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Cover of The Case of the Substitute Face

How long does it take to read The Case of the Substitute Face?

Erle Stanley Gardner

The Case of the Substitute Face by Erle Stanley Gardner takes about 4 hours 41 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.

About 4 hours 41 minutes

A weekend read

First published 1938. 255 pages, about 70,125 words.

10 days at 30 minutes a day

Estimate based on 275 words per page.

At other speeds

Slow, 150 words a minute 7 hours 48 minutes
Average, 250 words a minute 4 hours 41 minutes
Fast, 400 words a minute 2 hours 55 minutes

The page count is the median across 21 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.

About the book

Beautiful, willful Celinda Dale was decidedly not resigned when Roy Hungerford, wealthy scion of the prominent California family, deserted her for a shipboard romance with Belle Newberry. Perry Mason and Della Street, along with everyone else on the boat headed back to the mainland from Hawaii, watched this interesting triangle with pleasurable curiosity, mingled with amusement. Belle was pretty, admittedly, but her background was rather vague. Perry first saw the serious side of the affair when Mrs. Newberry consulted him. She was weary of wondering why her husband had recently changed their name, why he refused to discuss their personal life, and how they could afford a trip to Hawaii just after Newberry had given up his job as bookkeeper. Perry suspected Newberry of embezzlement, but he hoped to postpone investigation until they docked in San Francisco, officially ending his vacation with Della. He reckoned, however, without taking Celinda's jealousy into account. Celinda begins under-cover warfare against Belle, attempting to turn Roy's attentions back to herself. Belle's picture is stolen in the process, seemingly unimportant, but murder is the result of Celinda's catty work! So Perry again finds himself deep in a case where clients lie to him, yet expect his help. The outcome is another exciting Gardner mystery, told as only he, author of The Case of the Baited Hook, The Case of the Curious Bride, and all the other famous "Case" books, could tell it. - Jacket flap.

Subjects: Fiction, Perry Mason (Fictitious character), Trials (Murder), Detective and mystery stories, California, fiction, Lawyers, fiction

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