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The Case of the Hesitant Hostess (Perry Mason Mystery)

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The Case of the Hesitant Hostess

The `Foreword' is dedicated to Dr. Milton Helpern, one of the top experts in forensic medicine. Dr. Helpern is one of the chief Medical Examiners of New York City, and a Professor at New York University Post Graduate Medical School. His diagnosis of a spontaneous cerebral hemorrhage saved a man from a murder charge. In another case he found the tip of a knife in the skull and brain or a dead man; what had seemed a natural death was murder.

In Chapter 1 Perry Mason is representing an indigent Albert Brogan, accused of armed robbery. A witness is very sure of her identification, less sure of some other events. The defendant retired after a car accident and a nervous breakdown. Perry thinks Martha Lavina isn't telling all (Chapter 2). Perry goes to search for the missing witness, an unusual investigation. He learned there is more than advertised (Chapter 3). Paul Drake cautions Perry about the Villa Lavina's connections (Chapter 5). Perry's missing witness is located, but Inez Kaylor took a handful of sleeping pills (Chapter 6)! But there is a mystery about the ambulance (Chapter 7). Perry finds out that his client Albert Brogan will be charged with the murder of a young woman (Chapter 8).

When Della Street goes to Inez Kaylor's apartment she finds a new complication in the closet. A doctor is called, then an ambulance (Chapter 10). Della and Perry find out that Inez Kaylor has a sister (Chapter 11). Could a routine business letter hold a clue (Chapter 12)? A very long Chapter 14 has Perry Mason's cross-examination of Martha Lavina and Rodney Archer. Their answers, explanations, and contradictions question their veracity. Della Street walked into trouble when she answered the ad for a model agency. Her mute telephone call warns Perry, and he brings Lt. Tragg along. They discover the hidden secret behind the crime (Chapter 15). The real Inez Kaylor showed up to fill in the rest of the story. She was lured away because she could have told what she suspected about Lavina's racket. They were able to switch people by using an ambulance! One of the gang turned State's evidence and the conspiracy was exposed. Albert Brogan will profit from suing Rodney Archer and Martha Lavina for false accusations, a happy ending (Chapter 16).

The activities of Perry Mason in this 1953 novel are similar to the earlier stories, or the "Ken Corning" short stories, from the 1930s. You can read between the lines to know the real business that is beneath the euphemistic descriptions. The switch of bodies recalls the film "The Lady Vanishes".

This story was unusual as Perry Mason mysteries in several reasons; (1) Mason was assigned by the court as a defending lawyer for a penniless defendant, (2) the case was not a murder but a hold-up and (3) the trial was on from the beginning of the story. The situation went worse and worse to the defendant, but Mason never gave up and at last succeeded in turning the tables more dramatically than ever. The story showed Mason's sincerity as a lawyer; even if he couldn't earn no money, he did everything he could for the defendant. I wish I could retain Mason when I needed a criminal lawyer. And I liked the front cover; it was meaningful.

I'm glad Perry Masons are becoming available on Kindle. Gardner was a Guinness Record holder for fast writing, and when he wrote about the lawyer Perry Mason he was speaking from his own experience as a defense attorney. The result was expert pulp fiction with a touch of honest atmosphere. Long before postmodern cynicism, Gardner was taking it for granted that police would be crooked enough to railroad defendants, conduct torture-interrogations (as Lieutenant Tragg does in this book) and generally send suspects to jail by any means available.

Gardner was a friend and contemporary of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, and Perry Mason himself is not always one hundred percent on the right side of the law.

In HESITANT HOSTESS our mind is kept off a not very believable murder scenario by explorations into night clubs, hostesses, and their cynical moneymaking managers. Perry Mason, a pre-feminist two-fisted he-man, investigates both hostesses and moneymakers closely. As one character puts it, "Everyone sells what he has to sell. Some women ask for a cash price. Some women want security. They settle for marriage in order to get security. Every woman who has a mirror appraises her bargaining position a dozen times a day."

While the reader is recovering from all this erotic giddiness, Della Street, Mason's fabulous secretary, is kidnaped, sirens wail, and a mixed-up plot is exposed and settles everything.

It's not the best Mason novel. The plot is too confused. On the other hand, Gardner, like Balzac, is excellent even when his book isn't. If you're up for a wild ride, who cares if a fender gets crushed?