The Case of a Greedy Woman

 "A woman is like a tea bag; you never know how strong it is until it's in hot water."
- Eleanor Roosevelt


The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933, Translated as Murhaajan Ääni/The Voice of the Murderer in finnish) is the first Perry Mason story of many by Erle Stanley Gardner. A murder mystery story starring a character known as, surprise, surprise, Perry Mason. Mason is a man who appears in many of Gardner's stories as the "detective," or better said, the main character. because he's not a detective, he's an attorney. An old school criminal defense lawyer who does all he can for his clients, even if he has to throw them to the wolves first to achieve it.

Characters:
Perry Mason, an attorney
Della Street, Perry's secretary 
Paul Drake, a detective
Eva Belter, a menacing woman
George C. Belter, a powerful man from business standpoints
Frank Locke, a journalist for Bitter Pieces
Harrison Burke, a politician

Eva who claims to be named Griffin arrives at Perry Mason's office where Della Street, his secretary and a woman with keen eyes for suspicious women, and the main man himself, Perry Mason, are ready to take on a mission to fulfil the client's wishes.
The story starts off as a look for the person behind a blackmailing magazine translated as Bitter Pieces (from "Katkerat Palat") however that plotline is already finished around 35/204 or so pages into the story. Eva was caught by them on a photo with a famous politician Harrison Burke - photo with a potential for a scandal, and what's more, the photo of them was taken at the time of a crime! Eva needs help to deal with Bitter Pieces, stop them from publishing that photograph and for that he needs a person who is not afraid to do things the rough way - which is what Perry Mason is known for. As mr. Mason manages to track down the mastermind behind the magazine, he arrives at a place with a name. George Belter, Beechwoods house, where he meets up with mr. and ms. Belter. Surprisingly enough, Eva Griffin's true identity was out in the open for him as Eva was ms. Belter. She never suspected that Perry would track her husband. So the magazine with the pictures of her potentially cheating with a politician happens to work for her husband - a tricky situation indeed. 

Yes, a murder happens in the story. In the Beechwoods house where Belter's live in, George C. Belter is murdered. The case focuses on the people who live with Eva and George as Carl Griffin, a young drunkard man, a family to the Belter's, supposedly had a motive while the others in the house did not.  The story continues to looking for an owner of a gun, a colt P92, and questioning the statements of two women who work for the Belter family, as they hide secrets of their own.
All in all it's a case about a mysterious gunshot and a bathtub.

Eva is a manipulative woman and the story constantly stays on top of that fact, yet somehow Mason gets caught in a few of her tricks despite carefully trying to avoid whatever she might have in mind: when Mason goes to the crime scene, he carefully tries not to leave fingerprints and such. I guess him getting caught feels kind of unnatural, even though all I can think is, "what can you do? this woman just tries to use others and that's all she does" as Eva tries to claim she heard Perry Mason's voice during the time of the crime; after she had called him to the crime scene (potentially to leave fingerprints and such).

Throughout the story Perry has to keep exposing Eva's words for whether or not she's telling the truth or deliberately lying, or just avoids telling the truth -  the usual habit of "because you didn't ask!" which liars have.
Eva starts to claim Perry "may have been" the culprit as she claims to have heard his voice.
There is nothing really that clever in this story when it comes to plot twists or twists in general. There is somewhat of a trick from the author, I think, when it comes to figuring out the culprit from the events happened as you focus on the bullet shots in the bathroom.
There are not that many standout events in the story either. Nothing that original or unique from a writing standpoint that can make you tell "this is totally Gardner's handprint right here!"

However small things I do have to point out such as:
- On page 14 there is a decent usage of adding the newspapers articles onto the page.
- I noticed how many of the chapters seem to begin in a similar style - someone is sitting in their office, and. . .
- New ideas and characters get introduced at a decent pace, so the story doesn't feel completely incomplete in a way that you'd be left feeling that it has a lack of any actual content with substance.
- The case itself is simplistic and the hints feel sort of lackluster. There is not as much focus on the case as there should be.
- There is some kind of battle of wits type of storytelling going on between Perry Mason and the journalist Frank Locke, but it's all written in a way that it feels rather unimpressive.

So basically there is nothing that interesting from the perspective of looking at the mystery, characters or storytelling style, but for what it is, the story does flow decently enough to be passable. The pacing of the story is alright. A mysterious woman, a recent case, a mysterious boss behind a fraudulentish newspaper company, a new case in present-time, little "mysteries" happen throughout the story when mr. Mason has to keep questioning about "what exactly is Eva lying about this time and how can I go about making her admit it?" 

Despite being a series with an attorney protagonist, the cases of this story never go to the court - Perry is an active on-foot attorney that is closer to a detective with an attorney's badge, a hardboiled one. I'm not sure how Gardner writes his other Perry Mason stories as I haven't read them yet - however I'd like to see a story that goes to the court. Ace Attorney style. This particular book, from a comparative attorney series' standpoint, is the Gyakuten Kenji equivalent as instead of Phoenix Wright, Perry Mason works like Miles Edgeworth. Although he's not quite as quick-thinking.

The Case of the Velvet Claws is the first Perry Mason story I've read, and I'm both glad and somewhat not glad that it was. It's a story I would say is "to the point, leaving not much else to think about" from the first page to the very last page of the epilogue of the case. The last scene of the book includes how the current case and the woman named Eva Belter get dealt with and half-literally shelved away by Mason and the day continues, and we get a small mention of the next case that Gardner had planned at that point in time as if the book is saying; "the story goes on..."

Now Gardner gives me off the impression of a person who likes to add ominous women in his story. Just from looking at his other works they all seem to contain an idea for "there's that one potentially dangerous woman that lures you in." Well not like it matters I guess, anyone can be dangerous.