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Erle Stanley Gardner Books In Order

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Publication Order of Perry Mason Books

The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Sulky Girl (1933)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Lucky Legs (1934)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Howling Dog (1934)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Curious Bride (1934)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Counterfeit Eye (1935)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Caretaker's Cat (1935)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece (1936)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1936)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Dangerous Dowager (1937)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Lame Canary (1937)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Substitute Face (1938)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe (1938)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Perjured Parrot (1939)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Rolling Bones (1939)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Baited Hook (1940)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Silent Partner (1940)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Haunted Husband (1941)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Empty Tin (1941)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Drowning Duck (1942)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Careless Kitten (1942)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Buried Clock (1943)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito (1943)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Crooked Candle (1944)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde (1944)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Golddigger's Purse (1945)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife (1945)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Borrowed Brunette (1946)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Fan-Dancer's Horse (1946)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Lazy Lover (1947)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Lonely Heiress (1948)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Vagabond Virgin (1948)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Cautious Coquette (1949)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom (1949)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Negligent Nymph (1950)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the One-Eyed Witness (1950)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Fiery Fingers (1951)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Angry Mourner (1951)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink (1952)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Grinning Gorilla (1952)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Hesitant Hostess (1953)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister (1953)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Fugitive Nurse (1954)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Runaway Corpse (1954)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Restless Redhead (1954)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Sun Bather's Diary (1955)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Glamorous Ghost (1955)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Nervous Accomplice (1955)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Terrified Typist (1955)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Gilded Lily (1956)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Demure Defendant (1956)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of The Screaming Woman (1957)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Lucky Loser (1957)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Daring Decoy (1957)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll (1958)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Long-Legged Models (1958)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Calendar Girl (1958)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Singing Skirt (1959)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Mythical Monkeys (1959)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Deadly Toy (1959)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Waylaid Wolf (1960)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Duplicate Daughter (1960)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Shapely Shadow (1960)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Spurious Spinster (1961)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Bigamous Spouse (1961)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Reluctant Model (1962)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Blonde Bonanza (1962)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Ice-Cold Hands (1962)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Mischievous Doll (1962)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Stepdaughter's Secret (1963)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Amorous Aunt (1963)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Daring Divorcee (1964)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Phantom Fortune (1964)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Horrified Heirs (1964)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Troubled Trustee (1965)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Beautiful Beggar (1965)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Worried Waitress (1966)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Queenly Contestant (1967)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Careless Cupid (1968)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Fabulous Fake (1969)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Fenced-in Woman (1972)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Postponed Murder (1973)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of Too Many Murders (By: Thomas Chastain) (1989)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Burning Bequest (By: Thomas Chastain) (1990)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Perry Mason Collections

The Case of the Murderer's Bride and Other Stories (1955)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Crimson Kiss (1970)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case Of The Crying Swallow (1971)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Irate Witness and Other Stories (1973)Description / Buy at Amazon
Four Cases of Murder (1989)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Doug Selby Books

by Mignon G. Eberhart
The D.A. Calls It Murder (1937)Description / Buy at Amazon
The D.A. Holds a Candle (1938)Description / Buy at Amazon
The D.A. Draws a Circle (1939)Description / Buy at Amazon
The D.A. Goes to Trial (1940)Description / Buy at Amazon
The D. A. Cooks a Goose (1942)Description / Buy at Amazon
The D.A. Calls a Turn (1944)Description / Buy at Amazon
The D.A. Breaks a Seal (1946)Description / Buy at Amazon
The D.A. Takes a Chance (1948)Description / Buy at Amazon
The D.A. Breaks An Egg (1949)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Terry Clane Books

