Perry Mason: The Case of the Vagabond Virgin

Raymond Burr as Perry Mason, 1957 - 1966. Yes,
he's in black-and-white; color not yet invented.

          All of your old friends are here (if you are over 50 or so): Perry Mason, Della Street, Paul Drake, Hamilton Burger, and Lieutenant Tragg. We know them well from the television show Perry Mason that ran from 1957 to 1966. It was a favorite of my mom's and if she watched it, I probably did, too. (Yes, I first watched Star Trek with my mom, who was attracted to Captain Kirk.) Mason, the defense attorney, used every nuance of law, every scrap of a right or privilege, every possible interpretation of statute. The 1948 book The Case of the Vagabond Virgin, by Erle Stanley Gardner, has it all--familiar characters and savvy law--along with a juicy murder to solve.

Hamilton Burger, prosecutor; Lt. Tragg police
detective; Della Street, legal secretary; Perry
Mason, defense attorney; and Paul Drake, private
investigator (left to right)

          Vagabond Virgin at last satisfies my desire for a literate mystery that follows the classic rules thereof. Nothing is wasted in this book. Almost every detail--from appearance, clothing, casual utterances, make and model of car, everything--has a direct bearing upon the plot, upon the resolution of the murder mystery. It all becomes a big Bucky ball of causality and inference.

           The Perry Mason books are pot-boilers--somewhat gritty, delving into the seamier neighborhoods, and quite frank about sexuality. This one was urban with forays into the countryside. There is wry wit that often leads to a realization. And the characters are sharply drawn. I knew what each character looked like (not just the ones I knew from TV) and appreciated their personalities. The pace was fast, snappy. I had to keep my brain on or I missed things. It was clear that Gardner was an attorney and that he scoured statutes and case law to build his intricate plots. Mason is a bit on the shifty side...some of his projects border on illegal/unethical practice. But Mason's facility with the law keeps him in the clear every time.

Warren William as Perry Mason in a 1935 film

          In Vagabond Virgin, a businessman is accused of killing his partner. A hitch-hiking young woman is the alibi--or is she? The titular heroine engages in self-exploitation for money, playing the innocent virgin with drivers that pick her up. Her virginal story is so woebegone that the drivers press money (rather than their attentions) upon her.The partner's ex-wife and a mysterious reporter also figure into things. The final resolution of the plot occurs when Mason actually engages in meta-cognition (thinking about how you think) and realizes that he has accepted a batch of assumptions without checking their validity. He rethinks the case from its origins and comes up with a solution that leads to an amazing bit of courtroom drama. The criminals definitely get their comeuppance (also a standard of classic mystery).

         It's fun to be the reader sitting on Mason's shoulder throughout this book, seeing the inside of his maneuverings, getting the inside dope that the police and suspects do not have. The Mason team (Della, Paul, and even Gertie at the switchboard) work smoothly and efficiently, questioning Mason, but generally doing exactly as he directs. He doesn't always disclose all to them, not like he does to his reader.

Erle Stanley Gardner, 1889 - 1970. He worked with a
a group in California that sought to overturn convictions
that came about through inept legal representation.

          Erle Stanley Gardner is a masterful storyteller with a confident and unapologetic world view. Mason does not anguish when he bends the rules. The sexual escapades of the characters (not Mason!) are accepted as is--more faulted for their execution than for their morality. This is refreshing--I'm a bit tired of characters agonizing and self-excoriating, and regretting and seeing both sides of question. (I'm tired of doing it myself!) Mason's certainty and willingness to just move forward with the ends justifying the means keep the books about him cerebral and satisfying--just like a mystery novel (which is NOT real life) should be! Mason is not damaged or changed. He operates as a sort of matrix through which the plot operates and resolves, but is not used up--he's the catalyst, not a reactant.

1940s cover--the book is a
bit risque

          Some of the Perry Mason movies are pretty good. I saw one recently that starred Warren William as Mason and was made in 1935. It had a 1920s New York-type setting (lots of action in high-rises and lots of cabs). William's Mason was quite droll and a bit decadent, which is a bit truer to the books than perhaps the TV series is. Although I am still filtering the TV series through my child-self memories--"adult" content may have gone right over my head. I do remember one episode where someone said "cherche la femme" to Mason. I didn't know what it meant, but I remember Mason's face being tired and melancholy when the line was said.

