After a thieving woman is accused of murder, it’s up to Perry Mason to prove her innocent Sleuthing attorney Perry Mason can’t resist a good mystery, so when he sees an older woman being accused of shoplifting during a department store outing with his assistant, Della Street, he doesn’t hesitate to intervene. Armed with an assumption of innocence and the legal acumen to silence her accuser, Mason leaps to the woman’s defense—until her niece appears, acknowledging her aunt’s guilt, and pays for the stolen items. Soon thereafter, Aunt Sarah is accused of stealing a valuable set of diamonds, and her niece, Virginia, enlists Mason’s aid. The man who left the jewels in Sarah’s care insists that she didn’t take them, but when he turns up dead, she’s left with nobody to vouch for her. Nobody, that is, but Perry Mason—expert in the art of defending the innocent. The thirteenth novel in the bestselling Perry Mason series, The Case of the Shoplifter’s Shoe is an exemplary episode for the character, featuring the complex plots, snappy dialogue, and break-neck pacing that make the novels perennial favorites of mystery fans everywhere. Includes discussion guide questions for use in book clubs.

エル・スタンリー・ガードナーが生んだ不滅のヒーロー、ペリー・メイスンの真骨頂は、緻密な法廷戦術と人間の尊厳を守り抜く不屈の精神にあります。本作では、一見些細な万引き事件が巨大な陰謀へと変貌する過程が、小気味よい対話と共に描かれます。読者は、法の壁を自在に操りながらも「弱者の味方」であり続けるメイスンの、知性的かつ熱いカリスマ性に心奪われるはずです。 映像版では法廷の逆転劇が視覚的なカタルシスを与えますが、原作にはメイスンの思考の機微や社会の陰影がより深く刻まれています。活字ならではの重厚な心理描写と、映像のスピード感が融合することで、物語の核心である「真実の多面性」が鮮明に立ち上がります。このメディア間の相乗効果こそ、本作を味わい尽くす醍醐味と言えるでしょう。