Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) was the best-selling American
author of the 20th century, mainly due to the enormous success of
his Perry Mason series, which numbered more than 80 novels and
inspired a half-dozen motion pictures, radio programs, and a
long-running television series that starred Raymond Burr. Having
begun his career as a pulp writer, Gardner brought a hard-boiled
style and sensibility to the early Mason books, but gradually
developed into a more classic detective story novelist, showing
enough clues to allow the astute reader to solve the mystery. For
more than a quarter of a century he wrote more than a million words
a year under his own name and numerous pseudonyms, the most famous
being A.A. Fair.
Otto Penzler, the creator of American Mystery Classics, is also the
founder of The Mysterious Press (1975); MysteriousPress.com (2011),
an electronic-book publishing company; and New York City’s
Mysterious Bookshop (1979). He has won a Raven, the Ellery Queen
Award, two Edgars (for the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection,
1977, and The Lineup, 2010), and lifetime achievement awards from
NoirCon and The Strand Magazine. He has edited more than 70
anthologies and written extensively about mystery fiction.
"Mason displays his usual brilliant cross-examination skills as the
action builds to a highly satisfying climax. Gardner’s cleverness
and mastery of trial details are amply on display in this entry in
the American Mystery Classics series."
*Publishers Weekly*
"No one has ever matched Gardner for swift, sure exposition."
*Kirkus*
"While we wait to watch Mason eviscerate his opponent, we can savor
a vanished way of talking. There's something charming about hearing
a movie called a "picture show." As a kind of origin story, this
one's a treat."
*Booklist*
"With Perry Mason, Erle Stanley Gardner introduced to American
letters the notion of the lawyer as a hero—and a detective—which
were remarkable innovations. He even gave defense lawyers a good
name to boot. His Mason books reaming tantalizing on every page and
brilliant."
*Scott Turow, author of Presume Innocent and Testimony*
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