ESG - Perry Mason Library...#1

This is the first Perry Mason mystery and our introduction to Secretary Della Street, detective Paul Drake, and the great lawyer himself.

Married Eva Griffin has been caught with a prominent congressman and is ready to pay the editor of a sleazy tabloid hush money to protect the politician. But first Perry Mason tracks down the publisher of the blackmailing tabloid and discovers a shocking secret, which eventually leads to Mason being accused of murder.

Thanks to a bungled robbery at a fancy hotel, the already-married Eva Griffin has been caught in the company of a prominent congressman. To protect the politico, Eva's ready to pay the editor of a sleazy tabloid his hush money. But Perry Mason has other plans. He tracks down the phantom fat cat who secretly runs the blackmailing tabloid -- only to discover a shocking scoop.

By the time Mason's comely client finally comes clean, her husband has taken a bullet in the heart. Now Perry Mason has two choices: represent the cunning widow in her wrangle for the dead man's money -- or take the rap for murder.

Bratty heiress Frances Celane visits Perry Mason to inquire about an odd codicil in her father's will, stating she would be disinherited if she married young. Her uncle is the trustee and stands to inherit everything if Frances marries--which she has. And when her uncle is found murdered, her groom is accused.

Her Uncle was healthy, but in order to get wealthy did she plot his demise? Is there evil in the heir? Frances Celane has good reason to pout. Thanks to a provision in her late father’s will be administered by her uncle, she’s caught in the middle of a family feud between matrimony and money. If she chooses marriage, she loses a million. But beautiful young Frances has a strong will of her own that she’s not afraid to use. One way or another, she means to hear wedding bells and cash registers making beautiful music together. Her first move: hire Perry mason to orchestrate things. Unfortunately, stubbornness runs in Frances Celane’s family, as Mason discovers when he confronts her Uncle Edward Norton. After Perry’s powers of persuasion fail to penetrate his hard head, someone decides the only way of cashing in is by bashing in the uncooperative uncle skull. But when the blood spills, so do the secrets. Then it’s Mason’s turn to brood, as he tries to figure out if a girl as pretty as his client could have a hand in something so ugly…..

TELEGRAPH:

SWNDING YOU SPECIAL DELIVERY AIR MAIL PHOTOGRAPH OF UT-MOST IMPORTANCE IN CASE I AM ABOUT TO PRESENT. KEEP PHOTOGRAPH AND AWAIT ME IN YOUR OFFICE WITHOUT FAIL. EVA LAMONT 

When Perry Mason received the above telegram, he was mildly curious. The photograph that arrived about the same time, however, fired his interest.

It was the photograph of a young woman - or rather her legs. Her face was missing. Attached to the photograph was a slip of paper which read, "The Girl with the Luck Legs."

Leggy Marjorie Clune, unjustly accused of murder of sleazy movie promoter Frank Patton, must rely on the able counsel of Perry Mason to clear her name.

When the case began to develop, it promised to be almost cut and dried. That was before perry mason got himself involved - badly involved- because of a locked door; before he met that earnest young dentist, Dr. Doray; before he saw Majorie Clune, the owner of the "Luck Legs," and found Frank Patton, a crook and a swindler if there ever was one.

First published in 1934, The Case of the Howling Dog was the fourth entry in Erle Stanley Gardner's long-running series featuring Perry Mason.

Arthur Cartwright insists on seeing Perry Mason about his neighbor's constantly howling dog. When Mason gets a district attorney to issue a warning to the neighbor, Clinton Foley, Foley claims that Cartwright is insane. Mason nearly starts to believe him when Cartwright draws up a will leaving everything to Foley's wife. That's why he pays a visit to Clinton Foley's house, where he finds a missing wife, a poisoned dog, and a corpse.

At this point, Gardner was still in the process of establishing the formula that he would adhere to once the series hit its stride. Lieutenant Tragg, the intelligent and sympathetic homicide detective, and Hamilton Burger, the D.A. who would become Mason's principal adversary had not yet been introduced. The police department is still represented by the oafish Sergeant Holcomb, who wouldn't recognize a clue if it bit him in the backside. The D.A.'s office is represented by an assistant D.A., Claude Drumm who immediately falls into every trap that Mason so cleverly baits for him.

Della Street, the faithful and adoring secretary, Paul Drake, the reliable detective, and Perry Mason himself are still evolving into the characters they would ultimately become. Mason is a bit rougher around the edges than the suave attorney that most crime fiction readers would recognize, and at this stage of the game he's much more willing to severely bend, if not actually break the law in the interest of serving what he sees as the greater good.

As is often the case in this series, the plot becomes almost hopelessly convoluted: A man comes to see Mason about his neighbor's howling dog and about writing a will. Complications ensue.

Suffice it to say that there will be a murder. Inevitably, Mason's client will be the prime suspect, and inevitably the case against the client will appear to be open and shut. As always, the D. A.'s office will be salivating at the chance to finally beat Mason after suffering so many ignominious defeats at his hands. And of course, as always Perry will pull the rabbit out of the hat and save the day at the very end.

Obviously, this story is a bit dated and is clearly a product of its times, but it's still a fun read and an opportunity to see Perry Mason and these other characters in their formative stages.

Rhoda Lorton doesn't always marry the right men. Her first husband, Greg Moxley, took off with her savings, only to have his plane crash. Lorton has gone on to marry millionaire scion Carl Montaine when Moxley turns up alive and well and demands money to stay silent about Lorton's first, extant marriage. When Moxley is found dead, two eyewitnesses claim to have seen Lorton kill him, and she says she killed him, too. But did she?

Wealthy businessman Hartley Bassett has killed himself. There's a typewritten suicide note and three guns lying near his body. But for Perry Mason, that's evidence overkill. He knows there has been trouble in Bassett’s life. His wife wants out, his stepson hates him, an embezzler can't pay him back - and there's the man with a glass eye who hired Perry Mason even before his glass eye went missing and was found in the hands of the deceased.

There are too many suspects and too many lies. But leave it to Mason, his resourceful secretary, Della Street, and clever detective Paul Drake to their wits about them and their wiles tucked away, as they piece together the missing parts of this fatal family puzzle.

After Peter Laxter dies in a fire, his will guarantees his faithful caretaker a job and a place to live. The will, however, does not specify what happens to Laxter's cat―and both the caretaker and Laxter's grandson want it. When Perry Mason takes the caretaker's case, he quickly finds there's much more at stake than an old man's cat―more than a million dollars more, to be exact.

Married Eva Griffin has been caught with a prominent congressman and is ready to pay the editor of a sleazy tabloid hush money to protect the politician. But first Perry Mason tracks down the publisher of the blackmailing tabloid and discovers a shocking secret, which eventually leads to Mason being accused of murder.

Peter Kent was known to be a sleepwalker. So, when Philip Rease turns up dead at a house party and a bloody knife is found under Kent's pillow, it seems like an open-and-shut case. But there are people who'd like to see both Kent and Rease out of the way for their own nefarious reasons, and Perry Mason finds himself in a case full of twists and traps.

Julia Branner claims her millionaire father-in-law forced her to give up her baby girl for adoption years before. When a woman appears claiming to be her long-lost daughter, Julia insists she is a fake after the family fortune. As events take a sinister turn Julia calls Perry Mason. Perry Mason defending a millionaire heiress charged with killing her father-in-law in league with a bishop with questionable credentials, who suddenly cannot be found.

Married Eva Griffin has been caught with a prominent congressman and is ready to pay the editor of a sleazy tabloid hush money to protect the politician. But first Perry Mason tracks down the publisher of the blackmailing tabloid and discovers a shocking secret, which eventually leads to Mason being accused of murder.

This is the first Perry Mason mystery and our introduction to Secretary Della Street, detective Paul Drake, and the great lawyer himself.

Compulsive gambler Sylvia Oxman meets with casino man Danny Barker to repay IOUs. Her husband Frank wishes to acquire them as evidence in a suit for custody of their son. Barker is killed with Sylvia's gun, and she is charged with murder.

Sylvia Oxman is desperate to retrieve the $7,500 in IOUs she signed over at the Clover Club poker room. She is convinced that her ex-husband Frank Oxman will try to get his hands on them and use them to have her labeled an unfit mother thereby getting custody of their son Peter. Poker room owner Danny Barker isn't going to make it easy for her, however, suggesting that he will sell the IOUs to the highest bidder asking $25,000. Sylvia's grandmother Matilda Benson and her son Robert call on Perry Mason to seek his assistance on Sylvia's behalf and Perry and Paul drake are soon investigating. Perry runs a bluff on Danny Barker to force him to turn over the IOUs at face value. Danny's partner Charles Duncan intervenes to make sure they get their money but nothing untoward takes place. Before long Danny Baker is found dead in his office, killed with Sylvia standing over he dead man.

Do birds of a feather plot murder together? The extraordinary Perry Mason never handles straightforward divorce cases, but this one is an especially strange bird. Rita Swaine is dating her sister’s ex-boyfriend. Her sister, Rosalind, is married to shady insurance adjuster Walter Prescott, who’s got dollar signs in his eyes and ice water in his veins. When Rita’s beau gallantly steps in to warn Rosalind about her heinous husband’s designs, Prescott hatches a plan to prey on them all …by suing for big profit.

For Mason, this case should be a lark. But when a murdered man is found in the Prescott home –and a nosy neighbor sings an incriminating song about illicit love and a hidden gun-legal eagle Mason suddenly finds himself defending a sitting duck.

While enjoying a leisurely ocean cruise in the company of Secretary Della Street, Perry Mason is approached by a passenger who is worried about the wellbeing of her husband. Not long afterward, her husband is seen jumping off the ship, an apparent suicide--but when the body is recovered, it turns out that he was shot. Accused of murder, the wife puts her fate in the hands of Perry, who while piecing things together unearths the fact that the husband had once accepted a huge bribe while serving on a jury. The case takes many shocking twists and turns before revealing its surprising conclusion.

