BlackHat Mystery BookstoreErle Stanley Gardner
[1889-1970]
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links
writing as A.A. Fair, 1939-1970 |  |
Erle Stanley Gardner was born 17 July 1889 in Malden, Massachusetts.
While working as a lawyer in Ventura, California, he began writing mystery stories; the first was published in 1921.
The first Perry Mason novel was published in 1933 and was a big hit, allowing him to quit his job at the law firm.
In 1937, Gardner moved to a ranch near Temecula, California, where he lived for the rest of his life.
He died 11 March 1970, at his ranch.
In all, Erle Stanley Gardner wrote 146 books, including 85 Perry Mason mysteries.
the bibliography on Wikipedia shows 591 short stories and novelettes from 1921 to 1965 in genres including mystery and Westerns,
plus seven science fiction stories originally published in Argosy Magazine, 1928-32.
The Mystery Writers of America awarded him the title Grand Master in 1962.
Erle Stanley Gardner entry at Wikipedia
Erle Stanley Gardner movie/tv credits [1934-95] at Internet Movie Database
browse the Erle Stanley Gardner Store {returns 70 titles} at Amazon
browse Perry Mason on DVD {returns 150 titles} at Amazon
L i n k s
Erle Stanley Gardner entry at Wikipedia
Erle Stanley Gardner movie/tv credits [1934-95] at Internet Movie Database
Erle Stanley Gardner 'museum' website {last update 2007}
Erle Stanley Gardner Murder Mystery Weekend in Temecula, CA [Nov 2004]
Bass-X Erle Stanley Gardner fansite
MG's Erle Stanley Gardner fansite
Richman Trust / Erle Stanley Gardner Building in Ventura, CA
Perry Mason Mystery Series
While the 'series books' link below pulls up 530+ titles/editions available from Amazon, most of the
Perry Mason books remain out of print; as-of mid-2013, 70+ are on Kindle.
list of Perry Mason novels at Wikipedia
Perry Mason mystery series books {over 500 items}
official books list
this section was cut to its own page in Summer 2020
Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason Page
Perry Mason books • Perry Mason TV series • Perry Mason movies
Erle Stanley Gardner writing as A.A. Fair
Bertha Cool & Donald Lam
Mystery Series, 1939-1970
series books
official books list {29 total}
"Cool & Lam" tv series pilot [CBS 1958] on IMDb
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Bigger They Come" [#1 1939]
"Turn On The Heat" [#2 1940]
broadcast on the "U.S. Steel Hour of Mystery" A.B.C. Network radio show on 23 June 1946 starring Frank Sinatra
"Gold Comes In Bricks" [#3 1940]
"Spill The Jackpot" [#4 1941]
"Double or Quits" [#5 1941]
"Owls Don't Blink" [#6 1942]
"Bats Fly At Dusk" [#7 1942]
"Cats Prowl At Night" [#8 1943]
"Give 'Em The Ax" [#9 1944]
"Crows Can't Count" [#10 1946]
"Fools Die On Friday" [#11 1947]
"Bedrooms Have Windows" [#12 1949]
"Top of The Heap" [#13 1952]
http://www.amazon.com/Heap-Crime-Market-Paperback-ebook/dp/B004V4FP4W/
"Some Women Won't Wait" [#14 1953]
"Beware The Curves" [#15 1956]
"You Can Die Laughing" [#16 1957]
"Some Slips Don't Show" [#17 1957]
"The Count of Nine" [#18 1958]
"Cool and Lam" unsold TV pilot [1958]
Pilot episode based on the book series by Erle Stanley Gardner {writing as A.A. Fair}; ½-hour episode broadcast as a CBS-TV special in 1958
Directed by the great Jacques Tourneur; teleplay by Edmund L. Hartmann; starring Billy Pearson {as Lam} & Benay Venuta {as Cool} •
bare credits at IMDb
 | "Television's Lost Classics, Volume 2: Four Rare Pilots" [2018]
New HD restorations; four b&w half-hour TV pilots: "The Life of Riley" NBC-TV series 1949 pilot starring Lon Chaney, Jr. who was replaced by Jackie Gleason for the 26-episode series; "Racket Squad" CBS-TV series pilot episode "Case of The Sure Thing" starring Reed Hadley, filmed in 1951, aired 9/1953; "Cool and Lam" unsold TV pilot based on the book series by Erle Stanley Gardner {writing as A.A. Fair}, aired in 1958; and the unsold 1959 "Nero Wolfe" TV pilot based on the book series by Rex Stout, starring Kurt Kasznar & William Shatner V.C.I. Ent. b&w Blu-ray [9/2018] for $18.89 V.C.I. Ent. b&w DVD [9/2018] for $12.89 |
