I am a big fan of Perry Mason, the original in print and Raymond Burr from the TV series.

This case involves a widow and the suspicion that she poisoned her husband over a year ago to get the payout on his life insurance.

Who started this rumour? Is it true? Why was it started?

Selma Anson hires Perry Mason to help solve these questions and more. Along with his secretary, Della Street, and P.I. Paul Drake, Mason comes through in true style. ( )

A respectable middle-aged widow finds a young man is following her. She tells him if he doesn't stop, she will slap his face. He says she had better talk to a lawyer first. She talks to Perry Mason, who has Paul Drake the PI find out who it is. It turns out the man is doing it on behalf of a man the woman knows. It also turns out that the insurance company that paid out on her late husband's policy suspects her of foul play. It has set up a female operative to scrape a friendship with her based on a common interest in the Mayas of Yucatan. ( )

This was an enjoyable story, with a great ending - and fantastic closing statement by Mr. Mason. ( )

It was a bit hard to tell where Gardner stopped and Mason began in this book. It used his pilot, his work with polygraphs in various cases, and more. ( )