The Mirror Universe Perry Mason!

I have had occasion in the past to post information and reviews about both Erle Stanley Gardner's excellent Perry Mason novels AND about his excellent non-Perry Mason stories. Gee whiz, this guy was a prolific and superb storyteller. Mason deserves his success and his status as an iconic character, but it's too bad that many of his other characters have faded into Popular Culture Limbo. The Gardner Universe is a diverse and endlessly entertaining place.

District Attorney Doug Selby appeared in nine novels (most of them first serialized in magazines before being published as novels) between 1937 and 1949.  I've never gotten around to reading any of the Selby novels--Gardner was SO prolific it sometimes seems impossible to get caught up with all of his characters.

So The D.A. Takes a Chance, first serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in 1948, is the first I've read, chosen because my local public library happened to have that one. It's the 8th in the series, but the stories are self-contained enough so that my usual obsession with reading things in "proper" order really didn't kick in.

It's a good, solid detective story that deals as much with Selby butting heads with obstructive politicians and a sleazy lawyer as with the crime. A woman is stabbed to death while recovering from a gunshot wound. Certain people with political pull want it declared a suicide. But Selby and county sheriff Rex Brandon don't buy this. Getting to the bottom of the case will inevitably mean stepping on a few toes. Selby had only recently been reelected after returning from service during the war, so a misstep could mean the end of his career as D.A.

But dogged investigations by himself, Brandon and lady report Sylvia Martin slowly uncovers interesting clues. Among these is a knife that wasn't the murder weapon having a fingerprint on it that should not be there. A box of chocolates laced with barbituates also play a key role in figuring out whodunit.

Selby, Brandon and Sylvia Martin form a dynamic very similar to the Perry Mason/Paul Drake/Della Street that is so key to the Mason novels, though Sylvia acts independantly of Selby more often than Della did with Perry. Another interesting element is the sleazy lawyer who causes Selby the most trouble during the novel. A.B. Carr (known as "old A B C") is a sort of Evil Perry Mason, clever and able to improvise plans on a moment's notice, but without the ethics and real concern for justice that was an inherent part of Mason's character. As I understand it, Carr is a regular nemesis in the series, which increases my desire to read more of the Selby books. He's an effective villain and nearly (though not quite) matches the protagonist in sheer cleverness.

So I can whole-heartedly recommend The D.A. Takes a Chance. I think Gardner's skills as a storyteller are high enough to take it on faith that the rest of the series is worth reading as well. I really which more of Gardner's stuff would get reprinted.

AAARRGGH! Bring Them Back in Print RIGHT NOW!

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed an Erle Stanley Gardner short story that I ran across more or less by chance in the Internet Archive. That reminded me that of the at least 49 unique characters Gardner created during the heyday of the pulps, I probably have read stories featuring less than half of them.

Sadly, most of these heroes and anti-heroes have been largely forgotten. In 2004, a book titled The Danger Zone and Other Stories was published, featuring 11 stories with non-Perry Mason characters. This book is out of print and annoyingly expensive on the used book market, so I once again took ruthless advantage of the fact that I work in a library and got a copy via interlibrary loan.

Gee whiz, there's some good stuff here. The title story--"The Danger Zone"--is perhaps the best of the lot. First published in the October 15, 1932 issue of Argosy, it features a sort-of free-lance spy/diplomat named Major Brane.

 His name is, of course, a play on words. Because Brane's main talent is that he always analyzes and thinks his way through any dangerous situation he encounters. He might be trapped in a room with no apparent exit other into a burning room full of about-to-explode ammunition (as happens in this story), but he'll never stop calmly thinking it through. He might have only a split-second to make a decision, but that decision will be arrived at rationally as the best possible course-of-action, whether its running an impromptu con on the bad guys or simply punching someone out.

"The Danger Zone" is the fourth of eight Major Brane stories that appeared in Argosy from 1931 to 1934. In this one, Brane is tasked with rescuing a young Chinese lady who has proof that a guy supposedly friendly to Chiang Kai-Shek's regime  is actually double-crossing that government. She's been kidnapped and is probably already being tortured.

