The Case of the Crying Swallow: A Perry Mason Novelette and Other Stories

Perry Mason #84

by Erle Stanley Gardner

Book by Gardner, Erle Stanley

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

266 pages, Paperback

First published August 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

[Sharon Barrow Wilfong · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man's wife is missing so he comes to Perry Mason to find her. In looking for the wife, Mason finds much more: murder, blackmail, and a lot of suspicious characters. Classic Mason as he unconvers clues with his secretary Della Street and Detective Paul Drake.

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Perry Mason novella along with three enjoyable short stories that are linked by a common theme ... stolen jewelry. As it is almost always the case with a mystery written by Earle Stanley Gardner in the 1930s and 1940s the stories are gems from a bygone era and it is a lot of fun to read them.

[Bailey Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perry and Della commit B&E to save someone. It's a novelette so not much else happens.

Recommended 12+ for death, mentions of suicide attempt/helping someone after said attempt, language, and other things I may have missed.

[Sivasakthya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a Perry Mason book. It's a collection of short stories one of which is Perry mason.

[Chazzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title is the first story in this book. A novelette of one of Perry Mason's cases. It has the twists and turns and surprises of his full length books and all the main characters.

Lester Leith is the main character in "The Candy Kid". Leith was introduced to the public in 1929. A cross between Raffles and Philo Vance, whose source of support for his luxurious life style is a mystery to all. Assisted by his valet, Scuttle, are able to solve some very intriguing crimes. By the way, Scuttle isn't a valet by training, but an undercover cop assigned to figure out where Leith gets his income.

Sidney Zoom and his dog Rip prefer the darkness of the docks, as they live aboard his boat in the harbour. A mysterious figure, he is well known to the police and have come to their aid a number of times. "The Vanishing Corpse" is a murder that appears and disappears.

"The Affair of the Reluctant Witness" involves Jerry Bane and his Man Friday, Mugs - another ex-cop with an exceptional memory. Jerry's source of income is from a trust fund, managed by a tight family attourney. This mystery solving duo were introduced in the 1940s. This particular mystery involves the disappearance of jewels.

This was an enjoyable read and introduction to more of Gardner's characters.

[Nanosynergy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three shorter stories (the latter two sans Mason): The Case of the Crying Swallow, The Candy Kid, and The Vanishing Corpse.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Perry Mason novella accompanied by 3 longish short stories featuring some of Erle Stanley Gardner's series characters found only in stories from the pulps. Lots of fun in this excursion with early pulp characters.

SS - Features the novella The Case of the Crying Swallow (1947) in which Perry Mason solves the case of the death of a blackmailer and the disappearance of an amnesiac wife. Accompanying Perry Mason are: Lester Leith in The Candy Kid (1931) wherein Lester gets involved in finding gems that disappeared after a robbery in which the thief was killed during apprehension; Sidney Zoom and police dog Rip in The Vanishing Corpse (1931) help police Captain Maloney solve the murder of an eccentric collector; and, Jerry Bane in one of two appearances The Affair of the Reluctant Witness (1949) uses a suspected gem robbery to get the tight-fisted administrator of the trust he inherited to release some needed spending money.

[Emily Kestrel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit that I only read the first novelette, and that was just because I couldn't resist the title. And it was short. It wasn't terrible, but I found it too staid and formulaic to be really enjoyable. I think I just can't get into the Perry Mason thing. Like Lawrence Welk, it seems too firmly ensconced in my grandparents' day. On the other hand, I imagine there are plenty of readers who would enjoy the nostalgia factor.

[Bailey Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.2) (Yes, I only read the Perry Mason Novelette. No, I have no problem adding this as read because a lot of people DNF books at like 5% and give reviews so I'm allowed.)

Perry, Della, and Paul go out into the field to solve a murder and help the client.

Recommended 13+ for murder, maybe some language, secondary romance, and a suicide attempt (not in detail; person is found and is immediately given help)

[Freya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed some of these stories. Sidney zoom and Rip were my favourites. You can almost see how Perry Mason and Paul Drake are taking life in Gardner's mind.

[James Thane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is actually a collection of three of the author's short stories that were first published in a variety of pulp magazines, "back in the day." This first of the three, "The Case of the Crying Swallow," features Gardner's longest-running series character, Los Angeles attorney Perry Mason, and was first published in 1947. Frankly, it's a pretty lame excuse for a story and doesn't really conform to the usual Mason formula. There is a murder, but there are no courtroom scenes and Mason's usual adversaries do not appear.

