The Case Of The Velvet Claws is the first Perry Mason novel written by Erle Stanley Gardner in 1933. Those who think Perry Mason is a stern lawyer and this is a courtroom case will be mistaken. Erle writes him as a tough private-eye type specializing in getting people out of jams, and he is good at it. Not afraid of roughhousing and blackmail, he instigates plenty of fisticuffs and action. It was made into a film in 1936.
After a hotel burglary, Eva Griffin asks Perry to pay hush money to keep her name out of a gossip magazine, Spicy Bits. His secretary Della Street objects to her right away - she's not to be trusted at all - but Perry puts his friend, detective Paul Drake on her tail. Perry has his own plan in mind the night he visits George Belter, the owner of the rag - and finds out he is Eva's husband! The story she gave him was false several times over, and when her husband turns up with a bullet in his chest, it doesn't look good for her. Mason is quickly entangled in her problems but always fights for his clients, right to the end. Does he represent the cunning widow in her wrangle for the dead man's money - or take the rap for murder?
Highly entertaining with a fast paced, complicated plot filled with scandal, blackmail, murder, corruption, a Congressman, an altered will, and twists every few pages. Hard boiled detective action I wasn't expecting from a Perry Mason novel. Written over 80 years ago, it has sold over 28 million copies in its first fifteen years and still packs a punch. In the mid fifties, Perry Mason novels were selling at a rate of twenty thousand per day!
Ankerwycke and the American Bar Association have rereleased the first 9 Perry Mason novels in paperback with crisp clean pages and a modern cover designed around the original artwork. They are a pleasure to read, despite several obvious typos! I hope these will encourage new readers to discover golden age private eye novels.
1933 / Paperback / 293 pages
Comentários