“‘The typist is here, Mr. Mason.’ Mason nodded and stretched back in his chair. Della started to pick up his brief, but hesitated as Gertie came in and carefully closed the door behind her.
“‘What’s the trouble, Gertie?’
“‘What did you say to frighten her, Mr. Mason!’
“Mason glanced at Della Street. “‘Heavens,’ Della said, ‘I didn’t talk with her at all. We just rang up Miss Mosher at the agency.’
“‘Well,’ Gertie said, lowering her voice, ‘this girl’s scared to death.’”

Before I became a blogger, dedicating my life to exploring and extolling the glories of the Golden Age of Detection, even before I became a teacher, seeking to shape young minds (and occasionally dropping a good mystery novel into their reading-resistant hands) – before all that, I spent a decade working for an upstart personnel agency in San Francisco. For the first five years, I developed a reputation as the snappiest little temporary receptionist in the business. (“Widdicombe, Gutterman, Applewhite, Bibberman and Black – how may I direct your call?”) I was so effective at my job(s) that the agency offered me a real job, and I spent five years there as a counselor finding office jobs for other “temps.” 

Thus, I felt a twinge of recognition at the start of 1956’s The Case of the Terrified Typist when Perry Mason, in need of a quick turnaround on an overwritten brief and lacking the necessary girl power to get it done, asks Della Street, the perfect secretary, to phone Miss Mosher’s agency and have her send over their best stenographer. And Mae Wallis, the girl who shows up looking so scared, turns out to be a typing whiz, so much so that Mason wants to keep her around a couple of extra weeks. The only problem? Miss Mosher never sent anyone over to Mason’s office!! Before the attorney can clear up this mystery, Mae disappears, leaving behind a stunning surprise wrapped up in a wad of gum and stuck under her desk. We’re off to the races on another “Girls! Girls! Girls!” puzzle!

And does this book race along! No sooner does Mae disappear when a fellow tenant in Mason’s building, the South African Gem Importing and Exploration Company, is the victim of a break-in, only rather than steal gems from the company, the burglar leaves them behind! And then the head representative of the branch is arrested for murder, and the firm begs Mason to defend him. In quick order, we are introduced to: the defendant’s partner, who may or may not be on the up and up, a pair of con artists with an outrageously romantic sting operation that they perform on cruise ships, a French bombshell and her lobotomized brother, and a curvaceous cigarette salesgirl in Mason’s lobby who offers her services to spy for the attorney – and maybe a whole lot more! 

The defendant, as is sometimes the way with these cases, is cold and obnoxious and of course keeps crucial information hidden from Perry, ostensibly in order to protect the honor of a woman. Is it the terrified typist or a lady whose husband is uncomfortably close to a member of the jury?? All sorts of problems arise, and the joy and appeal of these books is watching Perry Mason take on the world with Della Street and Paul Drake by his side, Della cool and calm and adoring, Paul placing the services of his three thousand operatives at Mason’s disposal, all while shaking his head sorrowfully and warning his friend that this time the district attorney has him inextricably cornered! Except that this time – the only time in the canon – Paul is right: D.A. Hamilton Burger has the upper hand. 

This is the case that Perry Mason loses.

SPOILER ALERT: the guilty verdict that comes in perhaps a little too late in the game to matter much does not mean curtains for Perry’s client. The attorney has a few tricks up his sleeve, and while I was absolutely certain where this was heading, for once Gardner pulled the rug right out from under me with a genuinely surprising twist. The machinations of this adventure may be a shade less gripping than some of Mason’s classic cases, but Gardner scores well with the terrified typist herself, manipulating us back and forth in our consideration of her motives and character. The resolution to this question is delightful! 

*     *     *     *     *

“The Case of the Terrified Typist” debuted on June 21, 1958, the 38^th episode of Season One. The bones of the novel’s plot are there, but they are bare bones indeed. Everything charming and unusual about the book – the over-the-top cruise con, the true inclinations of the typist and her swain – is abandoned for choices more sordid and ordinary. At least the defendant’s behavior is made clearer in the episode, as the novel’s abrupt ending failed to tie up a few loose ends. This is also one of the few Los Angeles-set episodes where a jury is present. Ultimately, it cost too much to bring in a dozen extras, and so the bulk of the series finds Mason unmasking the real villain at a jury-less preliminary trial.

While this is the only case in the literary canon that Mason loses, albeit briefly, Wikipedia notes that the series produced two cases not adapted from the books that depicted Mason losing a case. The first of these, “The Case of the Witless Witness” debuted on May 16, 1963, the 28^th episode of Season Six and hardly counts as a loss for Perry. At the start of the episode, he loses an unspecified case (definitely not a murder) in the court of a prominent judge who is about to be named a candidate for Lieutenant Governor. When the judge becomes embroiled in a past military scandal and the chief witness against him is murdered, Mason defends the judge and successfully unmasks both the killer and a conspiracy to smear the judge’s reputation. (This one features a couple of the character actors we’ve discussed elsewhere, Vaughn Taylor and David White; we talked about the episode in some detail when we discussed White and the Bewitched connection.)

The gold standard for me is Season Seven, Episode 4, “The Case of the Deadly Verdict,” which first aired on October 17, 1963. It is unlike any other Perry Mason episode in that . . . well, let’s not give it all away here because I’m going to be discussing this episode in October when we talk about one of its guest stars. Suffice it to say, the script, by mystery author Jonathan Latimer, is terrific.

We don’t have to worry any more about Perry Mason losing a case as we head toward the final quarter of our “Girls! Girls! Girls!” adventures. There are multiple long-legged beauties – and multiple murders – in store for us next month!