Super Sleuths
If you want to read quality mystery novels, I suggest Perry Mason by Erle Stanley Gardner and Nero Wolfe by Rex Stout. If your are into something more modern; but, just as well done, I recommend the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke.
If you are old enough you may remember the Perry Mason series that ran on TV back in the '50's. Although I loved the show, the original novels are even better. Erle Stanley Gardner was an actual judge who also wrote mystery novels. The novels themselves are now highly collectible; although, my main interest is in reading them. If you would like to learn more about Erle Stanley Gardner and his most famous creation, Perry Mason, you can go to the official Erle Stanley Gardner web site.Another great site you might want to visit is the The ESG Page. It has plenty of other url's, spoilers, and history.
Rex Stout was born in Kansas in 1886. He began his literary career as a magazine writer in 1912. In 1916 he devised a school banking system that was implemented nationally. By 1927 he was back to writing and his first Nero Wolfe novel,Fer-de-Lance, came out in 1934. Over 60 novels were produced featuring the corpulent detective who hardly ever left his home and who was passionate about food and orchids. The picture would not be complete without his right hand man, Archie Goodwin. The interplay between these two is always stimulating. There are many web sites dedicated to Nero Wolfe. I suggest that you start with Dave Patty's web site. Dave is a website designer and a big fan of Nero Wolfe. He has provided plenty of neat links.
The image displayed below is the front cover from the 1946
Pocket Books paperback edition of The Case of the Velvet Claws. The book was originally published in 1933. Part of the back cover description is as follows:
"Perry Mason, criminal lawyer, is retained by a much-too-beautiful woman who obviously is concealing more
than she is telling. She has heard that Perry Mason is a law unto himself and that he never lets a client down.
She has been rather indiscreet, and is involved in blackmail. When the case is complicated by murder, Perry Mason
finds himself as busy keeping clear of the law himself as he is in saving his client."
The second book jacket comes from the 1963 Pyramid Green
Door Mystery publication of "Some Buried Caesar". The book was originally published in 1938. This is
one of my favorite Wolfe books. He actually leaves home for this one (the car breaks down on the way to a state
fair with an orchid competition). This is also the first book where we see Lily Rowan. Lily later becomes the one
girl that Archie Goodwin sees on a regular basis. Some of the inside notes read as follow:
"THREE DEAD BODIES : Hickory Caesar Grindon - a champion bull, recently
purchased for $45,000 by a restauranteur - to use as main course at a mammoth barbecue ... Clyde Osgood - a wild
young man whose secret, desparate need for $10,000 made him stake his life tht no one would eat the bull ... Bronson
- the mysterious houseguest, amazingly able at robbery and blackmail, who found a new talent for getting a pitchfork
plunged into his back ... AND ONE MASTER DETECTIVE: Nero Wolfe - the fabulous fat man had come to the state fair
to see his orchids win still another first-place prize - and found himself pitchforked into the middle of triple
murder!
Dave Robicheaux is my most recent discovery. Dave is an ex-cop who lives in New Iberia, Louisiana. Although he tries to live the quiet life while running a bait shop, trouble always finds him and he always persues it in a relentless fashion. He is sometimes accompained by another ex-cop, his war buddy Clete Purcell. The author, James Lee Burke, has an incredible talent for painting with words. When you read one of these novels you will swear that you have visited the Louisianna bayou country. He doesn't overdo it, he does it just right. These novels are still being written and there are about 11 of them out by now. Mr. Burke has homes in Louisianna and Montana. His descriptions of the cherry orchids and mountain streams around Flathead Lake in Montana are almost a good as his portrait of the south along the Gulf of Mexico (I have never been to Louisianna but I did spend two months in the Flathead Lake region of Montana). There are several web sites where you can learn more about James Lee Burke's novels. I recommend the publisher Random House if you want to see what Burke is doing now and read his bio. You might also want to visit WebFiction for a page dedicated to the Robicheaux novels. This page has a FAQ and lists current book signings. Mr. Showbiz will give you an interview with Burke and lead you to a review of the 1996 movie Heaven's Prisoners which was an adaptation of the Robicheaux book by the same name. Don't take the review too seriously. If you are a Dave Robicheaux fan you will think this move is one of the best films you have ever seen. I loved every minute of it. It was faithful to the character and the action never stopped for a second.