A candle most certainly can be an invaluable tool for providing light in dark places. Sometimes, too, it can shed light on an otherwise mystifying crime. That's certainly what happens in The Case of the Crooked Candle
The story begins with what seems like a routine, minor accident: a collision between a truck and a passenger car. Nobody is seriously hurt, but the truck driver refuses to let the driver of the other car write down any information about the truck. So the driver goes to Perry Mason. Then a curious thing happens: a lawyer representing the truck driver (or his company) calls Mason offering to settle the case quickly, out of court - and agrees to pay an enormous, unjustified, amount of money to settle things.
This, of course, intrigues Mason, and he launches his own investigation. Before you know it, there is a murder, on board a millionaire's yacht, and Mason winds up representing the man accused of the murder. The solution will only appear when Mason discovers the significance of that crooked candle, and the enormous impact it has in explaining the solution of a seemingly impossible crime. It all concludes with one of those brilliant courtroom scenes for Perry Mason, scenes which Gardner excelled at writing.
The Case of the Crooked Candle has all the elements that made Perry Mason such a popular character – and, according to Wikipedia, made Erle Stanley Gardner the best-selling author in the U. S. at the time of his death in 1970. It has a very complex plot, and the usual assortment of familiar characters from the series is augmented by the interesting and well-developed characters caught up in the mystery. This one can be highly recommended. It is out of print, but available as an e-book; there seem to be a number of used copies for sale as well.
The Challenge
As part of my continuing commitment to the Vintage Mystery Bingo Reading Challenge under way at the My Reader's Block blog, I am submitting this to cover the Bingo square calling for one book with a lawyer, courtroom, judge, etc.. For details about the challenge, and what I'm doing for it, please click here.
Les - Some of the Perry Mason novels really are solid mysteries as well as being legal stories. Glad you highlighted this one.
Posted by: Margot Kinberg | November 10, 2014 at 08:02 AM
Gardner was a good plotter, Margot. I haven't read nearly enough to make many judgments, but the ones I have read have been quite cleverly done. This one, in particular, is most ingenious in showing how the crime really happened (as opposed to the way it was set up to look).
Posted by: Les Blatt | November 10, 2014 at 08:25 AM