The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll by Erle Stanley Gardner

Mildred Crest is shocked when her fiance, Bob, calls her up at her job and tells her that he has lost a bundle of money on the horses, has been siphoning money from his work, and is going to clean out his office and take off. Oh, by the way, their engagement is over. In shock, she completes her work for the day and then takes off. 

While on the way, she picks up a hitchhiker named Fern Driscoll who says that she's burned her bridges and is now a footloose doll. At the end of her rope, Fern pulls on the wheel and causes a car accident. Mildred survives... or does she? Maybe she can become Fern and leave her life behind. Too bad Fern left an even bigger mess behind and Mildred is about to be wrapped up in blackmail and murder. Good thing she had the foresight to hire Perry Mason as her attorney.

This was a pretty good story though the sexism of the times definitely come through and the ending was a little more convoluted than it needed to be.

Three and a half stars
This book came out in 1958

Follows The Case of the Daring Decoy

Followed by The Case of the Long-Legged Models

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

The Case of the Careless Kitten by Erle Stanley Gardner

Can the actions of a cat help solve a mystery? They will if the main character is lawyer Perry Mason. He's trying to figure out whether or not Helen Kendal's uncle, who has been missing for 10 years but her aunt refuses to declare him dead, is really.
Someone purporting to be her uncle has called Helen and asked her to meet him. But when she shows up, there's a dead body who isn't her uncle. In between the call and the discovery, her kitten is poisoned. And that's all in the beginning of the story.
I picked this up based on the Classic Mysteries podcast. But it took quite a bit to slog through this book. The dated attitudes are harder to take in some books than others and this story was also pretty convoluted.

Three stars
This book came out
Borrowed this book from the library
Opinions are my own