THE CASE OF THE SHOPLIFTERS SHOE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Erle Stanley Gardner | 340 pages | 19 Feb 2016 | Ankerwycke | 9781634253628 | English | United States The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe by Erle Stanley Gardner Paul Drake William Talman Hamilton Burger Ray Collins Police Lt. Arthur Tragg Margaret O'Brien Virginia Trent Lurene Tuttle Sarah Breel Leonard Nimoy Pete Chennery Melora Conway Ione Bedford Richard Coogan Police Sgt. Gifford Arthur Batanides Bill Golding Blair Davies Austin Cullens Charles Irving Judge James Millhollin Floorwalker Shirley Mitchell Miss Fairweather Kenneth Patterson Store Detective Walter Kelley Interne Bernard Fein Foreman Vincent Troy Andre - Maitre d' Rest of cast listed alphabetically: Leon Alton Department Store Customer uncredited Bess Flowers Department Store Customer uncredited Sam Harris Courtroom Spectator uncredited Joseph La Cava Courtroom Spectator uncredited Tom McDonough Restaurant Patron uncredited Lee Miller Brice uncredited Charles Perry Among all the Perry Mason books that I have read, this was the most philosophical. Long paras talking about the more A good mystery. Long paras talking about the more heavier concerns of us, homo sapiens. Still, liked it. View all 4 comments. Aug 20, Michael Brown rated it liked it Shelves: series-reading. Mason finally goes into court. First time in a long while. No Trask. No Berger. And Paul Drake is still a bit of a wimp. Mason is far more a detective so far. And his main antagonist is Sgt. Holcomb and over the past few books it is obvious that he has some mental issues. Good mystery but not my favorite of the series so far by far. Jan 15, Jyotika Varmani rated it really liked it Recommends it for: All mystery and courtroom drama lovers! This book scores for how it captures the reader's interest by never offering a dull moment. Well, this is true for all of the books in the Perry Mason Series. The particularly interesting part for me in this one is when Mason gets on the nerves of the homicide officers interrogating Aunt Sarah - it is hilarious! What does not appeal to me about this book is how Mason develops a soft corner for Aunt Sarah at first sight. Also, the climax is quite predictable if you've read a few of the books in This book scores for how it captures the reader's interest by never offering a dull moment. Also, the climax is quite predictable if you've read a few of the books in this series and from the characterization. It could have been a bit more subtle. Jun 14, Bob rated it really liked it Shelves: mystery. I've been reading Gardner's Perry Mason books off and on for a long time. Many years ago, I was an intense fan of the series, and read them all. Now, after a lot of water over the dam, I'm looking at them again. Those who are used to really fine mystery writers with the emphasis on "writer" , such as Ross Macdonald, may find the writing style here off-putting. It can be stiff and repetitious. Tragg, and I've been reading Gardner's Perry Mason books off and on for a long time. Tragg, and Hamilton Berger. That, and the ingenious plots, are why I read Perry Mason. On the whole, the ones written by are the best. This one was written in and is typical of the early books in the series. Mason is a fighter, and he loves it. Some of the police and prosecutors are hard-boiled. There is often a film-noir feel, but not so much in this one. Mason skirts around the edge of law, and so do some of the police. The story begins with Perry and Della eating lunch in a department store large department stores used to routinely have restaurants within them. They are casually looking at their fellow diners when a serene white haired woman in a nearby table is accosted by a store detective for shoplifting. He says he will have to arrest her right there in public if she won't come away with him. She is unperturbed, but her young niece, Virginia, is upset and nervous. Perry intervenes, pointing out that you can't arrest someone for shoplifting unless they leave the store with goods. Eventually the manager arrives, realizes that Perry is right, and Virginia hastily pays for the items her Aunt Sarah had stashed. After lunch, Perry and Della muse on the strange behavior of the aunt, who certainly didn't seem to be the shoplifter type, though she clearly intended to do so. That would seem to be the end of it, but no, that afternoon Virginia comes to Mason's office and tells an unusual story. Her aunt and uncle the aunt's brother are in the jewelry business. They often get old diamond jewelry, refurbish them and sell them. That's great except the uncle, George, sometimes goes off on drunken binges. Apparently he has just done so, and some valuable diamonds are missing. And Aunt Sarah is acting strangely also. They got the diamonds from an associate named Austin Cullens who said they belong to a Mrs. Virginia is worried because Mrs. Bedford just phoned her to return the diamonds early, and now Aunt Sarah has disappeared too! Perry is mulling over what to do when suddenly Cullens and Mrs. Bedford also show up at the office. The four of them have a talk. They agree to search for both George and Sarah. The plot thickens when later that night Cullens is found murdered in his house and Aunt Sarah is struck by a car right in front of the house. Her handbag contains a gun. Her shoes are blood stained, so she must have been in the room with the body. The police think that "obviously" she murdered Cullens, though she claims amnesia because of the car accident. And who exactly is this driver who struck her? The story then becomes complicated due to a second murder, some shady characters who run a gambling joint, the fact that Mrs. Bedford is not exactly who she seems to be, and that Virginia has a boy friend who often takes her shooting. Soon there are two guns; were they switched by the police? Aunt Sarah goes on trial for the murder of Austin Cullens and Perry defends her. All of this is well written and intriguing. The courtroom scenes are excellent. One of the key witness for the prosecution turns out to be Sergeant Holcomb, who is quite combative both on and off the witness stand. Sergeant Holcomb is Mason's opponent in most of the earlier Perry Mason novels. He is "old school", combative, stubborn, uneducated, willing to stretch the law. But his actions here go further, becoming unprofessional. One can imagine that Gardner must have received a lot of criticism from police groups due to the way Holcomb is portrayed. As the years went by, Holcomb was deemphasized by Gardner and replaced with Lieutenant Tragg, who is educated and professional. However, twenty-first century readers need to keep in mind that the sort of police and prosecutor activity portrayed here actually occurred in those days. We'd like to think it no longer does Recurring character: older white haired woman who is unflappable and knows what she is doing. As I got to the last few chapters, I began to form an idea of how the two murders were done. I was not wrong, though as usual I didn't guess all of it. This is not one of my favorite novels. For one reason there is no strong love interest. For another, it lacks the appealing settings of many others: remote mountain cabins, ocean voyage, desert. Still, definitely recommended. Apr 12, DavidO rated it really liked it Shelves: 4-orstars. The most interesting parts of this case were the first chapter where Perry Mason watches an old woman shoplift, and the resolution of the case which surprised me. There were some weird events that occurred in this book that I don't know are due to changing laws or changing because Gardner was trying to make things more exciting. First a police sergeant takes a swing at a assistant DA and there are no repercussions for it. Second, the police sequester away the accused and deny her the right to The most interesting parts of this case were the first chapter where Perry Mason watches an old woman shoplift, and the resolution of the case which surprised me. Second, the police sequester away the accused and deny her the right to see her lawyer even though she has said she wants her lawyer present, until Perry Mason forces himself into the room. That seems to be pretty standard in these Perry Mason books, and to my modern mind it seems wrong. I loved the ending of this one! I think this story had a better development then the rest and a few random parts which I felt the author just added in to add volume. The ending was really good and it showed me how Perry Mason could argue over something he could not prove. Then again, there were so many guesses in this entire story. Nov 21, Huma rated it really liked it Shelves: perry-mason. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Mason was representing two clients, he made the jury think in the first case that his other client had committed the murder, while giving his second client an iron-clad alibi Jan 26, Katie rated it liked it.