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Perry Mason #85

by Erle Stanley Gardner

Four stories by the master of mystery include one tale relating the brilliant courtroom techniques of Perry Mason

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Short Stories, Audiobook, Classics, Adult

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1973

About the author

Erle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories who also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray, and Robert Parr.

Innovative and restless in his nature, he was bored by the routine of legal practice, the only part of which he enjoyed was trial work and the development of trial strategy. In his spare time, he began to write for pulp magazines, which also fostered the early careers of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. He created many different series characters for the pulps, including the ingenious Lester Leith, a "gentleman thief" in the tradition of Raffles, and Ken Corning, a crusading lawyer who was the archetype of his most successful creation, the fictional lawyer and crime-solver Perry Mason, about whom he wrote more than eighty novels. With the success of Perry Mason, he gradually reduced his contributions to the pulp magazines, eventually withdrawing from the medium entirely, except for non-fiction articles on travel, Western history, and forensic science.

See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erle_Sta...

Reviews

[Dave]

The Case of the Irate Witness is a Perry Mason short story, not a full-length novel. It also appears with the same cover as a four story collection with the other three stories not being Perry Mason stories. Short, concise, with a brief targeted cross-examination, the story by itself is but a glimpse of what a Perry Mason full-length novel comprises.

[Alyson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection! One short Perry Mason mystery-ette, and three other short mysteries, each with a different investigative character. This was actually my first introduction to Lester Leith, and I enjoyed him (and his story) enough that I will seek out some of his other heists!

I was actually really surprised, because the Jeweled Butterfly did not read like an Erle Stanley Gardner story, and I don't mean that in either a good or a bad way, simply that it had a different tone and style, probably to accommodate the curious female protagonist (ESG doesn't usually bother crafting complex females --Della Street being the exception, of course). He did a surprisingly good job, given his usual fairly sexist (product of his times!) view of women.

Anyway, it was a great surprise to find and a great joy to read, definitely recommend it for any ESG fan (or Jeeves and Wooster fans, or Thin Man fans, or basically any period pulp fans!)

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

#85 in the Perry Mason series. 4 novelettes including Author Gardner's only short story featuring Perry Mason. The stories originally appeared between 1942 and 1953 before being collected in this 1970 compilation. In addition to Perry Mason, Lester Leith is a protagonist who has appeared in other works by Gardner. Stories are all different but enjoyable.

Contains four short stories: 1. 'The Case of the Irate Witness (1953),' After being stopped at a police roadblock checking on a robbery in Jebson City, Perry Mason gets involved in defending the accused. 2. “The Jeweled Butterfly” (1952), Peggy Castle writes a gossip column. After she gets a note that the curvy Stella is going to meet the studly Don at a local nightclub, Peggy grabs a table and waits. She ends up getting involved in a jewelry robbery case and Stella’s murder. 3. "Something Like A Pelican” (1942), Lester Leith figures out what a woman throwing a fur cape out a window has to do with missing top secret blueprints. 4. “A Man Is Missing” (1946), in rural Idaho a man with amnesia is missing. A detective from the big city is on his way out to solve the case. Local sheriff Bill Catlin shows him country sheriffs know a thing or two.

[Lucie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains 4 stories, one short story and 3 novelettes, only one of which is a Perry Mason story. It was interesting to see the same attention to small details in the other stories leading to solutions to the puzzling mystery. The publisher's note indicates that The Case of the Irate Witness is the only short story that features Perry Mason, but still has the famous court room scene.

[Bailey Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I freaking hate new Goodreads; this is the edition I already read according to this edit of the review, but on the GR shelves it has it as two different editions, so apologies for any weird formatting. Uggghhhhhhhhh)

This is a more 3rd person omniscient POV and is straight to the point. Doesn't even really have any Mason tricks and I'm sad.

Recommended 11+ for robbery and maybe some language.

[Bailey Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.2) (Again, I didn't read the whole book, just the Perry Mason story)

Perry's goodness gets him involved in a trial, where he proves the client innocent due to looking at the situation logically.

Recommended 11+ for robbery and maybe some language

[Candi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good short mystery stories. I had no idea Earle Stanley Gardner wrote so many books, as listed inside the cover. Often 3 a year for decades! I like his logical solutions.

