Erle Stanley Gardner

"Lost for more than 75 years, The Knife Slipped was meant to be the second book in the [Cool and Lam] series, but shelved when Gardner's publisher objected to (among other things) Bertha Cool's tendency to 'talk tough, swear, smoke cigarettes, and try to gyp people.' But this tale of adultery and corruption, of double-crosses and triple identities -- however shocking for 1939 -- shines today as a glorious present from the past, a return to the heyday...

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

"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.

"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.

Sylvia Bain Atwood, a green-eyed beauty in charge of her ailing father's estate, calls on Perry Mason when one of her father's creditors tries to blackmail the family

Three crime classics in one volume starring the defense lawyer who inspired the HBO series. From the Edgar Award–winning author, these novels from the long-running, multimillion-selling mystery series that inspired the HBO hit starring Matthew Rhys include: The Case of the Lazy Lover Perry Mason is surprised to receive two checks from a stranger named Lola Allred. When he speaks with Lola's husband, he discovers the woman has run off with...

An odd couple of detectives descends on New Orleans to search for a missing heiress in this hard-boiled mystery by the creator of Perry Mason. Bertha Cool is a bulldog of a woman with an attitude to match. Donald Lam is a handsome ex-lawyer who makes up for in brains what he lacks in brawn. Together, they're an unlikely pair of private detectives on a mission to find Roberta Fenn, a missing model and heiress in New Orleans. It's a seemingly...

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...

Terry Clane, an expert in the ways of the Orient, returns to San Francisco after another extended stay in China and is promptly picked up by the police. His former girlfriend, Cynthia Renton, is being sought for questioning. Her fiancé, Edward Harold, who has been convicted of murder of businessman Horace Farnsworth and sentenced to the gas chamber at San Quentin, has just escaped police custody and is a fugitive. Clane, with the help of several...