"What's your connection with her?" Drake asked.
Mason said, "She's in danger of losing her husband. She doesn't intend to sit back and let that happen. She had schemes. Now she's in a jam."
"Oh-oh," Drake said. "One of those things where everything went black, then she felt something jerking in her hand and heard loud banging noises. She looked down and found she was holding a gun, and there was John lying on the floor. She has no idea how he got there. She ran to him and said, 'John, John, speak to me. Oh, John, speak to me.' So then she calls her lawyer."
"Don't kid about it," Mason said. "You may be a lot nearer the truth than you know."
The Case of the Nervous Accomplice, Erle Stanley Gardner,
1955.
Click here to see a few of my favorite flamboyant covers...
Flagler
Street
Home of Brett Halliday's Mike Shayne, Private Detective,
and many of his lurid front covers.
Perry Mason
David Morgenstern's webpage.
Morgenstern has the proper appreciation for Mason cover art.
Not so trashy
Agatha
Christie
You've probably heard of her.
Dorothy
L.Sayers
A classic. The creator of Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane.
Whimsical (see name, above) but theologically aware -- Sayers spent the last 20 years
of her life writing about Anglican theology. One of the few mystery writers to wrestle
seriously with the problem of the death penalty.
Ngaio Marsh
Took up Christie's and Sayers'
mantle.
The creator of Roderick Alleyn, Inspector Fox and Agatha Troy. Well
plotted and the writing is quite lovely. Picks up on Sayers' death penalty worries.
Unfortunately, in Marsh's version it's the woman who is squeamish while the man is
"steadfast" and gets things done. Oh well.
P.
D. James
Creator of Adam Dalgliesh, the poetic inspector. Very, very dark
and psychologically acute mysteries. Many people have observed that she deserves to
be called a "real" novelist.
You can send me an email at patton@uchicago.edu