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Perry Mason #28
The Case of the Borrowed Brunette
When Perry Mason stumbles upon a classified ad for a brown haired woman with very specific physical attributes, he takes note of the seemingly suspicious circumstances surrounding the job posting. Then the woman hired for the job gets in touch, describing the strange requests of her new employer—who pays her and her chaperone to stay inside an apartment and answer to another woman’s name—and Mason knows there’s a more knotted plot at play. But by the time he works out the first mystery, a second, with murder, is just getting started, and that’s only the first twist that awaits him as he endeavors to prove the innocence of “the borrowed brunette.”
Together with his crime solving team of Paul Drake and Della Street, Mason winds his way through one of the most puzzling cases of his career, involving separated ex-lovers, a tangled series of impersonations, and scores of private detectives. In order to clear his client of the charges, though, he’ll risk getting a few himself, before, in a final courtroom scene, breaking the case apart to the judge’s satisfaction.
Reissued for the first time in thirty years, The Case of the Borrowed Brunette is one of the most beloved whodunnits featuring the iconic Perry Mason character, inspiration for multiple hit television series bearing his name.
Together with his crime solving team of Paul Drake and Della Street, Mason winds his way through one of the most puzzling cases of his career, involving separated ex-lovers, a tangled series of impersonations, and scores of private detectives. In order to clear his client of the charges, though, he’ll risk getting a few himself, before, in a final courtroom scene, breaking the case apart to the judge’s satisfaction.
Reissued for the first time in thirty years, The Case of the Borrowed Brunette is one of the most beloved whodunnits featuring the iconic Perry Mason character, inspiration for multiple hit television series bearing his name.
250 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1946
28 people are currently reading
555 people want to read
About the author
Erle Stanley Gardner
1,353 books820 followersErle 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
October 14, 2022
Many years ago, when I was a tiny, impressionable child, my father introduced me to the collected works of Erle Stanley Gardner, the author of the Perry Mason and Donald Lam/Bertha Cool crime novels. Occasionally my father would come across a Perry Mason novel that wasn't all that great and he speculated that Gardner might have occasionally used a ghostwriter to assist him with his prodigious output and that the ghostwriter was responsible for the books that were not up to my father's rigorous standards. (Of course, ESG was not the only one who sometimes fell short of my father's rigorous standards...)
I've read a couple of biographies of Gardner, neither of which mentioned the possibility of his using a ghostwriter. However, he did occasionally dictate a book, or portions of a book, into a recorder while he was camping, fishing, or otherwise occupied and perhaps wasn't paying full attention to the book he was working on at the moment. I suspect that it was this habit, and not the intervention of another writer, that led to the occasional clunker, and, I'm sorry to say, The Case of the Borrowed Brunette pretty much falls into that category.
As the story begins, Perry and his secretary, Della Street, are driving back to the office when Mason, who notices everything, observes that on each of eight street corners in a row a brunette is standing there as if waiting for an appointment. The women are all strikingly similar in appearance and style and Mason's curiosity is naturally aroused.
Perry and Della approach one of the brunettes who says that she has answered an ad. Someone is looking to hire an attractive brunette, between 23 and 25 years old. The successful applicant must be 5' 4-1/2" tall, 111 pounds, with a waist measurement of 24 inches and a bust measurement of 32. Each applicant was assigned a street corner where the person hiring the candidate could appraise them and pick the winner.
Inevitably, of course, Perry will wind up representing the successful candidate and attempting to protect her interests, if not her virtue. Inevitably, of course, someone is going to be murdered, and, as always, the authorities will appear to have an airtight case against Perry's client.
This seems to be a book that Gardner simply dashed off, without giving a lot of thought to it. The plot is not all that great; there is no big payoff in the courtroom, and the solution, when it comes, appears to arrive from way, way, way out in left field. I love this series because these were the first "adult" crime novels I read as a young boy, but I'll yield to my Dad's judgment on this one. There are lots of better books in the series.
I've read a couple of biographies of Gardner, neither of which mentioned the possibility of his using a ghostwriter. However, he did occasionally dictate a book, or portions of a book, into a recorder while he was camping, fishing, or otherwise occupied and perhaps wasn't paying full attention to the book he was working on at the moment. I suspect that it was this habit, and not the intervention of another writer, that led to the occasional clunker, and, I'm sorry to say, The Case of the Borrowed Brunette pretty much falls into that category.
As the story begins, Perry and his secretary, Della Street, are driving back to the office when Mason, who notices everything, observes that on each of eight street corners in a row a brunette is standing there as if waiting for an appointment. The women are all strikingly similar in appearance and style and Mason's curiosity is naturally aroused.
Perry and Della approach one of the brunettes who says that she has answered an ad. Someone is looking to hire an attractive brunette, between 23 and 25 years old. The successful applicant must be 5' 4-1/2" tall, 111 pounds, with a waist measurement of 24 inches and a bust measurement of 32. Each applicant was assigned a street corner where the person hiring the candidate could appraise them and pick the winner.
Inevitably, of course, Perry will wind up representing the successful candidate and attempting to protect her interests, if not her virtue. Inevitably, of course, someone is going to be murdered, and, as always, the authorities will appear to have an airtight case against Perry's client.
This seems to be a book that Gardner simply dashed off, without giving a lot of thought to it. The plot is not all that great; there is no big payoff in the courtroom, and the solution, when it comes, appears to arrive from way, way, way out in left field. I love this series because these were the first "adult" crime novels I read as a young boy, but I'll yield to my Dad's judgment on this one. There are lots of better books in the series.
