Books by Erle Stanley Gardner
Top Of The Heap
Detective Donald Lam is hired by the last man to see the girlfriend of a notorious gangster alive, a case that leads Donald to a lucrative mining scam, an illegal casino, and a double homicide. Reprint.
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Top Of The Heap
From Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner - during his life, the best-selling American author of all time - comes a lost classic of detective fiction featuring private eyes Donald Lam (once played by Frank Sinatra!) and Bertha Cool.
SHE PLAYED THE ODDS – AND LOST!
When the beautiful girlfriend of a notorious gangster vanishes, the last man to be seen with her needs an alibi – and fast. Enter Donald Lam of the Cool & Lam detective agency. Donald tracks down the two women with whom his client claims to have spent the night and the client declares the case closed.
But it’s not. Something about his client’s story doesn’t add up, and Donald can’t resist the temptation to keep digging. Before he knows it, he’s dug up connections to a mining scam, an illegal casino, and a double homicide – plus an opportunity for an enterprising private eye to make a small fortune, if he can just stay alive long enough to cash in on it!
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The Case of the Lazy Lover (The Perry Mason Mysteries)
A runaway witness leads a lawyer into a whodunit: “The only dull pages in this book are the blank ones” (The New York Times).
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 . . .
This mystery is part of Edgar Award–winning author Erle Stanley Gardner’s classic, long-running Perry Mason series, which has sold three hundred million copies and serves as the inspiration for the HBO show starring Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany.
DON’T MISS THE NEW HBO ORIGINAL SERIES PERRY MASON, BASED ON CHARACTERS FROM ERLE STANLEY GARDNER’S NOVELS, STARRING EMMY AWARD WINNER MATTHEW RHYS.
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The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom (The Perry Mason Mysteries)
A lawyer is sucked into a couple’s hostile divorce in this mystery with “a stellar ending” from the original detective series that inspired the HBO show (Kirkus Reviews).
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).
This whodunit is part of Edgar Award–winning author Erle Stanley Gardner’s classic, long-running Perry Mason series, which has sold three hundred million copies and serves as the inspiration for the HBO show starring Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany.
DON’T MISS THE NEW HBO ORIGINAL SERIES PERRY MASON, BASED ON CHARACTERS FROM ERLE STANLEY GARDNER’S NOVELS, STARRING EMMY AWARD WINNER MATTHEW RHYS
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The Case of the Baited Hook: A Perry Mason Mystery (An American Mystery Classic)
by Otto Penzler, Erle Stanley Gardner
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.
Filled with memorable characters, a multitude of motives, and just a few red herrings, The Case of the Baited Hook is classic Perry Mason, showcasing the character’s brilliance and pizazz with a plot that pushes his powers into overdrive. As puzzling as it is entertaining, the book exemplifies the style that made Erle Stanley Gardner one of the most popular authors of the twentieth century.
“Millions of Americans never seem to tire of Gardner’s thrillers.” ―The New York Times
DON’T MISS THE NEW HBO ORIGINAL SERIES PERRY MASON, BASED ON CHARACTERS FROM ERLE STANLEY GARDNER’S NOVELS, STARRING EMMY AWARD WINNER MATTHEW RHYS
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The Case of the Borrowed Brunette: A Perry Mason Mystery (An American Mystery Classic)
by Otto Penzler, Erle Stanley Gardner
A classified ad finds Perry Mason's client drawn into a murder plot, and only the sleuthing attorney can save her.
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.”
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.
Reissued for the first time in thirty years, The Case of the Borrowed Brunette is one of the most beloved whodunnits featuring the iconic Perry Mason character, inspiration for multiple hit television series bearing his name.
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The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe: A Perry Mason Mystery (An American Mystery Classic)
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.
The thirteenth novel in the bestselling Perry Mason series, The Case of the Shoplifter’s Shoe is an exemplary episode for the character, featuring the complex plots, snappy dialogue, and break-neck pacing that make the novels perennial favorites of mystery fans everywhere.
Includes discussion guide questions for use in book clubs.
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The Case of the Rolling Bones: A Perry Mason Mystery (An American Mystery Classic)
Perry Mason investigates a case of blackmail with a side of loaded dice
Years ago, Alden Leeds struck it rich when he discovered a vein of gold. 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…
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.
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The Bigger They Come: A Cool and Lam Mystery (An American Mystery Classic)
A private detective searches for a missing person in this "breathlessly dramatic" (Los Angeles Times) whodunnit from the creator of Perry Mason
Bertha Cool is the gruff, tough-talking, corpulent head of her private detective agency, opened after the death of her husband; Donald Lam is her meek, slight, and nervy new hire, who makes up for a lack of boldness with brilliant deductive work. The duo couldn’t be any more dissimilar but, with their skills combined, they are an unstoppable force when it comes to solving crimes, as evidenced by their over two dozen successes in the long-running series penned by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner.