Murder Up My Sleeve (1937)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Backward Mule (1946)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Donald Lam & Bertha Cool Books

as A.A. Fair
The Bigger They Come (1939)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Knife Slipped (1939)Description / Buy at Amazon
Turn on the Heat (1940)Description / Buy at Amazon
Gold Comes in Bricks (1940)Description / Buy at Amazon
Spill the Jackpot (1941)Description / Buy at Amazon
Double or Quits (1941)Description / Buy at Amazon
Owls Don't Blink (1942)Description / Buy at Amazon
Bats Fly at Dusk (1942)Description / Buy at Amazon
Cats Prowl at Night (1943)Description / Buy at Amazon
Give 'em the Ax (1944)Description / Buy at Amazon
Crows Can't Count (1946)Description / Buy at Amazon
Fools Die on Friday (1947)Description / Buy at Amazon
Bedrooms Have Windows (1949)Description / Buy at Amazon
Top of the Heap (1952)Description / Buy at Amazon
Some Women Won't Wait (1953)Description / Buy at Amazon
Beware the Curves (1956)Description / Buy at Amazon
You Can Die Laughing (1957)Description / Buy at Amazon
Some Slips Don't Show (1957)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Count of 9 (1958)Description / Buy at Amazon
Pass the Gravy (1959)Description / Buy at Amazon
Kept Women Can't Quit (1960)Description / Buy at Amazon
Bachelors Get Lonely (1961)Description / Buy at Amazon
Shills Can't Cash Chips (1961)Description / Buy at Amazon
Try Anything Once (1962)Description / Buy at Amazon
Fish or Cut Bait (1963)Description / Buy at Amazon
Up for Grabs (1964)Description / Buy at Amazon
Cut Thin to Win (1965)Description / Buy at Amazon
Widows Wear Weeds (1966)Description / Buy at Amazon
Traps Need Fresh Bait (1967)Description / Buy at Amazon
All Grass Isn't Green (1970)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Gramp Wiggens Books

The Case of the Turning Tide (1941)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case of the Smoking Chimney (1943)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Case Of The Musical Cow (1960)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

The Clue of the Forgotten Murder / The Clew of the Forgotten Murder (1942)Description / Buy at Amazon
This Is Murder (1948)Description / Buy at Amazon
Dead Men's Letters (1990)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Exploits of the Patent Leather Kid (2010)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Two Clues: The Clue of the Runaway Blonde / Clue's Don't Count & The Clue of the Hungry Horse (1947)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Amazing Adventures of Lester Leith (1980)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Human Zero (1981)Description / Buy at Amazon
Whispering Sands (1981)Description / Buy at Amazon
Pay Dirt and Other Whispering Sands Stories of Gold Fever and the Western Desert (1983)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Adventures Of Paul Pry, Volume 2 (1990)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Blonde in Lower Six Plus 3 Short Novels (1990)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Adventures Of Paul Pry (1991)Description / Buy at Amazon
Honest Money and Other Short Novels (1991)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Danger Zone and Other Stories (2004)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Casebook of Sidney Zoom (2006)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

The Court of Last Resort: The True Story of a Team of Crime Experts Who Fought to Save the Wrongfully Convicted (1952)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Hidden Heart of Baja (1962)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Desert is Yours (1963)Description / Buy at Amazon
Hunting the Desert Whale (1963)Description / Buy at Amazon
Drifting Down Delta (1969)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Anthologies

Hard-Boiled Detectives(1953)Description / Buy at Amazon
Daring Detectives(1969)Description / Buy at Amazon
Tantalizing Locked Room Mysteries(1982)Description / Buy at Amazon
Murder Plus(1992)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Mammoth Book of Short Spy Novels(1996)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Oxford Book of American Detective Stories(1996)Description / Buy at Amazon
Law and Order(1997)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Oxford Book of Detective Stories(2000)Description / Buy at Amazon
A Century of Great Suspense Stories(2001)Description / Buy at Amazon
Murder On The Railways(2003)Description / Buy at Amazon
Pulp Adventures #37: Nymph in the Keyhole(2020)Description / Buy at Amazon

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.

Book Series In Order » Authors » Erle Stanley Gardner

3 Responses to “Erle Stanley Gardner”

  1. merry ann drouhard: 2 months ago

    his stories are fantastic wall mart should have them in their book line up in their stores.

    Reply
  2. Carl Thomas: 2 years ago

    Really enjoyed seeing all of the Perry Mason books.Thanks

    Reply
  3. Lisa Childress: 5 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

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