Erle Stanley Gardner – författare

Young Marjorie Clune’s best asset is her greatest misfortune: a pair of exquisite legs. They attract the perfect heel, a self-professed movie promoter named Frank Patton, whose scam seems even more flawless than Marjorie’s lissome limbs. When the hype clears, the local chamber of commerce is many dollars poorer, Marjorie’s been hung out to dry—and Patton’s been found with the knife of Marjorie’s lover implanted in his chest… But will a single cunning lie her lawyer Perry Mason tells, catch a killer and free her from a nightmare of accusation?

Criminal lawyer and all-time #1 mystery author Erle Stanley Gardner wrote close to 150 novels that have sold 300 million copies worldwide. His most popular books starred the incomparable attorney-sleuth Perry Mason.

In The Case of the Howling Dog, Arthur Cartwright, an anxious man, goes to Perry Mason to have his neighbor arrested for his vindictive and noisy dog. He is under the belief that his howling is an indication that somebody has been murdered in the neighborhood. He demands that his will be written bequeathing the estate to the lady living at the neighbor''s house. However, the will is mysteriously altered by an unknown person and Cartwright goes missing, along with the lady.

Criminal lawyer and all-time #1 mystery author Erle Stanley Gardner wrote close to 150 novels that have sold 300 million copies worldwide. His most popular books starred the incomparable attorney-sleuth Perry Mason.

In The Case Of The Curious Bride, a woman claims to want to consult Mason about her ''friend'' whose husband, long thought to have died in a plane crash, turns up alive.

Perry Mason now a major new TV series''Tantalising on every page and brilliant'' Scott Turow, bestselling author of Presumed InnocentFrances 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 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. After Perry''s powers of persuasion fail to penetrate Norton''s hard head, someone decides the only way of cashing in is by bashing in the uncooperative uncle''s 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 ...

The story of how a man can commit a brutal murder, confess, and get away with it!The killer was guilty without a shred of doubt. The police had him behind bars. The district attorney had plenty of evidence. But - no court in the state could convict him!The Bigger They Come features that fast-moving, skull-cracking team: Bertha Cool, a two-hundred pound "lady" who uses the language of a longshoreman. And Donald Lam, a pint-sized process server who would have been in the morgue long ago except that he can think faster than the next man ... or woman.

''Tantalising on every page and brilliant'' Scott Turow, bestselling author of Presumed Innocent''The best American writer, of course, is Erle Stanley Gardner'' Evelyn WaughWho was that masked woman?That was the question plaguing Perry Mason. No one loves a good mystery more than Mason - but being asked to represent a client who is concealing her identity, not to mention the particulars of her case, has given even the legendary legal eagle a case of ruffled feathers.Yet the intriguing cloak-and-dagger tactics have Perry hopelessly hooked. As for the silent siren behind the mask, is she heiress Byrl Gailord or penniless Adelle Hastings? Both women have ties to a man named Tidings, a man who may be a protector or predator. A man who could answer a lot of tough questions - if only he hadn''t been murdered.

''This is a time machine back to an exuberant era of snappy patter, stakeouts, and double-crosses'' LA TIMES''Amazing originality'' NEW YORK TIMESA 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 ...

''Tantalising on every page and brilliant'' Scott Turow, bestselling author of Presumed InnocentShe pulled herself out of the water and into a canoe and gasped, ''I don''t know who you are ... but you''d better paddle like hell!'' Flashlights appeared on the shore. Someone shouted ''There she is!'' but Perry Mason was doing as he was told for a change, paddling into the night, with a strange girl, towards the hottest water he had ever been in.By morning, Mason was in all the papers - wanted for robbery. By afternoon, he had a second client - in jail. Then murder arrived and he was precipitated into the tensest battle of his career.

''The bestselling author of the century ... a master storyteller'' New York Times''Tantalising on every page and brilliant'' Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent and TestimonyPerry 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.

Perry Mason - a major new TV series''Tantalising on every page and brilliant'' Scott Turow, bestselling author of Presumed InnocentThe ingredients were quite simple: 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.

''A master storyteller'' New York Times''His Mason books remain tantalising on every page and brilliant'' Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent ''For fans of classic hard-boiled whodunits, this is a time machine back to an exuberant era of snappy patter, stakeouts, and double-crosses'' LA Times The first woman wouldn''t even give her name. But the clear, feminine voice faltered considerably over the question of what Perry Mason''s charges would be for a day in court - a day doing nothing but listening.The second woman gave a good deal more - but the question was, what did she expect to get? Dorla Balfour, lethally lovely and dangerously rich, forced a $1,000 retainer on Mason to deal with a case already tried and decided.The offense involved appeared to be manslaughter, hit-and-run, but it soon became murder ... with the corpse killed twice.

''Tantalising on every page and brilliant Scott Turow, author of Presumed Innocent and Testimony''Kingpin among the mystery writers'' New York TimesWhen 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 beaten up her new boyfriend, and 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 gun shot, and the discovery of a dead body - and takes a further twist when Norda is arrested and charged with brutal murder. Now only the brilliant courtroom strategist Perry Mason stands between Norda and a sentence of certain death ...

''Kingpin among the mystery writers'' New York Times''His Mason books remain tantalising on every page and brilliant'' Scott Turow, bestselling author of Presumed Innocent Ellen Robb came into Perry Mason''s office with a gun in her purse. She had been framed, she said, by her gambler employer because she had refused to help fleece a customer. The customer had dropped nearly $10,000 in the gambling establishment and then done his best to pick up Ellen. His wife, none too pleased with either shenanigan, ended up dead as a herring. Della said Ellen was too beautiful to be trusted; Perry thought he could find out by switching guns on her - thus starting a series of explosions that nearly blast him out of court ...

''For fans of classic hard-boiled whodunits, this is a time machine back to an exuberant era of snappy patter, stakeouts, and double-crosses'' LA Times ''Kingpin among the mystery writers'' New York TimesMuriell Gilman left her father at the breakfast table while she cooked seconds of sausage and eggs. When she returned, he had disappeared. She searched the house from cellar to attic. Then she went out to the workshop . . . there, scattered on the floor, were hundred-dollar bills, an overturned chair, and a spreading, crimson stain. That''s when she telephoned Perry Mason.Perry Mason has so many questions: why did she call him? Why didn''t she want her step-sister to talk to him? And why was Gillman''s wife being blackmailed - by a female private investigator . . . ?

''Tantalising on every page and brilliant'' Scott Turow, bestseller author of Presumed Innocent and Testimony''Kingpin among the mystery writers'' New York Times''Why would anyone hire a girl with the figure of a stripteaser and pay her $100 a week to put on weight?'' Perry Mason asked Della Street.''In the course of my secretarial career,'' Della said demurely, ''I''ve seen quite a few approaches, but this is a new one.''''According to the letter of this contract,'' Mason mused, ''if Dianne Alder should marry a millionaire and her husband should die, the party of the first part would be entitled to fifty percent.'' Suddenly Mason snapped his fingers.''You''ve got it?'' Della Street asked.''I have an explanation. I don''t know whether it''s the explanation, but it''s quite an explanation''.