| Title | : | The Case of the Restless Redhead (Perry Mason, #45) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1842320904 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781842320907 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 191 |
| Publication | : | First published July 1, 1954 |
The Case of the Restless Redhead (Perry Mason, #45) Reviews
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What begins with Mason helping out a young attorney with his cross-examination skills in defending a young waitress framed for jewel theft turns much more complicated when soon after, she finds herself framed for murder. Though Mason’s client in this one seems much more straightforward than some others he’s defended, the other players have much to hide. The evidence is already rather complicated and the fact that everyone (not the actual culprit alone) is trying to hide something adds further twists. But Mason knows how to use the most perplexing of situations to his own advantage, much to the delight of the press but not so much the court, and of course to Hamilton Burger’s chagrin. This one held my attention throughout and I certainly wasn’t able to see where things were headed and what would emerge in the end. I enjoyed the court proceedings as well and didn’t like some other reviewers find them a drag. An exciting and fast paced read.
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Another excellent Perry Mason mystery / legal drama.
I won't go into the plot (but it is a really good one), suffice to say it is full of old-style charm, cunning tactics and flamboyant characters.
So glad I've still got plenty of these dramas left to enjoy! -
I find a lot of parallels between this Erle Stanley Garner novel and Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep. I don't mean in terms of plot points or even writing style. The similarities are in the incomprehensibility of the plot and its too many nuances. Even when seeing the story faithfully translated into a screen version, main plot points faithfully preserved, it's still difficult to figure out the reason for all that happens.
This novel was adapted for the screen and is Season 1, Episode 1, of the Perry Mason series that starred Raymond Burr (the most perfect casting decision ever made for an actor to depict a role in my opinion). I can not believe the producers chose this book of all the many possibilities to use for the plot of their series premiere. I viewed the episode two, perhaps three times, over a wide span of years. I never fully understood what was going on. The main reason why is that in the dialogue the cast characters bandy about the names of key players to the plot long before those characters ever appear on screen. Who is this Merrill, Chaney, Aldritch, and Boles that keep being talked about? Each are vitally important to the plot but unseen until relatively late in the show. Then there's the confusion with the switched guns and bullets and some jewelry theft that happened off screen.
So I ordered the Gardner novel to see if I could figure it all out from that. Reading the novel helps, but even after reaching the end some plot points were still fuzzy for me. I knew I was in for a challenge reading the novel and therefore kept careful notes on characters, character names and when in the novel they were introduced (that character chart is appended below to possibly help others). Even doing that only helped me a little. The problem here, as it is in The Big Sleep, is that we have a lot of characters doing things off screen that are only related or sometimes alluded to at random points in the book. The plot is a lot of flying parts all up in the air much of the time.
Another problem is that minor characters who are at first only referenced then suddenly pop up many pages later in completely unexpected contexts. For example, Oscar B. Loomis is mentioned on page 89 as the owner of the car that left the road. Presumably, it was his body under the hood driving off the road. The next mention of Loomis is when Mason calls him to the stand as a witness in the final pages of the book. So whose body was it in the car? A highly attentive reader can piece that together by the end of the novel from context, but we're never told, unless I missed it. Why aren't we told? It seems to me the identity of the dead driver would be easy to establish early on, and it matters.
This novel is therefore a hot mess plotwise. Compounding the problems, once I did figure out the plot points, are the gaping plot holes that then reveal temselves. There is no humanly possible way for Perry Mason to have figured out everything right at the start based on the limited knowledge he had of the circumstances to have been able to take the actions he did in terms of switiching guns and firing the switched gun. Never mind how the murderer (telepathically?) persuaded the defendant to fire two, not three or one, random shots in fear as she was driving in order to then frame her. There are other impossible plot points too. It's simply a ludicrous plot both in the novel and the TV episode.
So why do I like this book enough to rate it so highly? Because plot comprehension difficulties and plot holes aside it is still an immensely fun read (and TV view) in the same way The Big Sleep is. It's the interactions among the characters that make the story so entertaining. I liked that Perry Mason is trying to help an up and coming lawyer behind the scenes learn what he needs to do and then tries not to take the credit. This really helps make Mason likable, which we need because of the unethical tactics he employed to confuse the legal case he is engaged in. It's fun to try to unravel the plot points as well, even though I think it's not possible with just one or even two viewings or readings, however careful one may be.