After a thieving woman is accused of murder, it’s up to Perry Mason to prove her innocent. 

Sleuthing attorney Perry Mason can’t resist a good mystery, so when he sees an older woman being accused of shoplifting during a department store outing with his assistant, Della Street, he doesn’t hesitate to intervene. Armed with an assumption of innocence and the legal acumen to silence her accuser, Mason leaps to the woman’s defense―until her niece appears, acknowledging her aunt’s guilt, and pays for the stolen items.

Soon thereafter, Aunt Sarah is accused of stealing a valuable set of diamonds, and her niece, Virginia, enlists Mason’s aid. The man who left the jewels in Sarah’s care insists that she didn’t take them, but when he turns up dead, she’s left with nobody to vouch for her. Nobody, that is, but Perry Mason―expert in the art of defending the innocent.

One of Perry Mason's trademarks is his ability, in court, to switch the physical evidence in a case. He generally does this with guns or bullets, and it confuses the jury, to his client's advantage. In this case, Perry offers a coroner's inquest two parrots, one of which swore like a muleskinner and was found near the body of a millionaire hermit who had been murdered.

The only witness to a millionaire’s murder is a parrot that keeps repeating phrases that may identify the killer. The only witness to a rich man's murder is his parrot, who keeps repeating the suspect's name. But in court, everyone is surprised at what the bird says next. Perry does his magic at an informal coroner's Inquest in a rural area. 

Charles Sabin is a wealthy investor who has a rather gruff personality. He is leaving on a fishing trip to a remote cabin he owns but as he leaves he accuses his step-daughter Helen Watkins of stealing from him. He has a pet parrot Casanova who does a couple of tricks and parrots some funny answers. As he leaves he gives orders to his secretary Richard Waid to handle some tasks. Sabin is found dead in his cabin with a parrot saying Helen should turn over a gun. Sabin's wife Stephanie Sabin along with Helen visit Perry who handles some of Sabin's legal business for help. Perry visits the cabin where the Sheriff and a local teacher of criminology are interpreting the evidence. Perry notices a library book that leads him to the librarian Ellen Monteith who says she recently married Sabin making him a bigamist. Ellen is arrested while a Coroner's Inquest is called to determine cause of death. Coroner Andy Templet runs a very informal inquest where Perry re-interprets the evidence.

Perry Mason investigates a case of blackmail with a side of loaded dice.

Years ago Alden Leeds found a rich vein of gold in the Klondike.

 Now his greedy relatives fear he's planning to throw his fortune away on a gold-digging spouse, Emily Milicant. So, to prevent the two from joining in holy matrimony, they commit their affluent kin to a sanitarium on a trumped-up charge.

Now, aging, and single, he finds himself surrounded by family waiting patiently to inherit his fortune. When he announces his engagement to a much younger woman, it sends that family into a panic, fearing that it might threaten their future gains. They have him admitted into a sanitarium, claiming incompetence―and that’s when lawyering super-sleuth Perry Mason gets involved, but the case is about to get much more complicated.

Then Leeds escapes, only to end up in the company of Emily's blackmailing brother, John, a manufacturer of fixed dice, rolling bones that always come up seven. But when John is murdered--with Leeds's fingerprints found all over the apartment--Perry Mason must crack a baffling case before his client bumps from the nut house to the jail house. 

Before all is said and done, Mason will tangle with a cheating gambler, a blackmailer, multiple aliases, multiple corpses, and enough red herrings to lead even the most astute reader astray. It will push the attorney’s deductive powers to their very limits before all is revealed, finally, in his masterful courtroom cross-examination.

A fast-paced yarn with a delightfully convoluted plot, The Case of the Rolling Bones is among the best of the long-running Perry Mason novels, which would go on to inspire multiple television series as well as adaptations for radio and film. The book exemplifies the masterful page-turning action for which its prolific author is remembered today.

In one of Perry Mason’s most memorable cases ever, the character who inspired the HBO limited series risks his freedom to prove the innocence of an unidentified client.

The bait is half of a $10,000 bill, delivered to Perry Mason by a man who promises the second half of the note should his companion, a silent masked woman, ever require the lawyer’s services. When a dead body is discovered soon after, Mason feels the hook―but how can one prove the innocence of a person whose identity is unknown? 

Suspecting that he’s been set-up, but curious nonetheless, Perry sets out to solve the mystery from the ground up, beginning with the face behind the veil. The more he learns, the more complex his investigation becomes. Uncovering a convoluted case of stock fraud, divorce, and inheritance, Mason’s nearly left reeling―that is until, with the help of Della Street and Paul Drake, he pulls off one of his most daring gambits ever to finally cast light on the killer.

Who was that masked woman? That's not the only question plaguing the perpetually inquiring mind of Perry Mason. Did the wealthy Fremont C. Sabin divorce his wife before his untimely death? That's the multimillion-dollar question. And the right answer will mean a windfall for either the dead man's angry son or headstrong widow. Each has accused the other of destroying Sabin's will—and murdering Sabin. But with no document declaring who the affable eccentric intended to leave his fortune to, Perry Mason faces a particularly prickly puzzle.

Even more puzzling, however, is the talking parrot. Casanova was Fremont Sabin's beloved pet. But the bird found at the crime scene proves to be a foul-mouthed impostor. No one loves a good mystery more than Mason--but being asked to represent a client who's concealing her identity, not to mention the particulars of her case, has given even the legendary legal eagle a case of ruffled feathers.

Helping a high-spirited florist save her shop from her brother-in-law, an incorrigible gambler, Perry Mason uncovers rather convincing evidence that his client may have committed murder to keep her business blooming. 

Successful florist Mildred Faulkner finds that the flower business is no bed of roses when arch-competitor Harry Peavis secretly buys stock in her small, family-owned 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.

Time and tide wait for no man –neither does Perry Mason…A mystery in the best Gardner tradition chock full of action (mighty fast), angles (inventive and voluptuous), and aqua pura (meaning watertight solution as well as H20).

On his way to finding out, Mason meets Mrs. Milfield, a barely distraught widow, and a slew of suspicious characters all intimately connected to the recently deceased, a man murdered on someone else's yacht. As the surprising scenario unravels, it takes a sharp mind like Mason's, the savvy of his secretary Della Street, and the legwork of investigator Paul Drake to pull all the clues out of the water before the case sinks like a deadweight.

A beautiful hitchhiker blamed for a fatal car crash, a mysterious dead man in a swank hotel room, a New Orleans woman with a missing husband, and a Hollywood screenwriter with a scathing history. For Della Street, Paul Drake, and Perry Mason, it adds up to another crackling good mystery in The Case of the Haunted Husband.

Aspiring actress Stephane Olger just wants to be in pictures. But she may end up in mug shots instead when she gets herself caught up in a crime. Shortly after quitting her job and moving to Hollywood, she is picked up by a well-dressed man while hitchhiking. The man loses control of the car, and they end up in a horrible accident. Both Stephane and the driver escape unscathed, but the strange man flees the scene leaving Stephane to face a charge of manslaughter.

Stephane’s rich uncle hires Perry Mason to defend her and he and the private detective, Paul Drake, immediately start gathering evidence. It turns out that the car, of course, was stolen, and belongs to a Hollywood producer who has been in contact with the mystery man who is from San Francisco. A woman has been promised a job by him but is given one my Perry Mason instead. She, too, disappears, and in another room of the hotel her luggage is found with a man who has been shot. In the courtroom Perry Mason discovers many other facts, but in the meantime the film producer’s chauffeur is murdered, making his task much harder.

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 has ever seen—alive!

A spanking-new tin can, secretly placed among the rows of Mrs. Florence Gentrie's preserves, contains not a speck of food — but it does carry one very damning clue to a murder that took place right next door. Such an unsavory discovery in such an unlikely place can't help but pique the curiosity of a dedicated mystery hunter like Perry Mason. But the real mystery about this murder is who — and where — is the victim? Upstairs neighbor Elston A. Karr heard the telltale sounds of foul play, but his foul temperament (and his own dark secrets) make him most uncooperative. It takes a second murder to clear up the mystery of the missing body — and to make Perry Mason the next prime candidate to disappear.... 

Wealthy John L. Witherspoon hires Perry Mason to delve into a twenty-year-old murder case in order to prove that the young man Witherspoon's daughter intends to marry has homicidal impulses in his genes. 

A dead man in the kitchen, gas fumes permeates the house, a duck seem to be drowning in the fishbowl, but it didn't die. Maybe that fact has something to do with murder?

John L. Witherspoon, a wealthy patrician, is loath to let his daughter marry Marvin Adams, the son of a convicted murderer, something Marvin's mother managed to keep a secret-until now. To set the love-struck lass straight, Witherspoon engages Perry Mason to weigh the twenty-year-old evidence that sent Marvin’s father to the gallows and prove that the young man is kin to the murdering kind.

Helen Kendal's woes begin when she receives a phone call from her vanished uncle Franklin, long presumed dead, who urges her to contact the criminal defense attorney Perry Mason; soon after, she finds herself the main suspect in the murder of an unfamiliar man. Her kitten has just survived a poisoning attempt, as has her aunt Matilda, the woman who always maintained that Franklin was alive in spite of his disappearance.

Lucky that Helen took her uncle's advice and contacted Perry Mason―he immediately takes her as a client. But while it’s clear that all the occurrences are connected, and that their connection will prove her innocence, the links in the case are too obscure to be recognized even by the attorney’s brilliantly deductive mind. Risking disbarment for his unorthodox methods, he endeavors to outwit the police and solve the puzzle himself, enlisting the help of his secretary Della Street, his private eye Paul Drake, and the unlikely but invaluable aid of a careless but very clever kitten in the process.

After catching his son-in-law embezzling, wealthy banker Vincent Blane is shocked when the younger man is murdered and Blane's daughter is accused, prompting him to call in Perry Mason for her defense. 

