Erle Stanley Gardner

California lawyer Perry Mason takes on a client, Eva Belter and she's instantly disliked as “all velvet and claws” by his secretary Della Street. Eva's husband George is behind tabloid editor Frank Locke’s blackmail of Congressman Harrison Burke. The politician and Eva had been together at a restaurant when there was an attempted robbery. It's not long before George takes a bullet to the heart as he's getting out of his bath. There's a forged will too. It benefits his nephew Carl, who is engaged to the daughter of Mrs. Veitch, the Belters’ secretive housekeeper. Is this complicated or what! At least Eva Belter had brains; she was smart enough to consult Perry Mason.

Blond Eve Dawson came to Hollywood to be a star and didn't make the grade. But as a party girl she was much in demand - until someone shot her during a wild party given for a lot of prominent politicians. Everyone clammed up and pressure was brought to bear - even on popular D.A. Doug Selby. But Selby and Sheriff Brandon wouldn't hush. The next time beautiful Eve turned up she was a corpse with a carving knife deep in her chest. And even that suave old fox A.B. Carr couldn't stop the D.A. from finding out who killed her and why.