Erle Stanley Gardner

"Helen Kendal's woes begin when she receives a phone call from her vanished uncle Franklin, long presumed dead, who urges her to make contact with criminal defense attorney Perry Mason; soon after, she finds herself the main suspect in the murder of an unfamiliar man. Her kitten has just survived a poisoning attempt, as has her aunt Matilda, the woman who always maintained that Franklin was alive in spite of his disappearance. Lucky that Helen took...

Another in the original courtroom novels that inaugurated the legal thriller genre finds Mason tracing the origins of two mysterious checks sent to him by a woman he has never heard of, who has run away with her daughter's boyfriend

"Edward Garvin is a very successful businessman with a very unhappy ex-wife--who wants his money. So Garvin calls on lawyer Perry Mason to protect his company from her schemes, and ensure the divorce they'd gotten in Mexico is actually finalized. But when Garvin's former spouse is struck down by a killer, Mason's client becomes the chief suspect"--Publisher marketing.

"Defense lawyer Perry Mason needs a temporary typist, but the one he hires turns out to be more temporary than expected. When she disappears, leaving a couple of diamonds behind in her haste, Mason winds up taking on a new client: a gem importer in his office building who's been charged with smuggling and murder. But if Mason's going to untangle this case, finding the typist is key"--Back cover.

A tale of two sisters, family fortune, and murder. Beautiful Sylvia Bain Atwood is overseeing her ailing father's estate while her sister serves as his caregiver. But their father's fortune has shadowy roots-and now one of his creditors is blackmailing the family. When the situation escalates to murder, defense lawyer Perry Mason will have his hands full in this mystery in Edgar Award—winning author Erle Stanley Gardner's classic, long-running...

First published in the US by Morrow, New York in 1944, now public domain in the US and Canada. The story follows the private investigator duo of Bertha Cool and Donald Lam as they investigate a case involving a missing heir to a fortune. The case takes them to a small town where they encounter a cast of eccentric characters, including a wealthy family, a crooked lawyer, and a group of shady businessmen. As they delve deeper into the case, they uncover...

The search for stolen jewels and a missing woman yields deadly trouble for an LA detective duo in this hard-boiled mystery by the creator of Perry Mason. Side by side, Bertha Cool and Donald Lam make quite the odd couple of private investigators. She's a fifty-something-year-old widow, built like a bulldog, with the personality to match. He's a wiry, ex-lawyer in his thirties with a lightning-quick wit that always helps him out of a jam, including...

Dealing with debtors turns deadly for a prickly PI in this hard-boiled mystery by the creator of Perry Mason and author of Bats Fly at Dusk. A hot-headed widow and a glass-jawed ex-lawyer, Bertha Cool and Donald Lam seem like an unlikely duo of private detectives. Even so, they've managed to solve the most difficult of mysteries-when they're together. With Donald now on a European vacation, Bertha is hesitant to accept any new business-but money...

Following a money trail leads a PI into danger in this hard-boiled mystery by the creator of Perry Mason and author of Turn on the Heat. Brainy private detective Donald Lam is always one step ahead of the bad guys-but he's also smaller than them and typically gets beat up. That's why his boss, the ever-irascible Bertha Cool, has hired a martial arts master to teach him self-defense. The first class isn't easy for Donald, but he is rewarded with...