Sunday, August 31, 2008
 
Book Report: The Case of the Mischeivous Doll by Erle Stanley Gardner (1963)
This is a Perry Mason novel. It clocks in at like 140 pages. I understand Gardner dictated two of these a month or something. As such, you should expect it's a formulaic read, albeit one that's pleasing.

This one details a plot where an heiress's double approaches Mason to make sure she's not getting chosen to be a patsy in something. She's got an odd story to tell, and when a man appears dead in her apartment during her apparent kidnapping, Mason has to determine if his client is in on it.

On a side note, the 1960s technology that doesn't appear so dated for this novel: the speaker phone. When Della hooks it up, it reads just like the speaker phone in the conference room where I used to work. 45 years later, it doesn't read like they're playing eight track tapes.

And an odd note about the edition I have: it's a Walter J. Black edition, but mine has a dustjacket. This is the first of the Walter J. Black editions I have of anything that has a dustjacket. Did someone slip a dustjacket for the same title over this one, or what?

Books mentioned in this review:


 
To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."