The Case of the Velvet Claws (The Best Mysteries of All Time) Hardcover – January 1, 2002

I’m not typically a fan of mysteries or even fiction. I was never a big Perry Mason fan until the 2020 HBO version first aired. That piqued my curiosity and I found this book. It did not disappoint! What a wonderful murder mystery, full of twists and turns. Mason is masterful. I read this book in two sittings and could hardly put it down it’s fun to read about the world as it was circa 1932. I wish Gardner could be alive now to give us a modern take on the genre. I look forward now to reading more in the Perry Mason book series. Highly recommend.

Some of the dialog should be accounted for style of the time it was written. But make no mistake, it’s a great story (they made a movie out of it) and a great tale from Mr. Gardner.

One of Erie Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason mysteries -- I don't remember which one -- was the first grown-up book I ever read. Gardner was one of my dad's favorite writers in the late 50s and early 60s. He always kept a Gardner book in the glove compartment of our car, because we only had the one and so he often spent time waiting to pick one of us up. One day when I was waiting in the car, I took out whichever mystery it was, started reading, and was hooked. I read many more through my teens.I was drawn to this particular book because it's the first in the series, and I had just finished watching the HBO Perry Mason series that is the imagined origin story of the well-known lawyer as well as Della Street and Paul Drake. Of course, this first book doesn't go into Mason's background, but it does present a more hard-boiled main character than we came to know as the book series and original television series showed.It's a good "film noir" read, and well worth picking up.again if it's been a few decades since you last read Gardner.

I will admit. I never watched more than a channel flip of the television series starring Raymond Burr as Erle Stanley Gardner’s titular hero. I’ve been more interested in watching HBO’s take on the character, but I’ve been holding off until I got a chance to read the first book in the Perry Mason series.If you like your mysteries hardboiled, The Case of the Velvet Claws will more than satisfy. Gardner nails everything this genre requires. A dead body. A femme fatal. Scheming relatives and staff. Everyone is lying, so who is telling the truth? Lots of red herrings until the killer confesses.If you want to know what makes this particular lawyer tick, look elsewhere. The only thing the reader is allowed to know, oftentimes as a detriment to the story, Perry Mason never gives up on his clients even when they’re attempting to frame him for murder. I suppose Perry Mason is a testament to the era (original publication date 1933; I read the 2013 version). While banks and government failed, and people lost their shirts and their smiles, there was still one man left in the world that wouldn’t give up on them.

I have been a Perry Mason fan since first finding him on TV years ago. I binge watch the show about every five years. Finally I decided I needed to read one of the books and started with the first one. I love old movies--they just have a different feel about them. This book made me think of old movies. The writing is different than current novels. I love Erle wrote about cars and how to start them and his use of terminology that is so old. Made me laugh. As far as the story went, I had the murderer figured out some time before the end of the book. I never could with the TV show. But that didn't discourage me from enjoying the book. I do plan on ordering the next Perry Mason and reading it.

I'm a fan of Perry Mason as a character (television, film, radio show) and I've read excerpts from the original novel stories in mystery magazines in the past. I decided to dive in and read through the original texts from the beginning and of course started with this title! As a long-time lover of literary writing, I always have to adjust my response to pulp or entertainment fiction, knowing its ultimate intent, so I treat it more gently than something more philosophical or social theory oriented. With that said, this book is a good, solid read. The writing is clean, simple, straightforward (suggests Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch style), and delivers the character with an unapologetic, unbending stare. I appreciate Mason's professionalism and that the book doesn't fall into the typical, cheeseball pulp language of other novels from the same era. Instead, it's highly readable, enjoyable, and not goofy or cheesy in any way. It's an excellent introduction to the main characters that populate Gardner's world, and for those familiar with the television adaptation, this novel introduces Drumm instead of Tragg, who appeared during later seasons. It's reasonably paced (steady, direct, not flashy, not too dull, not sappy) and it's a quick read, really. Gardener is an economical, no-nonsense writer, and he provides everything you need to know to solve the crime parallel to Mason. I might have liked more action, but I was not disappointed. Planning to continue the series.

Gave it as a gift and they read the entire book already. Must have been good!

De multiples rebondissements, des personnages doués d’humanité plus qu’à l’accoutumée, un tendre baiser entre Me Mason et Della Street sa secrétaire attentionnée : une très bonne livraison d’un Perry Mason !

So says lawyer Perry Mason, who turns detective to crack a murder case. It’s a sordid tale of blackmail, bigamy, greed and infidelity. This is the first Mason mystery, from the 1930s, and set in motion a hugely successful franchise involving movies and a long-running TV series with Raymond Burr as Mason. There was another recent noir telly adaptation, too. Velvet Claws reads like a contemporary thriller at times. The pace doesn’t let up. It’s fast and clever, and cuts to the chase. I’d never read any Perry Mason before - but can’t wait to tackle the second title in the series.

Haven’t read one of these since the 1970s. This was the first one, and I picked it up to see if there was any justification for the version of the character currently being portrayed in the miniseries. I can sort of see where the pre-lawyer Mason could be justified, but this is still a long way from the character portrayed famously by Raymond Burr. It was enjoyable. I’ll probably read another one.

it is a good book to buy.

I had heard that it was edgier than the later Perry Masons. I did not find that. I thought that the relationship with Della Street was more tentative than in later books. I always prefer the Perry Masons that are acted out in the court room and this one never gets to court. It is left to Mason to act it all out at the scene of the crime. It does keep you reading from beginning to end and it is easy to see why it was so successful when it was first published.