[👀 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The case of the irate witness

A story with a ghost client. I know it's probably just an abundant first draft of an idea, but still... While getting on his weekend getaway, Mason gets pulled over and ID'd due to a bank robbery that occurred in the city he was driving though. Rumor has it that he's defending the robber, so randomly, the famous LA lawyer decides why not? No one hires him and we don't even meet the defendant, but who would care? There's typical Gardner court action, everything is very basic - just a sample of Mason series.

The jewelry butterfly
Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. It's like giving old, good Gertie (a helpless romantic and gossip lover) a chance to solve the crimes. When a beloved secretary is given her own gossip column, she receives an anonymous letter about new hot, secret cuple and whereabouts of their rendezvous. She ends up discovering a body and helping to solve the crime.


Something like a pelican
Another part of the series that was included in previous short story collection. The police tries to bust a smart civilian who seems to specialize in solving criminal cases before the police and tipping of the criminals. In this case, a young woman buys an expensive natural fur and without a reason she throws it out of the window. Naturally, it cause some commotion. She pays for it and has it delivered home. What is the purpose of this stunt?

A man is missing
A small group goes to look for a missing man that seems to have amnesia. The only clue is a post card he sent of the cabin he's been living in.

[Serdar Poirot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yine Perry Mason ve karma hikayelerden oluşan, Serinin son kitabı. Perry bir kasabadan geçerken durdurulur polis tarafından. Kasabadaki banka soyulmuştur ve bir banka görevlisi kayıptır. Bu adamın karısı ondan yardım ister ve davayı üzerine alır. Kasabada banka dışında iş yapan bir temizlikçi vardır. Müdür, paraların seri numarasını almış, bir güvenlik görevlisi koymuş, kasa kiralamış ama hırsızlığa engel olamamıştır. Kayıp personelin ise eski bir hırsızlık sabıkası vardır. Müdür olaydan sonra görevden alınmış yerine başka biri gelmiştir. Sorgu sırasında temizlikçinin cebindeki bazı paralar da not alınan seri onlar arasında çıkınca işler değişir. Bankayı kim soymuş, güvenliğe ilaçlı içkiyi kim vermiştir? Bunun yanında Lester Leith'in yine gazetede gördüğü bir olay üzerine gizli planları kimin çaldığını soruşturması, Scuttle adındaki yardımcısının ki aslında gerçek adı Beaver olan polisin komiser Ackley ile irtibata geçmesi, ama bir şekilde Lester Leith'in istediğine ulaşması, Marion adındaki kadının kayıp kardeşini ararken bir cinayet vakasına karışması, Peggy White adlı genç gazeteci in, yine güzellik kraliçesi seçilen arkadaşının ölümü ve Ken adındaki çalışanın suçlanması ihtimaline karşılık olayı çözmek adına beraber çalışmaları anlatılıyor. Keyifle okunan bir roman.

[John Bunyan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this only because I wanted to finish the series. This OSS another posthumous publication. The previous ones were a Perry Mason novella and a few other short stories. Here we have a short P. M. (The only known short story of Mason) plus three longer stories, not featuring Mason.
The Perry Mason was too short to really develop much, though it did consist mostly of courtroom theatrics. But it was weak.
The other stories had good and bad elements.
The Jeweled Butterfly started out good but full of Gardner’s typical misogyny (“men want pretty women. Women can’t be both smart and pretty. Must act dumb.”) The solution relies on “only women would do this and only men would do that” - very broad ridiculous assumptions.
Something Like a Pelican is the second Lester Leith story I’ve read, neither one very appealing - Lester is annoying and the police are stupid.
A Man Is Missing is the best of the bunch, 3 stars at least.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOT the only short story!

Per Wikipedia, there are 4 short stories featuring Perry Mason by Erle Stanley Gardner:

1) The Case Of The Crying Swallow published in The American Magazine, August 1947

2) The Case Of The Crimson Kiss published in The American Magazine, June 1948

3) The Case Of The Suspect Sweethearts published in Radio And Television Mirror, May 1950

4) The Case Of The Irate Witness published in Collier's, January 17, 1953

All have been published in short story anthologies in hardcover and/or paperback formats (found on Amazon). The Case Of The Irate Witness is the only story I could find in Kindle format.

