The Case of the Bogus Books

Here we have an unusual story with plenty of intrigue and red herrings. Although the plot stretches reality somewhat, it's not enough to ruin the whole thing completely. The weakest point is the manner of the death, which in reality would be impossible. Phyllis Love's character was a bit too mousy, but that could have been simply over-direction. Not the best, but far from the worst...

This Perry Mason episode concerns the murder of a rare book dealer, a guy who owns one of those musty old used bookstores, the kind I'm likely to frequent. Maurice Manson is the owner, one crabby old dude who is real upset when a first edition Tristram Shandy turns up missing. Of course when you just put it out on a shelf with an $8.00 price tag on it, that's an open invitation. Nevertheless he fires poor Phyllis Love and she seeks out Perry Mason as she's afraid he'll prefer charges.

It's Manson who winds up dead, asphyxiated by gas from a heater in a locked room. The proverbial locked door mystery, but Ray Collins does make an arrest of Raymond Burr's client. Naturally she didn't do it.

What's uncovered is a neat little racket where rare books are being stolen and sold on a black market. How the murder was done, that's the key here and I have to say it was well planned.

To begin the sixth season, we have a classic Mason mystery that is interesting and entertaining. In this show we get a look at the art of used books and how people abuse the system for profit. Which is a different type of plot with different techniques used by Perry to defend his client.

Ellen Carter is working at a used book store that is owned by an task-master named Joseph Kraft. Mr Kraft has been taking later editions of books and then have people manipulate the books so that they can be offered as first editions. This is highly profitable since some books bring in thousands of dollars.

When one of the books that was going to be manipulated is stolen, Mr Kraft fires Ellen Carter. When the whereabouts of the book is found, Perry helps Ellen get her job back. But the next day Mr Kraft is killed and the only evidence points to Ellen as the murderer.

With a host of seedy characters and some nice detective work, Perry is able to cross-examine suspects until the true killer is found. Even though the killer may not be your first guess, by the end of the show all the questions will be answered.

Nice way to start season six.

NOTE- First episode to feature a different opening. Beginning with this episode, when the introductions are made Perry is along in the courtroom sitting at the desk. He then reads something in a folder and smiles. Then the introductions and cast members of the show begins.

Using a used bookstore and rare books as the center of this episode is quite refreshing. A gnarly old guy runs the store but focuses mostly on refurbishing old books and selling them as first editions. A beautiful woman from his past is his artistic partner. She does the retouching on the books. There is also a young woman who works in the store who through the actions of others becomes the defendant in the old guy's murder. This is a more sophisticated plot line.

The only issue I have with the story is that it says the murder victim was killed when the gas was shut off on the heater and turned back on. The room filled up with gas and he suffocated. This could not happen in real life. Those heaters have a valve called a robertshaw valve that has a safety mechanism to prevent something like this from happening. If you shut the gas off and the pilot goes off, the valve automatically shuts off the main gas until the pilot is re-established.