sister, Rita Swain.

Rita comes to Perry Mason with Rosalind's caged canary. She wants Perry to represent sister Rosalind in a divorce action. Perry is not interested in such cases, but the canary angle intrigues him. Rita is holding onto it while Rosalind is in Reno to establish residency prior to a divorce.

Perry and Rita head to Reno to talk to Rosalind. Meanwhile, Walter Prescott is discovered shot to death in his home. Rita and Jimmy had just left the Prescott home, under the watchful eyes of "Mrs. Snoops" - neighbor Stella Anderson. They did not want her to know Rita had been there, so Rita poses in the window clipping the canary's nails, while wearing one of Rosalind's dresses; so Stella will assume it is Rosalind.

This act is complicated when a traffic accident occurs in front of the house, between Carl Packard and van driver Harry Trader. Jimmy runs out to assist, and the police take his name, thus placing him at the scene of the crime.

Review: This is one of the earlier Mason stories, when Mason was a lot more rough-and-tumble, and the stories had much more action. It moves along very quickly, and the smaller cast of characters makes it easy to keep track of who is who.

There is no Lt. Tragg, no Hamilton Burger, and no trial scene - although two inquests occur in a courtroom. The second inquest is the climax of the story and ends in a great scene of wild pandemonium.

A subplot of Perry and Della's relationship winds through the story as they plan to take a round-the-world vacation together, which culminates in Perry proposing marriage.

An excellent read with lots of influnce from Gardner's pulp-writing days: lots of nonstop action, limited cast, and even a romantic element.

Want more? Please visit The Mystillery Blog and The Mystillery Reading Challenges!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed seeing the old Perry Mason TV series in reruns as a kid, and Donald Lam of Gardner's Cool & Lam series is one of my favorite fictional detectives. But I think this is one of those cases where having seen the TV adaptations first has really kind of spoiled the experience of reading the books.

Not because the plot of the books were reused in the show and therefore I remember more the solution more often than not, but because the contrast between the performance of the actors in the show, and the sloppy ass, barely there, yet somehow inconsistent characterization Gardner manages on the page just really highlights how weak Gardner's writing is when it comes to anything outside of plotting and pacing.

Still, I did mostly enjoy this one. Hard to say without finding and rewatching the episode based on this particular book, but I do suspect it's quite different from the novel in this case. The beginning and the ending in this one feel a bit clunkly and rushed, but the middle was damn good, and how many books do you say that about.

I'll prioritize ESG's non-Mason books in the future though.

[Filip · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm very much disappointed that the eponymous canary bird disappeared some halfway through the book. It wasn't even mentioned at the end of the story! (granted, everything about it has been long revealed by then, but still).

Apart from that, the mystery was waaaay too complicated for its own good, but that's generally what you expect when you pick up one of the old Perry Mason stories. I did like the legal tricks the protagonist used to keep his clients safe plus the relationship between him and his secretary was pure gold. Additionally, it was a rather quick and easy read and I enjoyed it. I'll definitely be picking up more books (and maybe will check out the old series, to see how they're holding now).

[sylkaczyta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Klasyczny kryminał w starym stylu. Tak były moje myśli po skończeniu książki . Nie było wiec zaskoczenia gdy przeczytałam że ten autor od 50 lat nie żyje.
Lubię czasami sięgnąć po tak zwane „retro-kryminały”, nie była to Agatha Christie ale czytało się przyjemnie.
Świetnie uknuta intryga z błyskotliwym adwokatem w roli głównej.
Zagmatwana historia kanarka z kulawą nóżką może was zaskoczyć. Mi się podobała i została przeczytana w jedno popołudnie.

[nabila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una historia de misterio cortita, divertida e intrigante. Las 3 cuartas partes del libro me tuvieron en vilo y súper emocionada, pero conforme se acercaba el final se volvió muy complicado y apresurado, como si el escritor hubiera perdido el interés en escribir la historia o en explicarnos en detalle qué pasaba. Eso me ha decepcionado un poco, pero en general la he disfrutado y le daré otra oportunidad a Mason.

