The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom – Erle Stanley Gardner

When Perry Mason catches a woman on the fire escape outside of his office, he becomes entangled with the a businessman whose first wife is trying to steal his company out from under him as payback for his getting a Mexican divorce and quickie re-marriage.  When she turns up dead, Perry has to defend his client for both bigamy and murder, unless he can figure out who the true killer is.

Erle Stanley Gardner’s The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom, originally published in 1949, is the 33rd entry in his Perry Mason series and the third of six novels re-released last year in conjunction with the new adaptation on HBO.  Things were going along well, until the abrupt ending, where Perry figured out what really happened.  Rather than him showing it in court, which is what usually happens in the TV show, it just ended, with the trial still happening and without a definitive ending.  I look forward to seeing the TV adaptation from the Raymond Burr version of the show, released during its second season, so I can compare the filmed version with the original.