Book Review: The Case of the Rolling Bones by Erle Stanley Gardner
Attorney Perry Mason is having a slow week with no real meaty cases, just ongoing matters that require boring paperwork. So he’s thrilled when a delegation of three people associated with Gold Rush millionaire Alden Leeds appears. They believe Mr. Leeds may be being blackmailed, but Alden won’t tell them anything, so want a lawyer to look into it. Perry is only too happy to accept a retainer and put his detective Paul Drake on the investigation.
The case takes an almost immediate twist when other relatives of Alden Leeds abduct him for commitment to an asylum for the senile. Perry shows his gift for legal legerdemain by making sure the commitment hearing is before a judge who has personal reasons for being extra skeptical about doctors declaring patients senile. The judge orders Mr. Leeds produced, but the patient has vanished from the asylum!
Meanwhile, it turns out one of the people involved in the case owned a firm that made loaded dice (the “rolling bones” of the title) until very recently, and may have been the blackmailer. He turns up murdered, and there are a number of people with both motives and opportunity, one of whom Perry must now defend!
This is a complicated case, with a key witness missing, several people having gone by more than one name, and a shallow grave in Alaska that may or may not be connected to the current matter.
I had little problem following the convoluted red herrings, but I have seen reviews from other people who got confused, and at least one loose thread never gets tied up.
As always, the actual law cited is correct for California in 1939, but Perry Mason plays fast and loose extrajudicially and it’s made clear his license might have been yanked if the judges involved didn’t think he was working for justice.
This is a relatively early case, and it is strongly hinted in one scene that Perry and his secretary Della Street were involved in heavy making out while waiting for a suspect to appear.
Overall, a fun mystery story with plenty of puzzle pieces. Recommended to mystery fans.
