Customer Reviews

Perry Mason 2 in 1: The Case of the Howling Dog & The Case of the Substitute Face

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although written in 1938, this book comes across as fresh and exciting as anything written today. Perry Mason, although watered down in the Raymond Burr television version,is a robust man that will go to extreme measures to prove the innocense of his client. He often does this by showing the dishonesty and coercive tactics of the police, a fact still prevalent today.Gardner knew the law well and this book, as every book of his I've had the pleasure to read, has two or three wonderful episodes in which Mason uses his legal genius to further his cause. As a reader I had no idea of who actually committed the crime until the next to last page. Gardner intertwines all the facts masterfully and lets Perry Mason use his command for logic to show us the answers. Great book, and extremely entertaining. Don't let the age of Gardners books dissaude you from reading them. Like fine wine and law books; they get better with age

So, you've heard about Perry Mason and would like to read one of his books? If you were to read one and only one of the dozens of books Erle Stanley Gardner wrote, "The Case of the Substitute Face" should be it. This book, written in 1938, shows Gardner at the top of his form, after he had fully developed his formula, but before it truly became a formula.

Gardner himself was a top lawyer. "The Case of the Chinese Shopkeepers" could have been one of Gardner's books if he hadn't done it himself. When Gardner heard the DA was going to subpoena one of his clients, a chinese shopkeeper in Oxnard CA, Gardner put another chinese man, who didn't speak English, in his client's store. The court officer then brought the wrong witness to court and, after much confusion, the case was dismissed.

Perry Mason often uses unorthodox (even illegal sometimes) methods to find out what really happened. His attitude is described metaphorically as "skating on thin ice". In this novel, Mason did not only skate but made several somersaults on thin ice. I just applauded that. But Mason's spectacular stunt is not limited to this novel. The distinctive feature of this novel will be the importance of "corpus delicti", the proof that the victim is really dead and that the death is caused by another people's criminal act. If you want to know what I mean, just read the book.

Background: The stylistic heritage of the Perry Mason mysteries is the American pulp magazines of the 1920s. In the early Mason mysteries, Perry - a good-looking, broad-shouldered, two-fisted, man of action - is constantly stiff-arming sultry beauties on his way to an explosive encounter that precipitates the book's climactic action sequence. In the opening chapters of these stories, Gardner subjects the reader to assertive passages that Mason is a crusader for justice, a man so action-oriented he is constitutionally incapable of sitting in his office and waiting for a case to come to him or to develop on its own once it has - he has to be out on the street, in the midst of the action, making things happen, always on the offensive, never standing pat or accepting being put on the defensive. These narrative passages - naïve, embarrassingly crude "character" development - pop up throughout the early books, stopping the narrative dead in its tracks, and putting on full display a non-writer's worst characteristic: telling the reader a character's traits instead of showing them through action, dialogue, and use of other of the writer's tools.

Rating "Ground Rules": These flaws, and others so staggeringly obvious that enumerating them is akin to using cannons to take out a flea, occur throughout the Gardner books, and can easily be used (with justification) to trash his work. But for this reader they are a "given", part of the literary terrain, and are not relevant to my assessment of the Gardner books. In other words, my assessments of the Perry Mason mysteries turn a blind eye to Erle Stanley Gardner's wooden, style-less writing, inept descriptive passages, unrealistic dialogue, and weak characterizations. As I've just noted, as examples of literary style all of Gardner's books, including the Perry Mason series, are all pretty bad. Nonetheless, the Mason stories are a lot of fun, offering intriguing puzzles, nifty legal gymnastics, courtroom pyrotechnics, and lots of action and close calls for Perry and crew. Basically, you have to turn off the literary sensibilities and enjoy the "guilty" pleasure of a fun read of bad writing. So, my 1-5 star ratings (A, B, C, D, and F) are relative to other books in the Gardner canon, not to other mysteries, and certainly not to literature or general fiction.

"The Case of the Substitute Face": A

This solid Perry Mason mystery is an entertaining read with plenty of twists and turns and mysterious events - more sheer detection than any half-a-dozen mysteries by less inventive writers, of which, it might be noted, there were plenty populating the book racks in 1938 when this story was first published. But as good as this particular case is, the book itself is ultimately more memorable for the insights it provides into the relationship between Perry Mason and his superhumanly faithful secretary, Della Street.

Perry and Della are returning to Los Angeles by cruise ship from a Hawaiian vacation, when Perry is approached by a woman who would like to engage his help in determining whether her closed-mouth husband is a lottery winner, as he claims, or an embezzler on the run. Before Mason can get an investigation off the ground, her husband disappears during some rough weather, leaving behind witnesses who swear that his wife shot him and then tossed the body over the railing. On his way to solving this tricky case, Perry manages to pull off a couple of bluffs and double-bluffs to get information from evasive witnesses, and then stages some courtroom drama that turns the tables on the prosecution and the murderer.