          If I had more Mason mysteries, I would certainly read them. The Case of the Vagabond Virgin was a delightful diversion from reality and took me into another world. I think that's the true goal of a murder mystery. It's a genre about right and wrong, innocent and guilty, wit versus stupidity. The good and the smart triumph. It's not reality--but it's OK to take a break now and then. I recommend Perry Mason in all of its forms--book, radio, and TV.

The Rope, by Nevada Barr

          First, I would like to thank my friend Chris Cox for loaning me The Rope, by Nevada Barr. Then, I must turn right around and apologize to her for the fact that my dog Marigold chewed off part of the binding. I didn't know Marigold was such a book hound.
          One of the reasons Chris Cox likes Nevada Barr's books (but not probably why Marigold likes them) is that many of them are set in stunning geological locations. One of her books explores Carlsbad Caverns. Another takes the reader into the bayou of Louisiana. Barr's heroine, Anna Pigeon, is a park ranger and she changes settings/parks with each book. Barr really brings these landscapes to life--and there's always a mystery for Pigeon to solve.
          The Rope is set in the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area, specifically at Lake Powell, a body of water formed by a huge dam that filled in some of the most arid, rugged and beautiful canyon land in North America. So, this lake doesn't really have a bottom in the usual sense. The land forms that you see above the lake's surface are the tops of massive rock formations that extend far below in twisting canyons. I almost described it as a moonscape, but truly this landscape is uniquely Earthian--the constant remodeling of the planet by water, wind, plate tectonics and the human species is what makes continued life possible on our homeworld.
          I've spent so much time describing the book's landscape because the action (physical, mental, spiritual) is embedded in the geology. The settings of Barr's books are not random, like the Crosby/Hope "Road" movies (series in which the plot stayed the same but the backdrops changed). Her characters react to and with the landscape as much as with each other.
          The Rope is a prequel of sorts. It takes readers back into Anna Pigeon's life to see how she came to be a park ranger. Pigeon has come to Glen Canyon to do summer work in the parks. She is fleeing a painful life event in New York City which the reader finds out about only gradually throughout the book. Her job is to safely collect and contain human waste around Lake Powell. She's part of a team that tries to educate boaters of the need to "pack it out," in addition to her duties with a shovel and five-gallon bucket. Lake Powell has oddly located landing spots, little beaches, rock outcroppings, navigable inlets that narrow as you go. Park visitors have an unfortunate tendency to poop where they are and then leave it behind. But (butt?) this work takes Anna out to many areas around the lake.

          The plot unfolds in a series of horrifying criminal acts--most of them directed at Pigeon, who is already clinging onto life by the fingernails psychologically. This is a prime example of a book where the heroine becomes the chief victim. And Pigeon's ordeals are truly grueling.
          Pigeon is nearly raped, thrown into a pit to starve to death next to a corpse, bashed on the head, defaced with a knife, dehydrated, poisoned, left to freeze to death, drowned, left dangling over a precipice, flung off a cliff, and even almost choked to death with a barbell. This is Pigeon's healing process and leaves her feeling much happier. Really? And, she finds salvation through a baby skunk (who does spray one of the prime suspects) and decides to become a park ranger. I just don't buy it. And I don't like it. I don't believe that rape and torture are healing experiences. I don't think it is admirable to require that kind of toughness from a heroine. It's not believable. But, it is a great way to take me through the landscapes of the park.

          Barr says that this book is about obsession (see link below). I felt like it was about battering a woman for thrills and then justifying it by a false conclusion. You know, dear reader, that this is just my opinion. It violates the fundamental rules of mystery novels--the hero/heroine is a catalyst, not part of the reaction. I don't like it when the male star of a book suffers unreasonably either, but it seems to be mostly female characters that get this treatment.
          I don't begrudge the time I spent with this book. But I also don't think it is one of Barr's best. Chris Cox? What do you think?
LINKS
Nevada Bar is interviewed by the Christian Science Monitor about The Rope at: http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/0209/Nevada-Barr-The-Rope-is-fueled-by-obsession
Learn more about Lake Powell and Glen Canyon at http://www.utah.com/lakepowell/ and http://www.utah.com/nationalsites/glen_canyon.htm

SIDEBAR: Simple Model of Lake Powell
Imagine standing a set of chess characters next to each other on the bottom of a bowl. Then pour in water until only the tops of the kings and queens show. Below the surface is a maze of chessmen of different heights and angles. That's a drastically simplified model of Lake Powell. Further, imagine that you are pouring something opaque, like milk, in the bowl instead of water. Now there are unseen mysteries below the surface.