CASE NEGLIGENT NYMPH

Rating:
Summary: Starts with a naked woman out of the water and gets better
Review: This story starts with Perry Mason alone in a canoe examining an estate and suddenly a naked woman (the negligent nymph) rises out of the water and makes landfall. She then dresses in an evening gown and proceeds to surreptitiously enter the estate. Suddenly, there is an alarm and the woman comes running back to the water with a guard dog hot on her trail. Just as the dog is about to catch her, Mason intervenes, forcing the dog back to land. He then helps the girl into the canoe and assists her escape. The only thing that she took was a bottle with a letter in it. That letter accuses the owner of the estate with murder. They copy the letter and Mason leaves without revealing who he really is.
She is then charged with stealing jewels from the estate and hires Mason to defend her. He has little difficulty in this problem, but things get complicated when the owner of the estate is found dead, apparently murdered. Since the girl went to the estate on the night of the death, she is a logical suspect and she is charged with murder.
This starts you on a mystery that ranks among Gardner's best Perry Mason stories. Mason is not only defending the girl, who fails to follow his instructions, but also must avoid the revelation that he aided her escape. There are many twists to the plot, and the solution hinges on the fact that the guard dog was placed in a closet and had a bloody paw. The actual events of the death come out only at the end, and Gardner sets the stage for this rather well.
Erle Stanley Gardner was a very prolific writer, so of course the quality of his stories varies a great deal. This is one of his better Mason stories, it never lagged and the conclusion was an unexpected one. There was also a hint of the love Della Street has for Mason.