The bullet went clean through the body, Paul Drake told Perry Mason. "And the bullet isn't there! That's why the autopsy surgeon has held up his report." Mason nodded slowly. "Well, that lets your client out, anyway," said Drake, "the fact that the murder took place after she left the cabin." Mason shook his head. "No, Paul, it doesn't let her out; it drags her in!"

The receptionist told Perry Mason there were two men waiting in the outer office; one of them looked like a prosperous banker, the other a tramp. One wanted to see him about some corporation law, and the other had a damage claim. So, Mason said, I'll see the tramp - tell the banker I can't be bothered by corporate law."

But it turned out it was the tramp who wanted to see him about corporate law. And that, in turn. merged into the story of one of the famous Lost Mines of the desert region of Southern California; of a sinewy little desert prospector and his partner, who had struck it rich, "housed up" and, losing his health, had forsaken the big, red-titled mansion in the fashionable district of Sab Roberto to spread his sleeping bag out in the cactus garden at the far corner of the grounds. And finally, there was the mysterious drowsy mosquito - was it a harbinger of death?

The death of his wife leaves Banning Clarke, a former successful prospector turned mining magnate, the prey of a host of human predators, including his calculating mother-in-law, and it is up to Perry Mason to keep things on the up and up.

These characters, together with the lure of a fabulously rich gold deposit, discovered more than a century ago, then lost, and lying untouched year after year, waiting only for chance and the ingenuity of Perry Mason to bring it back into the limelight. make for a fast moving, baffling Perry mason yarn.

She was a good-looking blonde and fighting mad when she came to Perry Mason's office. She wanted Mason to take action against her employer's stepson, a particularly obnoxious young man who had knocked her down when she resisted his advances.

Perry was sympathetic. He took action at once--and got $1,500 for Diana and a $500 fee for himself. Case dismissed.

But the very next night, the girl who shared Diana's apartment was found murdered. At the scene of the crime, the police found two vital clues: the murder weapon, a pistol covered with Diana's fingerprints, and her bag containing a receipt for his services, signed "Perry Mason per Della Street."

In order to help her seriously ill boyfriend, gorgeous Sally Madison sets out to separate wealthy Harrington 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.

Perry Mason has no interest in a case involving goldfish-until Harrison Faulkner, their owner, is murdered. Then Faulkner's dinner companion, the lovely Sally Madison, turns to Mason for help. He'd love to oblige, but there's one problem: the contents of her handbag make her the prime suspect. Only Mason, with the help of the ever-watchful Della Street and Paul Drake, can untangle THE CASE OF THE GOLDDIGGER'S PURSE

In the dead of night, a thick fog lies over the black waters. You are aboard a fancy yacht full of fancy people who loathe one another. Suddenly you hear… A scream! A splash! A shot! The fateful cry, “Man Overboard!” And the next thing you know, you find yourself clutching a beautiful woman wearing only a flimsy nightgown. In her hands she holds a gun. 

That’s the predicament in which Perry Mason suddenly finds himself. But that’s only the beginning. Things happen speedily and this woman finds herself in a court of law accused of murder. Perry Mason is the only person in the world to believe that she is innocent. So, what does the grateful woman do? She fires him. Things are not as they seem.

When Perry Mason stumbles upon a classified ad for a brown-haired woman with very specific physical attributes, he takes note of the seemingly suspicious circumstances surrounding the job posting. Then the woman hired for the job gets in touch, describing the strange requests of her new employer―who pays her and her chaperone to stay inside an apartment and answer to another woman’s name―and Mason knows there’s a more knotted plot at play. But by the time he works out the first mystery, a second, with murder, is just getting started, and that’s only the first twist that awaits him as he endeavors to prove the innocence of “the borrowed brunette.”

Perry Mason's keen eye for the ladies gets him an earful of intriguing information from a pretty woman applying for a very odd job. Seems a mysterious Mr. Hines is advertising for a young brunette, and he's very specific about what her wants...right down to her exact measurements! The looker who lands the gig gets to live in a posh apartment, wear fine clothes, and collect a generous salary. All she has to do is leave her life behind and pretend to be someone else.

Struggling model Eva Martell is thrilled when she gets the nod to play the dark-haired double. But her no-nonsense Aunt Adelle doesn't like the scenario one bit. She asks Mason to punch a few holes in Hines's story and see what leaks out. But when someone punches a hole in Hines--with a bullet--the masquerade becomes a foul play, with Mason front row center and a murderer lurking in the wings.

Together with his crime solving team of Paul Drake and Della Street, Mason winds his way through one of the most puzzling cases of his career, involving separated ex-lovers, a tangled series of impersonations, and scores of private detectives. In order to clear his client of the charges, though, he’ll risk getting a few himself, before, in a final courtroom scene, breaking the case apart to the judge’s satisfaction.

Perry Mason has his hands full when, two women turn up in his office, each claiming to be the same famous dancer, and a man connected to both women is soon brutally murdered.

Don't look now - but there's a mystery behind those fans. And a horse behind that mystery.

It all starts quietly enough - with two cars sideswiping each other in the middle of the California desert. And in the trunk of an ancient jalopy, Perry Mason finds a fan dancer's wardrobe. (Item: 2 fans: 1 pair of dancing shoes).

The fans lead to a terrific mental teaser for you, with the "king of the mystery field" dropping clues as fast as you can pick them, or this book, up. Take it from Perry Mason and Della Street, you're about to witness a sizzling display of fireworks, with Perry an accomplice in murder!

A runaway witness leads a lawyer into a whodunit: “The only dull pages in this book are the blank ones.” 

Defense lawyer Perry Mason is surprised to receive two checks from a stranger named Lola Allred. And when he speaks with Lola’s husband, he discovers the woman has run off with her daughter’s boyfriend—who happens to be an important witness in a lawsuit. Soon Mason’s caught up in a complicated case involving not only a missing witness but forgery and murder as well . . .

Marilyn Marlow has inherited a good deal of money from her mother. But the money originated with another will—that of her mother’s wealthy employer. Now his relatives are contesting the will, and it’s Rose Keeling, the key witness to its signing, whose mind they'll need to sway.

When Rose is murdered, sleuthing lawyer Perry Mason must navigate a twisted case involving a personal ad that casts a cloud of suspicion over his client, Miss Marlow, in this mystery in Edgar Award–winning author Erle Stanley Gardner’s classic, long-running series, which has sold three hundred million copies and serves as the inspiration for the HBO show starring Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany.

A suspicious personal ad conceals nefarious intent--and eventually lands in the lap of Perry Mason. It appears that Marilyn Marlow inherited a small fortune from her mother, who got the sum from her wealthy employer. But now the old man's relatives are contesting the will, putting Marilyn on shaky ground.

Whoever sways Rose Keeling, the key witness to the signing of the will, is sure to be the victor. Enter the personal ad. Marilyn intends to find Rose a Mr. Right--in order to get the goods on her. But when Rose is murdered, Perry Mason sets out to find a gentleman caller who had a date with death...

After prominent businessman John Racer Addison gives some fatherly help to a mixed-up eighteen-year-old runaway, an unscrupulous gossip columnist threatens to turn their innocent relationship into a tawdry tabloid tale. The scandal will be on everyone's lips -- unless Addison pays through the nose.

Enter Perry Mason, with a plan to bushwhack the blackmailer so Addison can save his money...and save face. But when Addison becomes a prime suspect for murder, even the cunning Mason may_ not be able to save his neck.

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!

Much-married Lucille Barton is no fool. When she sees Paul Drake's ad offering $100 for information, she figures there must be a lawyer behind it somewhere. She has the information, and she needs a lawyer, so she answers the ad. When she gets Perry Mason into her apartment, she is most generous with her undeniable charms. As Perry tells Della, "She was very friendly." Lucille needs a lawyer to talk to her second husband. She wants to work on a deal so her alimony payments will continue even if she marries again. But her explanation for why she needs a gun--to protect herself from her first, who is threatening to kill her--loses its credibility when husband Number One is found in her garage with a bullet hole in his head. Join Inspector Paul Drake and super secretary Della Street as they help Perry open wide The Case of the Cautious Coquette.

A lawyer is sucked into a couple’s hostile divorce in this mystery with “a stellar ending.

Worrying that his fortune-hunting ex-wife may attempt to invalidate their Mexican divorce, wealthy businessman Edward Garvin seeks Perry Mason's help in outwitting her plot to scam him out of his company.

Edward Garvin is a very successful businessman with a very unhappy ex-wife—who wants his money. So, Garvin calls on lawyer Perry Mason to protect his company from her schemes and ensure the divorce they’d gotten in Mexico is actually finalized.

But when Garvin’s former spouse is struck down by a killer, Mason’s client becomes the chief suspect. Fortunately, the attorney “comes up with dazzling answers” to the mystery . . . (The New York Times).

While Perry Mason is enjoying a moonlit canoe ride, he admires a naked bathing beauty. Little does he know he'll soon be rescuing her- and that next day he'll have to clear her of a jewelry-theft charge. But then she's suddenly charged again- this time with murder. It takes all of Perry's wiles, Della's insights, and Paul Drake's deft detecting to solve The Case of the Negligent Nymph.

Perry Mason is dining peacefully at the Golden Goose Cafe when he receives a mysterious phone call. The frantic woman on the other end of the line is desperate to retain Mason's services but suddenly vanishes during their cryptic phone conversation. Perry Mason wasn't quite sure who his client was. he didn't even know whether she was alive or dead! Equally mystified, Paul Drake couldn't decide whether he was trailing suspects in his usual expert fashion, or leading the killer, or leading the killer to the next victim. As for Della Street: she was far from convinced by the desperate telephone voice with the cryptic message: "I am sending you an envelope stuffed with money. You've got to help me, Mr. Mason..."

The only clues: a newspaper clipping about a blackmail case, and the combination to a safe scrawled on a paper. The case: a tangled web indeed, strung between an eccentric widower with something to hide, a sexy cigarette girl with plenty to cry about, a real estate broker with his own home on the selling block, a wife, a lover, and too many loose ends. The common denominator: murder, of course.

