With her manuscript due in three months and "The End" nowhere in sight, biographer Cece Caruso is desperate for inspiration.

Writers' block has derailed her latest book about Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of attorney-at-law and sleuth-extraordinaire Perry Mason. Then Cece finds a misplaced letter in the files of the Court of Last Resort, a group founded by Gardner to provide justice for those wrongly convicted of crimes.

Joseph Albacco had been in prison just a few months when he wrote to Gardner -- a note shows Gardner saw the letter, but no action was taken. Albacco was convicted of killing his wife, but Cece's not so sure he did it, and decides investigating the case could jumpstart her book.

Along the way she trips over a much newer body; ruins some of her favorite vintage fashions; deals with her daughter's failing marriage; meets a hot, younger guy; gets reacquainted with an old friend; and, of course, dreams of Perry Mason.

Susan Kandel has been an art critic, writer, editor and teacher; this is her debut novel.