Plot: Perry Mason receives an unexpected call from Ellen Adair, a lady of queenly bearing with a dark past. Ellen was a beauty contestant who suddenly disappeared at the height of her fame. Now, there's a tabloid which is planning to run an inside scoop on what might have happened to her. Ellen wants Mason's help in ensuring that none of the details of her colorful past come out into the open and her identity remains a secret. Despite not receiving satisfactory answers to his preliminary questions, Mason agrees to help out his new client and promptly shuts down the newspaper from running the article.
But the matter doesn't end there, the newspaper sends a detective to negotiate a fee with Mason for his client's compliance. Mason immediately senses that there's more to the matter than what's being laid on the table. With the assistance of Paul Drake, his trusted detective aide, Mason finds out that a very powerful family from the same town as Ellen Adair is desperately searching for her in order to establish the heir for a large fortune .Mason confronts Ellen with his findings who then accepts that she did have a child out of wedlock with the sole heir of a wealthy family but rejects having anything to do with them on account of how poorly she was treated years ago. Mason doesn't push the matter further and successfully leads the pursuers on the wrong track. Just when he thinks that his role in the case is over, Ellen Adair comes calling once again and backtracks from her earlier position. She now wants her son to be acknowledged as the legitimate heir of the vast empire.
Mason is confounded by the U-turn and also finds himself in a spot of bother when the only person who could back up Ellen's claims about having a child all those years ago is found dead. Will Perry Mason be able to uncover all the ulterior motives and shed light on the legitimate heir? You have to read, 'The Case of the Queenly Contestant' in order to find out.
My thoughts: There are mysteries which wow you with the final reveal (like Towards Zero) and then there are those where the 'Who' is not as important as the 'How'. 'This book falls into the latter category. The identity of the perpetrator might not thrill you but the logic which Perry Mason pieces together to solve the crime wins brownie points.
What's also different in this book is Perry Mason constantly trying to verify the authenticity of his own client. Mason routinely challenges Ellen's version of events risking the client-attorney relationship at every turn thereby once again proving to the readers that service of justice is more important to him rather than pandering to his clients.
This is a slow burn thriller and the book takes its own time to lay things out. There's also some legal rigmarole that you have to put up with when both sides lay out arguments in the court. So if you are looking for a fast paced thriller you have to tone your expectations down. All in all I would rate this one as a 'Time Pass' read which you can finish up on a quiet weekend.
Until Next Time,
Your Mystery Booklover.
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