[Jim Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I must have been too enamored with the TTV series when I was a boy. This was better than fair, perhaps 2 1/2 minimum yet can't rate it higher. Clever mystery in style only ESG cound come up with. I read somewhere that Gardner dictated many of his books. Amazing to me!

[Mahoghani 23 · Rating 3 out of 5]

So Much Going On

Who did what? is the best way I could describe this story. This one was full of confusing scenarios and a cast of manipulative characters, you'll never figure out what happened.

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

Excellant

[Britt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Love these two -- Perry and Della. They're awesome together. I liked the twists and turns in this case. It really finished up with flair.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading Gardner's Perry Mason books off and on for decades. Many years ago, I was an intense fan of the series, and read them all at least once. Now, after a lot of water over the dam, I'm looking at them again.

Those who are used to really fine mystery writers (in the literary sense) may find Gardner's writing style off-putting. It can be stiff and mechanical. 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 1954 are the best. This one was published in 1937, and is a prime example of Gardner's early years, but it does not have so much of the gritty, film noir flavor of the first half dozen. It is excellent.

The story begins when young Rita Swaine calls on Perry Mason. She seems to be talking about a love triangle between herself, her boyfriend Jimmy, and her sister Rosalind. Actually it's more of a quadrangle, with her sister's newish husband Walter also, but apparently there is no love lost between Walter and Rosalind. Perry says it sounds like a divorce case and he doesn't do divorce cases. He is about to dismess her when he sees that Rita is carrying a bird cage with a canary, and the canary seems to be lame. That piques his curiosity and he decides to hear her out.

Thus begins a very complicared case. That morning an odd traffic accident happened in front of Rosalind and Walter's house while Jimmy and Rosalind were there. They were witnessed by a nosy neighbor, who saw some passionate kissing -- by whom? There are conflicting stories. Anyway, the driver of a car is injured and taken to a hospital. He is briefly treated, released, and then disappears. He was an insurance investigator, and Walter is an insurance adjuster. Odd coincidence? And what does this have to do with the canary?

Before long there are two murders, Walter and the insurance adjuster. Rosalind is arrested and becomes Perry's client. There are very good "court room" scenes, but not at a trial, rather at two coroner's inquests.

Adding human interest, Della had been trying to get Perry to take a vacation. She has picked out a cruise to the orient. All the action above is occasionally interrupted by Della reminding Perry that he has to get a passport, has to pack, they have to be at the dock by a certain time. The race is on to see if they can wrap up this case in time to make the boat!

If this all sounds complicated and a bit confused, it is -- a bit. Yet the crimes all make sense in the end.

Good points: sympathetic client. Good use of Paul Drake, no Burger. No Lt. Tragg. Good interrogation scenes at the two coroner's inquests. This is one of the novels where there is a dramatic resolution during the trial (coroner's inquest).

Perry proposes to Della near the end! Read it to see what she says.

[Elderberrywine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The plot was decent enough, because really Gardner can't do a bad one, but the big news was in the character development area.

Mason proposes to Della, you guys!!!! And she, being her bad girl self, asks if he expects her to be the good wifie and stay home, to which he replies, "Well, duh."

And she immediately comes back with "Nope, not happening then, because I'm having a hella more fun the way it is." Whereupon the pair of them leave for a cruise around the world. Whether two cabins or one is conspicuously left to the reader's interpretation, but I betting Della's not the shy type, shall we say.

The next installment will be most interesting.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the first Perry Mason mystery where I really lost interest in the mystery because it became so convoluted that the ENTIRE second-to-last chapter is Perry explaining who killed who and why and where and... Unlike most of Gardner's mysteries, the cast of suspects/clients are not very well-drawn. They don't engage us and so we don't care if they're guilty/innocent/being set up.The only interesting aspect of this book is that Perry proposes to Della Street and that the case must be solved in time for them to board a round-the-world cruise. This leads into the next mystery, CASE OF THE SUBSTITUTE FACE (1938), that takes place on board the cruise ship.

[Yibbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was a fun little mystery. For a book where just about every character is either throwing guilt on those nearest and dearest to them or robbing them blind, and there are multiple corpses to be accounted for, it’s rather a light-hearted little mystery. Maybe it’s the canary. There is just something absurd about a Canary being the one to drag Perry Mason into this case. Then Della Street’s bubbling enthusiasm is a very cheery contrast to the despicable, annoying, and sinister characters that make up this case.
There were several ‘mild’ curse words. It starts out as a divorce case and the wife begins the story by running off to Reno with a former boyfriend.

[Ashwin Dongre · Rating 4 out of 5]

The real plot for reason of murder is almost never told, you are forced to guess, which Mason also does. Clues to real reason are extremely scarce. This is a typical Agatha Christie trick. However, i remember I had managed to guess the real murderer in my first reading years ago, although I dont thing I could not guess the sequence of events before Mason explained them in the end though.
Della Mason romance is interesting, and way too partiarchial. I think Gardner must have received some criticism about this in past so he extended it a bit in one other novel.

All in all good mystery.

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Case of the Lame Canary by Erle Stanley Gardner is the 11th book in the Perry Mason Mystery series. Perry Mason is intrigued by a client carrying a cage with a lame canary and agrees to take on a divorce case for her sister only to find himself embroiled in another murder case. These books are a comfort read for me as I have been a fan for over 40 years and it is a pleasure to revisit them once again. I always know what to expect and this book especially showcases that special relationship between Perry Mason and his secretary Della Street.

[Dipanjan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 11th novel down my "journey into time" (started in 2015) to discover old treasures like the Perry Mason Series, is, once again, a complete page-turner. However, since the 1st Perry Mason book till the 11th, the Case Of The Lame Canary is perhaps the peak amongst those.

When Rita Swaine bustles into Perry Mason’s office carrying a canary in a cage, a canary with an injured foot, no less, the sheer absurdity of the situation appeals to Mason’s love of a mystery, and he agrees to listen to the woman’s reasons for seeking him out. Unfortunately, we don’t always get what we want. Thus, not only Miss Swaine seeking to engage Mason for what is essentially divorce work, the mystery of the lame canary is so simply explained as to immediately disappoint.

However, Mason is human enough to feel bad about turning Rita Swaine away after she reveals the difficulties her sister is going through and so he agrees to look into the matter of getting said sister, Rosalind, a divorce from her aggressive husband, Walter Prescott. It’s in part this humanity that makes Mason so interesting. He’s not simply out to get whatever he can, he has a keen eye for the people behind the cases, and this comes out again and again. Whether getting a gossipy busybody to spill beans by intimating that what she knows is unlikely to be interesting or relevant, the recognition for the need to be brutal when he suspects his client isn’t being entirely open with him, or the casual dismissal when someone tells him they have a more trustworthy attorney of their own and don’t want Mason’s help, the man’s acuity is undoubtedly on display in matter more than merely the legal side of things. He’ll need that acuity, too, since despite his misgivings it’s not long before a dead body turns up…and, of course, who could look more guilty than Rita Swaine?

One of the most enjoyable elements of these books is just how well they work as puzzles, too, with Gardner stringing together a variety of approaches — frank hunches, cavilling over medical evidence, and modern wonders like ultra-violet and infra-red photography to allow the acquisition of evidence — that all combine to wind the plot noose tighter. There’s one piece of misdirection there that’s breath-takingly simple, and yet there are so many other irons in the fire that I’m willing to bet a lot of readers will only realise its significance when Mason points it out in the final summary. And the scheme itself is freaking ingenious, easily one of the most superbly-handled reversals from this era, able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the very best of the genre. There is just something so awesome about a man who is willing to bend the rules a little (sometimes a lot) to serve the interests of his clients and prove them innocent of all wrongdoings. He is at his best in this one.


