This is the first book of the series featuring criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his gang: his secretary Della Street and a private detective Paul Drake whose services Mason uses quite often. For those unfamiliar with the series and the TV show based on it, Perry Mason is a guy you really want on your side if you ever have legal problems. Mason always fights for his clients to the end no matter what, but his fees are not cheap (in this book his total was well into thousands and we are talking about the year 1933). Usually there is no more than one dead body in a book, but the plot is always complicated - enough to make Agatha Christie proud. In this novel a young woman asked Mason to protect her from the blackmail. Della Street instantly takes a dislike of Mason's new client claiming she is a typical gold-digger (I am using a modern term for this) and not to be trusted. It turned out she was right as the woman in question did everything she could to personally involve Mason in her problems hoping he would be better motivated to help himself and by extension her.As I mentioned already this is the first book of the series and as such the main characters are not as developed as in the later books and some of the regulars are not mentioned at all. For this reason I almost gave 3 stars to the book, but the plot twists were good and plentiful enough for me to warrant 1 extra star.One more note: for the love of all that is holy do not read the blurb for this book. It gives away something which while revealed early still was unexpected surprise for me. You have been warned. This review is a copy/paste of my BookLikes one: http://gene.booklikes.com/post/849637...
From the dust jacket - "Perry Mason-criminal lawyer. Remember that name. You'll meet him again. He is going to be famous." And he was, and he still is! I was lucky enough to have purchased this with the original jacket in reasonably good condition. Did not realize it was his first novel until recently. It was an excellent mystery, full of twists and turns. Perry never got to trial in this first book, but certainly demonstrated the detecting abilities he became famous for. And Della Street-she was an independent career woman long before the feminist movement. It is always interesting to read books written "back in the day" from both a mystery and a historical perspective. (book written in 1933) Starting a car by stepping on the starter, and (sad) the chain smoking people used to do. I have read a few of the later novels, and this certainly is one of the best. I have always been a Perry Mason fan-watched all the shows as a kid, and the movies later on. Mr. Gardner was a master mystery writer, that is certain.
Grew up on this show and always wanted to read one of the books. This is the first one from 1933. If you're only familiar with the show then this book has a few surprises for you. The story is just like an episode, just a fun caper/murder mystery. The twist is that Perry is a bit different than what you expect. Keep in mind this book was published when Raymond Burr was only 16 years old, 24 years before the show hit tv. The way I look at it is he's a bit younger and scrappier. You'll see what I mean if you read it. Highly recommened to anybody watching Perry and Della and Paul on the rerun channel and looking for a good read. And why not start at the start?
—Ransom
This is definitely the first of Gardner's Perry Mason novels, since at the end it refers to his next client as a "sulky girl" (see my review of "The Case Of The Sulky Girl"), and his writing is that of a beginning novelist. The story was good although readers under 35 may be puzzled by phrases such as "nix on that hooey" or actions like starting a car by stepping on the starter (this book was written in 1933 and is set in that period). At this beginning point of the series we are told that Della Street, Mason's secretary, has been working for him for five years so he has been in practice as a lawyer at least that long. And evidently Gardner develops the character of Mason more fully as a good guy as the series progressed because in this one Mason does the following: breaks traffic laws, basically blackmails a potential client for a fee, tells a person to lie to the police, hits and knocks down a (bad) guy on a public sidewalk (in front of witnesses, mind you), and pays a police investigator for information, and that's all in just the first 100 pages! (Not to mention he smokes like a locomotive). All in all, a good mystery with an ending I had not figured out in advance.
—Read1000books
A very interesting case. Though I felt that Mr Gardner deliberately made it extra difficult. It maybe in order to show that the truth is immaterial. It is the skill of the lawyer that gets the verdict. So he has Mason show both sides here. Very skilfully done.In order to do that though, he went a little in-congruent in his portrayal of Della Street.. That's what I felt... But then, it is his first case in book form. Maybe that is why I felt things amiss (having read the further cases first).His portrait of Eva Griffin/Belter was very good. I really liked the way he has shown her. I wonder it was total imagination or he had some muse..
—Richa
