May Read/4

Title: The Case of the Howling Dog

Author: Gardner, Erle Stanley

Genre: Mystery

Book Description (from the introduction given in the book):

            A dog howled at night-and a man’s nerves could not stand it. So he came to Perry Mason, who at first hesitated at taking this trivial case, but who found that it led into deeper and more drastic possibilities as time went on.

            Mason began to see mystery behind such apparently bare-faced things as one man running away with another man’s wife…a housekeeper who was cool, and could manage dogs..even the dong, which suddenly bit the hand that had fed it for a long time. And then there was a murder! And the biggest and most tensely dramatic case of Perry Mason’s experience book.

            Erle Stanley Gardner has written a new Perry Mason case, which starts with simplicity itself, but winds up with the thrilling suspense of a big murder trial, where Perry Mason, in his breath-taking, unorthodox fashion, once more defends a client at great personal danger.

My Read:

            When I read about the part about the dog howling regularly at intervals, my first thought was there must be something or someone changed so the dog felt or sensed that something went wrong. It turned out that one of his owners was murdered and buried under the garage floor. It proved again that dogs are loyal and human’s best friend; they feel attached to their master.

            In this case, Perry Mason applied unorthodox tactics plus common sense to peel apart the cunning plot the two culprits and murdered had had. I also like the following saying made by Mr. Mason: “I have repeatedly told you, that I am not a judge; nor am I a jury. But I acted only as her lawyer.” Perry Mason’s only interest and concern is his clients. Sometimes he might walk on the thin ice but he followed the rules still though somehow dangerous and not-making-sense in other’s eye.