Poker-faced Nellie Conway, the nurses' bed-ridden Elizabeth Bain, brings trouble when she calls on Perry Mason with a glass phial containing four pills which she suspects are poison. Her employer, Nathan Bain, she says, had promised her money to give them to his wife. But when Mason has one of the pills analyzed it is found to consist of acetylsalicylic -- in other words good old-fashioned aspirin. Is Perry Mason's client a hoaxer, a psychopath, or something trickier? Nathan Bain's next move is to accuse Nellie of theft and provide proof by shining ultra-violet light on her fingers. The case which began like a joke suddenly becomes sinister. Perry gets his client out of this spot but trails her to Orleans where he has a hard job disentangling fact from theory on the subject of Mrs. Bain.

This is one of the toughest, most complicated webs of intrigue that Perry Mason has ever had to fight his way through. The Case of the Fiery Fingers shows Mason at his most efficient and Erle Stanley Gardner at his most professional.

Do birds of a feather plot murder together? When notorious playboy Arthur Cushing is murdered, Belle Adrian suspects that her daughter, Carlotta, is the killer, and Carlotta suspects her mother of the crime.

A waitress in a favorite restaurant of Mason's runs out in the middle of the lunch rush, leaving behind her pricey mink coat. But this is only the first question in a cop-killer case that traps Mason’s client with both an impossible story and the murder weapon. With Perry as a prime suspect with a blazing gunpowder trail that leads straight to the heart of the police department…

Perry Mason orders a double serving of trouble the night he and Della Street dine at an intimate restaurant after a hard day at law. In the middle of their steaks a waitress flees the premises in terror, leaving the puzzled proprietor holding her mink coat.

Why a humble working girl abandons such a pricey wrap is only the first question in a cop-killer case that traps Mason's client with both an impossible story and the murder weapon, makes Perry himself a prime suspect, and blazes a gunpowder trail that leads straight to the heart of the police department itself.

Helen Cadmus was dead—but how had it happened? Suicide, most people said. She jumped off that millionaire’s yacht in a fit of despair, her body was never found, and the case was closed. The story was too neat to suit Perry Mason. It didn’t add up. Somebody was concealing the truth about Helen’s death, and he was going to uncover it even if it killed him. That’s how Mason fell into a trap set by three killers—two humans and one grinning gorilla!

Perry Mason has no hesitation about defending penniless ex-salesman Albert Brogan against a charge of armed robbery. That's because nightclub hostess Inez Kaylor's testimony will guarantee that the accusations against the alleged hold-up man won't hold up in court. But when the hostess has the bad manners to stand Mason up instead of taking the stand, Perry's defense may not have a leg to stand on.

Failure to find the AWOL witness in forty-eight hours could cost an innocent man his liberty and his life, when the prosecution serves up a shocking new charge of murder! But the high-tailing hostess has a host of her own secrets, and a cast of shady characters -- from Los Angeles to Las Vegas -- is determined to keep them (and her) hidden. It all adds up to a whirlwind working weekend for Mason: if he can't get the goods -- and the girl -- by Monday morning when the gavel falls, so will the ax...

Beautiful Sylvia Bain Atwood is overseeing her ailing father’s estate while her sister serves as his caregiver. But their father’s fortune has shadowy roots—and now one of his creditors is blackmailing the family.

When the situation escalates to murder, defense lawyer Perry Mason will have his hands full in this mystery in Edgar Award–winning author Erle Stanley Gardner’s classic, long-running series, which has sold three hundred million copies and serves as the inspiration for the HBO show starring Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany.

Death And Taxes... And Murder? The affairs of her husband -- financial and otherwise -- are what concern Steffanie Malden. The young and stunning bride of a prominent physician killed in a private plane crash; the widow Malden stands to inherit more than just a sizable estate. Unfortunately, she's also the unwilling heir to an IRS investigation. It appears that the deceased was squirreling away a king's ransom in undeclared cash -- with the able assistance of his head nurse and secret paramour, Gladys Foss. Mrs. Malden wants Mason to flush out Miss Foss and recover the AWOL income -- without trouble from the taxman. But when she's suddenly charged with engineering her husband's death, the matter turns from the monetary to the murderous. Stuck in the middle, Mason must match wits with both sides of the law, to find out just who got the doctor slaughtered...

Her husband was stealing her money, while accusing her of a plot to poison him -- or so claims the frightened young Mrs. Myrna Davenport. She wants Perry Mason to find the incriminating note her husband left for the authorities accusing her of murder -- especially now that Davenport is dying.

Perry finds the envelope, but it's filled with blank paper. Then Davenport does die, or so everyone thinks until his alleged corpse climbs out a window and drives away -- straight into a prepared open grave in another county.

With Davenport finally dead, Perry could become a possible accessory to murder. And though the victim died twice, Perry gets only one clear shot at saving his client -- and himself.

Evelyn Bagby has ambition, bad luck – and red hair. When she is caught with stolen diamonds is looks like an airtight case. But Perry Mason believes she has been set up. Then comes news of another crime and Mason finds the charge against his client is murder.

Red-headed waitress Evelyn Bagby home to her apartment one night and is shocked to find a revolver, which she'd never seen before, in her cigarette box. Having once been accused, then acquitted, of stealing jewelry from a famous movie star, Evelyn calls defense attorney Perry Mason to ask for his advice. He advises her to leave her San Fernando Valley apartment and check into a hotel in Hollywood for the night. As she drives to Hollywood, a driver with a hood over his head tries to force her off the road; panicking, she fires the revolver twice in his direction, causing him to drive off the road.

Evelyn brings the gun to Mason's office and tells him what had happened. Mason goes to the scene of the incident and finds that the homicide police are already there; the hooded driver was killed by a bullet to the head. He's identified as a man who had cheated Evelyn out of $1500 when she first came to Hollywood, and there's no bullet hole in the man's hood—which turns out to be a pillowcase from the apartment house where Evelyn lives. The police refuse to believe her story, and she's arrested for murder.

After a great many twists and turns (including Mason using an identical gun to fire two bullets into a tree and a post at the crash site), Mason, with help from private investigator Paul Drake (William Hopper), exposes the true killer in the courtroom; as a result, Evelyn is cleared of all charges.

The blonde wandering nude at the Remuda Golf Club tells Perry Mason a strange While she peacefully sun-bathed near the course, someone made off with her Cadillac, her trailer, and all her belongings--including her precious diary. The woman blames the police, who suspect her of having stashed away nearly half a million dollars allegedly stolen by her father, who is now in prison. She swears that both she and her father are innocent. So, who is bankrolling her leisurely lifestyle? Why is she so desperate to find her diary? And who, if not Mason's beautiful client, would murder a key witness? In a virtuoso courtroom performance, Mason exposes the staggering truth.

Lawyer Perry Mason knows there's something funny about this case. Nobody is going to hire an attorney famous for criminal defense work if they really want to minimize publicity. But that's the story when he's asked to help an apparent amnesia victim who claims to remember nothing for a mysterious two-week period--a period which, it turns out, included the death of her boyfriend, or husband, or exactly what isn't clear. What is clear is that District Attorney Hamilton Burger is sure he's going to win this case. Unfortunately for Mason's track record, Mason suspects that Burger just might be right, this time.

Master defense attorney Perry Mason is hired by a young woman to protect her scandalous and headstrong half sister, Eleanor Corbin, from the consequences of her last escapade.

Perry Mason brings in private investigator Paul Drake and tries to find evidence that will clear his client. He finds plenty of evidence all right--including a treasure of jewels hidden in the amnesiac's luggage. Unfortunately, everything he finds seems merely to nail the coffin tighter around beautiful Elanor Corbin. Mason is stumped, and when he can't come up with a case of his own, he starts looking for loose ends in the prosecution case. Still, even the cleverest cross-examination can only do so much in an open-and-shut case like this--right?

Wearing a sheer nightgown under her raincoat, Eleanor Corbin is found late at night wandering in the park. Police believe she has amnesia--until they find her husband's dead body nearby. Did Eleanor murder him? Was it for the jewels found in her makeup case? And why do several women claim he was their boyfriend? Della Street's womanly wiles and Paul Drake's skillful sleuthing help Perry Mason solve THE CASE OF THE GLAMOROUS GHOST

It started with a body. The body was alive, female, seductive, and Mrs. Sybil Harlan was convinced that it was taking her husband right out from under her eyes.

That's when she hired Perry mason, hoping he could wreck a deal involving her husband and the lady. But another body, male and dead, changed Sybil Harlan's plans... 

Sybil Harlan is aware of her husband’s dalliance with an alluring business associate. Sybil asks Perry Mason to help her sour the real estate deal and win back her errant spouse. Unfortunately, a blackmailer gets wind of the scheme and murder takes place.

Mason is in rare form as he tackles one of the most obscure and tantalizing courtroom problems he has ever faced.

Perry Mason needs a temporary typist, and Mae Wallis fills the bill. But why does she fly the coop in a panic before finishing the job--and collecting her pay? And why would she leave behind a pair of diamonds hidden in a wad of chewing gum? Maybe it's got something to do with the bizarre break-in at the gem importing company down the hall from Mason's office. Mason winds up taking on a new client: a gem importer in his office building who’s been charged with smuggling and murder. But if Mason’s going to untangle this case, finding the typist is key.

With several briefs in the works and his usual typist unavailable, Perry Mason sends for one from a temp agency. When a carefully dressed woman appears at the office, the receptionist asks if she's the typist and she says yes.

Everyone notices she's terribly afraid of something, but boy, can she type! Later that day the offices of the South African Gem Importing and Exploration Company, located on the same floor as Mason's office, are rifled, and the typist disappears mysteriously -- even before she's finished typing the brief.

When one of the gem company's owners is charged with taking part in the smuggling scheme--and with murdering his accomplice--Perry agrees to defend him. But the accused man would rather die than cooperate. And he might get his wish. Unless Mason can track down the ever-so-elusive terrified typist.