A very wealthy man appears in Mason's office. His wife has disappeared and he would like Mason to find her. Coincidentally, his wife had just cancelled the insurance policy on her valuable collection of jewels. Even more coincidentally, the very next night, the jewels are stolen from the couple's secluded home, apparently by someone who obviously knew exactly where the jewels were kept.

Instead of suggesting that this matter would much better be handled by the police, Mason promptly drops everything else he is doing, gathers up his secretary, Della Street, and his detective, Paul Drake. The three of them then move into the client's house while Mason sorts out the theft, the disappearance of the wife, and the murder that crops up in the middle of it all.

None of it makes any sense at all, including the solution, which Mason somehow divines. Erle Stanley Gardner wrote a lot of very entertaining Perry Mason novels, but this story will be of interest only to completists who are determined to read each and every story in which the Mason character appears. 2.5 stars, rounded up just because...

[Serdar Poirot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bir adet Perry Mason hikayesi ve onun haricinde 3 hikaye daha barındıran güzel bir kitap. Topal bir albay Mason'a gelir ve karısını kayıp olduğunu, statü hastası annesine de karısının arkadaşına gittiğini söyler. Evde bazı mücevherler çalınmıştır ve kadın sigortayı hırsızlıktan bir gün önce iptal etmiştir. Della ve Paul ile eve giden Mason izler görür. Bunu takip eden Drake, Drummond adında bir adama ve karavana ulaşır. Ama karavanı bulduklarında adam ölmüştür. En başta kadından şüphelenen Mason onu bulur ve intiharını engelleyip bir yerde saklar. Sonrasında kocaya şüphelerini söyler ama o da öldürmemiştir. Hizmetli de evin hanımına şantaj yapmaya kalkmıştır. Peki katil kimdir? Diğer hikayelerde Lester Leith adında bir adös yardımcısı ile otururken bir mücevher soygunu haberine denk gelir. Yardımcısı aslında polis ajanıdır ve onu yakalamak ister. Çavuş da onunla bir plan yapar. Mücevherlerden bir kısmını onun çikolatalara koyması için verirler. Peki gerçekten hırsız mücevher almış mıdır? Lester çikolata ile ne yapacaktır? Çavuş onu takip etmemeni bedelini ödeyecek midir? Diğer hikayelerde de Sidney adında bir adam ölü zannedilem bir adamın arabada Balmumu Heykeli olduğunu kanıtlar ve adamı gerçekte kimin öldürdüğünü kendini yem yaparak bulmaya çalışır. Bir de Bernice adında bir dükkan sahibi kız suçlanınca ona yardım etmek isteyen Jerry, avukat Anson ile görüşüp neler yapacaktır? Keyifle okunan bir roman.

[False · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm winding up a project where I have read all of Erle Stanley Gardner including his books on Perry Mason, Bertha Cool, Donald Lam and his non-fiction including focus on the American Southwest and mining. Mining crops up several times in Perry Mason books.

This book is a novelette including the following stories: The Case of the Crying Swallow (1947), The Candy Kid (1931), The Affair of the Reluctant Witness (1949), and The Vanishing Corpse (1931). None of the stories were particularly dynamic and given the late publishing date, Gardner must have been weary of milking his past work until his final days. Perry Mason probably peaked in the early 1950's, and that would have been a good time to end it all.

[👀 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief noveltette about Mason accompanied by three short stories. It's just like a draft of a regular Mason novel that had been dropped at the beginning. It's not half as enjoyable as a regular one. He had some good ideas but they never had a chance to develop. I was pretty disappointed when it ended. My bad that I didn't read it was only a short story beforehand. All the stories are connected with jewelry. When burglers steal jewelry a day after its insurance gets cancelled and the wife is no where to be found, Mr. Cash contacts the famous lawyer to solve the mystery. Of course his behavior is completely inconsistent, but I have a feeling our could develop into an interesting novel.

