Tag: Perry Mason books
November 16th, 2014 – Book’ The Case of the Lame Canary’ by Erle Stanley Gardner.
by Rob Smith, Jr. on Nov.19, 2014, under Books
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.
July 16th, 2014 – ‘The Case of the Sleepwalking Neice’ by Erle Stanley Gardner.
by Rob Smith, Jr. on Jul.16, 2014, under Books
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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