The Case of the Fenced-In Woman (published posthumously) (1972) – Mason becomes involved in the bizarre case of a house split right through the living room with a barbed-wire fence--and a body in the pool.

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, the key witness to its signing, whose mind they will need to sway. When Rose is murdered, sleuthing lawyer Perry Mason must navigate a twisted case involving a personal ad that casts a cloud of suspicion over his client, Miss Marlow, in this mystery in Edgar Award–winning author Erle Stanley Gardner's classic, long-running series, which has sold three hundred million copies and serves as the inspiration for the HBO show starring Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany.

I like Gramps Wiggins, the amateur detective who appears in only two Gardner novels. There are a lot of little old lady sleuths in detective fiction, but very few similar men. Gramps Wiggins first appears in The Case of the Turning Tide (1941), a novel in which he only gradually emerges as the detective, from among a large cast of characters. Gardner's Foreword to this book explicitly marks it out as an experimental mystery, one in which he tries out new techniques of narration. Gardner has often been an experimental writer. But this is one of the few times in which he openly described one of his own books as being a non-traditional mystery story. Unfortunately, I think The Case of the Turning Tide is only partially successful. The plot of the book never attains plausibility or true logical coherence. And Gramps' character is rougher and less appealing here than in his second case. The book also shares a problem with some other minor Gardner novels: it starts out by introducing us to a likable young man whose business problems we care about, then pushes him into the background for much of the rest of the novel. Salesman Ted Shale in The Case of the Turning Tide (Chapters 1-4), inexperienced young lawyer Frank Neely being helped out by Perry Mason in The Case of the Restless Redhead (1954) (Chapters 1-3), and financial consultant Kerry Dutton in The Case of the Troubled Trustee (1965) (Chapter 1) all share this fate. All of these books decline after their openings. I also like the illustration of Ted Shale rescuing a drowning woman on the cover of the old Pocket Book paperback. If these young men don't have much to do with the mysteries they open, they at least show Gardner's abiding interest in people and their work. Gardner relished the complexities of people's jobs. 

Locked within a vault of death five millionaires fight a grim and frantic battle with the murderer thay cannot see

The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1936) – Mason gets a telephone call from a man who identifies himself as Anglican Bishop William Mallory, recently returned from many years in Australia, and tells Mason that he will testify on the behalf of Mason's client, if Mason can find him. But Mason observes that a bishop who has delivered many sermons is unlikely to stutter.When a stuttering bishop comes to Perry Mason's office for help, Mason becomes involved in a battle of wills with a woman and the long-lost daughter she believes to be a fraud. The key to the puzzle lies in the bishop--who, unfortunately, has disappeared.

The Case of the Ice-Cold Hands (1962) – An interesting legal point arises about an embezzler who gambles on the ponies and wins, and an interesting murder trial centers on some trout packed in dry ice.

Epub (my conversionA collection of stories of Paul Pry, the suave adventurer, and his companion Mugs Magoo, a one-armed ex-cop with a photographic memory

The Case of the Deadly Toy (1959) – A boy with a toy printing press and a .22 leads Perry Mason to a murder trial where his mother is on trial for the murder of his father, and his wealthy grandfather will do anything to get her convicted.ENGAGED TO A NIGHTMAREWhen Norda Allison sees her husband-to-be slap his young son, she immediately calls off the wedding. Now she is terrified. Her ex-fiancé has beat up her new boyfriend. 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 gunshot, and the discovery of a very dead body--and ends when Norda is arrested, charged with a brutal murder.Now only brilliant courtroom strategist Perry Mason stands between Norda and a sentence of certain death . . .THE ORIGINAL COURTROOM NOVELSReview"Gardner [is] humorous, astute, curious, inventive--who can top him? No one has yet."--Los Angeles Times From the Inside FlapENGAGED TO A NIGHTMAREWhen Norda Allison sees her husband-to-be slap his young son, she immediately calls off the wedding. Now she is terrified. Her ex-fiancé has beat up her new boyfriend. 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 gunshot, and the discovery of a very dead body--and ends when Norda is arrested, charged with a brutal murder.Now only brilliant courtroom strategist Perry Mason stands between Norda and a sentence of certain death . . .THE ORIGINAL COURTROOM NOVELS

The Case of the Restless Redhead (1954) – Mason helps a young defense attorney get an innocent verdict from a woman accused of theft. Later, he defends her in a murder case with a large number of twists. This novel was the basis for the script for the first episode of the television series.

Epub (my conversion)Threading its inert way awash among the anchored junks and sampans, a grisly memento of murder floated down a Chinese river to the sea. It was the body of a bandit victim, unknown, unmourned—but attached to one wrist was a glittering and mysterious metal object that owned the power to ruin armies and wreck a war.