'For fans of classic hard-boiled whodunits, this is a time machine back to an exuberant era of snappy patter, stakeouts, and double-crosses' LA Times

'Kingpin among the mystery writers' New York Times

Muriell Gilman left her father at the breakfast table while she cooked seconds of sausage and eggs. When she returned, he had disappeared.
She searched the house from cellar to attic. Then she went out to the workshop . . . there, scattered on the floor, were hundred-dollar bills, an overturned chair, and a spreading, crimson stain. That's when she telephoned Perry Mason.

Perry Mason has so many questions: why did she call him? Why didn't she want her step-sister to talk to him? And why was Gillman's wife being blackmailed - by a female private investigator . . . ?

"The bestselling author of the century ... a master storyteller" - NEW YORK TIMES

"For fans of classic hard-boiled whodunits, this is a time machine back to an exuberant era of snappy patter, stakeouts, and double-crosses" - LA TIMES

"Kingpin among the mystery writers" - NEW YORK TIMES

"Amazing originality" - NEW YORK TIMES

"No one has ever matched Gardner for swift, sure exposition" - KIRKUS

"Gardner has a way of moving the story forward that is almost a lost art: great stretches of dialogue alternate with lively chunks of exposition, and the two work together perfectly, without sacrificing momentum" - BOOKLIST

"Millions of Americans never seem to tire of Gardner's thrillers" - NEW YORK TIMES