"The Case Of The Velvet Claws" 1933 GARDNER, Erle Stanley
$1,500
GARDNER, Erle Stanley
[310] pp.
Grosset & Dunlap
1933
7 3/4" x 5 1/4"
Jacket design by Gorska
w/ 1941 gift inscription on ffep
*chip to head of jacket spine*
A cornerstone, of American mystery fiction. Erle Stanley Gardner's first book and first Perry Mason mystery
California lawyer Perry Mason takes on a client, Eva Belter, who is described and instantly hated, as “all velvet and claws” by his secretary Della Street.
Eva's husband George is behind tabloid editor Frank Locke’s blackmail of Congressman Harrison Burke. The politician and Eva had been together at a restaurant when there was an attempted robbery. It's not long before George takes a bullet to the heart as he's getting out of his bath. There's a forged will too. It benefits his nephew Carl, who is engaged to the daughter of Mrs. Veitch, the Belters’ secretive housekeeper. Is this complicated or what!
At least Eva Belter had brains; she was smart enough to consult Perry Mason.