October 15, 2017
It is the "usual" fast-paced, intriguing Perry Mason-story with legal twists and turns. Our favourite defense attorney-cum-investigator has two defendants to save (one of them is the greatest liar he's ever met), a new legal enemy to cross swords with & a cunning murderer to find.
More detailed review to come.
More detailed review to come.
Read
September 21, 2025In “The Case of the Borrowed Brunette,” Perry Mason gets involved quite by accident. Riding back from a proceeding with secretary Della Street, Mason, with his keen eye for observation, realizes that there is a similar looking and similarly attired brunette at eight street corners in a row. Curious, Mason inquires of one brunette, Cora Felton, who tells him that they are getting paid ten dollars to stand there in a sort of audition. It turns out that it’s the brunette he talks to’s roommate who gets the part, Eva Martel.
And the part is not on a movie or advertisement, but to take the place of one Helen Reedley, to take her apartment, fully furnished down to the clothes and purses, and to pretend to be her. Eva and her chaperone, Adele Winters, are scared. They think Reedley’s husband must have murdered her and not known what to do and us paying Eva to pose as Helen until he figures out an explanation. They come to Mason in a panic.
Of course, it is not a Perry Mason novel if his client doesn’t appear to be the prime suspect in a murder and this one is no exception. Mason is still puzzling out the mystery of why Mr. Hines is having Eva pose as Helen Reedley when he gets a panicked call from Eva and Adele that they walked in the apartment only to find Mr. Hines in a chair with a .32-caliber hole in his forehead. To top it off, Adele is spotted opening up a trash can outside a hotel and the murder weapon, her .32, is found in the trash can.
Mason, who gets into trouble hiding his client, informs the district attorney that he can take whatever is fished out, but he doesn’t think the politically-elected DA can stand the same heat. The later part of the novel includes a trial and a grand jury proceeding and, at the last moment, Mason, as usual, pulls a rabbit out of a hat and solves the whole crazy thing.
And the part is not on a movie or advertisement, but to take the place of one Helen Reedley, to take her apartment, fully furnished down to the clothes and purses, and to pretend to be her. Eva and her chaperone, Adele Winters, are scared. They think Reedley’s husband must have murdered her and not known what to do and us paying Eva to pose as Helen until he figures out an explanation. They come to Mason in a panic.
Of course, it is not a Perry Mason novel if his client doesn’t appear to be the prime suspect in a murder and this one is no exception. Mason is still puzzling out the mystery of why Mr. Hines is having Eva pose as Helen Reedley when he gets a panicked call from Eva and Adele that they walked in the apartment only to find Mr. Hines in a chair with a .32-caliber hole in his forehead. To top it off, Adele is spotted opening up a trash can outside a hotel and the murder weapon, her .32, is found in the trash can.
Mason, who gets into trouble hiding his client, informs the district attorney that he can take whatever is fished out, but he doesn’t think the politically-elected DA can stand the same heat. The later part of the novel includes a trial and a grand jury proceeding and, at the last moment, Mason, as usual, pulls a rabbit out of a hat and solves the whole crazy thing.
November 9, 2017
Found a 1946 first edition at a thrift store. Added to the charm of reading this clever mystery. Mason redefines thinking outside the box and since Garner was a lawyer he gets the technical stuff right, and is damn clever about it as well.
Read
January 23, 2025Jedna z niewielu książek, o której opowiadał mi mój dziadek. Znałem zakończenie bardzo dobrze, a mimo to czytałem z nieopuszczającym zaciekawieniem. Trudno mi ocenić tę książkę, bo sprawiła, że poczułem się bliżej dziadka, ale mogę śmiało ją polecić.
+ Kocham tłumaczenie na język polski. Często pojwiały się frazy typu:
,,wpadliśmy w niezły bigos"
,,jeszcze chwila, a byłby pasztet".
A, no i klimat tej książki jest taki, że brakuje tylko, żeby palić nad nią papierosa i pić kawusię.
+ Kocham tłumaczenie na język polski. Często pojwiały się frazy typu:
,,wpadliśmy w niezły bigos"
,,jeszcze chwila, a byłby pasztet".
A, no i klimat tej książki jest taki, że brakuje tylko, żeby palić nad nią papierosa i pić kawusię.
June 15, 2022
This is my first Perry Mason mystery, although I’ve seen reruns on TV. I had no idea it was such a prolific book series.
I absolutely, thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing is clever, and quick. There is no brutality. It was exactly what I needed, right now. I enjoyed it as much as Nero Wolfe.
From the introduction, in the 1960s Gardner told the New York Times, “I have always aimed my fiction at the masses who constitute the solid backbone of America, I have tried to keep faith with the American family. In a day when the prevailing mystery story trends are towards sex, sadism, and seduction, I try to base my stories on speed, situation, and suspense.”
That is exactly what I liked.
I absolutely, thoroughly enjoyed it. The writing is clever, and quick. There is no brutality. It was exactly what I needed, right now. I enjoyed it as much as Nero Wolfe.
From the introduction, in the 1960s Gardner told the New York Times, “I have always aimed my fiction at the masses who constitute the solid backbone of America, I have tried to keep faith with the American family. In a day when the prevailing mystery story trends are towards sex, sadism, and seduction, I try to base my stories on speed, situation, and suspense.”
That is exactly what I liked.
August 1, 2025
2.5. No hanging around.
August 16, 2024
So the forties were boom years in Hollywood, and everybody was looking for a break. Starlets were a dime a dozen, so when an ad appeared offering a job to young ladies of a certain appearance and some very specific measurements, stating that if they would hang around various street corners for an hour, wearing specified clothes, they might pick up a job. What can it hurt, right?