"Pass The Gravey" [#19 1959]
"Kept Women Can't Quit" [#20 1960]
"Bachelors Get Lonely" [#21 1961]
"Shills Can't Count Chips" [#22 1961]
http://www.amazon.com/Shills-Cant-Chips-Stanley-Gardner/dp/1785656368/
"Try Anything Once" [#23 1962]
"Fish or Cut Bait" [#24 1963]
"Up For Grabs" [#25 1964]
"Cut Thin To Win" [#26 1965]
"Widows Wear Weeds" [#27 1966]
"Traps Need Fresh Bait" [#28 1967]
"All Grass Isn't Green" [#29 1970]
"The Knife Slipped: The Lost Cool & Lam Mystery" [#30 = 12/2016]
 | Written in 1939 and intended as the second Cool-Lam mystery novel, but rejected by the publisher: Bertha's personality was too rough for readers! Manuscript found by the Gardner Estate and published as is. A mother and daughter appear at Bertha's office believing that the daughter's husband is cheating on her, and they want him investigated; the case leads to municipal corruption – and, of course, to murder.
Kindle Edition from Hard Case Crime/Penguin Random House [12/2016] for $7.99 Hard Case Crime 8x5 pb [12/2016] for $5.90 |
District Attorney Doug Selby Mystery Series
"The D.A. Calls It Murder" [#1 = 1937]
"They Call It Murder" feature film [1971]
starring Jim Hutton, Jessica Walter, Lloyd Bochner, Leslie Nielsen & Ed Asner; DVD out 2009
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The D.A. Holds A Candle" [#2 = 1938]
"The D.A. Draws A Circle" [#3 = 1939]
"The D.A. Goes To Trial" [#4 = 1940]
"The D.A. Cooks A Goose" [#5 = 1942]
"The D.A. Calls A Turn" [#6 = 1944]
"The D.A. Breaks A Seal" [#7 = 1946]
"The D.A. Takes A Chance" [#8 = 1949]
"The D.A. Breaks An Egg" [#9 = 1949]
Other Fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner
★ ★
 | "Earl Stanley Gardner's Big Mystery Book" [1938 omnibus] contains two complete novels: "The Case of The Shoplifter's Shoe" [PM #13 = 1938] and "The D.A. Calls It Murder" [Doug Selby #1 = 1938] Grosset & Dunlap 8x5½ hardcover [1938] long out of print/used Grosset & Dunlap 8x5½ hardcover [1938] long out of print/used |
"The Adventures of Paul Pry" [stories 1989]
Mysterious Dime Detective pb [2/90] out of print/used
"The Adventures of Paul Pry: Volume 2" [stories 1992]
House of Stratus pb [10/2002] out of print/used
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Amazing Adventures of Lester Leith" [stories 1981]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Blonde In Lower Six" [Carroll & Graf 1990]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Case of The Backward Mule" [D.A. Terry Clane 1946]
http://www.amazon.com/Case-Backward-Mule-ebook/dp/B0085IBFDU/
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
 | "The Case of The Murderer’s Bride & Other Stories" [1969] contains Unorthodox Introduction; Unorthodox Postscript; ”The Case of The Murderer’s Bride” (1957) with cops Cpl. Cortland & Dr. Dixon; ”The Candy Kid” (1931) with Lester Leith; ”To Strike A Match” (1938) in China; ”Death Rides A Boxcar” with Jayson Burr & Gabby Hilman; and “The Jeweled Butterfly” (1953) Davis / Dale Books mass pb [1977] out of print/used |
"The Case of The Musical Cow" [Rob Trenton 1950]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Case of The Smoking Chimney" [Gramps Wiggins 1943]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Case of The Turning Tide" [Gramps Wiggins 1941]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"The Clew of The Forgotten Murder" [written as Carleton Kendrake 1935]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Dead Men's Letters" & Other Short Novels [1990]
Carroll & Graf hardcover [3/90] out of print/used
Carroll & Graf pb [8/91] out of print/used
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
 | "Honest Money & Other Short Novels" [1991] Six stories that originally appeared in Black Mask Magazine in 1932 & 1933, featuring Ken Corning & Helen Vail Carroll & Graf 9x6 hardcover [7/91] out of print/used |
