In my very first post back in early November, you might recall my mention of a lawyer/writer named Erle Stanley Gardner, who wrote the Perry Mason crime series. Besides writing, Gardner also spent a number of years, freeing wrongly imprisoned people.
Well, a few weeks ago, when the December issue of the Smithsonian magazine arrived in the mail, I was totally shocked to see a feature article about Erle Stanley Gardner, someone whom I had not even heard of before researching my post about Keys View at Joshua National Park.
In “The Case of the Autographed Corpse,” which is available here, he investigated the murder of a woman who was married to an Apache shaman/leader named Silas John Edwards. At the time, Edwards was known for holding snake dances, selling liquor, and having an eye for the women in his tribe. At trial’s end, Edwards was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife. Having served seventeen years, he finally contacted Gardner, asking him to investigate his case. The case pivoted around Edwards’ initials, which had been inscribed on rocks found near his wife’s body. If you have time to see how Gardner was able to turn this case around, the read is well worth it.
Because I loved watching Perry Mason TV shows when I was growing up, I thought I would order some Gardner crime mysteries on Amazon. It was hard to find any still in print, but I found a book that had three of Gardner’s best stories. Long story short, this is what I received:
Um, yeah, in Hindi! I guess I will be returning this to Amazon. Have a great week!
I think that I remember reading some of his stories when I was younger. I did read them in English though. I remember liking him very much. And yes , Perry Mason was great.
Perry Mason always seemed so serious on the TV show. I was kind of awestruck by him.
You know I read mysteries. And years ago I went through a period of reading Erle Stanley Gardner. I don’t remember much about them now, but I do remember that I got my copies from used book stores. I wish I still had them to lend you. I think you can also get them on kindle. These are just ideas on finding the books since you’re not going to be reading your amazon book….
We have a really good used book store here in Fullerton, but I hadn’t even thought about looking there. Then again, it may be closed because of Covid. I’ll check. Thanks for the ideas.
That’s funny.
Maybe Andrea could possibly translate?
Hi Kim. Andrea sent a picture of the book to a friend who speaks Hindi. He said that the book I received was written in an older version of Hindi that many young people wouldn’t understand or be able to read today.