Mason just happens to pick up on the observation, as he and Della are tooling down Adams Street one afternoon, that there happens to be a young brunette, dressed in dark clothes and a fur, casually window shopping, on every street corner for several blocks. Of course, he must investigate, and several of them show him the same ad. Weird indeed, and he and Della befriend a couple of the young women to find out more. Nothing illegal thus far, but Mason’s bat senses are tingling. But it’s all legit, because anyone who is selected for this golden opportunity may have a chaperone of her choice with her at all times. Enter Adelle Winters, landlady and practical nurse, who Is more than up to the job.
Well of course, the job in question is to unknowingly impersonate someone, at least from a distance. So we end up with all sorts of shady shenanigans in the range of murder-not murder-maybe murder, and Perry nearly getting trapped in the mess. But I loved the nonchalant acknowledgement that, yes, this was a totally normal casting call with plenty of takers. Old school Hollywood was a weird world.
Mason just happens to pick up on the observation, as he and Della are tooling down Adams Street one afternoon, that there happens to be a young brunette, dressed in dark clothes and a fur, casually window shopping, on every street corner for several blocks. Of course, he must investigate, and several of them show him the same ad. Weird indeed, and he and Della befriend a couple of the young women to find out more. Nothing illegal thus far, but Mason’s bat senses are tingling. But it’s all legit, because anyone who is selected for this golden opportunity may have a chaperone of her choice with her at all times. Enter Adelle Winters, landlady and practical nurse, who Is more than up to the job.
Well of course, the job in question is to unknowingly impersonate someone, at least from a distance. So we end up with all sorts of shady shenanigans in the range of murder-not murder-maybe murder, and Perry nearly getting trapped in the mess. But I loved the nonchalant acknowledgement that, yes, this was a totally normal casting call with plenty of takers. Old school Hollywood was a weird world.
October 1, 2025
been ages since I read a Perry Mason novel and was apprehensive that I'd "grown" out of it. But it kept me hooked as it did a decade ago.
A well-structured whoddunit mystery!
A well-structured whoddunit mystery!
July 30, 2015
Della Street, knowing how much of his success was due to his ability to make instantaneous appraisals of character, and to a sympathetic understanding of human nature, saw nothing unusual in the fact that Mason should interrupt a busy schedule to count the brunettes who were standing at corners on the south side of Adams Street.
But by the end of The Case of the Borrowed Brunette (1946), Perry Mason will be very sorry that he stopped to find out what it was all about.
...the next time I run across anyone who is borrowing a brunette, I'm going to let him keep her!
Of course, hindsight is twenty-twenty and he has no way of knowing that by the end of this little adventure he will have just barely escaped a Grand Jury charge of perjury (at best) or accessory after the fact to murder (at worst). But...as Mason tells Assistant District Attorney Harry Gulling he's doing in the wrap-up scene...I'm getting the cart before the horse.
When Perry and Della stop at one of the Adams Street corners and ask Miss Cora Fulton why she (and at least seven other brunettes) are playing a game of Statues on the street corners, they find that a Mr. Hines has advertised for just such a thing--looking for brunettes of a certain size, shape, and age to "audition" for a "colorful, adventurous job." Fifty dollars a day sounded pretty good to Cora and her friend Eva Martell, so they each answered the ad and were assigned positions along Adams. Eva winds up meeting the mysterious Mr. Hines's qualifications and is hired (along with her chosen chaperone, Adelle Winters) to take up residence in an apartment and to answer to the name of Helen Reedley.
All of Mason's instincts are instantly on alert--especially when Adelle Winters makes a secret visit to his office. What is Hines's game? Why should he hire Eva to wear another woman's clothes and live in her apartment? Is Helen Reedley still alive? And if she is will she remain so for much longer? The thing is--when murder strikes, it isn't Helen Reedley who is found dead with a .32 bullet through the forehead. It's Mr. Hines and the police and Harry Gulling think Adelle and Eva are just perfectly suited as the killers. Especially when Adelle seems to make telling lies into an art form and Mason spends a great deal of effort hiding Eva from the authorities.
Mason is going to have to work even faster than usual to find the real killer before his clients are sent to the electric chair....and he has to face jail time himself. There are several other suspects handy--from the girl who thinks Hines has double-crossed her in love to Helen Reedley's husband who may have believed Hines to be her secret lover to Helen Reedley's real secret lover. But the real trick will be finding proof. At the moment, all the evidence points to his clients. Anyone who knows Mason knows that he won't let that bother him, though. He excels at the last minute production in the court room.
I was definitely intrigued by the opening premise of this one. All those brunettes hanging out on the street corners in answer to a mysterious ad. The build-up was excellent and the plot was believable enough (in the realm of fiction). It seemed to be even faster-paced than the usual Perry Mason novel--picking the reader up with Perry and Della at the beginning and running fast and furious to the last scenes. Great fun with a plot that kept me guessing even though there were a limited number of possible suspects. A definite winner in the cases of Perry Mason.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
But by the end of The Case of the Borrowed Brunette (1946), Perry Mason will be very sorry that he stopped to find out what it was all about.
...the next time I run across anyone who is borrowing a brunette, I'm going to let him keep her!
Of course, hindsight is twenty-twenty and he has no way of knowing that by the end of this little adventure he will have just barely escaped a Grand Jury charge of perjury (at best) or accessory after the fact to murder (at worst). But...as Mason tells Assistant District Attorney Harry Gulling he's doing in the wrap-up scene...I'm getting the cart before the horse.
