A tale of two sisters, family fortune, and murder: “Millions of Americans never seem to tire of Gardner’s thrillers” (The New York Times). 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 series, which has sold three hundred million copies and serves as the inspiration for the HBO show starring Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany. DON’T MISS THE NEW HBO ORIGINAL SERIES PERRY MASON, BASED ON CHARACTERS FROM ERLE STANLEY GARDNER’S NOVELS, STARRING EMMY AWARD WINNER MATTHEW RHYS

A lawyer is sucked into a couple’s hostile divorce in this mystery with “a stellar ending” from the original detective series that inspired the HBO show (Kirkus Reviews). 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. Fortunately, the attorney “comes up with dazzling answers” to the mystery . . . (The New York Times). This whodunit is part of Edgar Award–winning author Erle Stanley Gardner’s classic, long-running Perry Mason series, which has sold three hundred million copies and serves as the inspiration for the HBO show starring Matthew Rhys and Tatiana Maslany. DON’T MISS THE NEW HBO ORIGINAL SERIES PERRY MASON, BASED ON CHARACTERS FROM ERLE STANLEY GARDNER’S NOVELS, STARRING EMMY AWARD WINNER MATTHEW RHYS

A man tells everyone that his wife has run away with his best friend, who seems to have a strange lack of enthusiasm about the affair. The case leads to murder, and a trial that hinges on multiple sets of footprints.

An exploration of the enduring popularity of the television series Perry Mason and its universal reputation as the most formulaic program in the history of broadcast television. Perry Mason was one of the most successful television programs from the 1950s and remains one of the most influential crime melodramas from any period. The show's influence goes far beyond its nine-year tenure (1957-66), the millions of dollars it generated for its creators and for CBS, and the definitive identification it provided its star, Raymond Burr. Perry Mason has become a true piece of Americana, evolving through a formulaic approach that law professors continue to use today as a teaching tool. In his examination of Perry Mason, author Thomas Leitch looks at why this series has appealed to so many for so long and what the continued appeal tells us about Americans' attitudes toward lawyers and the law, then and now. Beginning with its roots in earlier detective fiction, stories of fictional attorneys, and the work of Erle Stanley Gardner (the show's creator), Leitch lays out the circumstances under which Perry Mason was conceived and marketed as a distinct franchise. The evolution of Perry Mason is charted here in an inclusive manner, discussing the show's broadcast history (ending with the series of two-hour telemovies that aired nearly twenty years after the original series ended) alongside its generic nature and place within popular culture, the show's ideological dynamic, and issues of authorship in the context of television. This concise study is an excellent tool for television and media scholars as well as fans of the Perry Mason series.

This book offers a critically informed yet relaxed historical overview of the legal thriller, a unique contribution to crime fiction where most of the titles have been written by professionals such as lawyers and judges. The legal thriller typically uses court trials as the suspense-creating background for presenting legal issues reflecting a wide range of concerns, from corporate conflicts to private concerns, all in a dramatic but highly informed manner. With authors primarily from the USA and the UK, the genre is one which nonetheless enjoys a global reading audience. As well as providing a survey of the legal thriller, this book takes a gender–focused approach to analyzing recently published titles within the field. It also argues for the fascination of the legal thriller both in the way its narrative pattern parallels that of an actual court trial, and by the way it reflects, frequently quite critically, the concerns of contemporary society.

Why do they call Adelaide, Australia the "City of Corpses"? How many people did Agatha Christie kill with her pen? What was Jack the Ripper's supposed occupation? There's nothing like a little murder to challenge the dark side of your brain. This dastardly little volume is organized by the seven deadly sins, giving you all the gumshoes, guns, and gore you need to explore the sinister side of human nature, including: The worst villains of all time—from Hannibal Lecter to Charles Manson The bloody truth about forensics Weaponry to die for Private dicks, dangerous dames, and dubious characters The most puzzling unsolved mysteries Who's really gotten away with murder From amateur sleuths to serial killers, this murderous miscellany of crime—both real and imagined—is just the thing for a dark and stormy night.