The Case of the Ice-Cold Hands by Erle Stanley Gardner
Review by Matt B. (BuffaloSavage)
This 1962 Perry Mason novel is readable enough for a lazy Sunday afternoon in late summer. But the story is so-so. We’ve seen before the victim that nobody will mourn and the attractive client lying such that her pants catch fire.
A point in its favor is that Gardner shows that he did his homework when it came to keeping current in the field in that he uses a law, newly passed in California in the early 1960s, that allowed a DA to grant complete immunity for committing a crime in exchange for testimony that would incriminate the witness.
Some critics and readers – like me – dislike the Perry Mason novels written in the 1960s. Others say that the mysteries written in the 1950s represent a falling off. Still others say the novels written before WWII are better than the ones written after.
Me, I can read them all, as long as there are heat and humidity that make it impossible for me to read harder novels. Any excuse not to do yard work on a summer Sunday will click with me.
