Category Archives: Erle Stanley Gardner

2014 Book to Movie Challenge – completed

Well, we all like a good sequel and when Katie over at her Doing Dewey blog asked me to co-host this challenge, I just couldn’t resist (hubris is a terrible thing)! I selected the Movie Auteur level (24 books to be reviewed and … Continue reading

Posted in 2014 Book to Movie Challenge, 87th Precinct, Agatha Christie, Audrey Erskine Lindop, Barry England, Bill Pronzini, Billy Wilder, Blake Edwards, Brian de Palma, Charles Williams, Charlotte Armstrong, Claude Chabrol, Columbo, Cornell Woolrich, Dashiell Hammett, David Callan, Desmond Cory, Ed McBain, Erle Stanley Gardner, Evelyn Anthony, Georges Simenon, Graham Greene, Isaac Asimov, James Hadley Chase, James M. Cain, James Mitchell, Maigret, Miss Marple, Nero Wolfe, Orson Welles, PD James, Perry Mason, Philip Marlowe, Philo Vance, Poirot, Raymond Chandler, Rex Stout, Robert Siodmak, Roy Baker, Shirley Jackson, Somerset Maugham, SS Van Dine, Stanley Ellin, The Thin Man, William Goldman | 16 Comments

2014 Vintage Mystery Challenges – completed

12 months and 72 book reviews later and the Vintage Mystery Challenge bingos, both Golden (pre-1960) and Silver (1960 to 1989) varieties, are complete! The indefatigable Bev of My Reader’s Block gives structure and meaning to the reading habits of us mystery … Continue reading

Posted in 2014 Vintage Mystery Challenge Bingo, 87th Precinct, Agatha Christie, Bill Pronzini, Carter Dickson, Charlotte Armstrong, Cornell Woolrich, Dashiell Hammett, David Callan, Dorothy Dunnett, Ed McBain, Edward D. Hoch, Erle Stanley Gardner, Evelyn Anthony, Georges Simenon, Gideon Fell, Gil Brewer, Gillian Freeman, Graham Greene, Harold Q. Masur, Helen Nielsen, James Hadley Chase, James M. Cain, James Mitchell, John Blackburn, John Dickson Carr, John Sladek, L. Ron Hubbard, Lange Lewis, Lawrence Sanders, Leslie Charteris, LP Davies, Maigret, Marcia Muller, Miss Marple, Nero Wolfe, Ngaio Marsh, Noir, Orson Welles, Parker, PD James, Perry Mason, Peter Corris, Philip Marlowe, Philo Vance, Poirot, Police procedural, Private Eye, Raymond Chandler, Rex Stout, Richard Stark, Robert B. Parker, Robert Bloch, Roderick Alleyn, Science Fiction, Shirley Jackson, Somerset Maugham, SS Van Dine, Stanley Ellin, Stark House Press, The Shadow, Thomas M. Disch, Walter B Gibson, William Goldman | 24 Comments

THE CASE OF THE LUCKY LEGS (1934) by Erle Stanley Gardner

The third in the Perry Mason series is set in the world of crooked beauty pageants and hails from back when the character was a pretty hardboiled lawyer who spent most of time racing around outside the courtroom. “I always take risks. … Continue reading

Posted in 2014 Book to Movie Challenge, 2014 Vintage Mystery Challenge Bingo, Erle Stanley Gardner, Friday's Forgotten Book, Los Angeles, Perry Mason, San Francisco | 44 Comments

The Perry Mason movies (1934-37)

Before the hugely popular TV show of the 1950s and 60s starring Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale (not to mention the long running reunion TV-movies they embarked on two decades later), the cases of Erle Stanley Gardner’s ultra-sharp defence attorney … Continue reading

Posted in Courtroom, Erle Stanley Gardner, Michael Curtiz, Perry Mason, San Francisco, Scene of the crime, Tuesday's Overlooked Film | 30 Comments

J is for … Jonathan Latimer

Kerrie’s 2012 Alphabet of Crime community meme over at her Mysteries in Paradise blog continues this week and has reached the letter J. As part of my contribution, I offer a look at the work of Jonathan Latimer, one of … Continue reading

Posted in 'In praise of ...', 2012 Alphabet of Crime, Columbo, Cornell Woolrich, Crime Fiction Alphabet, Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner, Film Noir, Jonathan Latimer, Los Angeles, Perry Mason, Private Eye, Raymond Chandler, Scene of the crime, Screwball, The Thin Man | 21 Comments

The Case of the Curious Bride (1935) – Tuesday’s Forgotten Film

This stylish and fast-paced thriller, adapted from the eponymous Perry Mason novel by Erle Stanley Gardner, was just one of the fifty movies made in the 1930s by Warner Bros. auteur Michael Curtiz, a director still under-appreciated despite regular periods … Continue reading

Posted in Courtroom, Erle Stanley Gardner, Michael Curtiz, Perry Mason, San Francisco, Scene of the crime, Tuesday's Overlooked Film | 41 Comments