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Rating: 
Summary: Not the best of Perry Mason
Review: The title character of Erle Stanley Gardner's "The Case of the Stuttering Bishop" enters Perry Mason's office one day and presents an enigmatic story about the granddaughter of a wealthy man. The girl's mother gave up the child for adoption long before, but now the granddaughter is coming forward to claim a share of her grandfather's estate. At the same time, an imposter has come forward--or so says the stuttering bishop. But is he for real, or is he merely an imposter, too?Before Mason can determine the answer to that question, the bishop is attacked in his hotel room and then disappears, apparently into thin air, while boarding a ship. At the same time, Mason is trying to track down the various parties and to determine who's who. When the wealthy grandfather is murdered, though, it appears that Mason has his first guilty client. Unlike many Perry Mason novels, "The Case of the Stuttering Bishop" does not end up in a dramatic court confrontation, and it therefore deviates somewhat from form. The case here is also significantly more convoluted than that in many of the Perry Mason novels. Because of this change of form, I found the novel less satisfying than the other Perry Mason novels I've read. The name Perry Mason, after all, connotes brilliant lawyering, and the emphasis on the detective work here left me disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best of Perry Mason
Review: The title character of Erle Stanley Gardner's "The Case of the Stuttering Bishop" enters Perry Mason's office one day and presents an enigmatic story about the granddaughter of a wealthy man. The girl's mother gave up the child for adoption long before, but now the granddaughter is coming forward to claim a share of her grandfather's estate. At the same time, an imposter has come forward--or so says the stuttering bishop. But is he for real, or is he merely an imposter, too? Before Mason can determine the answer to that question, the bishop is attacked in his hotel room and then disappears, apparently into thin air, while boarding a ship. At the same time, Mason is trying to track down the various parties and to determine who's who. When the wealthy grandfather is murdered, though, it appears that Mason has his first guilty client. Unlike many Perry Mason novels, "The Case of the Stuttering Bishop" does not end up in a dramatic court confrontation, and it therefore deviates somewhat from form. The case here is also significantly more convoluted than that in many of the Perry Mason novels. Because of this change of form, I found the novel less satisfying than the other Perry Mason novels I've read. The name Perry Mason, after all, connotes brilliant lawyering, and the emphasis on the detective work here left me disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Thrilling
Review: This book is, admittedly, my first experience with the literary Mason (before that I had only seen the television version). The other review pretty much states the plot, so I will only give you my opinion.
It was a fantastic, well-crafted mystery. Each chapter seems to throw new developments at you, yet in later chapters things start to come together, connecting the various bits together into a cohesive and plausible whole. Fun reading all around.
My only complaint is that the last few chapters were kind of droll, but perhaps they were necessary to tie up all the loose ends.
If you've never read a Perry Mason novel before, this one is as good as any to start off with.
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