In the course of bringing a murderer to justice, however, Perry proposes marriage to Della - who turns him down. Her reasons for rejecting the man she obviously loves will have readers with feminist leanings reaching for their picket signs and, in all honesty, there is simply no defending the bald chauvinism of Gardner's attitude. But the attitude strikes me as not truly felt; it seems more like an expedient solution to a problem that was developing in successive books in the Perry Mason series - namely, the burgeoning relationship between Perry and Della. At this point in the series the relationship seemed to be acquiring a life of its own, and consequently demanding more attention and time than Gardner wanted to devote to it. He knew his strengths well enough to realize that it was in his best interests to push the relationship to the far background and focus on the story, the mystery, and the legal twists that constitute the Perry Mason stories at their best.

In this book, as in its immediate predecessors, he is groping not to establish a relationship between them, but to define it in such a way that it no longer needs to be written about. A relationship that is no longer dynamic, no longer subject to change or development, so that he can concentrate his writing on the mystery, the law, the action, and the story. In this book, with the rejected marriage proposal, he achieves that objective.

If the writing style characteristic of the thirties and forties is something that you enjoy, then Gardner's mysteries are a must-read. In this early novel, mistaken identity plays a large role. We have a switched photograph, a bandaged man, a woman in thick glasses, and a family traveling under false pretenses. Perry Mason is initially involved to protect a young innocent from scandal, but he gets in deeper and deeper until it's finally all about murder.

The Case of the Substitute Face, by Erle Stanley Gardner

In Chapter 1 Perry Mason is leaving the warm climate and friendly people of Hawaii to return to Civilization. Della Street accompanied him on vacation. Perry accepts human nature as an accomplished fact. "Mass belief is a tangible psychic force." Mrs. Newberry tells Perry about the change in the family name. Her daughter Belle likes to live the ritzy life. Any scandal would hurt her. Who substituted Belle's picture with a Hollywood actress, and why? The plot gets complicated when they learn about another family on that ship. Perry tries to make a deal for his unnamed client. Belle decides its time to end her Cinderella vacation (Chapter 4). The wind does not stop the sound of a scream and a shot. "Man overboard." Mr. Newberry has disappeared, his wife is a suspect. A witness said Mrs. Newberry pushed a body over the rail.

Perry and Paul do their research in an apartment (Chapter 8). They find out facts about the case and the people. Mrs. Newberry is charged with murder, Belle is being held without charges (Chapter 9). Whose dress left a torn piece of cloth (Chapter 10)? The investigation turns up more facts, and discrepancies (Chapter 11). What happened to Della (Chapter 12)? Chapter 14 has the Preliminary Hearing where Miss Aileen Fell is the eyewitness. Perry's cross-examination reveals the facts behind her testimony, and tests her eyesight. The Captain did not check the passengers against the list. They find Della, but the police take her into custody as a material witness (Chapter 15). Della testifies on what she saw (Chapter 16).

The body of Carl Moar, Mr. Newberry, was found. He was wedged into a life ring, and had removed his coat, shirt, tie, and pants, but not his high-laced shoes. He died of a gunshot wound to the back (Chapter 17). Why wasn't he seen from the ship? The bullet did not come from the found revolver! Perry thinks of a ruse so the D.A. would hunt for Morgan Eves and Evelyn Whiting. Fingerprint expert Borge finds a surprise in his photographs (Chapter 18). The testimony of Evelyn Whiting clears up the mystery. Perry's client will be freed as the charges are dismissed. Chapter 19 ties up the loose ends for a happy ending.

In this story the eyewitness identification is revealed as faulty, and the circumstantial evidence seems to contradict reality. How can a man be shot by a bullet that didn't come from the gun found at the murder site. Who knows what shoes would be worn with a tuxedo (a subtle clue)? This fast-paced and complex story is among the best, but it seems overly complicated. Perry Mason uses tricks that are close to the line. Its story reflects the society of that day.

This is the 29th Perry Mason novel I've read (the 12th in the series). Forgive me for giving this one less than a rave review. Usually Perry Mason sees what no one else can see--a sort of mid-20th Century Sherlock Holmes. In this case the only surprise about the solution is that it takes Mr. Mason so long to happen upon it. The most interesting feature of this story is Perry Mason's marriage proposal to Della Street. (Holmes' own Doctor Watson got married in the "Sign of Four," but his wife was killed off in "The Empty House." I guess his wife "got in the way" one too many times. Could Della suffer a similar fate?)