The Case of the Lame Canary by Erle Stanley Gardner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What stands out as the best parts of ‘The Case of the Lame Canary is the interaction between the Perry Mason, Della Street and Paul Drake characters. Gardcner is at the top of his writing skills with consistency and character development.

This is also true of the rest of the cast of this novel. Distinct characters developed throughout the book. This all helps wading through a very convoluted and overly concocted story by Gardner.

This book revels Gardeners ability to write great characterized and his ability to work too hard to use elements to create a book.

As I read the book I could see how Gardner had a set of distinct parts he worked real hard to fit together. This makes the book feel very forced to a conclusion. You know there is a conclusion at the end, but keep seeing many pages ahead as Gardner tries to weave in some nonsense leads that,in any other of his books, Mason would have been written to figure out.

Though I don’t care for the overall story, the writing is top notch and,again, just reading character interaction is outstanding.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 6 of 10 points.

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The Case of the Ice Cold Hands by Erle Stanley Gardner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This volume of the law life of Perry Mason moves as fast as most others and then slows, as usual when the story lands in the courtroom. In this story the story really slows int he courtroom as an intricate set of legal moves sets up the conclusion. A bit tough to get through and I think it all could have been written more clearly.

This Gardner story is a bit more plodding in places and repetitious. This is a later Mason book and maybe that has something to do with it.

As usual, the main characters are hardly described at all. The passing characters are well described and very consistent. The setting is also well mapped out literally.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 6 of 10.

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The Case of the Sleepwalker’s Niece by Erle Stanley Gardner

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was the first of the Gardner books that I wasn’t crazy about. Seems to me that Gardner had the ending more in focus than building the rest of the book in a coherent manner. A lot of stretches of the imagination, especially involving plane flight schedules (recognizing this was written in the 1930s).

Also the characters weren’t as sharp as in other Gardner books. There are a number of twists that could leave a reader confused as to who is who.

The idea of the conclusion is sharp, but wonder if it could’ve been better presented for a dramatic touch.

Still this book is better than most and certainly better than the bulk of books written today. Though, I’d point to other Mason stories than this.

Bottom line: I don’t recommend this book.

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Case Of The Phantom Fortune (Perry Mason Mysteries by Erle Stanley Gardner
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Not one of the best of Gardner’s books. The story is so-so to begin with. The problems lie in the story structure and, more specifically, the dialogue. It seems that at obvious points that separate paragraphs were constructed and pasted into the book. Considering how much one sentence dialogue is in this story, a large, descriptive diatribe about legal or investigative methodology doesn’t read cohesively. There’s a great story here, but the structure is off as the story slows and speeds at different points and then there are the technical speed bumps. Almost wonder if Gardner wrote this at all and if this was put together by a staff. There are far better Perry Mason stories and those should be read first.

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Here is a tremendous Robert McGinnis book cover I picked up Wednesday. Below is a closer look.

Here are some new covers gathered. The ones above and below are from romance novels. I love the multi-levels of the one below.  Great art for 10 cents each.