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THE CASE OF THE DARING DIVORCEE
by Erle Stanley Gardner


Copyright 1964 by Erle Stanley Gardner

All rights reserved.

Published simultaneously in the Dominion of Canada by George J. McLeod Limited, Toronto.

Printed in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 64-10510



Foreword

Some years ago, I dedicated a Perry Mason mystery (_The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink_) with an appropriate foreword to my friend, Dr. Russell Fisher, who, at that time, had just been appointed Chief Medical Examiner of the State of Maryland.
Since that time, I have watched Dr. Fisher's progress with a feeling of pride in his achievements, and those achievements have been many.
Now, as Chief Medical Examiner of the State of Maryland, he has developed his office so efficiently that in the large urban area of Baltimore, every Medical Examiner's case is thoroughly investigated and two out of three deaths studied by the Medical Examiner are autopsied. By comparison, in Pittsburgh (Allegheny County, Pennsylvania), a city of similar size, only 6% of such deaths were autopsied under the coroner system.
Yet Maryland's medical examiner system cost only seventeen cents in the Baltimore area in contrast to twentytwo per person in the Pittsburgh area.
This is an enviable record and the voters have shown their confidence in Dr. Fisher and the department he has headed by recently approving a bond issue which will be used to build a new central headquarters building for Maryland's medical examiner system. This building will house the service function and some research activities of the office. Furthermore, it is planned to build one or more additional floors on the building financed by privately donated funds to house a research and teaching institute of forensic medicine. This institute should help greatly in advancing the application of scientific knowledge to the problems of law enforcement.
It is gratifying to note that more and more people are coming to realize the importance of legal medicine and the protection given to the living by a modern, up-to-date medical examiner system.
As Dr. Fisher recently pointed out, eighty-five percent of all murders in the nation are committed among friends and family members; and particularly in cases of poisoning, these murders may well go undetected unless a medical examiner has jurisdiction.
Under the rural coroner system many such poisonings have gone undetected. The exact number of such cases is, of course, unknown yet subsequent exhumations have convinced criminologists that poison murders are far more numerous than the average person suspects.
Because he has made such an excellent record as an administrator, executive and medical examiner, I am dedicating this book to my friend,

RUSSELL S. FISHER, M.D.
Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland

ERLE STANLEY GARDNER



THE CASE OF THE DARING DIVORCEE


Chapter One

Perry Mason, having completed his luncheon conference, returned to his office to find a puzzled Della Street awaiting him.
"I tried to get you on the phone before you had left the restaurant," she said. "Your two-thirty appointment phoned to cancel, said that as soon as the other side knew Perry Mason was in the case the matter was satisfactorily adjusted. You are to send a bill."
"How much was involved?" Mason asked. "About five thousand dollars?"
"Six thousand, seven hundred and fifty was the amount of the settlement."
"Send a bill for five hundred dollars," Mason said. "What else is new, anything?"
"We have an office mystery."
"What do you mean?"
"This is a mystery that's right in the office. A woman apparently feels that her life is in danger and wants your protection, counsel and guidance. She also wants the help of a good private detective whom you are to select and supervise."
"Who is it?" Mason asked. "And where is she?"
"Her name is Adelle Hastings," Della said, "but your second question is one to which we don't have the answer."