Gather The Case Of The Drowning Duck (Perry Mason, #20) Penned By Erle Stanley Gardner Visible In Softcover

end of this case was one part predictable and one part unpredictable, Considering, this is another book where Mason solves two cases simultaneously, it is also one where he gets out of a very tricky place purely using his ingenuity! A fast paced, crisp thriller, which keeps you gripped till the very end.
Ending felt a little abrupt, but this was a good one as usual that takes them out of the office and to a dysfunctional country inn with a few twists tossed in.
I'm guessing detergent was a brand new thing back when, . A dead man in the kitchen, gas fumes permeates the house, a duck seem to be drowning in the fishbowl, but it didn't die.
Maybe that fact has something to do with murder I picked this up as a Kindle ebook and Amazon has a number of Erle Stanley Gardner books available.
I loved the old TV series with Raymond Burr and the slightly newer ones featuring a much older Raymon Burr.
I like that the ebook format is allowing us to revisit a lot of older authors, I am sometimes disappointed as I was with Leslie Charteris "Enter the Saint", Often these older novels just don't stand the test of time but that isn't the case here, Yes, the world has changed since the time this novel was written but it offers us a look into the way people loved before cell phones and the internet.
And yes, these are even better than the TV series, It is hard for me to get the picture of Raymond Burr out of my mind but Perry isn't Raymond so do yourself a favor and meet the "real" Perry Mason.
Copeland lashed out at him, "This isn't the first time you've been mistaken in connection with this case.
"
Mason bowed. "Being purely a private citizen, my mistakes don't result in the prosecution of innocent men, " Ah, I needed this one, From the Palm Springs start inthe same year my mom graduated from Palm Springs High! to the shenanigans in El Templo hi, El Centro!, this was a wonderfully nostalgic read for me.
The characters were great, the mystery was a mystery right up to the grand unveiling, and Della Street continues to be a Boss.


And on another note, town names in the Perry Mason books continue to befuddle me, Palm Springs is Palm Springs, but El Centro is El Templo Like Santa Monica is Bay City Why do some get name changes but not others This was a quick and intriguing read.
I've only read a few books in the sitelinkErle Stanley Gardner, It was an interesting story and although it was written almostyears ago, it seems almost timeless, I thought the description of "detergent" was very funny, however, considering the advances of technology in our cleaning materials.
Overall it was a very entertaining story and was perfect for a long flight home,

interesting quote:
"Every man who has lived enough to be more than a stuffed shirt, has a closed chapter in his life.
If he hasn't, he isn't a man, " p.

"The absolute silence of the desert descended upon them, stilled the desire for conversation, left them calmly contented, souls purified by a vast tranquility.
" p.

new words: quirt, tyro, ferrule, cuspidor This is the twentieth Perry Mason novel, about a quarter of the way through the series.
It's set in, just as the U, S. has entered the Second World War, and as always, reflects the standards and the attitudes of its time.


As the book opens, Perry and his secretary are away from the office on vacation in Palm Springs.
Why Perry and Della are vacationing together is something that the author doesn't bother to explain, but it turns out to be fortuitous when Mason is approached by a very wealthy local man, named Witherspoon, who has a strange request.


Witherspoon's daughter has fallen in love with a young, penniless college student named Marvin, who will soon be going off to fight in the war.
Marvin and the daughter believe that he was kidnapped as a baby and was raised by the woman he thought was his mother, until she died making a deathbed confession about the kidnapping.
However Witherspoon has conducted an investigation and knows that the story was false, The boy's father was hanged for

murder years earlier and the mother made up the lie to spare the boy the embarrassment of knowing that he was the son of a convicted killer.


Witherspoon is determined to protect his family's good name at all cost and is determined that his daughter will not marry the son of a man rightfully convicted of murder.
He has a copy of the trial transcript and wants Mason to review it, If Mason can convince Witherspoon that the man was wrongly convicted, Witherspoon will say nothing and will allow his daughter to marry Marvin.
But if there's even a breath of suspicion left, Witherspoon will expose the secret and forbid the marriage.


Mason thus faces several seemingly impossible tasks, the most important of which is saving the young lovers from the stupidity and narrowmindedness of the girl's father.
It won't be easy. More people are going to die, a poor little duck is going to be put in mortal danger, and in the end, only Perry Mason could sort out all the complex strands of this mystery.


