The Case of the Shapely Shadow (1960) – A secretary, convinced her boss is being blackmailed, hires Mason to secure evidence. But when her boss is found murdered, she needs him to defend her on murder charges.

The Case of the Glamorous Ghost (1955) – A scantily-clad woman claims she has amnesia, and cannot remember anything about the jewel smuggling or the murder.DEAD MEN TELL TALESThough some think they saw a ghost, it was a real, live woman in the (mostly exposed) flesh flitting through Sierra Vista Park. Eleanor Corbin has a taste for trouble -- and a talent for getting out of it using the most outrageous means to cover her tracks. Now her scandalized half-sister, Olga, fears Eleanor may be using lascivious antics to camouflage more larcenous acts.Enter Perry Mason -- retained by Olga to keep the press at bay while pressing Eleanor for the sordid details of her latest escapade. The glamorous "ghost" claims she can't recall anything except eloping with a smooth-talking gambler...and a terrifying car crash. But a hidden cache of precious gems has another story to tell. And so does a murdered corpse that speaks louder than words....

The Case of the Borrowed Brunette (1946) – A young woman is hired to impersonate someone because her measurements and coloring match a very specific list. It is a tricky ploy in a divorce, and it soon leads to a murder charge against her chaperone.

The Case of the Worried Waitress (1966) – A pretty waitress is accused of stealing $100 from her wealthy aunt's hatbox, and a blind pencil-seller earns enough to come to work in a taxicab.

Dealing with debtors turns deadly for a prickly PI in this hard-boiled mystery by the creator of Perry Mason and author of Bats Fly at Dusk. A hot-headed widow and a glass-jawed ex-lawyer, Bertha Cool and Donald Lam seem like an unlikely duo of private detectives. Even so, they've managed to solve the most difficult of mysteries—when they're together. With Donald now on a European vacation, Bertha is hesitant to accept any new business—but money is money, and this new case seems routine enough . . . Bertha is hired to get sales engineer Everett Belder out of a $20,000 problem. Unfortunately, his troubles soon multiply. His wife is receiving poisoned-pen letters accusing him of infidelity. Then she disappears. And there's also the matter of the body in his cellar. With everything spiraling out of control, Bertha must determine who is behind this deadly game of cat and mouse before another murder comes into play. "No...

THERE IS A RICH tradition in mystery fiction of the Robin Hood thief, the sympathetic figure who steals from the rich to give to the deserving poor. Lester Leith, the hero of more than seventy novelettes, all written for the pulps, approached his thievery from a slightly different angle. He did steal from the rich, but only those who were themselves crooks, and he gave the money to charities—after taking a 20% "recovery" fee.Debonair, quick-witted, and wealthy, he enjoyed the perks of his fortune, checking the newspapers in the comfort of his penthouse apartment for new burglaries and robberies to solve, and from which he could reclaim the stolen treasures.He has a valet, Beaver, nicknamed "Scuttle" by Leith, who is a secret plant of Sergeant Arthur Ackley. Leith, of course, is aware that his manservant is an undercover operative, using that knowledge to plant misinformation to frustrate the policeman again and again.Leith is only one of a huge number of characters created by the indefatigable Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970), many of whom were criminals, including Ed Jenkins (the Phantom Crook), the sinister Patent Leather Kid, and Senor Arnaz de Lobo, a professional soldier of fortune and revolutionary."The Monkey Murder" was first published in the January 1939 issue of Detective Story.

The Case of the Curious Bride (1935) – A woman claiming not to be a bride consults Mason about her "friend" whose husband, long thought to have died in a plane crash, turns up alive.After con man Greg Moxley married Rhoda Lorton, he took her money and flew -- only to have his plane crash. Years later, Rhoda wed millionaire scion Carl Montaine. But now Moxley has turned up alive and well . . . with plans to pocket the Montaine fortune -- or else make Rhoda's bigamy public. Desperate to protect the good name of Montaine, Rhoda seeks out Perry Mason. But before Mason can reel in Moxley, somebody murders the scheming blackmailer. In a case that abounds in lethal twists, Mason suddenly finds himself on a collision course with a cold-blooded killer.