Another interesting trivia about this book is that, after writing ten Mason books between 1933 and 1937, Gardner felt that his lawyer wasn’t quite getting the traction he wanted. As such, Gardner decided to end the Mason books, possibly handing the great man’s legal practice over to a Bright Young Turk, and perhaps focus on new stories with new characters. Thus, The Case of the Lame Canary was planned as a farewell, until it sold for lucrative serialisation in the Saturday Evening Post. It’s incredible to think that Gardner ever wanted to part ways with Mason, especially when the character and the plots he allowed were so redolent with possibilities for ingenuity that not only showed the author off at his best but also enabled such a variety of clues and ideas to get deployed from book to book. What more could an author want?

The Case Of The Lame Canary is light, fast, very clever, delightfully complex, full of great writing and authorly ingenuity.

In "The Case Of The Lame Canary" Perry, as usual skates dangerously inside and outside the boundaries of proper judicial behaviour, and just barely. It’s a complicated case, with all these ingredients in it. The moral of the tale is to keep an eye on Perry every single instant. He has rabbits in a hat he can pull out at any time, and he brings his own hat.

Perry Mason is a man who enjoys his work. He likes his cases but the real pleasure for him lies in pitting his wits against criminals, against the police and against the DA. The joy he takes in this is communicated to the reader and helps make each Perry Mason novel just so much fun. Perry Mason is referred as a "Wizard Of The Court Room", more a sleuth than a lawyer, who uses the fold of the legal system to hunt for the truth, takes calculated risks AND utilizes his devious mind to uncover pure evidence that would solve the case. Mr. Gardner continues to follow the KISS rule. 256 pages are all you get to race through this riveting story. Till the very end you will keep gasping "What is Perry Mason up to?" You will, once again, let go of your sleep to get to the bottom of things.

Perry Mason, a character created in 1930s, can easily be a part of 2023 and the author would need to change NOTHING (not even a word) to adjust to the advanced world since 1930s. Now, THAT, for sure is what is evergreen. The story telling has the same intensity now as it did then. This episode continues to be a fine example of American Literature from the yesteryears. No wonder Gardner was one of the best-selling writers of all times, and certainly one of the best-selling mystery authors ever. There are a total of 82 novels (which I now fortunately own in my shelves). It's a treasure cove indeed!!

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has good points but is a bit convoluted. Trial is not a focus, and it's not needed, but we get mystifying directions that are at times interesting, at times a bit dragging. I enjoyed his joking with Della in this one especially. The opening with him mainly only listening because he would wonder all day about the lady bringing the canary with her was amusing. Not the best one. Not bad, but not always fully interesting. Complex, though, as usual.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Se lo robé a mi hermana y no he podido parar de leerlo!! Otro crimen de Perry Mason volverá a mis manos seguro...

[Serdar Poirot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rita Sweetie adında bir kız Mason'a başvurur. Jimmy Driscoll adında bir çocuğun kendisini sevdiğini ama eskiden ablası olan Rosalind'in nişanlısı olduğunu, Rosalind'in kocası Walter Prescott'un buna çok kızacağını, işin kötü yanı evde Jimmy ile sarılırken komşuya yakaladıklarını, bu arada evin önünde bir kaza olduğunu, bu kazada yardıma giden Jimmy'nin kimlik bilgilerinin deşifre olduğunu Walter bu olayı duyarsa sıkıntı çıkacağını söyler. Bu durumdan kurtulmak ister. Mason ise kızın yanında getirdiği kanarya ilgisini çektiği için işi kabul eder. Kanarya topal bir kanaryadır. Çünkü sağ ayağındaki tırnakları 2 kez kesilmiştir. Olaylar büyümeye başlar. Komşular ile konuşan Mason Miss Snoppy'den bazı bilgiler alır. Ancak Prescott evi polisle dolmuştur. Walter Prescott öldürülmüştür. Jimmy'nin eve getirdiği silahla öldürülmüştür. Snoppy her şeyi komşusu Weyman'a da anlatır. Weyman'ın kocası da alkolik adamın tekidir. Mason ve Della Street, kayıp olan Rosalind, Jimmy ve Rita'yı Reno şehrinde kumar oynarken bulur ve olayları anlatır. Komiser Holcomb geldiğinde de onlar teslim eder. Bir ön mahkeme kurulur ve burada Jimmy'yi temsil eden Rodney Cuff başarılı bir savunma yaparak onun serbest bırakılmasını sağlar. Bay Weyman da Jimmy'yi cinayet saatinde telefonla konuşurken gördüğünü beyan ettiği için serbest kalmasına etki etmiştir. Bütün şüpheler Rita'da toplanmıştır. Evin önündeki kazada hafif yaralanan Carl Packard aslında bir kundaklama araştırmacısı olan Peter Straun'dur ve o da bir kanyonda öldürülmüş olarak bulunur. Acaba Mason katili bulabilecek midir? Walter ölmekten çok öldürmeye uygunken kim tarafından öldürülmüştür? Tanıklardan hangisi yalan söylemektedir? Della'nın ısrarla istediği deniz tatiline yetişebilecek midir? Keyifle okunan bir roman.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