When Perry and Della stop at one of the Adams Street corners and ask Miss Cora Fulton why she (and at least seven other brunettes) are playing a game of Statues on the street corners, they find that a Mr. Hines has advertised for just such a thing--looking for brunettes of a certain size, shape, and age to "audition" for a "colorful, adventurous job." Fifty dollars a day sounded pretty good to Cora and her friend Eva Martell, so they each answered the ad and were assigned positions along Adams. Eva winds up meeting the mysterious Mr. Hines's qualifications and is hired (along with her chosen chaperone, Adelle Winters) to take up residence in an apartment and to answer to the name of Helen Reedley.
All of Mason's instincts are instantly on alert--especially when Adelle Winters makes a secret visit to his office. What is Hines's game? Why should he hire Eva to wear another woman's clothes and live in her apartment? Is Helen Reedley still alive? And if she is will she remain so for much longer? The thing is--when murder strikes, it isn't Helen Reedley who is found dead with a .32 bullet through the forehead. It's Mr. Hines and the police and Harry Gulling think Adelle and Eva are just perfectly suited as the killers. Especially when Adelle seems to make telling lies into an art form and Mason spends a great deal of effort hiding Eva from the authorities.
Mason is going to have to work even faster than usual to find the real killer before his clients are sent to the electric chair....and he has to face jail time himself. There are several other suspects handy--from the girl who thinks Hines has double-crossed her in love to Helen Reedley's husband who may have believed Hines to be her secret lover to Helen Reedley's real secret lover. But the real trick will be finding proof. At the moment, all the evidence points to his clients. Anyone who knows Mason knows that he won't let that bother him, though. He excels at the last minute production in the court room.
I was definitely intrigued by the opening premise of this one. All those brunettes hanging out on the street corners in answer to a mysterious ad. The build-up was excellent and the plot was believable enough (in the realm of fiction). It seemed to be even faster-paced than the usual Perry Mason novel--picking the reader up with Perry and Della at the beginning and running fast and furious to the last scenes. Great fun with a plot that kept me guessing even though there were a limited number of possible suspects. A definite winner in the cases of Perry Mason.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
March 7, 2021
So far, this is one of my favorite of the Perry Mason books. Instead of a client coming to him with a weird situation that captures his interest, he notices something strange that alerts HIM to the mystery. Multiple brunettes lining street corners, all dressed the same, all similar in appearance.
Most of the story is set outside the courtroom, but we get two different sorts of court hearings to make up for it. The murderer wasn't too difficult to guess due to a limited suspect pool, but the ways for the accused to slip out of it seemed like an impossible situation....at first. Not many writers are as clever with legal twists as Gardner. He really is a king of clever crime and twisty courtroom drama.
Most of the story is set outside the courtroom, but we get two different sorts of court hearings to make up for it. The murderer wasn't too difficult to guess due to a limited suspect pool, but the ways for the accused to slip out of it seemed like an impossible situation....at first. Not many writers are as clever with legal twists as Gardner. He really is a king of clever crime and twisty courtroom drama.
January 30, 2023
Always enjoy the Perry Mason books and this one was a lot of fun. Mason is always the best when he setting up traps for the DA and this time he had a lot of fun with that. The case was kind of typical for Mason, in that he bull rushed right into it by being overly curious. He noticed while driving down a street that a brunette was dressed similarly standing on several corners in a row. He wanted to know why and ended up finding out it was due to an ad, asking for that certain type, down to exact weight and height. This naturally made his mind start running and he looked into it a bit then forgot about it. That is until one of the girls he talked to asked him to investigate since the job seemed so strange. Then of course there is a murder and Mason like usual leads with his chin.
Highly recommend, all of these are enjoyable and keeps you reading.
Highly recommend, all of these are enjoyable and keeps you reading.
July 16, 2020
This one's a real page-turner right from the start. The only issue was how unbelievably easy it was for Mason to take control of a hearing and grand jury, getting the judge to go along with his unorthodox methods--a little more so than in most Perry Mason novels I've read. But it's still a great read with a valid solution to the mystery.
April 23, 2021
Certainly not the best of Perry Mason, but interesting enough. Crazy set up; almost all of the characters could be guilty. Mason provides the true murderer with almost no explanation—as he’s testifying before the Grand Jury on questions of his involvement. Courtroom dialogue is as always interesting and fast-paced.
September 22, 2018
One of those cases where Gardner deliberately strings you on a red herring, to spring the real murderer (the most obvious) at the very end. The proofs were given in a very sudden way too. Almost as if Gardner couldn't think up a proper, methodical way to show it, leaving the job to intuition. A bit let down.
October 30, 2021
Régi típusú, jogi csűr-csavaros, nyomozós krimi. Nem ajánlom mindenkinek, én szeretem a Perry Mason történeteket, a saját zsánerében egy jó könyv.
A sztori is elég érdekes, a közepe táján kissé leül-lelassul, ezért kapott ennyi csillagot.
A sztori is elég érdekes, a közepe táján kissé leül-lelassul, ezért kapott ennyi csillagot.
June 9, 2022
I didn't buy that ending at all - Mason suddenly figuring everything out at quite literally the last second, a rather implausible story out of left field to save his idiot liar of a client - and it certainly didn't help that he spent the last chapter lamenting the fact that he was very close to being quite in the fire himself.
I think the author wrapped himself up into too many knots and wasn't able to successfully untie them in the allotted page count, so he threw the kitchen sink at the end and forced a square peg into a round hole, because fiction. Not one of his greater outings, I'm afraid.
I think the author wrapped himself up into too many knots and wasn't able to successfully untie them in the allotted page count, so he threw the kitchen sink at the end and forced a square peg into a round hole, because fiction. Not one of his greater outings, I'm afraid.
