Erle Stanley Gardner was born on 17 Born in July 1889 in Malden, in the US state of Massachusetts. Aged 10, he moved with his family to Portland, in Oregon, where he graduated from high school. He then studied law at Valparaiso University in Indiana. He was kicked out of the university because of a fight and began to box and arrange unauthorized wrestling.

After his stint at a law firm, heopened his own practice in 1910 in Merced, California. From 1911 he worked in Oxnard, Ventura and later (also in California) as a lawyer, said he was able to develop a good reputation quickly in Oxnard as a defense lawyer for most immigrants of Chinese origin. In 1921, he married Natalie Frances Talbert.

In the beginning of the 20’s, Erle Standley Gardner had written short stories under the pseudonyms Charles J. Kenn, Carleton Kendrake, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Les Tillray, Robert Parr and AA Fair, which he sold to various so-called pulp magazines, including the Black Mask Magazine.

Pulp Magazines were, up to the 50’s, popular magazines in which stories from various genres were published. These genres were among other detective stories, crime stories and stories from the fields of fantasy, adventure and western. His first such stories appeared in 1921, and gradually he had made ??it a rule that every third day he would bring a short story to the post office - a stint which he kept rigorously alongside his work as a practicing lawyer. Through his consistently sent short stories every third day, he managed to write more than 1 million words.

Beginning in 1932, Gardner used a Dictaphone, which for him meant a tremendous time saver, since he did not need to type his stories on a typewriter any longer. In this way, he dictated every day several thousand words into the device. In these years, Gardner worked intermittently up to 6 secretaries who typed his stories on paper.

Although Erle Stanley Gardner had a double burden due to his lawyer and literary activities, he remained faithful to his legal work until 1933. This year he wrote his first novel about the Los Angeles criminal defence attorney Perry Mason, a figure that would make him wealthy and famous. The model for Della Street, Perry Mason's secretary, was Agnes Jean Bethell, who had worked as a secretary for Erle Stanley Gardner since 1930. In the following decades, Perry Mason became the series hero of more than 80 novels and several short stories.

In 1948, Gardner founded a relief organization called Court of Last Resort, with the goal of assisting people who had been wrongly convicted. In this way he was able to help some people get an acquittal.

In 1953, Erle Stanley Gardner was granted the Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America in the category of Best Fact Crime for the crime report The Court of Last Resort and in 1962 he was also awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America for his outstanding performance in the thriller genre. His books have been translated into over 30 languages ??and Gardner is now regarded as "The World's Best-Selling Mystery Author".

After the death of his first wife, Natalie Talbert, of which he lived separately since 1935, he married his secretary, Agnes Bethell, who had been working for him since 1930. Erle Stanley Gardner died on 11 March 1970 on his farm in Temecula, California.

Books about Defence Lawyer Perry Mason

The Case of the Velvet Claws (1933)

The Case of the Sulky Girl (1933)

The Case of the Lucky Legs (1934)

The Case of the Howling Dog (1934)

The Case of the Curious Bride (1935)

The Case of the Counterfeit Eye (1935)

The Case of the Caretaker's Cat (1935)

The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece (1936)

The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1936)

The Case of the Dangerous Dowager (1937)

The Case of the Lame Canary (1937)

The Case of the Substitute Face (1938)

The Case of the Shoplifter's Shoe (1938)

The Case of the Perjured Parrot (1939)

The Case of the Rolling Bones (1939)

The Case of the Baited Hook (1940)

The Case of the Silent Partner (1940)

The Case of the Haunted Husband (1941)

The Case of the Empty Tin (1941)

The Case of the Drowning Duck (1942)

The Case of the Careless Kitten (1942)

The Case of the Buried Clock (1943)

The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito (1943)

The Case of the Crooked Candle (1944)

The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde (1944)

The Case of the Golddigger's Purse (1945)

The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife (1945)

The Case of the Borrowed Brunette (1946)

The Case of the Fan Dancer's Horse (1947)

The Case of the Lazy Lover (1947)

The Case of the Lonely Heiress (1948)

The Case of the Vagabond Virgin (1948)

The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom (1949)

The Case of the Cautious Coquette (1949)

The Case of the Negligent Nymph (1950)

The Case of the One-Eyed Witness (1950)

The Case of the Fiery Fingers (1951)

The Case of the Angry Mourner (1951)

The Case of the Moth-Eaten Mink (1952)

The Case of the Grinning Gorilla (1952)

The Case of the Hesitant Hostess (1953)

The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister (1953)

The Case of the Fugitive Nurse (1954)

The Case of the Runaway Corpse (1954)

The Case of the Restless Redhead (1954)

The Case of the Sun Bather's Diary (1955)

The Case of the Glamorous Ghost (1955)

The Case of the Nervous Accomplice (1955)

The Case of the Terrified Typist (1956)

The Case of the Gilded Lily (1956)

The Case of the Demure Defendant (1956)

The Case of the Screaming Woman (1957)

The Case of the Lucky Loser (1957)

The Case of the Daring Decoy (1957)

The Case of the Foot-Loose Doll (1958)

The Case of the Long-Legged Models (1958)

The Case of the Calendar Girl (1958)

The Case of the Singing Skirt (1959)

The Case of the Mythical Monkeys (1959)

The Case of the Deadly Toy (1959)

The Case of the Waylaid Wolf (1960)

The Case of the Duplicate Daughter (1960)

The Case of the Shapely Shadow (1960)

The Case of the Spurious Spinster (1961)

The Case of the Bigamous Spouse (1961)

The Case of the Reluctant Model (1962)

The Case of the Blonde Bonanza (1962)

The Case of the Ice-Cold Hands (1962)

The Case of the Amorous Aunt (1963)

The Case of the Step-Daughter's Secret (1963)

The Case of the Mischievous Doll (1963)

The Case of the Phantom Fortune (1964)

The Case of the Horrified Heirs (1964)

The Case of the Daring Divorcee (1964)

The Case of the Troubled Trustee (1965

The Case of the Beautiful Beggar (1965)

The Case of the Worried Waitress (1966)

The Case of the Queenly Contestant (1967)

The Case of the Careless Cupid (1968)

The Case of the Fabulous Fake (1969)

The Case of the Fenced-In Woman (published posthumously) (1972)

The Case of the Postponed Murder