From Publishers Weekly
All former Jersey beauty queen Cece Caruso really wants to do is finish her biography of Erle Stanley Gardner, “creator of the brilliant, unflappable Perry Mason,” but in art journalist Kandel’s entertaining, often witty debut, she must contend with a few distractions, including murder. Once he became a famous writer, Gardner for a while took on “hopeless cases.” In the Gardner archives, Cece stumbles across a misfiled 1958 letter from Joseph Albacco, who had recently been convicted and imprisoned for murdering his wife. Claiming his innocence, Albacco begged Gardner to intervene and track down the real killer, but the author never did. Intrigued, Cece is determined to find the truth in a scenario complicated enough to challenge Perry Mason himself, and soon finds herself involved in a fresh murder linked to the long-ago crime. Meanwhile, she worries about her daughter Annie, whose marriage seems about to implode, and never misses a chance to add to her sizeable collection of vintage clothing. Though the denouement is a bit over-the-top, readers should give Cece a warm welcome to the legion of perky female sleuths.
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This was a quick, easy, lighthearted read. I had heard of her latest ‘Dial H for Hitchcock,’ but I prefer to start a series at the beginning so I started with ‘I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason.’ And as someone that likes mysteries, both current and past, this was a fun story. Nothing scary, nothing too clever. I did figure it out pretty quickly, but it was still worth reading. I have the next installment on hold at the library.
I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
Library books:
Not a girl detective Kandel, Susan,
Karma Dunlap, Susan
Manhunt : the twelve-day chase for Lincoln’s killer Swanson, James L.
Hardball Paretsky, Sara
Shiver Stiefvater, Maggie
The last Dickens : a novel Pearl, Matthew
Exploration Fawcett Fawcett, Percy Harrison
Pride and prejudice and zombies : the classic Regency romance-now with ultraviolent zombie mayhem Grahame-Smith, Seth
An autobiography Christie, Agatha
U is for undertow Grafton, Sue
The lineup : the world’s greatest crime writers tell the inside story of their greatest detectives Penzler, Otto
Moonlight in Odessa : a novel Skeslien Charles, Janet
