Stop me if you’ve heard this before: I am a huge fan of Perry Mason, the lawyer-detective created by Erle Stanley Gardner. I am particularly fond of the way Mason was portrayed by actor Raymond Burr. That will always be the definitive presentation for me.
If you’ve watched any of the Perry Mason TV episodes from 1957 to 1966, the setup of the episodes is basically the same. In the opening act, we meet the potential client who has been legally injured in some manner (e.g., blackmailed, victim of fraud, etc.). We see that the potential client knows the one who injured him and they argue in front of witnesses. Later the client is accused of murder and Perry Mason and his staff are brought into the case. Mason proves by clever cross-examination and an intimate knowledge of the law that his client was not the murderer. We watch as the real murderer tearfully confesses to the crime in the courtroom. But this is not how the story develops in the novels.
In the novels, we meet Perry Mason in his office, often telling his secretary, Della Street, that he is bored and yearning for a good case t
o solve. On cue, a client comes into the office and describes how they have been injured and who did it. As Mason starts working the case, a murder occurs, his client is accused and Mason goes on the attack to prove his client innocence. From 1933 to 1956, this was the pattern of every Gardner Perry Mason novel.
So what is different about the 1956 novel, The Case of the Gilded Lily?
It is the novel that was formatted in the style we now identify with the Perry Mason TV show which would air one year later in 1957. Perry Mason doesn’t appear in the book until around page 40 (depending upon if you have the hard or soft cover edition of the novel). In The Case of the Gilded Lily we meet the client on page one, see the crime perpetuated against him, see him accused of murder and follow along as Mason is called into the case to solve it and exonerate his client.
However, Gardner, was apparently dissatisfied with this method of story-telling because in the next novel, The Case of the One-Eyed Witness published later that same year in 1956, Mason is introduced on page 3. The following year, 1957, Gardner returned to opening his books with Mason in his office complaining about boredom and paperwork on page one. Gardner would continue opening his novels with Mason on page one until he passed away in 1970.
So here’s the bottom line: The Case of the Gilded Lily is the only Gardner Perry Mason novel presented in the template of the TV series. Every book, before and after this one, focuses on Mason from the very beginning of the story. But it was sticking to this formula that made Erle Stanley Gardner the best-selling American author of the 20th century at the time of his death.
The Perry Mason TV series is on MeTV and CBS All Access. The Perry Mason novels are available on Amazon.
