February 2016 Mobile Read Book Club Special Run-Off Vote
Since this month's vote resulted in a tie, we are having a Special Run-Off Vote between the two leading candidates. I will not vote in this poll unless my vote is needed to break a tie. This poll will be open for 3 days, and all MobileRead members are invited to participate. We will start the discussion thread for this book on February 20th. Please select from the following
two Choices:
• The Case of the Velvet Claws by Erle Stanley Gardner [WT Sharpe, issybird, GA Russell]
Goodreads /
Amazon Au /
Amazon Ca /
Amazon UK /
Amazon US
Spoiler:
From Goodreads:
California lawyer Perry Mason takes client Eva, hated as "all velvet and claws" by his secretary Della Street. Her husband George Belter is behind tabloid editor Locke, blackmail of Congressman Harrison Burke at bungled robbery with Eva, and takes bullet to the heart after bath. Forged will benefits nephew Carl, engaged to secretive housekeeper Veitch's daughter.
From Wikipedia:
The influence of the television series has given the general public the impression that Mason is highly ethical. In the earliest novels, however, Mason was not above skulduggery to win a case. In The Case of the Counterfeit Eye (1935) he breaks the law several times, including manufacturing false evidence (glass eyes). Mason manipulates evidence and witnesses, resulting in the acquittal of the murderer in The Case of the Howling Dog (1934). The Case of the Curious Bride (1934) is
[quote]… a good Perry Mason except for one great flaw, which the author would scarcely have been guilty of later on: he tampers with the evidence, by having a friend move into an apartment and testify to the state of the doorbells. … One is left with the uncomfortable idea that maybe the murder did not take place as Mason reconstructs it.
• Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey [BenG, CRussel, Mims]
Amazon US /
Audible /
Faded Page /
Online PD