March 8, 2025
This book and the episode of the original Perry mason show are the best book to screen adaptation I’ve ever read/seen.
November 12, 2025
el fiscal tirándose de los pelos al ver al jurado y al juez saltarse el reglamento con tal de escuchar el chisme que Perry Mason tiene que contar... sencillamente icónico.
February 3, 2025
I've been watching the old Perry Mason shows on TV with my husband in the nursing home, got curious about the Erle Stanley Gardner stories on which the show is based. Entertaining, not great bur Perry & Paul & Della & Lieutenant Tragg & Hamilton Berger all seem like old friends, so it's fun.
September 9, 2023
Fun. Fast paced. Engaging.
May 16, 2022
It's a Perry Mason --- no need to say more
January 30, 2013
It had been a while since I've picked up a Perry Mason book, but with the Hallmark Movie Channel showing a couple of episodes a day, I was feeling a burning desire to delve into the Perry Mason that exists on the page. Now I'm not saying I don't love Raymond Burr as Perry Mason, cause I do. I had the hugest crush on him as a kid, hence my life long love of all things Mason related. But the Perry in the books is just a bit harder, which makes him just a bit sexier.
This time around, Perry gets mixed up with a scheme that seems to have no purpose. Why would Mr. Hines want Eva to pose as another woman? There doesn't seem to be anything illegal at first, but when Mr. Hines ends up dead and Adelle's gun is found in a garbage bin, everything is turned upside down. It quickly becomes apparent that the woman Eva was impersonating was up to no good, and that Mr. Hines was in on it. But is she the murderer, or did Adelle or Eva do it? It's up to Perry, with the help of Paul Drake, to find out what is going on before someone else ends up with a bullet in the head.
It was an intriguing mystery that kept me guessing almost the entire time. There were a few times that I thought I knew who the killer was, but then something else would happen and I would start second guessing myself. In the end I did figure it out before the big reveal, but some aspects of how Perry figured it out never even dawned on me as important. What I really enjoy about this series is that none of the plots feel rehashed, I'm sure a few are, but Gardner was adapt at making them feel fresh.
This time around, Perry gets mixed up with a scheme that seems to have no purpose. Why would Mr. Hines want Eva to pose as another woman? There doesn't seem to be anything illegal at first, but when Mr. Hines ends up dead and Adelle's gun is found in a garbage bin, everything is turned upside down. It quickly becomes apparent that the woman Eva was impersonating was up to no good, and that Mr. Hines was in on it. But is she the murderer, or did Adelle or Eva do it? It's up to Perry, with the help of Paul Drake, to find out what is going on before someone else ends up with a bullet in the head.
It was an intriguing mystery that kept me guessing almost the entire time. There were a few times that I thought I knew who the killer was, but then something else would happen and I would start second guessing myself. In the end I did figure it out before the big reveal, but some aspects of how Perry figured it out never even dawned on me as important. What I really enjoy about this series is that none of the plots feel rehashed, I'm sure a few are, but Gardner was adapt at making them feel fresh.
August 30, 2023
Perry Masons are always good law procedural criminal hunting novels, not an exception.
June 8, 2019
I am a simple gal - there is nothing better than a hot summer's day, a bit of ice cream and Perry Mason dazzling us with his ability to whisk his clients in and out of trouble.
September 7, 2021
Nice to get back in touch with Perry Mason and crew…
Erle Stanley Gardner was one of the first mystery authors whose books I read after I realized there WERE mystery authors other than Agatha Christie. And way back then, while I was in graduate school, Gardner’s books were perfect for the limited leisure reading time I had available, which consisted of a rare hour or two of guilty pleasure crammed in here and there among my studies. Gardner’s short but action-packed stories were great for that, especially since I knew that in his world, Perry Mason’s clients were never guilty, so although Perry himself might skate a fine line or two while protecting them, it would all come out okay in the end. Which was something I couldn’t say about my classes! At one point, I had a couple of shelves full of Gardner’s paperbacks, mostly bought from the local used bookstore (remember, poor graduate student), but those have long since vanished sometime during some move or other. So, I was really happy to be offered an advance copy of the new American Mystery Classics e-book edition of The Case of the Borrowed Brunette to review for my blog.
Borrowed Brunette is a classic Perry Mason story, with clients who do everything they can to land themselves in trouble, while Perry, Della Street and Paul Drake do their best to get them out of it. In this case, Eva Martell answers an ad that is looking for a brunette with a very specific appearance – right down to specifying a height of 5 feet 4 ½ inches tall (not 5’4” or 5’5”) and a weight of 111 pounds (not 110 or 115). And lest our minds go where they might with this, the lucky brunette who gets the $50/day job can also bring along a chaperone, who will be paid $20/day – but can’t bring along much else. Eva and her roommate, Cora Felton, both fit the bill, so they both apply, along with a number of other brunettes, but it’s Eva who gets chosen, and she brings along her “almost-mother”, Aunt Adelle, as a chaperone. When they are taken to live in a fancy apartment, though, and Eva is asked to pretend to be someone named Helen Reedley, Aunt Adelle becomes suspicious, and decides to get Perry Mason to check things out. Which he does, with style. Of course, somewhere along the way, a dead body pops up and both Eva and Adelle become suspects. The rest is pure Gardner, as Perry and his team try to figure out whether anyone, including his clients, is telling the truth. Towards the end, there are some classic scenes as Perry fences with Hamilton Berger’s right-hand man, the overly confident Harry Gulling, who would love to take him down. And finally, Perry figures out whodunnit at the last possible moment - while he’s actually testifying in front of the Grand Jury.