Cast of Characters, major and minor:
Perry Mason (1) The protagonist defense lawyer.
Judge Dillard (1) The stolen jewelry trial judge.
Harry Boles (1) Witness in the jewelry theft.
Evelyn Bagby (2) The defendant. Aspiring actress and actual waitress.
Frank Neely (6) The young lawyer questioning Boles.
Dalton (7) A Mason client.
Irene Keith (9) Her jewelry was stolen. Chaney's bridesmaid.
Helene Chaney (9) Actress, bride to be.
Della Street (18) Mason's secretary.
Estelle Nugent (19) Young woman Neely hopes to marry.
Gertie (22) Phone operator. Mason receptionist.
Staunton Vester Gladden / Steve V. Merrill (23) Chaney's second husband.
Mervyn Aldritch (28) Boat manufacturer. Is set to marry Chaney.
Joe Padena (30) Restaurant owner. Employs Bagby at Mason's request.
Judge Carver (39) Needs a letter from Mason.
Paul Drake (48) P.I. for Mason.
Mike (66) Headwaiter at the Joshua Tree Cafe.
Bill Ferron (79) Sheriff's office. Works the car wreck.
Oscar B. Loomis (89) Owner of the car that left the road.
Jim (106) One of Drake's men.
William (112) Helene Chaney's butler.
Ruby Inwood (125) Lives in the same apartment house as Bagby. Took a message.
Sgt. Holcomb (126) Homicide squad. Looking for Bagby.
Joe (127) In charge of Mason's garage.
Judge Kippen (138) In charge of Bagby's evidentiary trial.
Geoffrey Strawn (139) Prosecutor.
Mary Eunice (161) Retired artist. Found a bullet.
Hamilton Burger (165) The D.A.
Harmon B. Passing (196) Chaney's attorney.
Celeste (222) Irene Keith's maid. -
Contrary to the Case of the Runaway Corpse(Perry Mason, #44), this is one of the most convoluted cases I have come across in the Perry Mason series so far. The novel kicks off in a non-traditional fashion, with Mason being present at a case hearing involving stealing, not as a defense attorney but as a member of the audience. Frank Neely is the one defending a client, a redhead by the name of Miss Bagby. Mason, being the champion of poor, down on luck, and importantly, innocent, ladies, mentors Neely, helping him win an acquittal.
Before long though, Mason is drawn into the case, with the stakes immediately raised after a murder has been committed. To no one's surprise, it is Miss Bagby who is back in police custody, now fighting a murder charge. Mason does pull off a fast one in this case, something that I doubt would work today, and eventually wins the case, again to no one's surprise. But the end feels a bit rushed, especially given how complicated the whole plot is, with a large number of suspects and not many clues given to the reader in order to identify the real murderer before the final reveal.
I give the book a 4-star because it was definitely not an easy plot to build and seeing Mason in a mentor role is definitely the icing on the cake. -
A little too drawn out and I nearly got lost by the end; I've read better from Gardner.
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(3.8)
There's a lot of lawyer talk but it's really interesting. Also, there's some Della/Perry but it's only hinted at.
Recommended 12+ for murder and language -
I think I saw some version of Perry Mason on TV when I was a little kid, but can't quite remember the details of the show. The book didn't help me remember. This title say "Perry Mason #45 and my library edition is from 1954 so readers would have been familiar with the character and Gardner certainly didn't bother with any description... of anyone. All of the characters were flat. I imagine by installment #45 people are looking for exactly what they expect and Gardner provides. It's a bit of a joke in the book that Mason will solve the mystery in the courtroom during the preliminary hearing, and so he does.
The titular redhead (I don't have a clue where "restless" comes from), Evelyn Bagby, is an aspiring actress and working waitress who has been accused of stealing jewelry from the car trunk of a Hollywood starlet and her rich friend. Mason offers some advice which gets the defendant acquitted and while offering her thanks Bagby is offered a small settlement from the accusers. Mason joins the team to negotiate a better settlement and from there the story spirals into a convoluted murder conspiracy.
