Perry Mason

It’s been quite a while (years?) since I’ve written on this blog, but I think I’d like to resurrect it. So here is what I hope is the first of many future blog posts.

The new interest in Perry Mason has me in a quandary. Watch the new program or not? You see, I’m a big Perry Mason fan from the 1960s when it first aired (1957) on TV. Raymond Burr is my vision of Perry Mason. I can’t help it. I got to stay up late on Saturday nights and watch it. It was a treat. Della Street was his secretary with a huge crush on him, Paul Drake was his private investigator, Hamilton Burger was the District Attorney that never won a case against Mason, and Lieutenant Tragg was the copper that couldn’t beat Mason. That program was solidly based in 1960s California and I devoured it.

It is my understanding that the current TV version is set in 1930s California and Mason is a private detective, not an attorney. And instead of Mason’s secretary, Della Street, having a huge crush on him, she instead is a lesbian. Paul Drake does appear as well. Gone are Hamilton Burger and Lt. Tragg. So, this version is turning my world upside down.

I thought I’d solve the problem by going back to the first Perry Mason book, The Case of the Velvet Claws, published in 1933. I found that this book is a combination of both televised versions. It includes Perry as an attorney, Della as his secretary and Paul Drake as his private investigator. Unfortunately, Burger and Tragg do not make an appearance. It solidly takes place in the 1930s and has the language of the pulp fiction era. It is not as dark as Hammett or Chandler or some of the other great Black Mask pulp fiction mystery writers (it’s almost like a cozy mystery compared with them) but the action and the language put it in the same genre.

About the book (yes, I was going to get to it). Expensively dressed Eva Griffith walks into Perry Mason’s office and Della Street, his secretary and not so secret admirer, warns him she’s trouble. It seems that married Eva Griffith was out on the town with up for election politician Harrison Burke and a murder occurred at the nightclub they were at. It would be political suicide for Burke if this liaison was made public and Eva is afraid that the scandal rag Spicy Bits is going to find out and publish the information. Eva wants Mason to convince them it is not in their best interest to do so.

Always up for a challenge and a big fee, Mason takes the case, against the advice of Della. But as you suspect, Eva is not who she says she is and furthermore it turns out that her husband is the hidden owner of Spicy Bits. When he turns up dead, Eva and Burke are prime suspects, but Eva will not go down without a fight. When she names Mason as the murderer, Perry has to clear himself as well as Eva.

We all know that Perry will come up with the truth, using whatever devious means he can. The Case of the Velvet Claws is classic Perry Mason and classic 1930s noir. It was a treat to see Perry, Della and Paul in action. I haven’t read a Perry Mason in a while.

I highly recommend it, just be aware it is not easily available.

Thought you might like this.

Here are Erle Stanley Gardner’s books stacked up to dramatize the immensity of his output.