CASE OF SILENT PARTNER

Rating:
Summary: Finding An Unusual Suspect
Review: Mildreth Faulkner owns a small flower shop. Her competitor, Harry Peavis, bought up a few shares in her small corporation. Now he wants to buy up control. Mildreth calls Perry Mason's office for an appointment, then visits her invalid sister Carlotta and her husband Bob. Chapter 2 explains how this nightclub with a PRIVATE door runs a racket. The witness, Esther Dilmeyer, is poisoned by candy but is found in time. Mildreth suspects Bob has given up Carlotta's shares in the corporation. There is another roller-coaster ride of a story where events pop-up as a surprise twist. Complications arise from page to page, chapter to chapter, yet the storyline stays simple to follow.

In Chapter 5 Mason visits the nightclub owner's cabin, only to find the police and newspaper reporters covering his murder. Lynk was dead quite a while (the coagulation of blood and rigor mortis). Now the question is who did it from the list of suspects, or an as yet unknown person. Chapter 6 tells how a suspect could refuse to answer questions based on constitutional rights. Lieutenant Tragg plays with Mildreth like a cat with a mouse, and gets her admission (Mason represents her sister Carlotta). Mason points out that husbands and wives are more likely to kill each other than a stranger (Chapter 9). Chapter 13 explains why a claimant in a court of equity must have clean hands; illegal means, entrapment, fraud, or oppression disqualify a suit. Mason learns of facts that lead to the questioning of a witness, and the truth comes out to free his client. Mildreth recovers the missing stock and keeps her business. This all takes place in two fast-paced days. One item dates this novel: a woman wearing "light woolen stockings" (Chapter 3).