So, with the introduction of South African diamonds into the case, it isn't long before murder follows, and Mason, assisted by his wonderful secretary Della Street and his private investigator Paul Drake, undertakes the intricate job of solving THE CASE OF THE TERRIFIED TYPIST.

Stewart Bedford is willing to cooperate with a blackmailer to protect his beloved wife. But when he wakes up in a daze to find the man shot dead with Bedford’s gun and his blond escort missing, he’ll need some help from defense lawyer Perry Mason . . . 

The ingredients were quite one middle-aged tycoon with a lovely young wife; one oh-so-apologetic visitor to the tycoon's office; one devoted secretary, graduate of a correspondence course of How to Be a Detective. But when these ingredients were combined and brought to the boil with the addition of one inflammable blonde - the result was murder. And when Perry Mason was called in to clean up the kitchen, he found that too many cooks almost spoiled the broth.

Perry Mason investigates a case of blackmail with a side of loaded dice.

Years ago, Alden Leeds found a rich vein of gold in the Klondike.

 Now his greedy relatives fear he's planning to throw his fortune away on a gold-digging spouse, Emily Milicant. So, to prevent the two from joining in holy matrimony, they commit their affluent kin to a sanitarium on a trumped-up charge.

Now, aging, and single, he finds himself surrounded by family waiting patiently to inherit his fortune. When he announces his engagement to a much younger woman, it sends that family into a panic, fearing that it might threaten their future gains. They have him admitted into a sanitarium, claiming incompetence―and that’s when lawyering super-sleuth Perry Mason gets involved, but the case is about to get much more complicated.

Then Leeds escapes, only to end up in the company of Emily's blackmailing brother, John, a manufacturer of fixed dice, rolling bones that always come up seven. But when John is murdered--with Leeds's fingerprints found all over the apartment--Perry Mason must crack a baffling case before his client bumps from the nut house to the jail house. 

Before all is said and done, Mason will tangle with a cheating gambler, a blackmailer, multiple aliases, multiple corpses, and enough red herrings to lead even the most astute reader astray. It will push the attorney’s deductive powers to their very limits before all is revealed, finally, in his masterful courtroom cross-examination.

A fast-paced yarn with a delightfully convoluted plot, The Case of the Rolling Bones is among the best of the long-running Perry Mason novels, which would go on to inspire multiple television series as well as adaptations for radio and film. The book exemplifies the masterful page-turning action for which its prolific author is remembered today.

Accepting John Kirby's wife's fearful request for legal assistance, Perry Mason discovers that Kirby may have been at the scene of a murder and uncovers a secret operation involving illegal adoption, stolen narcotics, and blackmail.

An elderly nurse visits Perry for advice but leaves not listening. Later, she arrives at the police station to confess to killing a columnist who is using a book she stole from a doctor to blackmail him into giving her a baby of her own.

Influential columnist Mary K. Davis desperately wants a baby in order to keep her diplomat husband, Ralph Davis, from leaving her for another woman. She enters the office of Dr. George Barnes and nurse Leona Walsh to steal a book of the doctor's adoption records. She will return the book if Dr. Barnes will provide her a baby which she has told her husband she is expecting in order to keep him. After visiting Davis at her home to plead for the book, Leona consults with Perry Mason for advice. Dr. Barnes runs a hospital where single women who are pregnant enter under the alias of the woman who is going to adopt the baby. Dr. Barnes then generates false birth certificates under the false names. The book contains all the records on such births. Mary's secretary visit's Mary's lawyer, Eugene Jarech, who then visits Perry hoping to share the information in the book, illegally. When Mary K. is murdered, Leona confesses to the crime, and Perry must cut a Gordian knot of intrigue to get at the truth.

The voice on the phone was young and silky. The woman it belonged to touched something soft in Perry Mason's cool, legalistic mind. The offer she made was too intriguing to pass up. But what began as a request for a simple courtroom visit turned into an intrigue of baffling complexity -- as well as one of the most cleverly rigged frame-ups of Perry's career.

It’s a case of a family blessed with millions and, riddled with scandal, a case of accidental manslaughter that explodes into a charge of airtight murder, a case of a corpse dying not once, but twice. To save his client, Perry will have to break all the rules-and more than one law.

Take a no-holds-barred proxy war for a rich Texas oil company, with Jerry Conway, its young president, fighting for survival. Add a beautiful woman in a mudpack and not much else who gives up a freshly fired .38 to Conway before she shows him the door. Top it off with the body of another young woman with a bullet in her chest fired by the same gun, and you have the recipe for the perfect murder -- and the perfect frame-up.

Perry Mason has two problems. His client, Jerry Conway, is the prime suspect. And Perry himself is the accused accessory....

Engaged to a dynamic young go-getter on his way up the corporate ladder, Secretary Mildred Crest was riding high. Until her prince charming embezzled company funds and skipped town, leaving Mildred with nothing but a ring on her finger and egg on her face. Now all she wants is to start life over again and when a fateful drive leads to the death of a lone hitchhiker, Mildred gets that chance. But this is not the sweet escape she thought it would be when the life she's adopted takes an even darker turn for the worse.… Oh, the agony of deceit.…

Stephanie Falkner is forced to deal with the mobsters who almost certainly killed her father, including smooth, sinister George Casselman, but she needs Perry Mason's help when Casselman is murdered--and the gun turns up. 

This Perry Mason mystery is a tantalizing triple-decker. One threesome comprises three glamorous ladies—all long-legged models with ambitions that range from keeping the home fires burning to putting the home fires out.

Another trio is a far-from-pleasant collection of small metal objects called guns.

Finally, the favorite triumvirate of mystery readers all around the world: Perry Mason, Della Street and Paul Drake. This is one of Mason’s most absorbing cases—meaning sensational action all the way, with a fabulous courtroom climax.

You've got me up here under false pretenses," said model Dawn Manning to Perry Mason."Not exactly," Mason answered. "I'm a lawyer and I'm willing to pay you for your time."

"Are you intending to sue somebody?"

"Not necessarily."

"What do you want from me?"

"First I'd like to know about the automobile accident."

"And you don't want to take pictures?"

"Yes, I want pictures, too."

Dawn Manning talked; Perry Mason kept asking questions. He began to see a connection between the accident in the stolen car and the murder of Meridith Borden--a connection the police would also discover all too soon.

"All right," he said. "Now I'd like to take some pictures."

"Bruises and all?" Dawn Manning asked, laughing.

"Particularly the bruises."

"Okay. Pull the shades and we'll get to work."

Ellen Robb does more than just sing for her supper -- she also dances and sells cigarettes in a two-bit gambling parlor in a one-horse town. But when she hits a sour note with her scheming employer by refusing to help fleece a fat-cat customer in a crooked card game, she finds herself out of all three jobs. That's when she sings her song of woe to Perry Mason, who promises to turn her blues into greenbacks with the help of his crack team, Della Street and Paul Drake, and a hefty lawsuit.

Things are humming along just fine -- until murder interrupts the merry melody of Mason's crafty legal maneuvers. When the vindictive wife of Ellen Robb's not-so-secret lover turns up shot to death, Mason is certain it's a frame-up -- and that his songbird client's belligerent boss is to blame. Until his own gun is found at the scene. The cocksure Mason will have to change his tune -- and do some quick thinking -- or else this case could be his swan song.

Gladys Doyle's luxurious ski weekend, courtesy of her employer, takes a sharp turn for the worse when she heads home on Sunday. Heavy storms force her to seek shelter with a surly stranger in a lonely mountain cabin. Next morning there's a dead man in the bedroom, the mysterious host has disappeared, and poor Gladys's fingerprints are all over the murder weapon.

It all began when pretty Gladys Doyle lost her way and was forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. The next morning, she discovered her handsome host gone and a stranger in his place - dead as the proverbial herring.

Her desperate plight sends Perry Mason ice-fishing in dangerous waters--for a catch that includes a silk scarf curiously decorated with monkeys, a pristine tea kettle, a bodyguard who takes care of his clients permanently, and a vicious bottom feeder hungry for prey . . .

There follows a courtroom scene in the best Perry Mason tradition, with a most reticent group of witnesses: a lady author whose realistic novel is a bit too true to life; Edgar Carlisle, equally talented at telling stories; Richard Gilman, an old hand at the disappearing act; and a smart, sharp operator never at a loss for clever plots.

Action and suspense are at their height and the adroit Mason at his legal best in this superb mystery.

When Norda Allison saw her husband-to-be slap his young son, she immediately called off the wedding. Now she is terrified. Her ex-fiancé has beat up her new boyfriend. Anonymous newspaper clippings are flooding her mailbox—articles graphically depicting what jilted men do to the women who leave them. Then Norda’s life takes an even darker turn. It begins with a barking dog, a child’s scream, a gunshot, and the discovery of a very dead body—and ends when Norda is arrested, charged with a brutal murder.

Now only brilliant courtroom strategist Perry Mason stands between Norda and a sentence of certain death.

"Come on, baby," he said, "don't be a prude." He kept on advancing, his face no longer a mask of affability but filled with savage, primitive, ruthless passion. Seething with indignation, Arlene attacked him. But with brutal strength he pushed her back until she collapsed on the davenport. She doubled her knees, got them against his chest and gave him a sudden push. As he staggered to his feet, she picked up a chair and threw it. It caught him low in the abdomen and he doubled over in pain. Arlene grabbed her raincoat and made for the door, running down the gravel driveway, past the swimming pool, out to the dirt road. When she could run no more, she looked back. The beam of headlights was swinging around the driveway. Then the car started slowly down the road after her.

If you're young, attractive, and female, resist the advances of Loring Lamont at your peril. The spoiled son of a rich and powerful father, Lamont is a wolf who goes after one pretty lamb too many. For stenographer Arlene Ferris has vowed not to let him get away with his cruel come-ons, though she never had murder in mind.

Perry Mason's cardinal rule "always trust your client" finds its sorest test when all the evidence says the unfortunate Miss Ferris brandished the fatal knife. Now he may have to step over the line of the law to prove his trust was justified.