[Erin *Proud Book Hoarder* · Rating 4 out of 5]

A trilogy of stories with Gardner featuring three of this characters, opening with the longest where Perry Mason solves a mystery on foot and outside the courtroom. Clever, but shorter. In The Candy Kid Lester Leith the thief plays a cat and mouse game with his new servant and the local police surrounding jewerly robbery and chocolate. There was an amusing quality to this story. Finally, Sydney Zoom ramps up the humor and action comic type appeal with the final story in The Vanishing Corpse All three varied with tone and theme, the last two being a first for me with those repeating characters.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointed. This book is a short story or at best a short novella, which is fine, but it is not advertised that way, which is disappointing. Consequently, it has no courtroom scene and basically features Perry Mason as a detective who explains the case to his client, and seems to have somehow, miraculously, figured out who the murderer was and why. It’s not a bad story, but it would’ve been a great story if it hadn’t been clipped at the point of Mason fingering the murderer, and explaining it all to his client, without any sort of lawyerly activity. I’m glad the book was inexpensive, because I would be really angry if I’d had to pay more for it.

[Tonya Mathis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember watching Perry Mason ( and Ironside) as a kid on tv. It really wasn't my thing but my parents watched it, so I did too. This book happed to be mixed in with my Agatha Christie, so I thought I'd read it. Only the title story was a Perry Mason story. I liked it. I don't remember him being so funny(?). The other three stories The Candy Kid, The Vanishing Corpse and The Affair of the Reluctant Witness were enjoyable too. I may have found another author to read. Short stories to fill in in between all the novels.

[Shailesh Dhume · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normally Perry Mason books are short fast reads, but this was too short for my liking. A collection of 4 novellas , the stories get over too fast without really drawing the reader into the mystery. Also the red herring are too frequent and almost distracting. My preference would be any day for a full length Perry Mason novel.

[Mahoghani 23 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Books in 1

Shirt stories that will keep your attention and make the police appear incapable of solving any crimes. The first story, Perry solved that before the case was even warm. The second story, a con artist solved the case before the police figured out what happened. The last case, a quiet civilian, solved the case and did it just as good as Perry Mason does.

[Snigdha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just 4 words : Not really a Perry Mason

I feel like ranting - why take Perry Mason's name in vain -when the case doesn't even go to court ? Full-marks for detective Mason though.
Other stories felt like parodies of some other stories; as if,Gardner had challenged himself to write a different type of story .

[Rubin Carpenter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 mystery short stories

3 very readable mysteries by Gardner
1 lawyer Perry Mason in a clever missing wife / jewelry case

2 con man Lester Leith involves himself in a jewelry robbery to help himself and the police

3 rich playboy Sydney Zoom becomes involved in murder in which there's a huge diamond involved

Each one solved Quite cleverly

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mason is hired to help locate a client's missing/run-away wife. Not only is the wife missing, but so is her jewelry, but when a dead body turns up, this questionable case of lost and found quickly turns to murder. Mason, along with help from Paul Drake, and Della Street must act stealthy and fast to clear things up.

[Paul Adler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Used to watch the Perry Mason stories on TV in the 60’s. The disappointment of this book was that a Perry Mason story only took up 50% of the book. The plots of older books seem to move slowly and the endings don’t seem as dramatic as todays murder mysteries and thrillers. The middle story of this book I found very laborious. Will not be in too big a hurry to read another.

[Scilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wealthy man's wife has disappeared. She had cancelled the insurance on her jewelry and then disappeared. Perry Mason needs to figure out what happened. It turns out she was previously married and her former husband told her the divorce had gone through, but it hadn't. The there are two other short stories.

[Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Of the three Perry Mason stories I've just read this one was my least favorite. Too much to believe and too many people involved and too much interference by Perry Mason bordering on illegal. I guess I'm just spoiled by the tv version of the stories, that although sometimes a little too much to believe were well acted.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Perry Mason novelette with two short stories starring unrelated characters. The Perry Mason bit is good, but short. Mason wraps everything up by misdirection and there is no courtroom bit at all. The two other characters are interesting, but lack the secondary characters to riff off of that Perry has.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very short and easy read. It’s in the back of the Cautious Coquette book. It was a nice relief to have Perry Mason solving a mystery before going into court. It was less of a last minute case solving than is typical of the other Perry Mason cases.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

three short stories

Only one is a Perry Mason. And what’s a Perry Mason without courtroom dramatics. Pretty flat, in my opinion. Perry does figure it out and we are told “whodunnits but without the satisfactory courtroom ending I love.

[John Bunyan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book just because I want to finish the whole series. This is a Perry Mason novella written in the 40s and never published and 3 short stories with other characters, not Mason.
There’s a reason why these weren’t published until after Gardner’s death. He was probably ashamed of them.

[Gu Kun · Rating 2 out of 5]

Four stories - liked the last: "The Affair of the Reluctant Witness" - found the others too far-fetched.