Erle Stanley Gardner

A fight over a rich man’s will turns deadly in this murder mystery by the “kingpin among the mystery writers” from the series that inspired the HBO show (The New York Times).
 
Marilyn Marlow has inherited a good deal of money from her mother. But the money originated with another will—that of her mother’s wealthy employer. Now his relatives are contesting the will, and it’s Rose Keeling,...

Lost for more than 75 years, The Knife Slipped was meant to be the second book in the series, but shelved when Gardner’s publisher objected to (among other things) Bertha Cool’s tendency to “talk tough, swear, smoke cigarettes, and try to gyp people.” But this tale of adultery and corruption, of double-crosses and triple identities—however shocking for 1939—shines today as a glorious present from...

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...

A crime thriller starring the sleuthing lawyer portrayed in the HBO limited series—from the Edgar Award–winning “kingpin among the mystery writers” (The New York Times).
 
Stewart Bedford is willing to cooperate with a blackmailer to protect his beloved wife. But when he wakes up in a daze to find the man shot dead with Bedford’s gun and his blond escort missing, he’ll need some help...

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...

"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...