The Case of the Crooked CandleAn insurance claim after a traffic accident alerts Perry Mason to the possibility of double dealing concerning a parcel of land. He negotiates a very large settlement for his client, but then a wealthy businessman is found dead on his yacht and Perry is asked to defend against a charge of murder the man who paid the money to settle the insurance claim.

full of fascinating

child spies and the black markets of the prole neighbourhoods

appearing in our lives when we least expect her

There came an elastic aftershock of creaks and groans and then

"I decided that one style for one novel was a convention I resented most strongly: it was perhaps comparable to eating a meal in which each course had been cooked in the same manner

who does not hesitate to use the blackest stratagems in pursuit of victory

history and the present with an assurance that is almost unbearably suspenseful - and utterly unforgettable

In the eyes of her family

on his epic voyage home

with changing allegiances

and the second was that human beings could survive a life led in hotels

'I couldn't put it down and finished it in a day