“The Case of the Perjured Parrot” by Erle Stanley Gardner

This neat and tidy detective story is part of the author’s Perry Mason series. Perry Mason is, as we know, a defense attorney who usually makes his stunning discoveries and solves crime mysteries in the courtroom – usually as soon as at the inquest, without waiting for the trial.

“The Case of the Perjured Parrot” tells us about the murder of Fremont C. Sabin, a multi-millionaire with excentric habits. He was found shot in his mountain cabin where he had gone fishing. His son hires Perry Mason to protect his interests against his step-mother Helen Watkins Sabin.

Soon Perry Mason discovers that Fremont Sabin bought himself a parrot shortly before going to the cabin and substituted him for his pet parrot Casanova. He finds Casanova too – the old bird is cared for by a certain Miss Helen Monteith and continuously says, “Put down that gun, Helen. Don’t shoot. My God, you’ve shot me.” What’s more, apparently Fremont Sabin married Miss Monteith under an assumed name. Does is make him a bigamist? Or had he divorced Helen Watkins Sabin properly? Had he been married to her to begin with? And which Helen murdered him? They both might have had a motive, and a few facts discovered about Helen Watkins Sabin show beyond doubt that she is a crook. Is she also a murderer?

Perry Mason ends up defending Helen Monteith’s interests at the inquest, and with a few intelligent guesses turns the whole case around and brings it to the most unexpected end. I’ll say no more… the book is well worth reading – not for the sake of any deep psychology (there’s none), but for the sake of the neatly drawn plot and to enjoy the way a perfect mind works. Perry Mason has never lost a case, and no wonder, since he is so intelligent and never afraid to take risks. The police officers hate him – he makes them look like fools way too often – but in my opinion they should hate themselves for being such fools. But that wouldn’t be realistic to expect them to.

The book has a charming happy end, which in itself will bring you an immence satisfaction if you take your time to read the book. I like Erle Stanley Gardner’s books: they are sweet and entertaining if not deep. And very easy to read, so I’d also recommend them to every fellow foreign reader just starting to read English-language books in original.