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Erle Stanley Gardner
(1889-1970)

Creator of Lawyer
Perry Mason

Erle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories who also published under several other names. His most successful creation was Perry Mason, the fictional lawyer and crime-solver, about whom he wrote more than eighty novels.  Of course, all of Mason's clients appeared to be guilty in the beginning but by the end of their trials he proved that they were innocent.

The character of Perry Mason was portrayed in various Hollywood films of the 1930s and 40s, and eventually became a long-running TV series with Raymond Burr as Perry Mason.

He also wrote another remarkable series of novels about District Attorney Doug Selby and his opponent, the rascally Alphonse Baker Carr. This series was the opposite of the Perry Mason novels. Prosecutor Selby was the courageous and imaginative crime solver and Lawyer Carr was the shyster shark whose clients were always "as guilty as hell". Click Here

Erle Stanley Gardner's first full length novel published in 1933 was The Case of the Velvet Claws which is about a spoiled woman who wants to keep her affairs from her powerful husband, even if it costs Perry his freedom when she swears he was on the murder scene. (Note the price of this paperback novel.....25¢.) Click Here

His last two Perry Mason novels were published after his death. The first in 1972, The Case of the Fenced-In Woman in which Mason becomes involved in the bizarre case of a house split right through the living room with a barbed-wire fence -- and a body in the pool. The second in 1973, The Case of the Postponed Murder in which a young woman asks Mason to find her sister--but what does she really want? And did the corpse sail the yacht away after he was shot? (1973), were published after his death.

Other Perry Mason novels - For more information click on the blue link:

• The Case of the Sulky Girl (1933) A bratty heiress wants to keep the news of her marriage a secret from the guardian who controls her purse strings, but when he's murdered, her groom is accused.

• The Case of the Lucky Legs (1934) A mistake at a murder scene dogs Perry while he tries to represent a woman taken in by a con man.

• The Case of the Howling Dog (1934) When a potential client wants to see Perry Mason about a howling dog and a will, the attorney is not interested. He does not enjoy drawing wills, and wonders if the man shouldn't see a veterinarian. However, when the man asks whether a will is legal if the person who made it had been executed for murder, immediately Mason becomes interested. He finds, in addition to the will and the dog, a man who had run away with the wife of another, and a sexy housekeeper.

• The Case of the Curious Bride (1935) - A woman claiming not to be a bride consults Mason about her 'friend' whose husband, long thought to have died in a plane crash, turns up alive.

• The Case of the Counterfeit Eye (1935)- Peter Brunold has a bloodshot glass eye to use the "morning after". It is distinctive, closely identified with him, and thus quite a handicap when a corpse is found clutching a bloodshot glass eye. Later, another corpse is found, with another bloodshot glass eye in hand. Perry Mason is in almost as much jeopardy as his client: the lawyer's fingerprints have been found on one of the alleged murder weapons.

• The Case of the Caretaker's Cat (1935)- After his employer dies in a fire, a caretaker hires Mason to allow him to keep his cat against the wishes of the men who inherit. When the caretaker is killed, Mason defends the woman accused of his murder.

• The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece (1936)- When two men change bedrooms at a house-party, everyone thinks that the sleepwalker with the carving knife killed the wrong man.

• The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1936)- Mason gets a telephone call from a man who identifies himself as Anglican Bishop William Mallory, recently returned from many years in Australia, and tells Mason that he will testify on the behalf of Mason's client, if Mason can find him. But Mason observes that a bishop who's delivered many sermons is unlikely to stutter.

• The Case of the Dangerous Dowager (1937)- Mason is hired to retrieve a spoiled granddaughter's gambling IOUs by a wealthy cigar-smoking dowager. A murder aboard a gambling ship is beyond the three-mile limit.

• The Case of the Lame Canary (1937)- A snoopy neighbor and a canary whose claws have been cut too short provide the clues to an illicit affair and a murder.

• The Case of the Substitute Face (1938) - During a dark and stormy night aboard ship, a man goes missing. A portrait photograph is mysteriously changed out of a frame. Mason must solve the mystery to save a life.

• The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe (1938) - Mason defends an elderly woman who claims to have no memory of shooting a man, but he needs to know why she would go shoplifting when she has plenty of money in her purse.

• The Case of the Perjured Parrot (1939) - The only witness to a millionaire's murder is a parrot that keeps repeating phrases that may identify the killer.

