Athough I have decided to go ahead and start reading the odd Perry Mason book, I am cautious about trying to read too many too quickly, and overdosing. So I was going to restrict myself to one a month or so. When I got The Case of the Cautious Coquette, I didn’t notice that it was something of an omnibus, containing not only the title story but also The Case of the Crying Swallow and The Case of the Crimson Kiss. So, when I finished the Coquette, I decided not to return the thing to the library with the other two unread.
Not so much. I’ve never been very good about reading just one.
Anyway, the other two were quite short (novelettes, whatevah dot means), and I have not yet overdosed on Erle Stanley Gardner. These stories, which I think predate the TV and Radio series, seem to have fewer long stretches of dialogue, and read a good deal less like teleplays. Strangely enough, that doesn’t improve them much. They’re still good fun, although to a certain extent they suffer from the Ellery Queen problem of villains that are much too clever.
chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek,
-Vardibidian.