Nice to get back in touch with Perry Mason and crew…
Erle Stanley Gardner was one of the first mystery authors whose books I read after I realized there WERE mystery authors other than Agatha Christie. And way back then, while I was in graduate school, Gardner’s books were perfect for the limited leisure reading time I had available, which consisted of a rare hour or two of guilty pleasure crammed in here and there among my studies. Gardner’s short but action-packed stories were great for that, especially since I knew that in his world, Perry Mason’s clients were never guilty, so although Perry himself might skate a fine line or two while protecting them, it would all come out okay in the end. Which was something I couldn’t say about my classes! At one point, I had a couple of shelves full of Gardner’s paperbacks, mostly bought from the local used bookstore (remember, poor graduate student), but those have long since vanished sometime during some move or other. So, I was really happy to be offered an advance copy of the new American Mystery Classics e-book edition of The Case of the Borrowed Brunette to review for my blog.
Borrowed Brunette is a classic Perry Mason story, with clients who do everything they can to land themselves in trouble, while Perry, Della Street and Paul Drake do their best to get them out of it. In this case, Eva Martell answers an ad that is looking for a brunette with a very specific appearance – right down to specifying a height of 5 feet 4 ½ inches tall (not 5’4” or 5’5”) and a weight of 111 pounds (not 110 or 115). And lest our minds go where they might with this, the lucky brunette who gets the $50/day job can also bring along a chaperone, who will be paid $20/day – but can’t bring along much else. Eva and her roommate, Cora Felton, both fit the bill, so they both apply, along with a number of other brunettes, but it’s Eva who gets chosen, and she brings along her “almost-mother”, Aunt Adelle, as a chaperone. When they are taken to live in a fancy apartment, though, and Eva is asked to pretend to be someone named Helen Reedley, Aunt Adelle becomes suspicious, and decides to get Perry Mason to check things out. Which he does, with style. Of course, somewhere along the way, a dead body pops up and both Eva and Adelle become suspects. The rest is pure Gardner, as Perry and his team try to figure out whether anyone, including his clients, is telling the truth. Towards the end, there are some classic scenes as Perry fences with Hamilton Berger’s right-hand man, the overly confident Harry Gulling, who would love to take him down. And finally, Perry figures out whodunnit at the last possible moment – while he’s actually testifying in front of the Grand Jury.
Readers do need to keep in mind that The Case of the Borrowed Brunette was written in 1946, and so, as you might expect, some of its social roles and expectations, especially as regards women, may feel a little antiquated today. But I feel that it’s always a bit of a slippery slope to try to apply today’s attitudes too rigorously to books that are decades old. Instead, I just contented myself with being glad I didn’t grow up back then, when I probably wouldn’t have even been able to get into a highly-technical graduate school – although I might have had more time to read! Other than that, though, I very much enjoyed my re-introduction to Perry Mason and crew after many many years.
A few final things worth mentioning: First, Otto Penzler, who is the creator of the American Mystery Classics imprint, has written a wonderful introduction for Borrowed Brunette that I learned a lot from. Who knew, for instance, that Gardner wrote more than a million words a year (a novel a month and some short stories) during the 1920s and 1930s. Or that he had a ranch compound near Temecula with accommodations for six (six!) secretaries and even more support staff. Although I’m often tempted to skip introductions to get to the main story, I’m glad I didn’t skip this one. Second, I’m actually a teeny bit more of a fan of Gardner’s Bertha Cool/Donald Lam series than of the Perry Mason books, although I really like them both. If you’re interested, you can find my review here for Shills Can’t Cash Chips, which is from about 3/4 of the way through that series. Third, I try not to give too many five-star ratings, to avoid star-inflation, so my four-star rating for Borrowed Brunette is a solid “read this” recommendation. And finally, my thanks again to American Mystery Classics and Edelweiss for the review copy!
Buy (doesn’t seem to be available in e-book in the UK yet): Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Kobo US | Kobo UK | Kobo Canada
The Case of the Terrified Typist is a little more than half-way through Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason series. (Don’t believe the webpage at Amazon, which says it’s #5 in the series – that’s just #5 among the ones that Open Road/Mysterious Press have republished, which is a tiny subset of the more than 70 Mason titles that Gardner wrote.) In any case, though, Terrified Typist is on sale today at Kindle US for $1.99.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084TT9TPY/
The Case of the Lonely Heiress is about 1/3 of the way through the Perry Mason series. It’s $1.99 today at Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084TLTM17/
The Case of the Gilded Lily is a little more than 1/2 way through the series. It has dropped to $1.99 today at Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084TLRL47
The Case of the Lazy Lover is about 1/3 of the way through the series. It’s $1.99 at Kindle US right now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084TLNMJN
The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom is $1.99 right now at Kindle and Kobo US, and it’s discountable at Kobo. Don’t be fooled by the claim that it’s the third of six in the series – that’s just the third of six that have been re-published in e-book by Mysterious Press/Open Road. Bridegroom is actually about 1/3 of the way through the loooooong Perry Mason series – more than 80 books AFAIR.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B084TLQ8SV
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-case-of-the-dubious-bridegroom
The Case of the Lonely Heiress is about 1/3 of the way through the Perry Mason series. It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084TLTM17
The Case of the Lonely Heiress is on sale for $1.99 again at Kindle US, and this time it’s also on sale at Kobo US, where it’s discountable. Woo-hoo! The Kindle US link is in the comment just above, and here’s the Kobo US link: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-case-of-the-lonely-heiress-1
The Case of the Careless Kitten is about 1/4 of the way through the Perry Mason series. It’s on sale for $2.99 in the US, and discountable at Kobo US, where stacking a Kobo VIP discount with “Partners22” will bring the price down to $1.61.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GT83Y6P
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-case-of-the-careless-kitten
The Case of the Baited Hook is about one-fifth of the way through the Perry Mason series. It’s $2.99 right now in the US, and discountable at Kobo US.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081LL1PQQ
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-case-of-the-baited-hook-1
The Case of the Gilded Lily has now dropped to $0.99 today in the US, and it’s discountable at Kobo US.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084TLRL47
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-case-of-the-gilded-lily-1
The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister is about halfway through the Perry Mason series. It’s $0.99 right now at Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084TLFL1V
The Perry Mason Mysteries Volume One contains The Case of the Lazy Lover, The Case of the Lonely Heiress, and The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom. It’s $4.99 at Kindle US, which is a pretty good price if you need all three, not so good IMO if you have any of them – and all three have been on sale individually in the past, so check carefully!
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B4RCDQ5S
The Case of the Terrified Typist is on sale again in the US (see the comment several up from here), but for a better price this time: $0.99, and it’s also discountable at Kobo US.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084TT9TPY
Kobo US (discountable !!!): https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-case-of-the-terrified-typist-1
If you haven’t been buying these one by one, here’s a collection of three Perry Mason books for $4.99. These are Mysterious Press/Open Road, so go on sale a lot, but eReaderIQ hasn’t seen this collection for less, and if you need all three, the price works out to $1.67, which is less than the $1.99 they tend to go on sale for individually. Probably not a great deal if you have even one of them though.
The Perry Mason Mysteries Volume One contains The Case of the Lazy Lover, The Case of the Lonely Heiress, and The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom.
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B4RCDQ5S