Brane allows himself three minutes to come up with a plan, then proceeds to:

1) Convince the bad guys he has the document they want.

2) Allows himself to be captured.

3) Pretends to escape while actually returning to the building being used by the bad guys.

4) Engineers a method to find out where in the building the girl is being used.

5) Figures out how to get himself and the girl out of an aforementioned death trap.

He does fail to think of one thing, which means he finishes up the story with a bruised skull. But for the most part, he's about two-and-a-half steps ahead of everyone else throughout this short but action-packed tale.

This particular story was reprinted twice in different anthologies, but so far I cannot find any source for any of the other seven Major Brane stories. Nor can I find the specific issues of Argosy online anywhere.

Major Brane should not be forgotten. He's too cool to be forgotten. Someone must acquire the rights and put together an anthology featuring the eight Major Brane tales. Someone MUST do this. Right now.

I'm waiting.... 

Gentleman, then Burglar, then Detective

I'm really loving the fact that Archive.org is putting so many pulp magazines online. Apparently, they just throw them on their site and don't pull them unless a copyright holder complains, which (to be fair) is probably the only way a site like that can operate and make any significant number of items available. I imagine in a lot of cases the copyright holder of specific stories is perfectly happy to get them out there. And if Archive.org is honest about pulling something down if they get a complaint, then I suppose it's all fair enough. Besides, scanning errors and formating errors if you download from their site are prevelant enough that a properly published e-version would still be commercially viable.

Anyway, despite some of those errors, for those of us non-legal experts who simply want to read some of the wonderful but otherwise out-of-print stories from that Golden Age, the site is a treasure trove. For instance, the January 15, 1934 issue of Dime Detective Magazine contains an Erle Stanley Gardner story I had never read before.

Gardner created something like 18 quintillion characters for the pulps, almost all of whom other than Perry Mason have been unjustly forgotton. (Nothing against Perry--he's one of the best mystery characters ever created, but its too bad Gardner's other detectives, lawyers and crooks have faded into obscurity.)

"Time for Murder" features bored rich guy George Brokay, whom I'm pretty sure is a one-shot character. George inherited a small fortune and used his keen judge of character to invest wisely and gather up a larger fortune. But he's bored with this life and when he catches a skilled burgler about to blow his wall safe, he makes a deal with the guy rather than turn him into the cops.

Brokay will become a burglar as well--doing it simply for the adventure. He'll be an honest thief, returning what he steals afterwards, but he'll at first have the fun of stealing it.

But when his new partner takes him to a mansion to show him the ropes, the first thing they find inside is a dead woman. Also, there is--inexplicably--a terrified monkey in the room.

Well, Brokay and the thief know they'll be accused of the crime if they stick around and admit that they are thieves, so it is clearly time to go on the Lam. But, both to protect himself and out of a sense of responsibility, Brokay wants to find the killer. And the primary clue just might be that darn monkey!

It's a fun story, though it does depend a bit too much on Brokay coincidentally meeting another person involved in the case by almost pure chance. Brokay's interplay with the thief he partnered with (a relationship that rapidly breaks down as they go on the run) and the detective work he must do show Gardner's typical strengths as a storyteller.

The copy on Archive.org is missing a page, which is a little annoying. But it involves Brokay running from the cops and the next page gives you a convenient recap when he listens in on a police radio, so you can still follow the story. If you want to read it, you'll find it HERE.

Every Good Secretary Will Risk Getting Shot For Her Boss

Read/Watch 'em in Order #74

In each of the last five looks at Erle Stanley Gardner's stories about two-fisted lawyer Ken Corning, I identified the setting as New York City. Now I consider myself a good reader--I don't skim and I have good comprehension skills.

But despite this, I mentally replaced "York City" in every story with "New York City." Perhaps its because Gardner dropped Perry Mason into a real-life city. But Ken Corning was set in a faux NYC with the "New" dropped from it. Gee whiz.

I finally caught my error when I read the last story: "Blackmail with Lead" (Black Mask, August 1933). I now know that Corning works out of York City, not New York City. Just in time for this excellent series to come to an end.