Muriell Gilman left her father at the breakfast table while she cooked seconds of sausages and eggs. When she returned, he had disappeared - seemingly into thin air. She searched the house from cellar to attic. Then she went out to the workshop. There, scattered on the floor, were hundred-dollar bills, and in their midst, a spreading crimson stain. That's when she telephoned Perry Mason.

The death of unscrupulous Los Vegas private detective Vera Martel throws suspicion on an investment banker who claims his wife is being blackmailed by Vera and whose daughters may be hiding a mysterious past.

Muriell Gilman left her father at the breakfast table while she cooked seconds of sausages and eggs. When she returned, he had disappeared - seemingly into thin air. She searched the house from cellar to attic. Then she went out to the workshop. There, scattered on the floor, were hundred-dollar bills, and in their midst, a spreading crimson stain. That's when she telephoned Perry Mason.

The death of unscrupulous Los Vegas private detective Vera Martel throws suspicion on an investment banker who claims his wife is being blackmailed by Vera and whose daughters may be hiding a mysterious past.

A suitcase, containing twenty-dollar bills and blackmail notes, provides Perry Mason with a clue to a strange murder.

Janice Wainwright is a dedicated secretary to Morley Theilman who becomes concerned when she learns he is being blackmailed. Perry advises her to follow through with her instructions, but it results in her being charged with his murder.                                                                                                                                            

Janice Wainwright has been Morley Theilman's secretary for several years now and, when she finds a blackmail note in his wastepaper basket, she seeks Perry's advice. Theilman asked her to put a locked suitcase in a locker at the bus station, and she wants to know if she can open it to confirm her suspicions. Perry agrees and they find $100,000 in $20 bills inside. The case eventually disappears from the locker and Theilman is found dead in a subdivision he had been building with business partner, Cole Troy. When Perry tries to find Janice, it appears that she disappeared. Paul finds her in Las Vegas where they find her meeting Theilman's first wife and her brother at the rail station. Cole says he saw a shapely woman following Morley near his office who could be Janice, Morley's wife Agnes, or even his ex-wife Carlotta, who has changed her appearance. Janice is charged with his murder and Perry defends her, but her defense is extremely weak.

Wealthy Amelia Corning, owner of the Corning mine interests, might be an old lady in a wheelchair but she doesn't miss a trick. Secretary Susan Fisher has to call in Perry Mason when she finds her boss's seven-year-old son holding a shoebox stuffed with hundred-dollar bills. Miss Corning's life is at risk.

“Your client’s guilty, Perry,” said Paul Drake, “And what’s more, I’m betting that within twenty-four hours Amelia Corning’s body will be discovered somewhere and you’ll find your client charged with murder.”

“She may be charged with murder,” Mason said, “but that doesn’t mean she’s guilty.”

“How can you say that? There isn’t a ghost of a chance she’s innocent.”

“That’s because you’re looking at the evidence from the standpoint of the prosecution.”

“Phooey! This is one case you’ve lost.”

“He hasn’t lost it yet, Paul,” Della Street said sharply. “He’s got an hour and thirty minutes before court reopens.”

Gwynn Elston learns that her best friend's husband already has a wife and family, but when he is found murdered Gwynn must ask Perry Mason to defend her against a murder charge.

Why should I see her?" Perry Mason asked. "Because, Mr. Mason, Miss Elston wants you to translate certain Chinese characters for her and to find out whether a crumpled piece of tissue contains strychnine. And, besides, she's a dish with plenty of this and that and these and those." "Let's take a look at her."

Della Street brought Gwynn Elston into Perry Mason's office. "I'm afraid, Mr. Mason," she said nervously, smoothing her skirt over her knees, "I'm afraid I'm going to be mixed up in a murder." "Just what is your position going to be in the murder?"

"I think I'm scheduled to be what might be called the piece de resistance."

Art student Maxine Lindsay, as the guest of her mentor, art dealer Colin Durant, attends a reception aboard the yacht of millionaire Otto Olney , who is unveiling his newest purchase, a $130,000 Gauguin. When Durant confides that the painting is a fake, Maxine becomes involved in a complicated series of deceptions. Soon gallery owner Leslie Rankin threatens Maxine. Perry Mason is called in, a beatnik artist is accused of painting the fake, and Durant is found fully clothed in Maxine's shower, shot dead with her pistol.

FLASH... Mason gives Della Street two weeks’ vacation! That is, it was supposed to be a vacation, but Della turned it into a busman’s holiday.

Target of interest was a well-stacked blonde—one who incredibly stashed away five enormous meals a day. Her name was Dianne, and when Mason unexpectedly appeared, he and Della discovered she had signed a contract to gain weight quickly in order to model clothes for “stylish stouts.” Perry smelled a rat, and when he read the contract he found a nest of them. One led straight to murder...

When Dorrie Ambler took on a job "impersonating" another woman, she got more than she bargained for: a false charge of perpetrating a hit-and-run accident. She heeds a lawyer, and when she tells her story Perry Mason understands why: Dorrie bears a striking resemblance to heiress Minerva Minden, who may have set Dorrie up to take the hit-and-run rap. 

But Miss Minden says she didn't arrange anything. She claims Dorrie arranged the misidentification in order to butt in on part of the huge Minden inheritance. Before Mason can learn which doll is telling the truth, Billings, an unsavory detective, is murdered and can't say which woman employed him. Join the most exciting team in mysteries: stalwart secretary Della Street, ever-unflappable detective Paul Drake, and their incomparable leader, lawyer Perry Mason, as they tackle The Case of the Mischievous Doll.

Dorrie Ambler suspects madcap heiress Minerva Minden wants a "Patsy", and California lawyer Perry Mason unearths a broken hip hit-and-run on the day in question. The lookalikes both hire and lie to Mason. The car used was stolen for a getaway. For immunity from prosecution, thief Dunleavey Jasper claims Minden shot Ambler.

When Dorrie Ambler took on a job "impersonating" another woman, she got more than she bargained for: a false charge of perpetrating a hit-and-run accident. She heeds a lawyer, and when she tells her story Perry Mason understands why: Dorrie bears a striking resemblance to heiress Minerva Minden, who may have set Dorrie up to take the hit-and-run rap. 

But Miss Minden says she didn't arrange anything. She claims Dorrie arranged the misidentification in order to butt in on part of the huge Minden inheritance. Before Mason can learn which doll is telling the truth, Billings, an unsavory detective, is murdered and can't say which woman employed him. Join the most exciting team in mysteries: stalwart secretary Della Street, ever-unflappable detective Paul Drake, and their incomparable leader, lawyer Perry Mason, as they tackle The Case of the Mischievous Doll.

Dorrie Ambler suspects madcap heiress Minerva Minden wants a "Patsy", and California lawyer Perry Mason unearths a broken hip hit-and-run on the day in question. The lookalikes both hire and lie to Mason. The car used was stolen for a getaway. For immunity from prosecution, thief Dunleavey Jasper claims Minden shot Ambler.

Harlow Bissenger Bancroft is head of a corporate empire and happily married. None of his lawyers can help him, however, when a blackmailer threatens his family’s future. After he calls upon Perry Mason for help, the blackmailer is found dead.

"There are just four ways to deal with a blackmailer," Perry Mason told Harlow Bancroft.

"First you pay the blackmailer off, thinking to get him off your neck. A blackmailer never quits!"

"Second, you go to the police." Bancroft shook his head decisively.

"Third." Mason continued, "you get the blackmailer on the defensive so he can't tell you what to do and when to do it."

"What's the fourth way?" Bancroft asked.

"I hardly recommend it," Mason said, "though sometimes it's been done with very satisfactory results. The fourth way is to kill the blackmailer."

Marriage is a big commitment… and so is murder.

Lorraine Elmore is a well-to-do widow who’s ready to marry again. But nervous Linda Calhoun is certain that the man her aunt Lorraine has fallen for is a fortune-hunting Bluebeard who's out to make a killing--in more ways than one. Perry Mason alloys Linda's paranoia--until Detective Paul Drake digs up enough dirt to convince the lawyer that dashing, mysterious Montrose Dewitt is digging a grave for his bride-to-be.

When the amorous aunt and her amour elope, the chase is on. But when Lorraine's supposedly sinister suitor is the one who ends up murdered, the pressure is on Mason to prove that the blushing bride isn't the one who drew blood.

Her Uncle was healthy, but in order to get wealthy did she plot his demise?

Perry Mason and Della Street were both out to lunch. Gertie, the receptionist, and telephone operator, was indulging in her favorite noontime occupation - munching chocolates and reading a love story - when the door burst open, and a woman rushed in.

Frances Celane has good reason to pout. Thanks to a provision in her late father’s will, administered by her uncle, she’s caught in the middle of a family feud between matrimony and money. If she chooses marriage, she loses a million. But beautiful young Frances has a strong will of her own that she’s not afraid to use. One way or another, she means to hear wedding bells and cash registers making beautiful music together. Her first move: hire Perry mason to orchestrate things. 

Gertie got her name, all right, dimly registered the fact that she was not only very attractive but very upset at having to wait for Mason, and Gertie even looked up when the woman left before he returned.

Unfortunately, stubbornness runs in Frances Celane’s family, as Mason discovers when he confronts her Uncle Edward Norton. After Perry’s powers of persuasion fail to penetrate his hard head, someone decides the only way of cashing in is by bashing in the uncooperative uncle skull. But when the blood spills, so do the secrets. Then it’s Mason’s turn to brood, as he tries to figure out if a girl as pretty as his client could have a hand in something so ugly…..

But vicarious romance was the rule of that day - much to the annoyance of Lt. Tragg when he later tried to piece together what had happened. And although his plan for surprising Gertie with an identification of the lady was ingenious, Perry's countermeasure was even more so...

"I want your man Drake to find out who made that fingerprint."

"You think the person who made that fingerprint will be at the dinner tonight?" Mason asked.

Horace Warren nodded.