• The Case of the Rolling Bones (1939) - A murder during the California Gold Rush has ramifications that lead to murder in the present day.

• The Case of the Baited Hook (1940) - Mason is given a third of a $10,000 bill to represent a masked woman in the future. It takes him almost until the murder trial to find out which cheating woman is his client.

• The Case of the Silent Partner (1940) - Successful florist Mildred Faulkner finds that the flower business is no bed of roses when her arch-competitor secretly buys stock in her small business. To keep from being muscled out of her own company, Mildred goes to Perry Mason. But the legal eagle is stymied when Mildred's company is plundered by her brother-in-law to pay off gambling debts. The money trail leads to a nightclub hostess and her boss. When both are found dead, the trail of evidence leads back to Mildred.

• The Case of the Haunted Husband (1941) - Aspiring actress Stephanie Claire just wants to be in pictures. But she may end up in mug shots when she gets herself caught up in a crime. It's up to Perry Mason to find the truth behind a suspicious scenario starring a menacing movie mogul, a hoodwinked housewife, and a man no one ever seen--alive!

• The Case of the Empty Tin (1941) - A snoopy spinster discovers the passing of coded messages sealed into empty tins, but it's someone else who gets killed in the basement .

• The Case of the Drowning Duck (1942) - Perry Mason and Della Street are on a vacation in Palm Springs when a wealthy businessman asks for advice regarding his daughter's boyfriend, a chemist who drowns ducks and becomes a murder suspect.

• The Case of the Careless Kitten (1942) - Mason defends Della Street, who is accused of helping a material witness or possible murder suspect vanish from a crime scene. Key clues in the murder case are the behavior of a greedy kitten and the impersonation of an elderly crippled woman.

• The Case of the Buried Clock (1943) - A returning war veteran stumbles across a buried clock that's apparently keeping sidereal time. A murder victim is found in a rural area where it seems all the neighbors go out for walks at night.

• The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito (1943) - A wealthy prospector is camping in his own back yard, someone tries to poison Perry and Della, Paul Drake poses as a drunken prospector, and the clue to the murder is the sound of a mosquito flying in lazy circles.

• The Case of the Crooked Candle (1944) - A key element in a complicated story of a body found on a beached boat is a candle that's standing at a steep angle.

• The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde (1944) - A beautiful blonde gets a fist in the eye from her employer's son, and Mason must defend her when her roommate is murdered.

• The Case of the Golddigger's Purse (1945) - In order to help her seriously ill boyfriend, gorgeous Sally sets out to separate wealthy Faulkner from some of his money by offering him a cure for his ailing exotic fish, but her plan goes awry when the fish mysteriously vanish and Faulkner turns up dead.

• The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife (1945) - A shady promoter is blocking the sale of a valuable island when he comes up with an oil lease, but when he's murdered on a pleasure cruise, it's his wife who stands trial for murder.

• The Case of the Borrowed Brunette (1946) - A young woman is hired to impersonate someone because her measurements and coloring match a very specific list. It's a tricky ploy in a divorce and soon leads to a murder charge against her chaperone.

• The Case of the Fan Dancer's Horse (1947) - There are two gorgeous fan dancers with the same name, two blood-soaked ostrich fans, a samurai sword and a horse with a very unusual addition to its saddle.

• The Case of the Lazy Lover (1947) - A man tells everyone that his wife has run away with his best friend, who seems to have a strange lack of enthusiasm about the affair. The case leads to murder and a trial that hinges on multiple sets of footprints.

• The Case of the Lonely Heiress (1948) - Mason is hired to find the identify of an "heiress" who ran ads in a lonely hearts magazine. Later, he defends the heiress against a murder charge.

• The Case of the Vagabond Virgin (1948) - A man picks up an innocent young hitchhiker and gets into even more trouble when his partner is found murdered.

• The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom (1949) - First Mason gets his face slapped by a beautiful burglar in his office building, then a Tijuana wedding trip leads to a murder.

• The Case of the Cautious Coquette (1949) - When Perry Mason questioned Lucille Barton, she lied about her past, about her many marriages, about her gun, about her boyfriends. Then the murders began. And the cops turned up evidence that clearly pointed to one killer--Perry Mason!

• The Case of the Negligent Nymph (1950) - A young woman swims to Mason's canoe to escape a vicious watchdog, then is accused of jewel theft and murder. But it's the dog who provides the key to the murder.

