Book Review: The Case of the Beautiful Beggar by Erle Stanley Gardner (1965)
Synopsis: While on her way back from a 3-month-long Asian retreat, 22-year-old Daphne Shelby receives a letter from her wealthy uncle, Horace, instructing her to cash an enclosed check for $125,000 and then have attorney Perry Mason take charge of the money on her behalf and make out a will naming her his sole heir. When Daphne and Mason attempt to follow the letter's instructions, they learn Horace's finances have been seized by his half-brother, Borden Finchley, and Horace has been committed to a sanitarium. Believing it is an attempt to steal Horace's money, Mason agrees to help Daphne free her uncle, only to find the case is more complicated than first believed. Things become even more complicated when Daphne breaks her uncle out of the sanitarium without Mason's knowledge and later becomes the primary suspect in the murder of Ralph Exeter, Finchley's associate. Review: It's been a while since I've read a Perry Mason book, and I even needed to do so...