"And you want me to find out who that person is and then protect your wife against that person?"

Warren nodded again.

"How much expense to I incur?"

"Any expense within reason."

"Up to what limit?"

"There is no limit."

"Usually," Perry Mason explained, "legitimate law-abiding citizens are not subject to blackmail unless there is something in their past that would leave them vulnerable. I take it that in the case of your wife..."

"Take what?" Warren asked irascibly.

"That there would hardly be such a past."

"Why not?" Warren rasped. "I married Lorna because I loved her. I didn't inquire into her past."

"In other words, her past is something of a mystery?"

"Her past is a closed book. Just protect her against the person who made that fingerprint. Here is my check. I'll see you at dinner tonight."

Virginia Baxter is the only witness still living who can vouch for the authenticity of Lauretta Trent’s will. Lauretta Trent, a wealthy widow is also living. But for how long? Someone has been peppering the spicy food Lauretta loves with arsenic. Could it be the same someone who tried framing Virginia Baxter for drug smuggling?

Lauretta Trent doesn’t trust her greedy heirs. But could a scheming servant be behind a master plan to fleece her estate? It all seems to fit. But when Lauretta is murdered on the highway, all the evidence places Virginia Baxter squarely in the driver’s seat. Confused? Just think how Virginia’s lawyer, Perry Mason, must feel...

A talented but overprotective young man has his hands full as trustee of the inheritance of a beautiful blonde but very naive young woman. But his love and her money don't mix. Why would he embezzle a quarter of a million dollars from his client "for her own good?" Perry Mason may be able to prove, in fact, that his client is no embezzler--but what happens when murder rears its head?

A beautiful debutante’s wealthy uncle is mis sing, and strange relatives are counting her out of his fortune. Then a dead man surfaces, pointing his finger straight at her. Now she’s desperate. Perry Mason takes on the case. '

A very beautiful young woman approaches Perry Mason with a strange request: her uncle Mr. Horace Shelby has given her a check for $12500 and wants her to immediately meet Mason and together go to the bank to withdraw money. She had gone for a 3-month vacation and had come back to find this letter waiting for her.

Mason and Daphne Shelby go to the bank to withdraw the amount. That's when they are shocked to find out that the account is empty. Daphne Shelby had spent her life caring for her elderly uncle. When his half-brother showed up, with his wife and a friend, they convinced the uncle that Daphne was overworked and needed a vacation. This gave them the chance to drug the uncle and have him committed. The half-brother told the court that Daphne wasn't really the old man's niece but the illegitimate daughter of his deceased housekeeper. It seems like her uncle's half-brother Finchley has been appointed as the Conservator for Shelby's wealth as it was proven in court that Shelby was incompetent to handle his financial affairs. All this happened when Daphne was away. She goes home to find Uncle Shelby missing and Finchley and his wife has taken over the house. They asked her to move out immediately. Penniless and homeless she goes back to Mason. It’s up to Mason, his able Secretary Della Street and Mason's sharp friend, detective Paul Drake to help Daphne and find out where Horace Shelby is.

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.

Erle Stanley Gardner is the King of American mystery fiction. A criminal lawyer, he filled his mystery masterpieces with intricate, fascinating, ever-twisting plots. Challenging, clever, and full of surprises, these are whodunits in the best tradition. No wonder fans have made Gardner the # bestselling mystery writer of all time.

Twenty years ago, Ellen Adair took first prize in a beauty contest. Yet she hides a secret from those glory days. Twenty years after Ellen Adair had given birth to an illegitimate child, the result of her affair with the son of a rich tycoon, she finds herself fighting for her son's inheritance and up against those who would deny his parentage.

It seems Ellen was involved in an illicit affair with the son of a rich tycoon--a liaison that yielded an illegitimate heir. Now that the father's fortune is up for grabs, Ellen is ready to spill the beans so her son can collect the cash. But certain other parties--with their eyes on the same multimillion-dollar prize--are out to prove that the so-called "heir" is nothing but a sham. A blackmailing nurse knows the truth and has the proof. But when she turns up murdered, all eyes turn toward Ellen. Unless Perry Mason can crown the real killer, the queen's throne could turn into a real hot seat... 

Perry Mason is retained by Selma, a widow whose hopes of remarrying a wealthy man are thwarted by accusations that she had killed her first husband, and Perry's job becomes harder in the face of damaging evidence.

A widow in distress, her attentive, very wealthy swain, and his overly protective nieces and nephews provide Perry Mason with one of the most challenging cases of his brilliant career.

It all began when the attractive Mrs. Anson came to Perry Mason for advice on how to handle a shadow, a real, live shadow, that is.

Mason figured that where there was a shadow of any description, there was substance. The point was how much substance, and what kind? 

Murder is Silence

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.

The client was young blond and beautiful and she wanted to disappear. The trouble was she wouldn’t say why, and she wouldn’t give her name. So, Perry Mason agreed to a code of identification based on her measurements: 36-24-36. But according to Della Street, the figures were padded, and as it turned out, so was everything the client said. Certainly, the bag full of cash she carries isn’t shopping money. All the mystery-woman asks is that Perry Mason make himself available for a few days in case she needs him-for what purpose, she remains silent as a grave. In fact, his headstrong client is headed for disaster –not only into a blackmailer’s clutches but into a lethal trap from which not even Perry Mason’s brilliant courtroom sorcery may be able to extricate her. Alive anyway…….

Crimson Kiss:  "It's a chance we shouldn't take," Perry Mason said, "but I'm going to take a peek, just for luck."

Perry Mason and Della Street walked softly into the strange apartment. The blazing lights of the living room showed the sprawled body of a man on the floor, and the drinking glass which had rolled from his dead fingers.

Della, clinging to Mason's arm, saw the overturned chair and another empty glass on the table.

In the middle of the man's balding forehead was imprinted a crimson kiss!

He announced himself as Mr. Cash. His calling card was ten crisp hundred-dollar bills!

“My wife has disappeared,” he told Perry Mason. “She’s in trouble of some sort. I want to find her.”

Mr. Cash’s wife was indeed in trouble of a most serious sort. First, her jewelry disappeared. Then she disappeared. Perry Mason had to find her before the police could arrest her –for murder!

DON'T FENCE ME OUT--OR ELSE...

Finding an unwelcome guest in the person of the ex-wife of his dream house's contractor, who claims that the property is half hers, Morley Eden calls upon Perry Mason to resolve a turbulent dispute that is linked to murder.

Morley Eden's dream house proves to be a nightmare when an unexpected "guest" moves in. Vivian Carson is the fiery ex-wife of the quick-talking contractor who sold Morley his land and built his home. Thanks to an unsettled divorce dispute over property, Vivian and Morley are the uneasy coin habitants of a house divided--by a barbed-wire fence running straight through the living room.

With his back against the wall, Morley calls in murder specialist Perry Mason to settle the increasingly turbulent tug-of-war. And war it is, as Mason becomes enmeshed in a dirty divorce battle, and army of scandalmongering reporters, and an honest-to-goodness casualty, found murdered in the middle of the bizarre battlefield...

"The Case of the Irate Witness," the mystery which is the star of this collection of 4 novelettes, is the only one that the incomparable Erle Stanley Gardner ever wrote featuring Perry Mason in short story form. Each of the stories revolves around the subject of stolen jewels and each story is a gem in itself.

In “The Case of the Irate Witness” (1953), Perry Mason sets off for a peaceful weekend’s fishing in the mountains but even here the master lawyer is unable to leave detection behind. After being stopped at a police roadblock checking on a big robbery in Jebson City, Perry Mason gets involved in defending the accused, culminating in a stunning example of Mason’s famous courtroom dexterity.

When Mae Farr becomes the presumed stalking victim of wealthy playboy Penn Wentworth, she asks Perry Mason for help. Wentworth says he merely wants her for forging his name on a fat check. Farr claims he just wants her. Enter Harold Anders, a love-struck suitor from Mae's small hometown who's determined to ride to her rescue. But fatal gunplay leaves Wentworth dead, Mae a wanted woman and Perry Mason in trouble…

One of Perry Mason's trademarks is his ability, in court, to switch the physical evidence in a case. He generally does this with guns or bullets, and it confuses the jury, to his client's advantage. In this case, Perry offers a coroner's inquest two parrots, one of which swore like a muleskinner and was found near the body of a millionaire hermit who had been murdered.

The only witness to a millionaire’s murder is a parrot that keeps repeating phrases that may identify the killer. The only witness to a rich man's murder is his parrot, who keeps repeating the suspect's name. But in court, everyone is surprised at what the bird says next. Perry does his magic at an informal coroner's Inquest in a rural area. 

Charles Sabin is a wealthy investor who has a rather gruff personality. He is leaving on a fishing trip to a remote cabin he owns but as he leaves he accuses his step-daughter Helen Watkins of stealing from him. He has a pet parrot Casanova who does a couple of tricks and parrots some funny answers. As he leaves he gives orders to his secretary Richard Waid to handle some tasks. Sabin is found dead in his cabin with a parrot saying Helen should turn over a gun. Sabin's wife Stephanie Sabin along with Helen visit Perry who handles some of Sabin's legal business for help. Perry visits the cabin where the Sheriff and a local teacher of criminology are interpreting the evidence. Perry notices a library book that leads him to the librarian Ellen Monteith who says she recently married Sabin making him a bigamist. Ellen is arrested while a Coroner's Inquest is called to determine cause of death. Coroner Andy Templet runs a very informal inquest where Perry re-interprets the evidence.

Perry Mason investigates a case of blackmail with a side of loaded dice.

Years ago Alden Leeds found a rich vein of gold in the Klondike.

 Now his greedy relatives fear he's planning to throw his fortune away on a gold-digging spouse, Emily Milicant. So, to prevent the two from joining in holy matrimony, they commit their affluent kin to a sanitarium on a trumped-up charge.

