Golden Age of Detective Fiction

After going on a three month vacation, Daphne Shelby comes to Perry Mason with a strange request for him to accompany her to the bank on the behalf of her wealthy uncle, Horace Shelby. She has a check written to her for $12,500 and a note from Horace asking her to withdraw the money immediately upon her return to California. When Mason and Daphne Shelby attempt to withdraw the money, the account has been completely drained.

Confused and now broke because she was living off a stipend by her elderly uncle since she was his primary carer, she rushes home. Her and Horace Shelby’s home has been usurped by Horace’s half-brother Finchley and his wife. They claim that Finchley is now Horace’s conservator since he suffered a mental health breakdown while Daphne was away. They also accuse Daphne of being a sponger, since she’s no more than Horace’s housekeeper’s daughter, and not a relation. They force her to take her possessions and throw her out of the house.

Destitute, she returns to Perry Mason’s office and begs him to help her find Horace Shelby. Perry Mason uses Paul Drake’s men to trace Finchley and attempt to find Horace. Within a few days, they discover that Horace is being held in a private hospital, but before Perry Mason can release him on legal grounds, Daphne Shelby takes a job as a nurse and finds her uncle strapped to table and drugged. Upset, Daphne Shelby breaks Horace out and hides him in a cheap motel.

Their clumsy escape is quickly traced by Perry Mason, but she pretends that she has no idea where Horace is or how he escaped. Finchley also finds Horace and Daphne’s hideout. Finchley turns up dead at the hotel after eating poisoned Chinese food and Horace is on the run.

Now Daphne is in real trouble, indicted for the murder of Finchley and the district attorney thinks she wanted to poison Horace Shelby and inherit his wealth. A trail of lies and misdirection are in her past, even Perry Mason wonders if he’s over his head.

The Case of the Beautiful Beggar has a lot of well-trod Perry Mason tropes: a maligned damsel in distress that only Perry can save. A prefunctory Paul Drake investigation. Money grubbing realtives and a hidden past that will turn the Shelby family on it’s head.

The book is bogged down, by the near imbecility of the main character, Daphne Shelby. She’s so easily conned into taking her three month trip and on her return she makes every wrong choice to stay on the good side of the law. Her impetous demeanor is so exparating that even Perry Mason threatens to drop her as a client if she doesn’t start listening to his instructions.

Finchley’s poisoning and the machinations of how all the characters ended up in that seedy motel room are flimsy at best, and the reveal of what really happened stretches a tight timeline to it’s breaking point.

Daphne Shelby’s true parentage, which I think is supposed to be a shocking reveal, fell flat and the happy ending seems more undeserved than usual. Daphne Shelby didn’t learn anything or grow into a stronger person- she’s just as coddled and clueless as she was in the begining.

That being said, the book goes along at a good clip and it is well-written. Perry Mason is snarkier and harsher than usual, his patience being brought to the breaking point by Daphne’s antics, which is a welcome change. The courtroom drama is nothing special, but also isn’t bad. The Case of the Beautiful Beggar is fine. There’s nothing particularly wrong about the book, it’s just oppressively middling.

Perry Mason Reviews