The Case of the Fabulous Fake (1969) – Trying to protect her brother, a woman tries to handle the person blackmailing him--only to be implicated in his murder.The client was young blond and beautiful and she wanted to disappear. The trouble was she wouldn’t say why, and she wouldn’t give her name. So Perry Mason agreed to a code of identification based on her measurements: 36-24-36. But according to Della Street, the figures were padded, and as it turned out, so was everything the client said. Certainly the bag full of cash she carries isn’t shopping money. All the mystery-woman asks is that Perry Mason make himself available for a few days in case she needs him-for what purpose, she remains silent as a grave. In fact, his headstrong client is headed for disaster –not only into a blackmailer’s clutches but into a lethal trap from which not even Perry Mason’s brilliant courtroom sorcery may be able to extricate her. Alive anyway…….SILENCE IS MURDERPerry Mason's beautiful new client isn't giving anything away, not even her name, and he suspects that what she does choose to reveal is mostly lies. Certainly the bag full of cash she carries isn't shopping money. All the mystery woman asks is that Mason make himself available for a few days in case she needs him--for what purpose, she remains silent as the grave.In fact, his headstrong client, who identifies herself only as "36-24-36," is headed for disaster--not only into a blackmailer's clutches but into a lethal trap from which not even Perry Mason's brilliant courtroom sorcery may be able to extricate her. Alive, anyway . . 

The Case of the Queenly Contestant (1967) – Mason is hired to stop a news story about an old beauty pageant. Later, he ends up defending the former contestant on murder charges.

The Case of the Reluctant Model (1962) – Mason gets involved in a case of slander when an art dealer says a painting by Phellipe Feteet is a forgery. When Mason goes to the apartment of the main witness, all he finds is a very dead body.

The Case of the Irate Witness (1953) – first book publication Fiction Goes to Court : Favorite Stories of Lawyers and the Law Selected by Famous Lawyers (1954) and later included in the short story collections The Case of the Irate Witness in 1970, and The Oxford Book of Detective Stories (2000).Contents The Case of the Irate Witness The Jeweled Butterfly Something Like a Pelican A Man is Missing  "Something Like a Pelican" (1942) is in Gardner's miscellaneous collection, The Case of the Irate Witness. It has a simple but satisfying borderline-impossible crime plot, about some stolen blueprints, plus lots of pleasant storytelling. Its impossible theft is in the same general category as the mysteries in "The Bird in the Hand". Gardner would return to this kind of impossible theft story in the opening section (Chapters 1-8) of the Bertha Cool - Donald Lam novel, The Count of Nine (1958). In all of these, Gardner introduces lots of plot complexities surrounding the central theft. The impossible crimes in these tales have structural similarities with the puzzle plot in the Paul Pry story, "Dressed to Kill" (1933), although that is not an impossible crime. There are also some relationships with the mystery of the hidden money in the Sidney Zoom tale "Lifted Bait" (1933). Many of these stories involve the complex architecture sometimes found in Golden Age books. In a number of the tales, such as "The Bird in the Hand" and The Count of Nine, someone has to smuggle a stolen object out of a building, past the watchful eyes of searchers, a seeming impossibility. "Something Like a Pelican" has some brief but intelligent comments on film directors, that seem more sophisticated than most other writing by non-film people in that era. Gardner would later function with effectiveness in the television industry, involved with the Perry Mason TV show. Leith and one of the characters share an interest in deluxe guns, which recalls Sidney Zoom and his policeman friend in "The Green Door". 

The Case of the Runaway Corpse (1954) – Mason defends a woman accused of poisoning her husband--even though witnesses saw the corpse climb out the motel window.Her husband was stealing her money, while accusing her of a plot to poison him -- or so claims the frightened young Mrs. Myrna Davenport. She wants Perry Mason to find the incriminating note her husband left for the authorities accusing her of murder -- especially now that Davenport is dying.Perry finds the envelope, but it's filled with blank paper. Then Davenport does die, or so everyone thinks until his alleged corpse climbs out a window and drives away -- straight into a prepared open grave in another county.With Davenport finally dead, Perry could become a possible accessory to murder. And though the victim died twice, Perry gets only one clear shot at saving his client -- and himself.From the Inside FlapHer husband was stealing her money, while accusing her of a plot to poison him -- or so claims the frightened young Mrs. Myrna Davenport. She wants Perry Mason to find the incriminating note her husband left for the authorities accusing her of murder -- especially now that Davenport is dying.Perry finds the envelope, but it's filled with blank paper. Then Davenport does die, or so everyone thinks until his alleged corpse climbs out a window and drives away -- straight into a prepared open grave in another county.With Davenport finally dead, Perry could become a possible accessory to murder. And though the victim died twice, Perry gets only one clear shot at saving his client -- and himself.

The Case of the Silent Partner (1940) – A dynamic young businesswoman is in danger of losing control of her flower shop, and someone sends poisoned bonbons to a nightclub hostess. Mason must reacquire some stock and defend the businesswoman. This novel is the first to feature Lt. Arthur Tragg.