Now, aging, and single, he finds himself surrounded by family waiting patiently to inherit his fortune. When he announces his engagement to a much younger woman, it sends that family into a panic, fearing that it might threaten their future gains. They have him admitted into a sanitarium, claiming incompetence―and that’s when lawyering super-sleuth Perry Mason gets involved, but the case is about to get much more complicated.

Then Leeds escapes, only to end up in the company of Emily's blackmailing brother, John, a manufacturer of fixed dice, rolling bones that always come up seven. But when John is murdered--with Leeds's fingerprints found all over the apartment--Perry Mason must crack a baffling case before his client bumps from the nut house to the jail house. 

Before all is said and done, Mason will tangle with a cheating gambler, a blackmailer, multiple aliases, multiple corpses, and enough red herrings to lead even the most astute reader astray. It will push the attorney’s deductive powers to their very limits before all is revealed, finally, in his masterful courtroom cross-examination.

A fast-paced yarn with a delightfully convoluted plot, The Case of the Rolling Bones is among the best of the long-running Perry Mason novels, which would go on to inspire multiple television series as well as adaptations for radio and film. The book exemplifies the masterful page-turning action for which its prolific author is remembered today.

In one of Perry Mason’s most memorable cases ever, the character who inspired the HBO limited series risks his freedom to prove the innocence of an unidentified client.

The bait is half of a $10,000 bill, delivered to Perry Mason by a man who promises the second half of the note should his companion, a silent masked woman, ever require the lawyer’s services. When a dead body is discovered soon after, Mason feels the hook―but how can one prove the innocence of a person whose identity is unknown? 

Suspecting that he’s been set-up, but curious nonetheless, Perry sets out to solve the mystery from the ground up, beginning with the face behind the veil. The more he learns, the more complex his investigation becomes. Uncovering a convoluted case of stock fraud, divorce, and inheritance, Mason’s nearly left reeling―that is until, with the help of Della Street and Paul Drake, he pulls off one of his most daring gambits ever to finally cast light on the killer.

Who was that masked woman? That's not the only question plaguing the perpetually inquiring mind of Perry Mason. Did the wealthy Fremont C. Sabin divorce his wife before his untimely death? That's the multimillion-dollar question. And the right answer will mean a windfall for either the dead man's angry son or headstrong widow. Each has accused the other of destroying Sabin's will—and murdering Sabin. But with no document declaring who the affable eccentric intended to leave his fortune to, Perry Mason faces a particularly prickly puzzle.

Even more puzzling, however, is the talking parrot. Casanova was Fremont Sabin's beloved pet. But the bird found at the crime scene proves to be a foul-mouthed impostor. No one loves a good mystery more than Mason--but being asked to represent a client who's concealing her identity, not to mention the particulars of her case, has given even the legendary legal eagle a case of ruffled feathers.

Helping a high-spirited florist save her shop from her brother-in-law, an incorrigible gambler, Perry Mason uncovers rather convincing evidence that his client may have committed murder to keep her business blooming. 

Successful florist Mildred Faulkner finds that the flower business is no bed of roses when arch-competitor Harry Peavis secretly buys stock in her small, family-owned 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.

Time and tide wait for no man –neither does Perry Mason…A mystery in the best Gardner tradition chock full of action (mighty fast), angles (inventive and voluptuous), and aqua pura (meaning watertight solution as well as H20).

On his way to finding out, Mason meets Mrs. Milfield, a barely distraught widow, and a slew of suspicious characters all intimately connected to the recently deceased, a man murdered on someone else's yacht. As the surprising scenario unravels, it takes a sharp mind like Mason's, the savvy of his secretary Della Street, and the legwork of investigator Paul Drake to pull all the clues out of the water before the case sinks like a deadweight.

A

A spanking-ne

Wealthy

Hele

Aft

T

After a thieving woman is accused of murder, it’s up to Perry Mason to prove her innocent. 

Sleuthing attorney Perry Mason can’t resist a good mystery, so when he sees an older woman being accused of shoplifting during a department store outing with his assistant, Della Street, he doesn’t hesitate to intervene. Armed with an assumption of innocence and the legal acumen to silence her accuser, Mason leaps to the woman’s defense―until her niece appears, acknowledging her aunt’s guilt, and pays for the stolen items.

Soon thereafter, Aunt Sarah is accused of stealing a valuable set of diamonds, and her niece, Virginia, enlists Mason’s aid. The man who left the jewels in Sarah’s care insists that she didn’t take them, but when he turns up dead, she’s left with nobody to vouch for her. Nobody, that is, but Perry Mason―expert in the art of defending the innocent.

One of Perry Mason's trademarks is his ability, in court, to switch the physical evidence in a case. He generally does this with guns or bullets, and it confuses the jury, to his client's advantage. In this case, Perry offers a coroner's inquest two parrots, one of which swore like a muleskinner and was found near the body of a millionaire hermit who had been murdered.

The only witness to a millionaire’s murder is a parrot that keeps repeating phrases that may identify the killer. The only witness to a rich man's murder is his parrot, who keeps repeating the suspect's name. But in court, everyone is surprised at what the bird says next. Perry does his magic at an informal coroner's Inquest in a rural area. 

Charles Sabin is a wealthy investor who has a rather gruff personality. He is leaving on a fishing trip to a remote cabin he owns but as he leaves he accuses his step-daughter Helen Watkins of stealing from him. He has a pet parrot Casanova who does a couple of tricks and parrots some funny answers. As he leaves he gives orders to his secretary Richard Waid to handle some tasks. Sabin is found dead in his cabin with a parrot saying Helen should turn over a gun. Sabin's wife Stephanie Sabin along with Helen visit Perry who handles some of Sabin's legal business for help. Perry visits the cabin where the Sheriff and a local teacher of criminology are interpreting the evidence. Perry notices a library book that leads him to the librarian Ellen Monteith who says she recently married Sabin making him a bigamist. Ellen is arrested while a Coroner's Inquest is called to determine cause of death. Coroner Andy Templet runs a very informal inquest where Perry re-interprets the evidence.

Perry Mason investigates a case of blackmail with a side of loaded dice.

Years ago Alden Leeds found a rich vein of gold in the Klondike.

 Now his greedy relatives fear he's planning to throw his fortune away on a gold-digging spouse, Emily Milicant. So, to prevent the two from joining in holy matrimony, they commit their affluent kin to a sanitarium on a trumped-up charge.

Now, aging, and single, he finds himself surrounded by family waiting patiently to inherit his fortune. When he announces his engagement to a much younger woman, it sends that family into a panic, fearing that it might threaten their future gains. They have him admitted into a sanitarium, claiming incompetence―and that’s when lawyering super-sleuth Perry Mason gets involved, but the case is about to get much more complicated.

Then Leeds escapes, only to end up in the company of Emily's blackmailing brother, John, a manufacturer of fixed dice, rolling bones that always come up seven. But when John is murdered--with Leeds's fingerprints found all over the apartment--Perry Mason must crack a baffling case before his client bumps from the nut house to the jail house. 

Before all is said and done, Mason will tangle with a cheating gambler, a blackmailer, multiple aliases, multiple corpses, and enough red herrings to lead even the most astute reader astray. It will push the attorney’s deductive powers to their very limits before all is revealed, finally, in his masterful courtroom cross-examination.

A fast-paced yarn with a delightfully convoluted plot, The Case of the Rolling Bones is among the best of the long-running Perry Mason novels, which would go on to inspire multiple television series as well as adaptations for radio and film. The book exemplifies the masterful page-turning action for which its prolific author is remembered today.

In one of Perry Mason’s most memorable cases ever, the character who inspired the HBO limited series risks his freedom to prove the innocence of an unidentified client.

The bait is half of a $10,000 bill, delivered to Perry Mason by a man who promises the second half of the note should his companion, a silent masked woman, ever require the lawyer’s services. When a dead body is discovered soon after, Mason feels the hook―but how can one prove the innocence of a person whose identity is unknown? 

Suspecting that he’s been set-up, but curious nonetheless, Perry sets out to solve the mystery from the ground up, beginning with the face behind the veil. The more he learns, the more complex his investigation becomes. Uncovering a convoluted case of stock fraud, divorce, and inheritance, Mason’s nearly left reeling―that is until, with the help of Della Street and Paul Drake, he pulls off one of his most daring gambits ever to finally cast light on the killer.

Who was that masked woman? That's not the only question plaguing the perpetually inquiring mind of Perry Mason. Did the wealthy Fremont C. Sabin divorce his wife before his untimely death? That's the multimillion-dollar question. And the right answer will mean a windfall for either the dead man's angry son or headstrong widow. Each has accused the other of destroying Sabin's will—and murdering Sabin. But with no document declaring who the affable eccentric intended to leave his fortune to, Perry Mason faces a particularly prickly puzzle.

Even more puzzling, however, is the talking parrot. Casanova was Fremont Sabin's beloved pet. But the bird found at the crime scene proves to be a foul-mouthed impostor. No one loves a good mystery more than Mason--but being asked to represent a client who's concealing her identity, not to mention the particulars of her case, has given even the legendary legal eagle a case of ruffled feathers.

Helping a high-spirited florist save her shop from her brother-in-law, an incorrigible gambler, Perry Mason uncovers rather convincing evidence that his client may have committed murder to keep her business blooming. 

Successful florist Mildred Faulkner finds that the flower business is no bed of roses when arch-competitor Harry Peavis secretly buys stock in her small, family-owned 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.

Time and tide wait for no man –neither does Perry Mason…A mystery in the best Gardner tradition chock full of action (mighty fast), angles (inventive and voluptuous), and aqua pura (meaning watertight solution as well as H20).

On his way to finding out, Mason meets Mrs. Milfield, a barely distraught widow, and a slew of suspicious characters all intimately connected to the recently deceased, a man murdered on someone else's yacht. As the surprising scenario unravels, it takes a sharp mind like Mason's, the savvy of his secretary Della Street, and the legwork of investigator Paul Drake to pull all the clues out of the water before the case sinks like a deadweight.

A

A spanking-ne

Wealthy

Hele

Aft

T