• The Case of the One-Eyed Witness (1950) - When a mysterious woman hires Mason over the telephone, he must defend her in a case that involves an adoption racket and her husband's murder. A woman in an eye patch is a key witness.

• The Case of the Fiery Fingers (1951) - Mason defends a woman twice - once on theft charges, and then on murder charges.

• The Case of the Angry Mourner (1951) - A playboy is murdered in his lakeside cabin and a mother and daughter, who had both been there, start to suspect each other so call on Perry Mason for help.

• The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink (1952) - A waitress in a favorite restaurant of Mason's runs out in the middle of the lunch rush, leaving behind her moth-eaten mink, and is hit by a car. Later, a message in lipstick helps Mason disprove the murder case against her framed boss.

• The Case of the Grinning Gorilla (1952) - Mason buys the diary of a drowned woman at an auction, and after a murder he finds himself confronted by a hypnotized gorilla.

• The Case of the Hesitant Hostess (1953) - A hostess at a nightclub seems determined to convince a jury that Mason's client committed armed robbery, so he goes over her story in painstaking detail on the stand.

• The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister (1953) - Mason, hired to protect a family from illegitimate blackmail, ends up defending a woman who the police claim murdered the blackmailer.

• The Case of the Fugitive Nurse (1954) - Young Steffanie Malden, recently widowed by the death of her very successful surgeon husband, consults Mason. She wants the $100,000 her husband and nurse hid from her and the IRS in a love nest, but changes priorities when the authorities prosecute her for murder.

• The Case of the Runaway Corpse (1954) - Mason defends a woman accused of poisoning her husband -- even though witnesses saw the corpse climb out the motel window.

• The Case of the Restless Redhead (1954) - Mason helps a young defense attorney get an innocent verdict from a woman accused of theft. Later, he defends her in a murder case with a large number of twists.

• The Case of the Sun Bather's Diary (1955) - Mason defends the daughter of a man convicted of armed robbery who first loses her trailer, all her clothes and her diary.

• The Case of the Glamorous Ghost (1955) - A scantily-clad woman claims she's got amnesia, and can't remember a thing about the jewel smuggling or the murder.

• The Case of the Nervous Accomplice (1955) - Mason is hired by a woman whose husband is having an affair, then defends her on a murder charge.

• The Case of the Terrified Typist (1956) - After a temporary typist who enjoys trick photography has left Mason's office in a tearing hurry, he and Della find some diamonds stuck in chewing gum on the bottom of her desk. Her murder trial features an ending unique in the Mason series.

• The Case of the Gilded Lily (1956) - Mason defends a man thought to have killed his blackmailer.

• The Case of the Demure Defendant (1956) - A woman confesses to murder during a therapy session, and her doctor consults Mason as to the legal ramifications. Later Mason defends the woman in court.

• The Case of the Screaming Woman (1957) - Mason defends a woman accused of murdering a doctor running an illegal adoption agency.

• The Case of the Lucky Loser (1957) - Mason defends a man previously convicted of killing a man with an automobile while intoxicated. When the body is found to have been killed with a gun, Mason argues double jeopardy as a plea, but eventually clears his client of all crimes.

• The Case of the Daring Decoy (1957) - Mason defends a man embroiled in a stock battle who is accused of killing a business rival's secretary. Was the woman in the nightie and the mudpack trying to keep the gun herself, or palm it off?

• The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll (1958) - Mason defends a woman against charges of two murders - she has already stolen $4,000, stabbed a man with an ice pick and fled a fatal accident but he is convinced she is innocent of murder.

• The Case of the Long-legged Models (1958) - Mason defends a woman accused of murdering the man who murdered her father, and does so by juggling identical guns until no one knows what's what.

• The Case of the Calendar Girl (1958) - Mason masterfully defends a man accused of murdering a corrupt politician by shoving the blame onto a model. When the model is accused of murder using the evidence Mason uncovered, Perry defends her.

• The Case of the Singing Skirt (1959) - Mason's client is framed for theft and fired because she wouldn't help cheat a casino patron. Then she's accused of murder, and the gun juggling begins.

• The Case of the Mythical Monkeys (1959) - Gladys Doyle, secretary of underworld moll turned bestselling novelist, keeps an appointment in her employer's place at mountaintop Summit Inn, but gets stuck in the mud on her way back and spends the night with a man who vanishes. A crucial clue is a scarf printed with the three mythical monkeys -- "Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil."