In this, their first outing, Donald Lam is tasked with delivering divorce papers to a man who reportedly made a fortune in rigged slot machines. The only problem is that nobody―not even the police―can find him. Before long, Lam’s seemingly-simple assignment finds him caught up in a web of money, mysterious safety deposit boxes, and a gang of toughs every bit as desperate as he is to find the runaway husband.
Reissued for the first time in decades, and originally published under the A.A. Fair pen name, The Bigger They Come is an enjoyable private eye novel replete with puzzling scenarios and a humorous tone. As fast and twisty as anything Gardner ever wrote, the novel (and the series it spawned) is more Paul Drake than Perry Mason, but it is sure to please any fan of the Golden Age whodunnit.
Includes discussion guide questions for use in book clubs.
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Shills Can't Cash Chips
From Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner - during his life, the best-selling American author of all time -- comes a lost classic of detective fiction featuring private eyes Donald Lam (once played by Frank Sinatra!) and Bertha Cool.
"What I can say is that for those who like their crime fiction to be high-octane, this novel is a stunner." The Daily Mail
HBO series Perry Mason, based on characters from Erle Stanley Gardner's novels, airs June 2020 starring Matthew Rhys in the titular role.
HAS DONALD LAM GONE OVER TO THE DARK SIDE?
From the world-famous creator of PERRY MASON, Erle Stanley Gardner - at his death the best-selling American writer of all time - comes another baffling case for the Cool & Lam detective agency. Return to the 1960s as a simple insurance investigation into a car accident puts Bertha Cool and Donald Lam on the trail of murder - and Donald hip-deep in danger when he poses as an ex-con to infiltrate a criminal gang. It's Gardner's twistiest caper ever, and a fitting conclusion to Hard Case Crime's revival of this classic (and long unavailable) detective series.
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The Count of 9 (Hard Case Crime)
From the world-famous creator of "Perry Mason," Erle Stanley Gardner comes another baffling case for the Cool & Lam detective agency.
HBO series Perry Mason airs June 2020 starring Matthew Rhys in the titular role.
Erle Stanley Gardner was not just the creator of PERRY MASON - at the time of his death, he was the best-selling American author of all time, with hundreds of millions of books in print, including the 29 cases of the brash, irresistible detective team of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. Gardner was also one of the most ingenious plot-spinners in the field, coming up with stunning twists and reveals... and THE COUNT OF 9 is Gardner at his twistiest.
Hired to protect the treasures of a globe-trotting adventurer, Bertha and Donald confront an impossible crime: how could anything be smuggled out of a dinner party - least of all a 6-foot-long blowgun - when the guests were X-rayed coming and going? But that's nothing compared to the crime they face next: AN IMPOSSIBLE MURDER...
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The Case of the Careless Kitten A Perry Mason Mystery
Helen Kendal's woes begin when she receives a phone call from her vanished uncle Franklin, long presumed dead, who urges her to make contact with 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.
Reprinted for the first time in over twenty years, The Case of the Careless Kitten is one of the most highly praised cases in the iconic Perry Mason series, which need not be read in any particular order.
"Millions of Americans never seem to tire of Gardner's thrillers." --The New York Times
DON'T MISS THE NEW HBO ORIGINAL SERIES PERRY MASON, BASED ON CHARACTERS FROM ERLE STANLEY GARDNER'S NOVELS, STARRING EMMY AWARD WINNER MATTHEW RHYS
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Turn on the Heat (Hard Case Crime)
A CLASSIC COOL AND LAM NOVEL FROM THE CREATOR OF PERRY MASON, ERLE STANLEY GARDNER
HBO series Perry Mason airs June 2020 starring Matthew Rhys in the titular role.
Erle Stanley Gardner was not just the creator of PERRY MASON – at the time of his death, he was the best-selling American author of all time, with hundreds of millions of books in print. Among those books were the 29 cases of the brash, irresistible detective team of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. Last year, Hard Case Crime brought out the first new Cool and Lam novel in decades, THE KNIFE SLIPPED, lost for 77 years after Gardner’s publisher refused it. Now, we’re bringing you the book Gardner wrote to replace it, often considered the best in the series: TURN ON THE HEAT.
Hired by a mysterious “Mr. Smith” to find a woman who vanished 21 years earlier, Donald Lam finds himself facing a sadistic cop, a desperate showgirl, a duplicitous client, and one very dogged (and beautiful) newspaper reporter – while Bertha Cool’s attempts to cut herself in on this lucrative opportunity land them both hip-deep in murder…
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