The Gold Coffin Murder Case [A Gillian Hazeltine Courtroom Mystery]

Classic 1930s Attorney-Sleuth Inspired Perry Mason. Gillian Hazeltine, the wily 1930s attorney-sleuth who inspired Perry Mason, returns to find himself embroiled in the most baffling case of his career. His client was guilty of a major criminal conspiracy against the laws of the U.S. government--and his client was very very dead. His new client was innocent--and that same government was trying to send her to the electric chair. She had threatened his old client's life almost daily and an eyewitness swore he'd seen her commit the murder. In The Gold Coffin Murder Case, Golden Age detective novelist George F. Worts' greatest creation, Gillian Hazeltine ends up with an explosive mixture on his hands. His client is a socialite famed for socking frolicsome dates in the jaw; his assistant is a box-office superstar with an LLD determined to prove he's not just an actor; his opponent is the defendant's former lover--an man now ruthlessly determined to prove her guilty. It's 1934, gold prices are soaring and the federal government has called in all its gold coins. But Waldo Chine, a wealthy client of Hazeltine's, has set up afurnace in the basement of his niece's home and is melting down coins--then reselling the gold to the mint as newly mined metal. Then Waldo Chine's ashes are founded embedded in an enormous block of gold. Suspicion points to Chine's heiress and niece, Brenda, whose emeralds are discovered in the gold among his ashes. Fowler Shank, a foundry operator who confesses to assisting Chine in his scheme, claims Brenda hit the old man over the head, shoved him in the mold and released the molten gold to destroy the body. Gillian agrees to defend Brenda, only to find the mancharged with prosecuting Brenda is Stewart Noon, her former fiancée, now convinced of her guilt. His defense is complicated by the presence of Dale Torrent, a movie star with a law degree, who Gillian had promised could share in his next case. The unskilled Torrent has fallen for Brenda, and insists on handling the defense himself. Can Gillian untangle the clues in time to identify the real killer, and if he does, can he get anyone to believe the truth? Here's a mystery with a comic twist that will keep you on the edge of your seat. "I find the Hazeltine mysteries delicious, fascinating reading." Cornell Wollrich