AA Fair (aka Erle Stanley Gardner) - Widows Wear Weeds - Heinemann - 1966

1970

Between 1932 and 1934, Erle Stanley Gardner wrote 13 stories for Detective Fiction Weekly about a character called The Patent Leather Kid.

In his day-to-day life, he is Dan Seller wealthy, seemingly indolent socialite who shares a social club with Police Inspector Brame, who likes to brag about how he has just arrested an innocent small-time crook or poor person for something done by a big-time crook he is protecting.

Dan then dons a costume consisting of an expensive tux, snipe-brim hat, and patent leather mask, gloves, and shoes and, through the use of an elaborate scheme, sets things right.

The crooks hate him, the cops hate him, but the newspapers love the Kid due to him being such good copy.

In the 1957 version of Perry Mason, I never really saw Perry and Della being in a relationship (if anything, I lean towards Perry and Paul), but I’m reading The Case of the Crooked Candle right now and wow… they’re really cute…

The Case of the Sun Bather's Diary by Erle Stanley Gardner (Cardinal. 1958)

Cut Thin To Win, by A.A. Fair (aka Erle Stanley Gardner) (William Morrow and Company, 1965)

From eBay.

A. A. Fair (Erle Stanley Gardner) - Top of the Heap, the 13th Cool & Lam novel. Cover of the 1963 paperback edition by Robert McGinnis

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Hey! I’ve heard you mention that you’ve read a lot of the Perry Mason books, and I was wondering where you’ve been able to find them. Maybe it’s just where I live but I can’t for the life of me seem to find any. Thanks!

Hi there! I've been really lucky and my local library system has had a ton of Perry Mason books in their collection. I've become somewhat infamous/a local cryptid for requesting them all over the last few months. There are also several available as part of Kindle Unlimited through Amazon, if you have access to that.

Good luck finding them, I've really enjoyed reading them!

So I ended up buying one of the Perry Mason books written by Erle Stanley Gardner and the stories are absolutely fabulous. Just look at this quote from The Case of the Terrified Typist:

"Paul Drake, who had for once been too depressed even to try to eat, sat with his head in his hands."

If that's not one of the funniest things I've ever read 😂😂 that definitely matches the Paul I've seen on screen

June 2023 books

Erle Stanley Gardner - The Case of the Glamorous Ghost - Pocket - 1970

Lol, you can actually see how tall William H. is when he’s sitting :D

Fall reading: The Case of the Velvet Claws - A Perry Mason Mystery by Erle Stanley Gardner

Scene from a Perry Mason story - Saturday Evening Post, April 1955 // Art by James R. Bingham

Source

The Case of the Gilded Lily by Erle Stanley Gardner      (Cardinal, 1959)