It's preposterous, but maybe that's Gardner, or maybe the 1950s. Reading a book written then was kind of fun. Forget not having cell phones, people don't even have personal phones. There are switchboard operators and lines shared by multiple apartments. Ankles are a sexy distraction. The detective eats a hamburger sandwich in his office (while Mason smokes a cigarette) then rinses his coffee mug in a wash basin. A different Gardner might be worth reading, definitely not this one. -
Preposterous nonsense. The very idea a high-high-powered attorney would walk into a courtroom and steal a client as if on his last legs and nothing else better to do, just wouldn't happen. What follows in the book us even more silly.
I added 5 Gardner books of Perry Mason to my library a few weeks ago and decided to read all. This is the fifth and most inane. the other were passable. This one is not.
This spins from prompting an up and coming attorney to aiding his client to a couple off to marry to hide and seek to gunfire to ...What a mess. And the conclusion is not worth the effort.
I don't recommend this book. 4 out of ten points. -
Like most Perry Mason mysteries, the story begins with a smaller problem which helps to introduce a stable of characters that gives way to a unforeseen complication sets up the conditions for murder from multiple interested parties.
What makes this mystery so unusual is how the setup plays out in real-time. After the story’s first crisis wraps, instead of the client shaking hands, going off, and coming back accused of murder, Mason’s client signals early that something is wrong. Despite Mason’s best effort, the trap laid for his client is so well concocted that not even he can steer his client clear. -
This one is among the more complex plots among the Perry Masons I have read. And I am reading one after a long, long time. I was introduced to this character by my Grandpa, when I was much younger. He had a bunch of his books and encouraged me to read them. And I fill in love with Della Street, a tad more than Mason obviously :) Was glad to read one again after all these years and was looking for more, this time, in one of my uncle's homes.
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I would be honest, I definitely read better books where Mason is involved. But it is not terrible, still well worth the read if you enjoy the books with Perry Mason. Just this one seemed bit off to me. I will have to read few more to see if I just remember it wrongly or other books had more with Della and Drake appearance. Somehow, I missed them!
I still enjoyed the book and will definitely read some more from the author soon. -
One of the more interesting cases. Especially, since it starts with a cross-examination and has a nice helpful portion where Gardner has given a tip for young lawyers.
This case has all the elements that can keep a reader gripped - glamour, star struck struggler, murder, truimph of good, and lastly, a gripping trial in the court of law. -
An aspiring actress is accused of theft and her court appointed attorney finds himself working alongside Perry Mason. Freeing her from her theft charge, Mason and Neery find they are soon called on again: to defend their client against a murder charge!
Gardner's tight plotting means that his short novels still feel rich and full of detail. -
This book was used as the basis of the very first Perry Mason episode starring Raymond Burr. I had never read any of Mr. Gardner's books but had seen many of them turned into episodes for the above named TV series.
It was an enjoyable read and interesting in the way they did things and lived life back in the 50's. I will definitely be reading more of Mr. Gardner's writings. -
Napínavé jak trenky od začátku do konce, protože jsem stále čekala, že se z Evelyn Bagbyové nakonec přece jen vyklube mrcha - ale ne, místo ní to byla zářící krásná mladá dáma. :) Hodně dobře se to poslouchalo a skvěle se u toho odpočívalo, třebaže jsem neusnula jako u jiných vyprávěných detektivek.
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Recently I learned that before there was a television series, Perry Mason movies were made in the 30s. Then I discovered that it all started with a book series, with the first book released in 1933. So, I went to my library, where there were a couple of titles. This quick read was entertaining.
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#45 in the Perry Mason series. Perry mentors a young defense attorney and his client, quickly finding himself over his head in trouble. One of the better books in the series I’ve read. Adapted for the television series.
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Parts of this book were legally entertaining, but the end was a mish-mash of speculation. I don’t even remember the last couple of witnesses appearing earlier in the story. The earlier books are better.
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First time I’ve read a Perry Mason book. It was a good fast read. It’s copyright is 1954 but it didn’t feel dated at all except for the technogy. The women characters are smart and competent, especially Della Street, Mason’s assistant.
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My Rating System:
* couldn't finish, ** wouldn't recommend, *** would recommend, **** would read again, ***** have read again. -
The amount of info on the clues sometimes left my head spinning, but overall a fun and engaging read!
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Again, a true Perry Mason classic
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Terrific, lots of fun to read.
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A little too convoluted, but enjoyable.
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2 copies
