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THE CASE OF THE BLONDE BONANZA
by Erle Stanley Gardner

Copyright 1962 by Erle Stanley Gardner
All rights reserved.
Published simultaneously in the Dominion of Canada by George J. McLeod Limited, Toronto.


FOREWORD

From time to time, paying tribute to outstanding leaders in the field of legal medicine, I have dedicated my books by appropriate forewords.
This book, however, is not dedicated to one individual but to a group of men.
As one who has had much to do with crime and with the trial of criminal cases, I have learned to appreciate the value of scientific investigation and of the impartial devotion to truth which characterizes the true expert.
The professional witness who uses his technical qualifications as a springboard by which he can inject himself into a partisan position in a legal controversy is an oldfashioned carry-over from a bygone day.
The modern expert witness regards the facts with scientific objectivity. He states the reasons for his opinions with concise logic and is the first to admit any fact which may be opposed to his opinion or which may seem to be opposed to it.
I have watched the American Academy of Forensic Sciences grow from an idea in the brain of my friend, the late Dr. R. B. H. Gradwohl, to its present position of dignified power.
It is my hope that the public will learn to appreciate the importance of legal medicine, of the scientific methods of crime detection, and will learn to distrust the old-fashioned witness who testifies under the guise of an expert but is actually a professional partisan.
The scientific witness of today is interested only in finding the truth. He recites the facts as they exist, his opinion is impartial, and his voice unpartisan.
And because the American Academy of Forensic Sciences has done so much to bring all this about, I re spectfully dedicate this book to:

THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF FORENSIC SCIENCES.

Erle Stanley Gardner




THE CASE OF THE BLONDE BONANZA



CHAPTER ONE

Because Della Street, Perry Mason's confidential secretary, was spending a two-week vacation with an aunt who lived at Bolero Beach, the lawyer, having consulted with a client in San Diego, drove by on the way home. Since it was Saturday, and a beautiful day, a little persuasion on Della Street's part, plus a dinner invitation from Aunt Mae, caused the lawyer to stop over at the Bolero Hotel.
"Moreover," Della Street had pointed out, "you can then drive me back on Monday morning."
"Is this a pitch to get a ride back," Mason asked, "or a scheme on the part of you and Mae to get me to take a vacation?"
"Both," she retorted. "Any lawyer who gets so busy he regards a Saturday afternoon and a Sunday as being a vacation needs to be taken in hand. Aunt Mae has promised one of her chicken and dumpling dinners, the beach will be thronged with bathing beauties, and I have, moreover, a mystery."
"You won't need the mystery," Mason said. "Surf, sand, sunshine, bathing beauties, and one of Mae's chicken-dumpling dinners make the law business seem drab and uninviting, the air of the office stale and the perusal of law books a chore. I'll stay over."
"Then," she said, her eyes twinkling, "you're not interested in the mystery."
"I didn't say that," Mason said. "I said you had already established the proper inducement. The mystery is the frosting on the cake--not essential but delightful."
"Put on your trunks and meet me on the beach in half an hour," she said, "and I'll introduce you to the mystery."
"It's animate?"
"It's animate."
"Two legs or four?"
"Two--and wait until you see them."
"I'll be there in twenty minutes," Mason promised, and actually made it in eighteen.
He found Della Street stretched out on the sand under the shade of a beach umbrella.
"And now?" he asked, surveying her sun-tanned figure approvingly.
"She should be along any minute now," Della Street said. "It's almost noon. . . . Are you hungry?"
"Ravenous," he said, "but in view of Mae's promise of chicken and dumplings I want to restrain my appetite for the time being."