Readers do need to keep in mind that The Case of the Borrowed Brunette was written in 1946, and so, as you might expect, some of its social roles and expectations, especially as regards women, may feel a little antiquated today. But I feel that it’s always a bit of a slippery slope to try to apply today’s attitudes too rigorously to books that are decades old. Instead, I just contented myself with being glad I didn’t grow up back then, when I probably wouldn’t have even been able to get into a highly-technical graduate school – although I might have had more time to read! Other than that, though, I very much enjoyed my re-introduction to Perry Mason and crew after many many years.
A few final things worth mentioning: First, Otto Penzler, who is the creator of the American Mystery Classics imprint, has written a wonderful introduction for Borrowed Brunette that I learned a lot from. Who knew, for instance, that Gardner wrote more than a million words a year (a novel a month and some short stories) during the 1920s and 1930s. Or that he had a ranch compound near Temecula with accommodations for six (six!) secretaries and even more support staff. Although I’m often tempted to skip introductions to get to the main story, I’m glad I didn’t skip this one. Second, I try not to give too many five-star ratings, to avoid star-inflation, so my four-star rating for this book is a solid “read this” recommendation. And finally, my thanks again to American Mystery Classics and Edelweiss for the review copy!
Erle Stanley Gardner was one of the first mystery authors whose books I read after I realized there WERE mystery authors other than Agatha Christie. And way back then, while I was in graduate school, Gardner’s books were perfect for the limited leisure reading time I had available, which consisted of a rare hour or two of guilty pleasure crammed in here and there among my studies. Gardner’s short but action-packed stories were great for that, especially since I knew that in his world, Perry Mason’s clients were never guilty, so although Perry himself might skate a fine line or two while protecting them, it would all come out okay in the end. Which was something I couldn’t say about my classes! At one point, I had a couple of shelves full of Gardner’s paperbacks, mostly bought from the local used bookstore (remember, poor graduate student), but those have long since vanished sometime during some move or other. So, I was really happy to be offered an advance copy of the new American Mystery Classics e-book edition of The Case of the Borrowed Brunette to review for my blog.
Borrowed Brunette is a classic Perry Mason story, with clients who do everything they can to land themselves in trouble, while Perry, Della Street and Paul Drake do their best to get them out of it. In this case, Eva Martell answers an ad that is looking for a brunette with a very specific appearance – right down to specifying a height of 5 feet 4 ½ inches tall (not 5’4” or 5’5”) and a weight of 111 pounds (not 110 or 115). And lest our minds go where they might with this, the lucky brunette who gets the $50/day job can also bring along a chaperone, who will be paid $20/day – but can’t bring along much else. Eva and her roommate, Cora Felton, both fit the bill, so they both apply, along with a number of other brunettes, but it’s Eva who gets chosen, and she brings along her “almost-mother”, Aunt Adelle, as a chaperone. When they are taken to live in a fancy apartment, though, and Eva is asked to pretend to be someone named Helen Reedley, Aunt Adelle becomes suspicious, and decides to get Perry Mason to check things out. Which he does, with style. Of course, somewhere along the way, a dead body pops up and both Eva and Adelle become suspects. The rest is pure Gardner, as Perry and his team try to figure out whether anyone, including his clients, is telling the truth. Towards the end, there are some classic scenes as Perry fences with Hamilton Berger’s right-hand man, the overly confident Harry Gulling, who would love to take him down. And finally, Perry figures out whodunnit at the last possible moment - while he’s actually testifying in front of the Grand Jury.
Readers do need to keep in mind that The Case of the Borrowed Brunette was written in 1946, and so, as you might expect, some of its social roles and expectations, especially as regards women, may feel a little antiquated today. But I feel that it’s always a bit of a slippery slope to try to apply today’s attitudes too rigorously to books that are decades old. Instead, I just contented myself with being glad I didn’t grow up back then, when I probably wouldn’t have even been able to get into a highly-technical graduate school – although I might have had more time to read! Other than that, though, I very much enjoyed my re-introduction to Perry Mason and crew after many many years.
A few final things worth mentioning: First, Otto Penzler, who is the creator of the American Mystery Classics imprint, has written a wonderful introduction for Borrowed Brunette that I learned a lot from. Who knew, for instance, that Gardner wrote more than a million words a year (a novel a month and some short stories) during the 1920s and 1930s. Or that he had a ranch compound near Temecula with accommodations for six (six!) secretaries and even more support staff. Although I’m often tempted to skip introductions to get to the main story, I’m glad I didn’t skip this one. Second, I try not to give too many five-star ratings, to avoid star-inflation, so my four-star rating for this book is a solid “read this” recommendation. And finally, my thanks again to American Mystery Classics and Edelweiss for the review copy!
November 12, 2022
Major characters:
Cora Felton, a street brunette
Eva Martell, a street brunette, Cora's roommate
"Aunt" Adelle Winters, their chaperone
Robert Dover Hines, employer of the street brunettes
Helen Reedley, who the brunette impersonates
Arthur Clovis, Helen's man on the side
Orville Reedley, Helen's powerful husband
Daphne Gridley, Orville's girl on the side
Carlotta Tipton, Hines' fiancée
Mae Bagley, rooming house operator
Perry Mason, attorney
Della Street, secretary
Paul Drake, private investigator
Harry Gulling, Assistant District Attorney
Locale: Los Angeles
Synopsis: Attorney Perry Mason is driving along Adams Street and is intrigued by a series of similarly-dressed brunettes, one at each intersection. He stops to inquire of one, Cora Felton, who explains they are applying for a position advertised by a Mr. Robert Hines requiring a brunette of certain appearance. Apparently Hines was doing a drive-by to pick one. Her roommate, Eva Martell, is on another corner, and she is the one selected.