Corning, as usual,takes on a case that pits him directly against the corrupt city administration. But why do the politicians care about this case? The victim was a hobo. The man accused of the murder is a hobo. Why does anybody care?

Corning at first hasn't the slightest idea. He searches for the truth--a task made harder because his client isn't telling the whole truth when he gives Corning an alibi.

The lawyer soon finds a witness who has some important information. But the witness is arrested by the cops for bootlegging and, when the charges are suddenly dropped, she suddenly changes her story.

This leaves Corning with the task of running down whatever tiny clues he can dig up and trying to make something out of them. This actually pays off, but to get to the whole truth, he has to ask Helen Vail, his loyal secretary, to act as bait to catch a killer. Helen, as usual, treats this sort of thing as a normal part of her job.

1933 was the same year Gardner published the first Perry Mason novel. In this story, Perry was a two-fisted tough guy who acted more like a hard-boiled P.I. than a lawyer--just like Ken Corning. Perry had a loyal secretary who would go above-and-beyond to help her boss--just like Ken Corning.

The Perry Mason novels were incredibly successful, so (even though Perry evolved into a less hard-boiled character) Gardner continued this particular template with those novels. Corning's career came to an abrupt end.

Well, we can't complain about Perry Mason--his existence in the pop culture universe is something we wouldn't want to live without. But Corning had his own personality and his stories--centering much more on political corruption and dirty cops--had a vibe different from the Mason novels. It would have been nice to visit with Ken a few more times.

Rigging a Game to Catch a Killer

 Read/Watch 'em In Order #73

The next-to-last Ken Corning story ("Devil's Fire"--Black Mask, July 1933) is another fast-moving and fun adventure, though the ending is arguably a little weak.

The dirty NYC cops are once again framing an innocent man. Well, actually Corning's client this time around probably doesn't quality as innocent, but Corning doesn't think he has committed the particular crime of which he has been accused.

But there doesn't seem any possible way the client (George Pyle) could be innocent. He was in the street with the victim, clearly angry with him. There was a shot that witnesses say came from near Pyle. A woman saw him running away from the crime and toss a pistol away. The pistol is found and has Pyle's fingerprints on it.

Corning finds a friendly witness and stashes the guy away in a rooming house. But the friendly witness turns unfriendly and accuses Corning (in front of a police officer) of trying to suborn perjury. Corning quickly calls his secretary and sets up an improvised con on the cops, convincing them that certain conversations between  Corning and the witness had been recorded.

I love that part. Helen Vail, Corning's secretary, proves just as quick on her feet as her boss--adding several elements to the con on her own initiative that add verisimilitude to it. It continues to be clear that Erle Stanley Gardner is developing the character dynamic that he will use so successfully in the Perry Mason novels. Heck, the last two stories even had Corning employing the same detective agency for extra assistance.

But avoiding charges against himself doesn't get Corning any closer to clearing his client. To do this, Corning will have to set up yet another con--this one using a rigged target-shooting contest to flush out the real killer.

That's the part of the story I'm a little torn about. On the one hand, the con is a clever one and the end result is logical. But it was in no way a sure thing. Corning himself admits that his plan only had a one-in-a-thousand chance of working. So he successfully clears his client pretty much because he got really lucky.

Still, no one else would have caught the real killer at if it weren't for his plan. I felt the ending was a very small cheat, but this is very much a subjective opinion. And the rest of the story really is a lot of fun.

Just one more Ken Corning story to go, though. The first Perry Mason story would see print that same year and Gardner's other characters would begin a slow, sad slide into obscurity.

Every Good Lawyer has Skeleton Keys and a Solid Right Hook

Read/Watch 'em In Order #72

Poor Ken Corning. The lawyer can't spend more that a few minutes working quietly behind his desk before someone tries to frame him.

Actually, in "Making the Breaks," (Black Mask, June 1933), it's his secretary Helen Vail who gets framed. Or rather, she's framed so that Corning can in turn be framed so that Corning's client can in his turn be framed.

The client is accused of killing a man during an armed robbery. Both the dead man's friend (present during the robbery) and two other witnesses make positive identifications. But someone is willing to hedge their bets even further when two hundred-dollar bills--part of the loot taken from the victim--turn up in Helen's purse after someone tries to snatch it.

