I know of Perry Mason mostly through the TV show that starred Raymond Burr rather than through novels. I did find it amusing that the original cover price of this novel was 60 cents and the Half-Price Books tag on it says they were selling it for $1!

SPOILER ALERT!!!

My first thought is that it would be harder now to take on a new identity in the way that Mildred Crest did (by taking the purse of another woman). These days you'd likely be caught out by social media, online photos, or some such.

Also, later in the novel, it becomes quite apparent that in today's day and age, it would be unlikely that a PI would have to notify the FBI about a bank robbery or ask them to locate Fern Driscoll in the way it was done in this novel. (Maybe I'm mistaken, but . . .)

The way Mason comes to the conclusion wasn't straightforward to me. There was some roundabout ways of gathering evidence and figuring out what really happened. I was surprised to find that the dead woman wasn't Fern after all. I was glad that Forrester did really seem to love her (even though his father thought she was beneath their social set.)

I thought the money in Fern's purse was a good red herring--it did make me think that Harrison Baylor or his son Forrester had paid Fern to go away. ( )

A intelligent young woman is abruptly jilted by her embezzler fiancée and while riving aimlessly picks up a hitchhiker, another young woman who has apparently left Michigan after the break-up of her affair/engagement with a rich man's son. She impulsively wrecks the first woman's car and is killed by the crash; the first woman takes the second woman's identity including a mysterious sum of money and love letters from the rich boy. An insurance investigator looking into the case tries to blackmail her and she hires Perry Mason. The blackmailer tries to break into her apartment to steal the letters, and she stabs him with an ice pick... ( )

Not the best Perry Mason novel, but it sufficed. It had a nice wrap-up at the end that made the novel better than it otherwise had been. It's nice to see such a strong conclusion to an otherwise lackluster novel. ( )

Good, but with a somewhat expected, but still out of the blue event at the end. ( )

This was a fascinating episode in the tv series.