Hines suggests Eva choose a chaperone to ensure this is on the up-and-up, and she selects her long time friend "Aunt" Adelle Winters. Hines sets Eva up in an obviously-occupied apartment, and instructs her on how to - without saying so - "impersonate" a Helen Reedley. A worried Eva consults Mason to learn that posing as another person is not illegal unless it is with intent to defraud.
Mason is still pondering the setup when Eva and Cora find Hines shot in the apartment. Investigation shows that the real Helen Reedley has a domineering high-powered husband, Orville Reedley, and a secret boyfriend, Arthur Clovis. Orville is playing the game, too, with a girl on the side - Daphne Gridley.
The police trace the murder gun to Adelle, and arrest her and Eva for the murder. Before Eva can be picked up, Mason hides her in a rooming house run by a former client, Mae Bagley; getting him in hot water with Assistant District Attorney Harry Gulling.
Review: A fast-paced read which I divided over two sittings. The setup was interesting, with the brunettes staged along the street. Gardner made a point that this particular street was in-between downtown and outlying areas, where the brunettes would be rather noticeable.
A lot of time is spent analyzing the garbage can incident, which got a bit tedious after a while. Mason plots a little setup for Gulling, with a prop wallet and a fake perfumed letter - I was looking forward to seeing how that played out, hoping for a courtroom surprise, but that didn't happen.
Hamilton Burger does not appear in this one, and I did miss him and his repartée with Mason.
For additional reviews indexed by author, please visit The Mystillery Blog and try The Mystillery Reading Challenges!
Cora Felton, a street brunette
Eva Martell, a street brunette, Cora's roommate
"Aunt" Adelle Winters, their chaperone
Robert Dover Hines, employer of the street brunettes
Helen Reedley, who the brunette impersonates
Arthur Clovis, Helen's man on the side
Orville Reedley, Helen's powerful husband
Daphne Gridley, Orville's girl on the side
Carlotta Tipton, Hines' fiancée
Mae Bagley, rooming house operator
Perry Mason, attorney
Della Street, secretary
Paul Drake, private investigator
Harry Gulling, Assistant District Attorney
Locale: Los Angeles
Synopsis: Attorney Perry Mason is driving along Adams Street and is intrigued by a series of similarly-dressed brunettes, one at each intersection. He stops to inquire of one, Cora Felton, who explains they are applying for a position advertised by a Mr. Robert Hines requiring a brunette of certain appearance. Apparently Hines was doing a drive-by to pick one. Her roommate, Eva Martell, is on another corner, and she is the one selected.
Hines suggests Eva choose a chaperone to ensure this is on the up-and-up, and she selects her long time friend "Aunt" Adelle Winters. Hines sets Eva up in an obviously-occupied apartment, and instructs her on how to - without saying so - "impersonate" a Helen Reedley. A worried Eva consults Mason to learn that posing as another person is not illegal unless it is with intent to defraud.
Mason is still pondering the setup when Eva and Cora find Hines shot in the apartment. Investigation shows that the real Helen Reedley has a domineering high-powered husband, Orville Reedley, and a secret boyfriend, Arthur Clovis. Orville is playing the game, too, with a girl on the side - Daphne Gridley.
The police trace the murder gun to Adelle, and arrest her and Eva for the murder. Before Eva can be picked up, Mason hides her in a rooming house run by a former client, Mae Bagley; getting him in hot water with Assistant District Attorney Harry Gulling.
Review: A fast-paced read which I divided over two sittings. The setup was interesting, with the brunettes staged along the street. Gardner made a point that this particular street was in-between downtown and outlying areas, where the brunettes would be rather noticeable.
A lot of time is spent analyzing the garbage can incident, which got a bit tedious after a while. Mason plots a little setup for Gulling, with a prop wallet and a fake perfumed letter - I was looking forward to seeing how that played out, hoping for a courtroom surprise, but that didn't happen.
Hamilton Burger does not appear in this one, and I did miss him and his repartée with Mason.
For additional reviews indexed by author, please visit The Mystillery Blog and try The Mystillery Reading Challenges!
November 3, 2025
This one was probably my favorite of the ones I've read recently (we're reading them in chronological order of publication). First of all, I liked how the story started with Mason simply noticing that for 8 straight blocks there was a young woman on a curb wearing a dark suit with a fur collar. That seemed like too much of a coincidence for him--and he was right! Something fishy was going on for sure. I also liked that it took a while to figure out exactly what was going on -- it got more complicated the more he learned but not so absurdly complicated that I needed a chart of who was who.
The ending was a BIT too lucky even for Perry Mason (the grand jury could have gone quite differently!) but still satisfying. And the weird little trap that Mason set wasn't even needed!
I still enjoy reading these for the time capsule they are to a lost world, the world of the 1940s. In this time, the word 'phone starts with an apostrophe because it's an abbreviation for "telephone." In this world, women had chaperones, and boarding houses for women had to report who was staying there--but at the same time, you could walk into a hotel and ask who was staying there and what room they were in and the front desk would cheerfully tell you. People actually LIVED in hotels and it was perfectly normal. LA had street cars. Everyone smoked. Telephone operators put you through at the "exchange" you asked for. Automatic elevators were a new thing and so were apartment building without attendants so you used a pneumatic tube to ask who was at the door before buzzing them in (how novel!). There were payphones everywhere and they all had phone books (sadly, I am old enough to remember that being common). Driver's licenses had fingerprints not photos. Banks kept track of the numbers on their $100 bills and could report who had been given which bill.
