Erle Stanley Gardner Books In Order

Publication Order of Perry Mason Books

Publication Order of Perry Mason Collections

Publication Order of Doug Selby Books

Publication Order of Terry Clane Books

Publication Order of Donald Lam & Bertha Cool Books

Publication Order of Gramp Wiggens Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Renowned as one of the best-selling American authors of the 20th century, Erle Stanley Gardner is globally recognised within the world of literature as one of the best mystery and detective novel writers of all time. His long list of novels, which includes the Perry Mason collection, are still widely accessible, even today, and are taught throughout schools and universities worldwide. But how did this once former lawyer become to be one of the greatest writers the world has seen?

Born in Malden, Massachusetts on July 17th 1889, Gardner was raised within a working class family, and moved around a lot in his childhood due to his fathers job as a mining engineer. He dropped out of Valparaiso University in Indiana, where he studied law, after just one month and instead moved to California where he took his career into his own hands and started working for a law firm as a typist. Proving to be gifted in the law industry, Gardner managed to pass the state bar exam in 1911 after learning himself on the job, and began defending clients in cases, many of which were poorer clients, to get his foot in the door.

By 1917 he had opened his first law office but the company was short-lived as Gardner decided to quit law altogether and take on a job at a sales agency to help support his wife and daughter, who was born back in 1912. He eventually returned to law in 1921 and stayed within the industry until 1933 when he released his first book within the series of the Mason series.

Gardner always stated that although he enjoyed some practices of the law industry, he had become bored with by it, and instead in his free time he started to write for pulp magazines. His first big break in the the writing world came in 1923, when his first story was published in the pulps. He set himself with the target to write at least 1,200,000 words a year, and created many characters during this period which included Lester Leith, Ken Corning and a parody of the gentleman thief’.

Following his small success in the pulps, Gardner began writing his own novels, and under the name of A.A. Fair, he wrote about a private detective firm named Cool and Lam. It was this that gave him the real confidence he needed, and in his next series of books focused on a man named Doug Selby who was known to be a highly regarded crime solver within his fictional world, a very similar situation to that of Perry Mason.

The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933)

The Case of the Velvet Claws was the book that eventually took Gardner away from the law industry in 1933, with a lot of the story set at the Pierpont Inn, which was just down the road from his law office. This was the first book which introduced the world-famous Perry Mason, a tough attorney that was exceptionally gifted within the law profession. It was always Gardner’s dream to have his novels published in the Saturday Evening Post, and to make this a reality he actually had to gradually soften down Mason’s character to make him more appealing to the editors and the readers. Thanks to this relationship, all of Gardner’s books were covered in the newspaper from the early 50s just before they were published – a real promotional contribution to the success of the series.

In Mason’s first mystery, several characters are introduced including Perry himself, Mason’s secretary, Della Street and detective, Paul Drake. What is interesting is that there is no courtroom scene at all in the first novel within the series, a scenario in which the books are famous for in the later series. The Case of the Velvet Claws is based around a very wealthy woman named Eva Griffin who claims she is being blackmailed by her husband, someone who has a lot of money and power. She turns to the famed lawyer for help as she has been unfaithful to her husband and wants to keep everything private, but in the meantime she is accused of murder, and although Perry seemed to help her, he is blamed by the adulterer for the murders.

The Case of the Howling Dog (1934)

Following the success of The Case of the Velvet Claws, Gardner followed with one more story in 1933, before penning three a year later. The Case of the Howling Dog, which was serialised in Liberty Magazine, was a high reaching story about a potential client of Mason’s who talks to him about a howling dog and a will, however Perry turns this down as he he isn’t interested in writing wills nor does not know anything about animals. However it is not until the client claims that the will was made by a person who was executed for murder, which suddenly gets Mason’s attention. This particular novel become a Hollywood movie in the same year, and is arguably regarded as the best adaptation of Gardner’s books.

Alongside the Perry Mason novels, Gardner created characters for radio programs, and many of his novels became hit-films. Finally, in 1957, the Mason novels become a long-running TV-show on CBS, another accolade to his exceptional writing. The Mason novel collection eventually ran to over 80 novels, all of which were deemed a real success and widely accepted worldwide. His readership was extremely broad across the world, and included perhaps one of the most recognised British novelists, Evelyn Waugh, who claimed that Gardner was to him the best living American writer.’

His career came to an end on March 11, 1970, when 80-year old Gardner died in Temecula and his ashes were scattered in California, where many of his novels started. At the time of his death, he was the best selling American writer of the 20th century, and his manuscripts were placed in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Centre, which are still accessible today. Gardner was then and still is highly regarded within the literature industry, with his work proving to be a great learning point for many people and aspiring writers.

2 Responses to “Erle Stanley Gardner”

1. Carl Thomas: 9 months ago

   Really enjoyed seeing all of the Perry Mason books.Thanks

   Reply
2. Lisa Childress: 4 years ago

   Evelyn Waugh was a man. In England, it is a recognized male name, pronounced like evening, not like ever, as in the US.

   Reply