3.5* ( )

"She regarded him with that whimsical expression which a woman reserves for a man of whom she is very fond and who has been rather clumsy in seeking to outwit her." ( )

Original price: $0.75. ( )

A brand new, sealed tin can, sitting on a shelf among the many canned goods is the key to solving this mystery. Why would someone do that?

Mason is approached by a Elston Karr; a wheelchair bound man who is used to getting his way and seems to have secrets to hide. It seems there has been a murder in the flat below Karr's and Karr want some legal advice...and no publicity or bother.

The downstairs tenant, named Hocksley, is a man of mystery. He dictates into a dictaphone at night, and sleeps during the day. No one sees him. Not his housekeeper or the stenographer who comes in daily to transcribe the dictation.

When the stenographer comes in, one day, finds no dictation to be done and the housekeeper missing she feels something is wrong. When it is discovered that Karr has heard possible shots during the night, and there is corroboration from the Gentrie family next door, the police are called. The problem is there are no bodies!

Another problem involves Karr's past and past business partner. At one point Karr was involved in gun running in China. His partner is dead and he is winding down his business. Karr has found that the partner had a daughter and wants to give her a share of the money. The problem is locating her and verifying her identity.

The tin can is found the the basement of the Gentrie home. The home has some interesting residents: Mrs. Gentrie who runs the home in a smooth and orderly fashion; Mr. Gentrie who owns a hardware store and sleeps like the dead; Junior, their son who is in 'love' with the stenographer; Rebecca Gentrie, the unmarried sister of Mr. Gentrie; Delman Steele, the Gentrie's boarder.

With all these characters and then more, this was not a simple mystery of who-dunnit!

I've read a good number of the Perry Mason series, and still have a few more to go. I know I'll enjoy them as much as I have this one. ( )

You do not expect to find an empty closed tin between your tins of preserves. But that is what Mrs. Gentrie finds in her basement - and even though she tries to dismiss it, it seems to be important for her sister in law.

Meanwhile a man is killed in the house next door (or so it looks - no body is recovered) and another neighbor calls Mason for something that he does not want to disclose. Perry is intrigued so he goes there - and hears a story of old partnership and China, a missing heir and a cranky old man. The client is absolutely annoying - both for the lawyer and for the reader. And something in the story sounds fishy. The code that is found in the empty tin does not help clarify things.

Then a call comes. And Perry Mason ends up finding a body (but decides to leave Drake to report it - which the detective is not very happy about). Before long, Della and Mason will find another body and a link to arms smuggling in the Far East (with WWII already started outside of the US, that has long repercussions for the situation in the world). Add a love story (or 2), some innocent love and some not so innocent one, a heiress that resurfaces and dead men coming back from life complete the story of the mystery.

Tragg and Mason work together to some extent but because of where Perry shows up and mainly when, they both play their own games. And that almost makes the problem unsolvable.

At the end, the truth end up being in front of everyone's eyes - it comes down to one wrong assumption. It is a nicely constructed story - and I want to see where the stories will go when the war really starts. ( )