All in all, it's a fairly typical Mason story, save for the fact that it does not take place in L.
A. Perry will not see all that much time in court, but will ultimately wind up in a judge's chamber trying to explain all the evidence in a way that won't leave the judge and the readers shaking their heads in dismay.
A fun read. Drowning Duck is theth Perry Mason novel published in thes, and one of the best of Masons firstappearances.
I would give this oneif I could, Well plotted and featuring some of the most entertaining courtroom scenes of the series to this point, Like a couple of previous entries, Duck gives a special role to Della and her part in making Mason shine and in repeatedly pulling his ass out of the fire.
Paul Drake also gets to shine in this one, The three of them seem more like a team than in most of thes cases, This might be a good one to read if you just want to try out Gardners writing, Unlike I have said with some other series, there is no real reason to read these in order though I am very much enjoying reading them in publication order to track how the author matured his style.
Sicuramente non il migliore della serie, La trama troppo complicata toglie il piacere della lettura di un libro che si propone come svago e invece si trasforma in un puzzle.
I picked up a bunch of old Perry Mason mysteries and thought Id try one, I fondly remember reading several when I was a kid and they hold up well, There are the usual archaic references to contemporary technology, and one very jarring reference to a Red River Valley in California where there were large cotton farms.
That was a bit ungeographical, Not to mention the constant cigarette smoking, It was just a given that everyone smoked, And women were to be goodlooking and useful,

Nevertheless, interesting plot lines, A wealthy blueblood, John Witherspoon approaches Mason and asks him to look into the background of his daughters fiance, Marvin Adams.
Supposedly, Marvin had been kidnapped as a child and brought up by the kidnappers, Withersppon had hired detectives who contrarily learned the boys father had been convicted of murder and Witherspoon, overly genetically inclined, is sure those evil traits might have been passed down from father to son.
He wants Mason to read the trial transcript, see if the conviction was representative of the truth, and if so he will devise a test involving murder that will show Marvins true colors.
And the key to it all is a drowning duck,

True to the formula this is not a negative, Mason arrogantly bends the law, manipulates the evidence, pulls rabbits out of his hat, even switches ducks.
Its hardly a spoiler to reveal that he again gets his client always innocent off and reveals the identity of the killer in court.


Not as sophisticated as many of the currently published legal thrillers, there is still an undercurrent of criticism of the legal system that surprised me.

Better Than The Television Episode, This story traveled back and forth from interesting to baffling all due to Perry Mason and his deductive mind.
The cast of characters built the story into one crazy concoction that ended up solving four murders two inamp two in,years apart.
This was my first Gardner / Perry Mason novel, loaned to me by my sisterinlaw, Though I grew up in the era of the original Perry Mason TV shows, I didn't watch them, so I am just learning about him and his work and personality.
The Case of the Drowning Duck was published in, and I have to admit that I was surprised by its more modern feel.


The basic setupf the story is that a wealthy man comes to see Perry Mason with a problem.
His daughter seems to be about to marry a young man whose father was executed for murder, She isn't aware of his family's past, because his "parents" kidnapped him and lied to him about his background.
The young woman's father wants Mason to review the transcripts of the case, and determine if the young man's father might have been innocent.
If not, he plans to do everything in his power to prevent the marriage, because he cannot have a miscreant marrying into his family.
Let's just say that once certain involved individuals learn of the unofficial reopening of the case, everything explodes all around Mason and the family.


I'll comment primarily on the interesting aspects of Perry Mason those of you who are familiar with him can dispense with the review, since you already know all about him.
I had to check other sources to see if Gardner or Mason was originally British they weren't, because he often replies "Indeed" when he is surprised at something someone says.
Perhaps that expression was in use in America at that time by cultured gentlemen, I was very pleasantly surprised to find out that the novel is set in the Palm Springs area as I've mentioned here before I have a thing for stories set in L.
A. and its surroundings.

Perry Mason has gotten to a point in his career where he can afford to select only the most interesting cases to take on those that tickle his intellect and curiosity.
Perhaps one of the more unique aspects of the story and I assume the entire series is that while Mason is an attorney, what he is now doing with these exceptionally complex cases is detective work.
He has an assistant Paul Drake who is a detective, and Mason uses him for the grunt work of trailing people, eavesdropping, fact gathering, etc.
Della Street, his "secretary", is really more of another allaround assistant, After years of working side by side every day, she knows Perry forwards and backwards, and also acts as a protective and corrective mother figure.


Mason uses language cleverly as a tool in everyday situations, to direct conversations either toward or away from topics as he sees fit.
Nearly every chapter includes Mason talking to someone who is lying through their teeth, I don't think Gardner would have much work for him if people weren't such liars! I always say that what keeps me coming back to an author is an understanding and facile use of subtle and complex emotions, and Gardner has that in spades.
This is theth book of the Perry Mason series and theth that I have read, I would personally place it in the bottombooks so far, as solving three murders stretchedyears apart does make the plot unnecessarily complicated while the solution is quite simple.
The pivotal murder, while ingenuous, does have substantial amount of luck associated, with respect to the people visiting the victim at about the time he is murdered, which makes it slightly unbelievable as well.
Apart from that, it is a straightforward case with not many red herrings and makes for a light read without the dangerous undertones that are normally associated with a Perry Mason book when Mason gets too deeply involved in the case.
Not my favourite Mason story, You have to be tolerant when reading these old novels, but this one is a bit too much.
You don't believe in the story, and the tricks Mason are playing in this book, are unacceptable and should have brought him to prison.
You miss Hamilton Burger too, as the story is not taking place in LA, Can't recommend. Sorry. .