the case of the blonde bonanza
Published: 1962
Language: eng
Number of pages: 230
Copyright date: 1962
Description: The story begins unusually with Della vacationing at a beach hotel. Perry has business at a town nearby and stops in. Della tells him an odd story. A lovely young woman has been coming to the same beach every day. She is eating like a horse! Big dinners, extra pies and cakes, you name it. She is obviously trying to gain weight and it is starting to show. What could explain such odd behavior?
Della's Aunt Mae knows the young blonde woman, Diane Alder, and soon Perry and Della learn the story. A man named Harrison T. Boring approached her with an odd proposition. He says he is starting up a new line of fashions that will appeal to the average woman, not one who is unnaturally thin, which is the case with most fashion models. (This actually makes sense!) He wants an attractive model to present them. That's why Diane is trying to gain ten pounds.
That's odd enough, but even more, he had her sign a binding contract. In exchange for $100 a week for the next two years (a pretty good salary in those days), she owes him half of all monies she earns or comes by in that time from any source. It can be renewed up to four more years at his discretion. He evidently expects to earn a great deal from her modeling and TV appearances, hence the name "blonde bonanza."
Perry thinks that there is more here than meets the eye. Later, back in LA, he realizes this is the "missing heir-racket". The stuff about a fashion line is just a red herring. In other words, Boring has figured out that some deceased relative of Diane has left a lot of unclaimed money and via this contract he can get half of it.