I like paying attention to those details in the books because they are not commented on— because they are unremarkable. These are all things taken for granted, just normal life but may as well be on another planet instead of merely 80 years ago.
The ending was a BIT too lucky even for Perry Mason (the grand jury could have gone quite differently!) but still satisfying. And the weird little trap that Mason set wasn't even needed!
I still enjoy reading these for the time capsule they are to a lost world, the world of the 1940s. In this time, the word 'phone starts with an apostrophe because it's an abbreviation for "telephone." In this world, women had chaperones, and boarding houses for women had to report who was staying there--but at the same time, you could walk into a hotel and ask who was staying there and what room they were in and the front desk would cheerfully tell you. People actually LIVED in hotels and it was perfectly normal. LA had street cars. Everyone smoked. Telephone operators put you through at the "exchange" you asked for. Automatic elevators were a new thing and so were apartment building without attendants so you used a pneumatic tube to ask who was at the door before buzzing them in (how novel!). There were payphones everywhere and they all had phone books (sadly, I am old enough to remember that being common). Driver's licenses had fingerprints not photos. Banks kept track of the numbers on their $100 bills and could report who had been given which bill.
I like paying attention to those details in the books because they are not commented on— because they are unremarkable. These are all things taken for granted, just normal life but may as well be on another planet instead of merely 80 years ago.
October 22, 2021
Another surprisingly outstanding selection from Penzler Publishers for their continuing selection of American Mystery Classics, and especially of their Perry Mason reprints. The other two so far, Careless Kitten and Baited Hook, have both been unique entries in the Mason series, due to the nature of the trial and the enshrouding of the client's identity respectively, and Borrowed Brunette continues this trend. The plot starts, strangely enough, when Perry Mason notices similarly-dressed, similarly-figured brunettes on each corner of a street. One reveals that they are there for a sort of audition for an acting gig, and then learns her roommate got the job. Adelle Winters, who acts as an aunt-figure for Eva Martell (the winning brunette) comes to Perry Mason, fearing the possible illegality of the job and its use of impersonation. The first act consists of learning what is really going on with this job, ending with the murder of the man representing the impersonated (who, by the way, wants to be impersonated.) When Winters is accused of the murder due to several circumstances, Mason decides for once to work in the background (we don't see Lt. Tragg at all; he's only mentioned) to clear Ms. Winters and, tangentially, Eva Martell. The big difference in this book, besides the subtlety of the investigation, is that instead of prosecutor Hamilton Burger, we get his coworker Henry Gulling, an A.D.A. who focuses on work in the office, but who has a cold and calculating legal mind which is put to good use when he personally takes up the prosecution against Winters and Martell out of spite against Mason (then again, aren't all the prosecutors actions in these books out of spite against Mason?) This creates a really interesting dynamic of Mason taking on a different, and possibly stronger, legal foe - it reminded me of the one part of the first Ace Attorney with Manfred von Karma instead of Edgeworth. The detection itself is solid, and although it can get complex at times, the final solution is a beautiful application of Occam's Razor.
July 20, 2023
Perry Mason, Della Street ile arabasıyla gezerken şehrin bir kısmında her köşede aynı elbise ile bekleyen birbirine benzeyen kadınlar görür. Bu durum dikkatini çeker ve birisi ile görüşür. Cora Felton ona bir gazete ilanı üzerine buraya geldiklerini söyler. Bir adam yanlarına yanaşır ve seçilmediğini söyleyerek 10 dolar verir ve gönderir. Cora'nın ev arkadaşı Eva Martell de başvurmuştur. O işi almıştır ve annelerinin arkadaşı olan Adelle Winters adlı tanıdıkları da onun yanında çalışacaktır. Adelle işe başladıktan sonra Mason'ı arar ve bu Hines denen adamın bir suç işlediğini düşündüğünü söyler. Paul Drake ve Della ile araştırma yapan Mason, Hines'ın Helen Reedley adlı birinin yerine geçmesi için bu ilanı hazırladığını, Eva'nın Helen'e benzediğini öğrenir. Biraz daha araştırınca Helen'in Orville adında sert bir adamla evli olduğunu ama ayrı yaşadığını, kocası peşine dedektif taktığı için Hines ile beraber böyle bir işe giriştiklerini, aslında Orville'in de evinin yakınlarında bir kadınla işi pişirdiğini öğrenir. Bir gün Adelle ve Eva eve geldiğinde Hines'i öldürülmüş bulur. Mason'ın tavsiyesi ile polise haber verirler. En başta işleri bitmiş gibi görünür ama sonradan Adelle'ün silahı cinayet silahı olarak ortaya çıkar. Ayrıca maktulün cüzdanı içi para dolu bir şekilde Adelle'den çıkar. Adelle otelin çöp kutularının orada bir kutuya bakarken görülmüş ve o kutudan cinayet silahı çıkmıştır. Her şey onların aleyhine görünür. Savcı Henry Gulling ise kafayı Mason'a takmıştır ve onu da dava etmek ister. Mason da normalde olmadığı halde Adelle'i de savunacağını söyler. Hines'i cebinden çıkan bazı paralar Orville'e aittir. İkisi de kumarbazdır. Hem Mae adlı pansiyon sahibini hem de müvekkillerini kurtarmak isteyen Mason, cinayet saatine kafayı takmıştır. O silahın bulunduğu kovada kimin parmak izi vardır. Neden az çöp vardır? Katil kimdir ve cinayeti neden işlemiştir? Mason katili bulabilecek midir? Gulling ne yapacaktır? Keyifle soluksuz okunan bir roman.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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