Horace Warren pays five hundred dollars to have Perry mason attend a buffet dinner to observe his guests. He also wants Mason to investigate a fingerprint and suspects his wife is being blackmailed. Mrs Warren’s mystery past may hold the clues.
Gwynn Elston learns that her best friend's husband already has a wife and family, but when he is found murdered Gwynn must ask Perry Mason to defend her against a murder charge
Mason meets Mrs. Milfield, a barely distraught widow, and a slew of suspicious characters all intimately connected to a recently deceased, man murdered on someone else's yacht. It takes a sharp mind like Mason's, the savvy of his secretary Della Street, and the legwork of investigator Paul Drake to pull all the clues out of the water before the case sinks like a deadweight.
Sybil Harlan is aware of her husband’s dalliance with an alluring business associate. Sybil asks Perry Mason to help her sour the real estate deal and win back her errant spouse. Unfortunately a blackmailer gets wind of the scheme and murder takes place.
Virginia Baxter is the only witness still living who can vouch for the authenticity of Lauretta Trent’s will. Lauretta Trent, a wealthy widow, is also still living. But for how long? Someone has been peppering the spicy food Lauretta loves with arsenic. Could it be the same someone who tried framing Virginia Baxter for drug smuggling? Lauretta doesn’t trust her greedy heirs. But could a scheming servant be behind a master plan to fleece her estate? It all seems to fit. But when Lauretta is murdered on the highway, all the evidence places Virginia Baxter squarely in the driver’s seat. Confused? Just think how Virginia’s lawyer, Perry Mason, must feel.
Perry Mason is hired to identify a woman based on an appendix scar, as she fears being a look-alike to an heiress may be a setup for her arrest. A classic mystery!