HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

Loading...

The Case of the Haunted Husband (1941)

by Erle Stanley Gardner

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Perry Mason Novels (Book 18)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
22910117,498 (3.66)3
Aspiring actress Stephane Olger just wants to be in pictures. But she may end up in mug shots instead when she gets herself caught up in a crime. Shortly after quitting her job and moving to Hollywood, she is picked up by a well-dressed man while hitchhiking. The man loses control of the car and they end up in a horrible accident. Both Stephane and the driver escape unscathed but the strange man flees the scene leaving Stephane to face a charge of manslaughter.Stephane's rich uncle hires Perry Mason to defend her and he and the private detective Paul Drake immediately start gathering evidence. It turns out that the car, of course, was stolen, and belongs to a Hollywood producer who has been in contact with the mystery man who is from San Francisco. A woman has been promised a job by him, but is given one by Perry Mason instead. She, too, disappears, and in another room of the hotel her luggage is found with a man who has been shot. In the courtroom Perry Mason discovers many other facts, but in the meantime the film producer's chauffeur is murdered, making his task much harder.It's up to Perry Mason to find the truth behind a suspicious scenario starring a menacing movie mogul, a hoodwinked housewife, and a man no one has ever seen--alive… (more)
None
Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 3 mentions

English (9)  Spanish (1)  All languages (10)
Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)
Interesting twists and resolution. Perry, Della, and their detective friend are on top of the game again! =) ( )
  Kiri | Dec 24, 2023 |
"I work all the time, the later the better. A man does his best work when those around him are asleep." He waved a short, thick arm in a sweeping gesture which included a quarter circle of generalization. "I mean the people in the city. There's a lot of telepathy, not individual telepathy so much as group telepathy, mind beating on mind, chaining you into a convention of business humdrum. What do you want?" ( )
  Jon_Hansen | Oct 26, 2020 |
Original price scratched out. ( )
  ME_Dictionary | Mar 20, 2020 |
Complicated plot line about a car accident, a Hollywood producer and a mysterious bigamist. ( )
  LindaLeeJacobs | Feb 15, 2020 |
Hitchhikers, Movie Producers, & Secrets

When you open up one of Gardner's Perry Mason novels, you find something which is very much like a classic pulp detective novel with a strange situation, a possible frame-up, corpses, vague clues, and keeping evidence close to the vest until Mason can figure out what it all means. You also get courtroom scenes including the kind of courtroom examinations and gotcha moments that seldom occur in real trials. Unlike the classic pulp detective, Mason is an attorney and doesn't get involved in gunfights and brawls and the like.

This mystery opens up on a pitch-black night on a deserted highway with a young blonde hitchhiker naively thumbing her way to Hollywood, a creepy driver who picks her up, a flask of booze, and a terrible accident. This isn't really Mason's usual kind of case, but somehow the earthy goodness of the blonde's friend convinces him that he needs to clear her name, particularly when it means going up against the power of the Hollywood elite. It is a thrilling ride as the story develops and gets ever more complex.

Perry Mason mysteries are not necessarily meant to be solved before he's ready to unveil the secret to the riddle. And the solution here is rather hopelessly complex, perhaps too complex to really be satisfying. ( )
  DaveWilde | Sep 22, 2017 |
Showing 1-5 of 9 (next | show all)
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (1 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Erle Stanley Gardnerprimary authorall editionscalculated
Caplan, DavidCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

Aspiring actress Stephane Olger just wants to be in pictures. But she may end up in mug shots instead when she gets herself caught up in a crime. Shortly after quitting her job and moving to Hollywood, she is picked up by a well-dressed man while hitchhiking. The man loses control of the car and they end up in a horrible accident. Both Stephane and the driver escape unscathed but the strange man flees the scene leaving Stephane to face a charge of manslaughter.Stephane's rich uncle hires Perry Mason to defend her and he and the private detective Paul Drake immediately start gathering evidence. It turns out that the car, of course, was stolen, and belongs to a Hollywood producer who has been in contact with the mystery man who is from San Francisco. A woman has been promised a job by him, but is given one by Perry Mason instead. She, too, disappears, and in another room of the hotel her luggage is found with a man who has been shot. In the courtroom Perry Mason discovers many other facts, but in the meantime the film producer's chauffeur is murdered, making his task much harder.It's up to Perry Mason to find the truth behind a suspicious scenario starring a menacing movie mogul, a hoodwinked housewife, and a man no one has ever seen--alive

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Aspiring actress Stephanie Claire just wants to be in pictures. But she may end up in mug shots when she gets herself caught up in a crime. It's up to Perry Mason to find the truth behind a suspicious scenario starring a menacing movie mogul, a hoodwinked housewife, and a man no one has ever seen--alive!
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (3.66)
0.5
1
1.5
2 1
2.5 1
3 10
3.5 6
4 7
4.5
5 6

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 204,715,346 books! | Top bar: Always visible