 | "The Human Zero: The Science Fiction Stories of Erle Stanley Gardner" [1981] Edited by Alan Scholefield Wm. Morrow 8¼x6 hardcover [1/81] out of print/many used A collection of seven science-fiction novellas by Erle Stanley Gardner published in Argosy Magazine between 1928 and 1932: "A Year In A Day", "The Human Zero", "The Man With Pin-Point Eyes", "Monkey's Eyes" (1929), "New Worlds" (1932), "Rain Magic" (1928), and "The Sky's The Limit" (1929) |
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Murder Up My Sleeve" [D.A. Terry Clane 1938]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Pay Dirt and Other Stories of Gold Fever & The Western Desert" [1983]
Wm. Morrow hardcover [6/83] out of print/used
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"This Is Murder" [written as Charles G. Kenny 1937]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Two Clues" [rural sheriff Bill Eldon 1947]
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
"Whispering Sands: Stories of Gold Fever & The Western Desert" [1981]
Wm. Morrow hardcover [6/81] out of print/used
Non-Fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner
"Cops On Campus and Crime In The Streets" [1970]
"The Court of Last Resort" [1952]
"Drifting Down The Delta" [1969]
"Gypsy Days On The Delta" [1967]
"The Hidden Heart of Baja" [1962]
"The Host With The Big Hat" [1970]
"Hovering Over Baja" [1961]
"Hunting Lost Mines By Helicopter" [1965]
"Hunting The Desert Whale" [1960]
"The Land of Shorter Shadows" [1948]
"Mexico's Magic Square" [1968]
"Neighborhood Frontiers" [1954]
"Off The Beaten Track In Baja" [1967]
"This Desert Is Yours" [1963]
"The World of Water" [1964]
Radio, Stageplays, Movies, Other Media
± ±
Gardner also created characters for various radio programs, including
"The Adventures of Christopher London" on NBC [Jan-May 1950], starring Glenn Ford
oneSmedia 3 half-hour episodes on CD [undated] for $8.00
same three episodes [upload 2008] online FREE at Internet Archive
"A Life In Your Hands" [1949-1952], starring Jonathan Kegg
oneSmedia 1? half-hour episode on CD-ROM [2011] for $8.00
"Special Investigator" [1936] based on the story "Fugitive Road"
"The Bigger They Come" episode of "Climax!" TV series [1955]
"The Court of Last Resort" 25-episode TV series [1957-58] /tt0050007/
"Cool and Lam" TV movie [1958]
Gardner made an uncredited appearance as a judge in "The Case of The Final Fade-Out", the last episode of the Perry Mason TV series in 1966.
"They Call It Murder" TV movie [1971] /tt0067847/
Works About Erle Stanley Gardner
 | "Erle Stanley Gardner: The Case of The Real Perry Mason - A Biography" [1978] by mystery writer Dorothy B. Hughes Wm. Morrow 9½x6¼ hardcover [3/78] out of print/many, many used |
 | "Secrets of The World's Best-Selling Writer: The Storytelling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner" [1980] by Francis L. Fugate & Roberta B. Fugate
Wm. Morrow hardcover [9/80] out of print/used |
 | "Erle Stanley Gardner's Ventura: The Birthplace of Perry Mason" [1996] by Richard L. Senate Charon Press hardcover [9/96] out of print/used |
 | "I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason" [2004] by Susan Kandel Researcher Cece Caruso is working on a biography of Erle Stanley Gardner. She stumbles upon a mis-filed appeal for Gardner's help to prove a convicted prisoner innocent of his wife's murder, and when she looks into the 1958 'cold case', there is a new murder ... Avon mass pb [3/2005] for $6.29 Wm. Morrow 8¼x5¾ hardcover [6/2004] out of print/many, many used |
"The Case of Erle Stanley Gardner" featurette [on 2008 DVD]
not listed on IMDb (4/2009)
here on Blackhat Mystery Bookstore's Erle Stanley Gardner [1889-1970] Pages
top of page • links • A.A. Fair • D.A. Doug Selby • other fiction • non-fiction • works about Erle Stanley Gardner
on the Perry Mason Page: top of page • Perry Mason books • Perry Mason TV series • Perry Mason movies
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