Product Details

• Published on: 1963
• Binding: Unknown Binding
• 207 pages

Customer Reviews

Among Gardner's Best
Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) wrote more than one hundred novels over the course of his long career. A trail lawyer himself, Gardner's best known creation was Perry Mason, a flamboyant criminal defense attorney who earns his large fees by virtue of a remarkable talent for using the law to uncover the truth on the witness stand.

Gardner was at the peak of his powers during the 1950s, and THE CASE OF THE GLAMOROUS GHOST, published in 1955, is a very sharply written and very clever work. Written in a staccato, dialogue-heavy style that recalls the works of Hammett, it offers the story of Eleanor Corbin--a flighty young woman with a history of getting into "scrapes." And her current one is a dilly: Eleanor has been arrested for wandering around a park in a nearly naked state. Mason steps in at the request of her mortified family in an effort to control both Eleanor and the press... but when the headlines break it isn't long before Eleanor finds herself on trial for murder.

GHOST has a particularly complicated plot that ranges from lying clients to blackmail to smuggling, but Gardner is adept at keeping every element in the air until the last few pages, at which point they all click into place with unexpected logic. Although laws--and certainly police procedure and forensics--have changed a great deal since this novel was first published, it is a tremendous amount of fun from start to finish. Among Gardner's best. Recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Perry Lights the Way!
For those out there whose only knowledge of Perry Mason comes from the old Raymond Burr series, I implore you to find the books! They're loads of fun, with snappy dialogue, complex plots, and sharply drawn characters. Perry's relationship with Della Street, his confidential secretary, is extremely interesting, not at all the innocent friendship as one might think.

THE CASE OF THE GLAMOROUS GHOST has all the aforementioned elements plus more: beautiful women, murder, misdirection, Perry's client trapped within a web of circumstantial evidence. But it is the trial sequence in this book, which is over 100 pages long, that elevates this novel. Slowly we learn exactly what happened in these people's lives and who REALLY is the villian of the piece. As is true with most Mason books, no one is who they seem.

This is an exciting work, with an above average puzzle. Gardner never, EVER lets the action drag (one of his primary trademarks) and I feel that it will appeal to modern tastes as much as it appealed to those in the 40s and 50s. Let Perry light the way for you in one of his more interesting adventures. You'll love it!

Perry Mason in fine form
One of Earl Stanley Gardner's less formulaic efforts in the Perry Mason series, this one has an ending that should surprise TV fans who think the killer always confesses in the end. The story features diamond smugglers, a con artist, a voyeur hiding in closets watching beautiful women bathe, and of course, Mason, Della Street, and Paul Drake forming an unbeatable trio.