Corning is convinced his client is being framed, which means one or more of the witnesses are lying and are probably plants arranged by the notoriously corrupt NYPD. He sets Helen Vail out to make friends with the girlfriends of the witnesses and eventually does a little breaking-and-entering, steals a diary, sets a fake fire and essentially kidnaps someone. But that's how you get things done in the Hard-Boiled Universe, by golly. Corning identifies the real killer and clears his client without ever setting foot in a courtroom--AND all because he carries a set of skeleton keys and can knock a man out with one punch. Who needs law school?

That faking a fire bit, by the way, is emulating a similar trick once used by Sherlock Holmes. Everybody learns from Holmes.

This is the fourth of the six Ken Corning stories and, if anything, they are getting better as the series progressed. The pace grows faster and the stories more exciting, while the plots remain strong and logically constructed. Erle Stanley Gardner was an excellent storyteller and (as I've said before) it's a shame that Perry Mason has overshadowed so many of his other characters. Mason deserves his fame, but the other guys are pretty cool as well.

Power of the Press

Read/Watch 'em In Order #71

"Close Call," (Black Mask, January 1933) the third of the Ken Corning stories, starts off with a bang and doesn't stop sprinting until the final sentence. Corning is still butting heads against the corrupt city administration and this tale opens with a dirty cop trying to badger Corning into giving away information about the lawyer's latest client.

The client is accused of murdering a newspaperman who was working for reform. The accused man is also a reformer, but the cops have come up with a vague motive for the murder and have a supposed witness to the murder stashed away.

Corning is not a man to be badgered or intimidated. He gives the cop a verbal beat-down and immediately starts looking for a witness of his own who can demonstrate his client's innocence. He accomplishes this without too much trouble, but the cops are right behind him and quickly start their intimidation tactics again.

Corning also finds out where the prosecution witness is hidden and tries to speak with him.

He's tossed out before he can do so, but he gets a look at the witness AND has arranged for a press photographer to get a picture of him (Corning) being forcibly ejected from the hotel room. The resultant publicity gives him a slight advantage.

But then Corning's witness is bribed to leave town. Putting everything he learns together, Corning realizes the prosecution's fake witness is actually the real killer. He might not be able to prove this, but he can once again use the power of the press to force the D.A. to drop the charges against his client. It means pulling a stunt that requires Helen Vail, his loyal secretary, to arrange a fender bender with a cop car AND it comes uncomfortably close to suborning perjury. But if it works, an innocent man will walk out of prison.

The dynamic between Corning and Vail grows even closer to the one Erle Stanley Gardner was building in his Perry Mason stories, but it's a dynamic that Gardner handles well, so there is no objection to it. The story is perhaps the fastest moving and most purely entertaining of the first three Ken Corning stories.

The first three stories were published in consecutive issues of Black Mask. There would be a five-month gap before the final three stories appeared, but Ken Corning will be back. There's still a lot of corruption in New York City that needs cleaning up.

On the Run from the Law for... Breaking a Camera?

Read/Watch 'em In Order #70

Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason novels started out very hard-boiled, with Mason pretty much acting as a private eye as he tough-guyed his way to solving murders and clearing the names of his falsely-accused clients. But, though he could always be tough, the Mason stories evolved into the excellent but more cozy murder mysteries usually climaxed by wonderful courtroom scenes.

But--as we saw in our look at the first of the Ken Corning stories that appeared in Black Mask, Perry wasn't the only hard-boiled lawyer who used P.I methodology that Gardner unleashed upon the world.

What sets the Corning stories apart from Mason is the theme of government corruption that drips from the pages. Corning works in New York City, which was just as corrupt in the pulp universe as it often is in real life. In his initial outing, Corning was able to foil a plot to give a civil service post to a crook and caught a murderer. But the killer was a pretty low-level thug. Political boss Carl Dwight and a corrupt cop named Perkins are still free.

The second story is "The Top Comes Off," (December 1932 issue of Black Mask), in which Corning is hired by the wife of a man accused of murder. The odd thing about this is that the murdered man was the wife's lover.