First published in 1937. Made into a Perry Mason television episode.

This was a fast-moving, complex, sinister tale of a canary with a bad manicure, illicit love, a nosey neighbor, and a shyster of an insurance adjuster. I enjoyed this, and the real treat here is Perry’s marriage proposal to Della while they are on vacation—

A few memorable passages:

Mason chuckled delightedly and said, “There you go, Della. I tell you, it’s too many murder cases. First it’s a caged canary which throws me for a loss, then this love affair gets you. What we need’s a vacation. What do you say we chuck the whole business and take a trip around the world? I’ll look into the jurisprudence of the different countries we visit, and you can take notes on what I find.” Her eyes widened. “You mean it, Chief?” “Yes.”

Paul Drake, head of the Drake Detective Agency, braced his tall, thin form languidly against the doorjamb. . . . During moments of repose, his fish-like mouth hung partially open, giving his face an expression of droll humor. Even an acute observer would have admitted he looked more like a drunken undertaker than a detective.

Perry Mason’s powerful roadster roared into pulsating speed, as the car swept down the road from Los Angeles to Wilmington.

💥 Recommended. Also see The Canary Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine for another canary-themed mystery.
🟣

[Marc A · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Case of the Lame Canary is the 11th entry in the Perry Mason series, published in 1937, just four years after it began. In this novel, we see a more human and relaxed Perry Mason than we've seen in the earlier entries.

The three or four novels before this one were unfortunately becoming formulaic. The Case of the Lame Canary breaks that trend. Yes, Perry Mason solves a murder case, but he does so by taking a different approach. In addition, author Erle Stanley Gardner spends more time developing the relationship between Mason and his secretary Della Street. Perry Mason was all business in the earlier novels, interested only in exonerating his client. In The Case of the Lame Canary, he is finally a human being.

As in all the prior Perry Mason novels, the case is very complex, and it is a challenge keeping track of all of the details. As usual, this novel is a page turner. Despite the complexities, Erle Stanley Gardner keeps things interesting and never gets bogged down in details. The Case of the Lame Canary is a worthy entry in the series. Perry Mason fans will not be disappointed.

[Amit Bikram · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book in which the intrigue is maintained throughout, and a rare early book where Mason is not involved directly in the murder scene i.e. tampering it. Even though that gives the reader a bit more relaxed narrative with no time bomb ticking for the lawyer, the base is created for the next novel as well with Mason deciding to take a break and go on a cruise vacation travelling all around the world with his beautiful, smart and loyal secretary, Miss Della Street. This is also the first novel in which Mason proposed to Della, to which Della gives a really smart response. (Spoiler alert: She refuses the proposal)
Coming to the case, it is a really fascinating setup, but the first smokescreen is quite obvious and all characters see through it by the middle of the book. The book, though, doesn't do justice to such an interesting setup and there is not much of Mason grilling witnesses in the courtroom. (There is no courtroom scene at all, but two inquests in the second of which the murderer is unravelled)