Perry Mason Solves the Case of the Phantom Fortune [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Pocket Books (1974)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000H4EEQK
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,847,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Weak story that depends heavily on incompetent police work. There is no climactic court scene to overcome this weakness, May 14, 2007

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Perry Mason Solves the Case of the Phantom Fortune (Paperback)

Unlike most of the other Perry Mason books by Gardner, this one does not have the climactic courtroom scene. The standard scenario is that Mason seems to be on the brink of defeat at the hands of District Attorney Hamilton Burger, yet at the last moment, Mason manages to pull a stunner that resolves everything.

The story begins with Mason being approached by Horace Warren, a happily married man whose wife has a dubious past. Warren wants Mason to take accompany Della Street to a party at Warren's place of residence to scan for unsavory characters and check for fingerprints. Warren believes that his wife is being blackmailed, yet he wants to resolve it without his wife ever learning of his involvement.

A lie is concocted to justify the presence of Mason and Street, but it falls apart very quickly. Things get progressively worse as a man attempts to include Mason in the blackmail. In order to protect his client, Mason pays the man $500, but that only makes things worse. When the blackmailer is found murdered, Warren in found in the building with the suspected murder weapon in his pocket.

Of course, Mason eventually solves the problem, but his solution is dependent on some extremely sloppy police work. That is what makes the story fall down, while it is acceptable to have the police miss some evidence or reach false conclusions, in this case they don't even conduct a complete search of the building. That fact exceeds the normal bounds of believability and since there is no climactic court scene, it just doesn't work well.