A reporter barges into Corning's office to get a picture of the wife. Corning tosses the guy out and breaks the camera. The reporter goes running to the cops. Corning, by now, realizes that an aspect of the case ties it into the city's political machine. The minor charge is trumped up and soon there's a warrant out for Corning's arrest.

So he gets faithful secretary Helen Vail to stash the wife away in a hotel room under a false name. He registers at another hotel under another false name. Then, while being careful to leave no trail, he begins looking into the murder.

This involves interviewing several witnesses and breaking into the murdered man's office to look for evidence--it really does feel very much like a private eye story.

But it works and, within the context of a hard-boiled universe, Corning's actions make sense. Soon, he has enough evidence to convince him that the corrupt cop he ran into in the previous story is the real killer. But to get legal proof, he'll need to convince one of the few honest cops in the city to help him set up a trap.

Like pretty much all of Gardner's yarns, "The Top Comes Off" is a well-paced story with a good plot and a satisfying resolution. Once again, the high muckity-mucks in the city government are still free, but Corning is chipping away at their organization.

I also enjoy the interplay between Corning and Helen. As I mentioned in my last Corning review, she's a little more extroverted than was Della Street. Also, Corning and Helen are a little more regularly overt in their attraction to each other than Perry and Della usually were. Where Della was adamant that Perry needed her more as a secretary than a wife, Helen gives the impression she would jump to the altar with Ken pretty much any time. But Gardner is too good a storyteller to waste too much time on romantic mush--he keeps the repartee between Corning and Helen fast and witty and keeps our concentration focused on the murder mystery.

This is wise. Murder is always more interesting than marriage.

Perry Mason isn't the ONLY Lawyer in the World!

Read/Watch 'em In Order #69

Between the popularity of the Perry Mason novels and the success (both in terms of ratings and quality) of the classic TV series, other characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner are often forgotten. And that's too bad. Gardner created dozens of characters and I have yet to run across one of them I didn't enjoy hanging out with.

Ken Corning, for instance, is yet another lawyer--though his first adventure appeared a year before the first Mason adventure. Corning had a short but honorable career in Black Mask magazine in 1932 and 1933.

The stories have a different feel to them than the Mason tales. Corning is based in New York City, which Gardner portrays as corrupt--both politicians and cops are on the take. Corning has just set up shop as a lawyer, determined to accept only honest money.

This, in fact, is the title of his first adventure. "Honest Money" appeared in the November 1932 issue of Black Mask.

His client is a woman who was arrested for running a speakeasy. And she is clearly guilty of this. But if that were the only charge against her, Corning could probably get her off with a fine. But she's also charged with attempted bribery. This is particularly odd. The cops generally accept bribe offers. And why were they bothering to shut down a small, second-rate speakeasy anyways? And why did they do so in a hurry with incomplete information--it's the woman's husband who hires Corning and the husband is himself free because the cops didn't know about him.

And why is a political boss offering Corning a nice bribe to just plead guilty?

It's an odd case--made odder when the woman's husband is gunned down outside Corning's office. But a smashed fender on the dead man's car gives Corning a clue to what's going on. He sets up a trap, depending on one of the few honest policemen in New York to help him out.

If Corning can himself avoid being taken for a ride, he might be able to get his client freed.

Gardner shows a lot of skill as a storyteller when he wraps up the story. One bad guy is caught and a scheme is foiled, but most of the true villains are still free. That Gardner is setting up a story arc that will continue through more stories. Since the first three Ken Corning tales would appear in three successive issues of Black Mask, its likely that Gardner sold them as a package deal to the magazine.

Despite this, the ending is satisfying even when taken on its own. Corning has done right by his client, he's earned some honest money and he is here to stay, ready to buck the dishonest officials again and again when he needs to do so. The story works because Corning is victorious as an honest and honorable man, not because he saves the city in one fell swoop. Gardner constructs the plot and develops the protagonist in just the right way to make this work.

