The Case of the Velvet Claws

Written by Erle Stanley Gardner

Narrated by Alexander Cendese

Criminal lawyer and bestselling mystery author Erle Stanley Gardner wrote nearly 150 novels that have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Now, the American Bar Association is bringing back his most famous and enduring novels—featuring criminal defense lawyer and sleuth Perry Mason—in striking trade paperback editions.

Married Eva Griffin has been caught with a prominent congressman, and is ready to pay the editor of a sleazy tabloid hush money to protect the politician. But first Perry Mason tracks down the publisher of the blackmailing tabloid and discovers a shocking secret, which eventually leads to Mason being accused of murder.

This is the first Perry Mason mystery and our introduction to secretary Della Street, detective Paul Drake, and the great lawyer himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Oct 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781531826833

Erle Stanley Gardner

Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) was a prolific American author best known for his Perry Mason novels, which sold twenty thousand copies a day in the mid-1950s. There have been six motion pictures based on his work and the hugely popular Perry Mason television series starring Raymond Burr, which aired for nine years.

Reviews for The Case of the Velvet Claws

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unlike many others in the Perry Mason series, this novel is not centred on a court room drama, but it does introduce the characters who featured in most other novels in the series: his secretary Della Street, a young woman at this time, and obviously in love with her boss; and private eye Paul Drake who hunts down the facts to back up Perry Mason's quirky theories.It was hard not to see, in my mind's eye, the bulky Raymond Burr who played Perry Mason in the long running television series. And yet, somehow, the central character in this novel does not quite match that tv character.I can see why, even over 80 years on, why this novel was a winner with readers. The characters are well drawn, the action fast-paced and the plot is full of unexpected twists and turns. Perry Mason points out to his client. who constantly lies to him, that he is hardly a novice. He already has files from hundreds of previous cases in his filing cabinets, and he expects to have many more. He specialises in getting people out of holes. Most of the cases he has been involved in are murder cases, and mostly he gets people off. So here is a lawyer who takes on clients regardless of how much they can pay for his services. See more at Wikipedia.THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS was made into a film in 1936. A good read.

[laxmi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Perry Mason in a more of a detective’s role, and that too an aggressive one. Enjoyable.

[Srijeeta Mukherjee · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Plot not so good. Excellent audio performance. I have read better cases by the author.

[edgoldberg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

With the renewed interest in Perry Mason due to the reimagined current TV series and my childhood interest in the Raymond Burr TV show which aired from 1957 through 1966, which I gather is very different than its current counterpart, I decided I needed to go back to its origin, the first Perry Mason book by Erle Stanley Gardner, published in 1933. I've been hesitant to watch the new series because of my steadfast love of the old. However, both seem to have their roots in the books. The new series takes place in 1933 similar to the book while the old TV show has Burr as a lawyer, not a private investigator. Hopefully the new and the old can live side by side.Anyway, onto the book. An expensively dressed woman walks into Perry Mason's office and Della Street, his secretary and not so secret admirer, warns him she's trouble. It seems that married Eva Griffith was out on the town with up for election politician Harrison Burke and a murder occurred at the nightclub they were at. It would be political suicide if this liaison was made public and Eva is afraid that the scandal rag Spicy Bits is going to find out and publish the information. Eva wants Mason to convince them it is not in their best interest to do so. Always up for a challenge and a big fee, Mason takes the case, against the advice of Della. But as you suspect, Eva is not who she says she is and furthermore it turns out that her husband is the hidden owner of Spicy Bits. When he turns up dead, Eva is a prime suspect. We all know that Perry will come up with the truth, using whatever devious means he can. The Case of the Velvet Claws is classic Perry Mason and classic 1930s noir. It is not as dark as Hammett or Chandler or some of the other great Black Mask pulp fiction mystery writers (it's almost like a cozy mystery compared with them) put the action and the language put it in the same genre. It was a treat to see Perry, Della and private investigator Paul Drake in action. I haven't read a Perry Mason in a while.I highly recommend it.

[grandpahobo_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Erle Stanley Gardner's Perry Mason is very different from the TV show version. Much more of a Sam Spade type character.

[jeffome · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have been gathering up Perry Mason books for years ever since i stumbled across a dozen of them for a dime apiece at a local yard sale.....and i am now actually approaching a complete set with only a few left to find.....but i have never read one!!! So, i figured i'd start at the beginning (which i always do if i can) and see if i even would like these after all of this acquisition effort. And i loved it!! I flew through it. I loved the character of Perry Mason, i loved that he was a lawyer, not a private detective like all of the other gumshoe series-type books. But the book was clever, Perry was clever, Della Street, his assistant, was charming, and the story kept my interest. I did not really have time to read this, but i did in record time considering. Thank God! Cuz i've got a ton more to enjoy. Whew.....

[anniemod · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Usually first novels take some time to build the characters and the relationships; to introduce the dynamics. Gardner somehow manages to pull off his first Mason novel without needing it. The story just starts, backgrounds get revealed when needed and the story just happen. Meet Eva. A married woman that ends up in a bad place at a bad time - with a married man (whom she is not married to) in a semi-public place when a crime happens. Her companion is a politician and finding him there, especially with Eva would have been a disaster (it is the 30s after all - reading from the 21st century, it shows just how much society had moved on). So his (and her name) are suppressed but as at least one person knows, it will never stay a secret. Add a yellow newspaper and things start getting ugly. Especially when the husband of Eva shows up and then dies - and one of his companies ends up being one of the main problems - an ownership noone knew about.Perry Mason tries to help our damsel in distress - and gets himself accused of the murder. Then things turn to the worse. And just when you do not see how things may get resolved, a few surprises and a few explanations are provided and Mason wins the case. You know he will - I am not sure if there is any of those books that do not have him winning - but for a while there, I really could not see how exactly. It is a nicely constructed novel - despite some of the oddities. And especially for a first novel, it is well worth a read, even 8 decades later.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Perry really manipulates the truth in this one -- a little manufactured evidence here, a little suborning perjury there -- whoa! This book was atypical because rather than skirting legalities as in other books, he actually breaks the law in this one. His client was a devious, manipulative bitch, but it still seemed out of character for Perry to go this far.

[miguelnunonave · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Somehow a very stylish legal thriller, incredibly satisfying and clever. A shame that these books aren't re-edited in more decent versions nowadays. You're left with these shabby old paperbacks that do not do justice to the contents.

[delphimo_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This is my first foray into the written work of Perry Mason. As a child, I probably saw every episode of Perry Mason. The novel did not seem to be the Perry Mason that I remembered. The story took many turns before coming to the conclusion. The novel ran on dialogue, as opposed to lengthy description. The writing reminds me of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. This is a different style than Agatha Christie and Anne Perry, and each is interesting. I prefer the description as opposed to constant dialogue.

[redqueen-10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A spoiled woman is keen to keep news of her affairs from her powerful husband, even if it costs Perry his freedom when she swears he was on the murder scene.