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When he died, in 1970, Erle Stanley Gardner was the best-selling American fiction author of the century. Legend has it that Gardner, whose fan base boasted numerous judges and lawyers, only made one mistake in his prolific career, when he allowed the beneficiary of a will to witness it as well. These justifiably famous showdowns are rich in legal detail, offering an education in American law of the era. Mason is as much detective as lawyer, but typically the payoff is a courtroom showdown that sees Mason clear his client’s name and pull a “J’accuse!” with the guilty party. They pick up a mystery story, become completely absorbed in the problem, see the problem worked out to final and just conclusion, turn out the light and go to sleep.” When they try to relax, their minds keep gnawing over these problems and there is no solution. Most readers are beset with a lot of problems they can’t solve. They enjoy the stimulation of an exciting detective story.
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People derive moral satisfaction from reading a story in which the innocent victim of fate triumphs over evil. He explained, “I write to make money, and I write to give the reader sheer fun. That way, when the lawyer plays things fast and loose, we can revel in every wild scheme without troubling our consciences one little bit. Gardner’s pact with readers promised that Mason’s clients, whatever else they’ve done, would always be innocent of murder. I ’ m a fighter, yes, and I like to feel that I fight for those who aren ’ t able to fight for themselves, but I don ’ t offer my services indiscriminately. In The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937), Mason outlines his credo: “ I ’ m not merely a paid gladiator fighting for those who have the funds with which to employ me. No matter what he’s hired to do (keep a rich old man out of an asylum, defend a woman falsely accused of soliciting, settle an inheritance claim, locate a missing relative), before long there’s a murder, and the true mission emerges: fight for truth and justice on behalf of his wrongly accused client.
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Mason, the ultimate curious cat, a man constitutionally allergic to boredom, takes the case. His format is comfortingly familiar: someone (often a damsel in distress) arrives in Mason’s office with an improbable story, begging for help. sprint the whole darned way to the goal line.” That pace echoed his early years as a lawyer, when, he reported, he’d try “to keep the case moving with such bewildering rapidity that it would be hard for the prosecutor or the judge to keep abreast of the various legal problems.” Gardner never claimed to be a brilliant stylist, calling himself a “Fiction Factory.” He said, “ I want to establish a style of swift motion. He’s a heroic crusader who wouldn’t seem out of place pulling up a chair at King Arthur’s round table.Ī typical Perry Mason novel moves like a cataract forced through a crazy straw.
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His mind careens at a thousand miles an hour, propelled by endless pacing. On the page, Perry Mason is a sexy, sassy smarty-pants, the strong silent type.
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Though I grew up watching Perry Mason on television, I didn’t crack the spine of my first Erle Stanley Gardner novel- The Case of the Rolling Bones (1939)-until two years ago.