The Case of the Lame Canary by Erle Stanley Gardner: A Perry Mason Mystery. From the back cover: It was a divorce case and Perry Mason never took divorce cases. But he became the attorney for Rosalind Prescott because he couldn't see any other way to satisfy his curiosity about why an attractive young woman would come to his office carrying a lame canary. First he sent out Paul Drake, the private detective, to round up certain routine details. Before the afternoon was over, Drake called in, obviously excited. "Perry," he asked, "was this divorce case a run around?" "No. What are you talking about?" "I'm out here near the Prescott house. Sergeant Holcomb's in that house with a couple of men form the homicide squad and the coroner." "Who's the corpse?" "I don't know." "Wait for me. I'm coming out," Mason said. "And, Paul, don't ever underestimate a hunch on a lame canary." -- From Amazon.com Product Description