• The Case of the Deadly Toy (1959) - A boy with a toy printing press and a .22 leads Perry Mason to a murder trial where his mother is on trial for the murder of his father, and his wealthy grandfather will do anything to get her convicted.

• The Case of the Waylaid Wolf (1960) - A woman defends herself from date rape by stealing his car. When her would-be rapist is found dead, Mason defends her on the murder charge and does some spectacular misdirection with the evidence.

• The Case of the Duplicate Daughter (1960) - Perry's not sure which woman was running away from the murder garage wearing only a nightie and as a retainer he asks for title to all the money found in the garage.

• The Case of the Shapely Shadow (1960) - A secretary, convinced her boss is being blackmailed, hire Mason to secure evidence, but when her boss is found murdered, she needs him to defend her on murder charges.

• The Case of the Spurious Spinster (1961) - A shoebox full of cash and an elderly mine owner who disappears, wheelchair and all, leave a secretary charged with murder.

• The Case of the Bigamous Spouse (1961) - Gwynn Elston, door-to-door saleswoman, finds herself implicated in the murder of her best friend's new husband.

• The Case of the Reluctant Model (1962) - Mason gets involved in a case of slander when an art dealer says a painting by Phellipe Feteet is a fake. When Mason goes to the apartment of the main witness all he finds is a very dead body.

• The Case of the Blonde Bonanza (1962) - Mason thinks it's crazy that someone is paying a beautiful girl $100 a week to put on weight, but she might be a missing heir -- or a murderer.

• The Case of the Ice-Cold Hands (1962) - An interesting legal point arises about an embezzler who gambles on the ponies and wins, and an interesting murder trial centers on some trout packed in dry ice.

• The Case of the Amorous Aunt (1963) - Mason defends a young woman accused of murdering her aunt's fiancé.

• The Case of the Stepdaughter's Secret (1963) - Blackmail leads to murder on a yacht and a cash-filled purse on the bottom of the ocean weighted down with a gun.

• The Case of the Mischievous Doll (1963) - Mason is hired to identify a woman based on an appendix scar, as she fears being a look-alike to an heiress might be a setup for her arrest. Mason later defends the heiress on murder charges.

• The Case of the Phantom Fortune (1964) - Mason is hired to protect a man's wife from an unknown blackmailer. However, while Mason's ingenious plan to ruin the blackmailer works, he ends up having to defend the man after he is prosecuted for murder.

• The Case of the Horrified Heirs (1964) - In the readers' court, no one objects to a full docket of Perry Mason. Virginia Baxter is the only witness still living who can vouch for the authenticity of Lauretta Trent's will. Now, Lauretta has been murdered on the highway--after almost being poisoned. Confused?

• The Case of the Daring Divorcee (1964) - A purse containing thousands of dollars and a twice-fired gun is left in Mason's office, but his potential client has disappeared.

• The Case of the Troubled Trustee (1965) - Why would a talented investment advisor embezzle a quarter of a million dollars from his client 'for her own good?' Mason first advises him, then defends him as the case becomes murder.

• The Case of the Beautiful Beggar (1965) - When her wealthy uncle disappears, his niece hasn't got a cent, except his check for $150,000. Did she poison his Chinese food after she kidnapped him from the asylum?

• The Case of the Worried Waitress (1966) - A pretty waitress is accused of stealing $100 from her wealthy aunt's hatbox, and a blind pencil-seller earns enough to come to work in a taxicab.

• The Case of the Queenly Contestant (1967) - Mason is hired to stop a news story about an old beauty pageant. Later, he ends up defending the former contestant on murder charges.

• The Case of the Careless Cupid (1968) - Selma Arlington is engaged to a wealthy widower. His heirs don't want him to tie the knot. Perry Mason is asked by Selma to prove she is neither a gold digger nor a murderer of her first husband, but incriminating evidence comes to light.

• The Case of the Fabulous Fake (1969) - Perry Mason's beautiful new client isn't giving anything away, not even her name, and he suspects that what she does choose to reveal is mostly lies. Certainly the bag full of cash she carries isn't shopping money. All the mystery woman asks is that Mason make himself available for a few days in case she needs him--for what purpose, she remains silent as the grave.

For more information on Erle Stanley Gardner Click Here.

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