Author Erle Stanley Gardner (1889– 1970) wrote 82 mystery novels that featured the fictional lawyer Perry Mason. Gardner himself was a trial lawyer, having passed the bar in 1911. He wrote his first Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws, in 1933; all subsequent titles began with “The Case of.” In the first book, besides Mason, Gardner introduced Mason’s savvy and affectionate secretary, Della Street, and the sharp private investigator who helps Mason seek justice, Paul Drake. In the first book, Perry Mason doesn’t set foot in a courtroom at all. At the outset, Gardner wrote Mason as a tough and principled lawyer, dedicated to representing his clients, even when it looked like they might be guilty.
In the 1930s, six Perry Mason movies were made, and from…
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Good Old Days (Digital) - 1 Issue, October 2023