We also meet Helen Vail, Ken's beautiful and devoted secretary who can be depended on to go the extra mile to help him out. The dynamic is identical to what Gardner would also use with Perry Mason & Della Street, though Helen is a little more extroverted than Della. It's obviously a character dynamic that Gardner liked and found useful as a storyteller. We'll see Helen being even more proactive next time we check in on Ken Corning.

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It.

The Case of the Beautiful Begger (1965), by Erle Stanley Gardner


In the 80 or so Perry Mason novels Gardner pumped out, I don’t think the formula ever varied at all. Someone would come to Mason about a legal matter of some sort. While Mason was dealing with that, someone would be murdered. Mason’s client would be accused and the lawyer would have to uncover the real killer’s identity to win his case.


But if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Gardner was a masterful storyteller, able to concoct infinite variations on this theme. The Mason novels are plot-driven, dialogue-heavy tales that are quick and fun to read, dripping with entertaining plot twists.


In Beautiful Begger, a young woman comes to Mason for help after her rich uncle has been declared mentally incompetent by greedy relatives. Mason, as he always does, goes all out for his client—even when his client isn’t really playing ball with him.


In this case, his client’s primary concern is helping her uncle. To this end, she takes it on herself to pretty much bust him out of the sanitarium in which he’s been confined. This, in turn, makes Mason’s job that much more difficult.


It’s not long before someone turns up dead and the young lady is arrested for murder. But Mason soon comes up with a ploy (involving tampering—but not really tampering—with evidence) to trick the real killer into revealing himself.


Gee whiz, this is fun stuff. Mason is a smart, likable protagonist. There’s not a lot of deep characterization here, but little touches (like Mason giving a large tip and making a special point of verbally thanking his waitress after getting good service in a restaurant) help make the various cast members seem real.


But Gardner’s incredible skills at sound plot construction and basic storytelling are what really carry the novel along. Erle Stanley Gardner could not have written a boring Perry Mason novel if he tried.


Next time, we’ll see what Belgium sleuth Hercule Poirot is up to in The ABC Murders.

Decade by Decade, Part 7: Lam and Cool

Erle Stanley Gardner (pictured here) is best remembered today for his excellent Perry Mason novels, but he was an incredibly prolific author during the days of the pulp magazines, publishing stories about dozens of different characters in dozens of different magazines.

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And he was good--a magnificent storyteller who was an expert in constructing intricate mystery and adventure plots. His Mason stuff probably is his best, but you can read just about anything he wrote and have a good time.

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In 1939, Gardner (using the pen name A. A. Fair) wrote the first of a series of novels about Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. Bertha is the owner of a detective agency. She's overweight, mildly profane, mildly unscrupulous and very, very stingy. She's also smart and tough as nails.

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Perhaps the smartest thing she did was hire disbarred lawyer Donald Lam as her primary investigator. Donald barely tops five feet in height--he doesn't seem to be very tough and, in fact, he gets beaten up an awful lot. But he never gives up and he never stops thinking. In fact, as Gardner tells us, he has "a brain that worked so fast that sometimes he couldn't keep up with it himself."

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Together, Bertha and Donald make a great pair of protagonists in a series of twenty-nine novels published between 1939 and 1970 (the year of Gardner's death).

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The second novel--Turn On the Heat--was published in 1940 and will act as our gateway into that decade. In this one, Bertha's agency is hired by a man who is obviously using an alias, but pays good money to track down a woman who went missing twenty years earlier. The client will not explain why.

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Donald investigates and soon discovers that at least two other people have also been looking for the long-lost woman. Before long, Donald is threatened and beaten up, but he keeps on asking questions.

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Soon, there's a murder thrown into the mix. Soon after that, dirty politics in a small town become a factor. Donald is framed on a hit-and-run charge by a corrupt cop and it looks like their client might be pegged for the murder. With Bertha's sometimes reluctant support, Donald makes plans and improvises when necessary as he stays one step ahead of everyone else, finally gathering up enough information to blow the lid off the case.

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It's a fast-moving plot which manages to bring all its seemingly disparate elements together coherently at the end. But it's the interplay between Bertha and Donald that really makes it fun. Both are great characters on their own. Together, they give the already fine plot a unique flavor that makes Turn On the Heat a great mystery novel.