[Jc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1972 collection of short works includes: The Case of the Irate Witness (Perry Mason; 1953); The Jeweled Butterfly (1952); Something Like a Pelican (Lester Leith; 1943); and A Man is Missing (1946). The story featuring Mason and his crew tells a remarkably complete murder mystery, including dramatic courtroom scenes and an equally irate district attorney. The Pelican story features a lesser known Gardner, Lester Leith, who was a parody of an A. J. Raffles-style "gentleman thief" and appeared in a few dozen short works from the 20s through the 40s. Altogether, this is an entertaining sampling of Gardner’s fiction and a good addition to any Gardner fan’s library.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stories only one with Perry Mason

If you have been reading the series, you will become accustomed to Earle Stanley Gardner’s style, which all of these stories share despite not having Perry Mason’s star power in three of them. While it his strongest book, if you like the series, you’ll like this one.

[James Vest · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my quest to read every Perry Mason book, I came across The Case of the Irate Witness. A 17 page short that distills the Perry Mason formula into it’s most essential essence allowing for all the great hallmarks to occur in rapid succession, ending in the embarrassment of a small time district attorney.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this in audiobook form and there really is no starting and ending points for any of the 4 short stories that make up this volume. It really does get confusing because of this major flaw in this audiobook. The stories themselves are good but with no continuity, it really takes away from the listening experience.

[Clyde Tosalini · Rating 4 out of 5]

The compact Perry Mason story is as good as the full-length ones. I was surprised how good the other non-Mason stories were also. In the last one, the "country-talkin" of the sheriff et al. was a little overdone and trite, but very enjoyable anyway when his wisdom outshines the city slicker.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four good who done it novellas, only the first of which is a Perry Mason Story.

[Debopriyo Moulik · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has mediocre mysteries. They are not overly complicated though the resolution is muddled.

[Richa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of interesting suspence stories. Every story was gritty, logical and gripping.

[Jeff J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories by Gardner. The sole story featuring Perry Mason was pretty weak.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Irate Witness is a short story featuring Perry Mason. The other four short stories in this book do not. None of them is very good--just passable.

[Craig Schlossin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of short stories that were not Perry Mason but pretty good. Perry is better.

[Jehy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a cute little collection.

[Zhanna Mi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perry, Della & Paul are the ultimate trio

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I don't doubt your statement. I doubt your conclusions."

[Dean Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

One Perry Mason short story and three novellas.

[Elizabeth S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I liked Gardner's Perry Mason novels, I enjoyed these short stories a lot more. I guess Gardner's short story writing style fits my tastes better.

Published posthumously, this is a collection of four of Gardner's short stories. The first, The Case of the Irate Witness, is a Perry Mason gem. Short, quick, and clever.

Next we have The Jeweled Butterfly. It is longer, more of a novella, and features an amateur female detective, Peggy Castle. "What," you say? "A female detective?" Yes, you heard me right. I was surprised as well. While there are still a lot of male/female stereotypes typical of the era, overall it was a fun story.

Third is Something Like a Pelican. I love how the title of this story relates to the plot (read it and find out). This one features amateur detective Lester Leith, who dabbles in detection for the pure fun of it. I love the interplay with the police, who are always one step behind.

Last is A Man Is Missing, set in the wild west of Idaho. Moral of the story: the talents and abilities that make a great detective in the city don't always come up with the right solution in the country. Sheriff Bill Catlin solves this one, thanks to the information Hank Lucas collects in the field. The wrap-up to this one is priceless. The city detective gives his solution, then Catlin puts it right.

[Rob Smith, Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading 5 of the full-length books in the past month, this shorter version format would've worked better for the five I read. This is a direct and concise and very good story.
This was originally a magazine entry and clearly a format more fitting for Gardner's writing style, at least, for me.

Bottom line: I recommend this story. 8 out of ten points.

[Dominique Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has 4 stories. Only the first one, "The Case of the Irate Witness" starred Perry Mason, Della Street and Paul Drake, so it was quite interesting to read 3 different stories by the same author. I really enjoyed them all.

[Dhiraj Sharma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well lets just say that I find the full fledged novels of Mr Gardner better than this short story collection.
The short stories are good but none that you would remember. His novels are more engrossing and this collection hasn't got Perry Mason and Della Street to keep you hooked.