Case of the Lucky Loser

''A master storyteller'' New York Times

''His Mason books remain tantalising on every page and brilliant'' Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent

''For fans of classic hard-boiled whodunits, this is a time machine back to an exuberant era of snappy patter, stakeouts, and double-crosses'' LA Times

The first woman wouldn''t even give her name. But the clear, feminine voice faltered considerably over the question of what Perry Mason''s charges would be for a day in court - a day doing nothing but listening.

The second woman gave a good deal more - but the question was, what did she expect to get? Dorla Balfour, lethally lovely and dangerously rich, forced a $1,000 retainer on Mason to deal with a case already tried and decided.

The offense involved appeared to be manslaughter, hit-and-run, but it soon became murder ... with the corpse killed twice.