February 5^th marks the anniversary of my parent’s wedding! Mom and Dad shared a love for the ages, and today would have been their 69^th anniversary. Every morning for more years than I could count, I would call my folks and serenade them with the immortal anniversary theme from The Flintstones. (You can listen to it here.) My father learned to accept this rite with patient forbearance. Today, I’ll honor them in a different way, as befits the blog.  

But first – some pictures!!

I cannot offer you a factual explanation of whatever process Erle Stanley Gardner used to select the titles for the 80+ cases he wrote about Perry Mason, the world’s greatest defense attorney, but if you lay out all those descriptor+nouns before you, several themes emerge. Perhaps the largest and canniest (as far as advertising goes) is the bevy of beauties, from the amorous aunt to the vagabond virgin that make for sellable covers! And then there’s the veritable menagerie of animals – the dog, cat, canary, parrot, duck, kitten, mosquito, horse, gorilla, monkeys, That run of reads is certainly in my future!

Today, however, with my parents in mind, I have selected seven titles that relate in some way to the – well, in a mystery it tends to be the unholy state of matrimony. I’ll present one of them to you each month in order to stretch out my delight and not wear out Perry’s welcome. A bonus feature is that the seven cases cover nearly all of Mason’s career, from the mid-30’s to the mid-60’s, and it’ll be interesting to see how the style and quality shift. 

We’ll start, appropriately, on February 14^th, Valentine’s Day and then drop a new title in the middle of each month through August. Here’s what you can expect, just in case you want to read ahead: 

February:       The Case of the Curious Bride (1934)

Actually, Perry’s client claims to not be a bride – but Della knows she’s lying! The nervous young woman is asking for “a friend” whether a bride can be arrested for the murder of her husband if nobody can find his body. Holy corpus delicti! 

March:            The Case of the Haunted Husband (1941)

I have a feeling I will feel especially sympathetic toward this defendant because she comes from San Francisco! She’s a cigarette girl who thumbs a ride to L.A., gets into a car crash with a frisky lothario and ends up in a hospital accused of his murder! 

April:              The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife (1945)

One of those shady business types that frequently populate the World of Mason tries to hit pay dirt at the expense of his clients. But when he gets murdered (on a pleasure cruise, no less!), his poor wife ends up on the dock! 

May:                The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom (1949)

I’m going to quote the Wikipedia description verbatim: “First Mason gets his face slapped by a beautiful burglar in his office building, then a Tijuana wedding trip leads to a murder.” What can you say after that???

June:               The Case of the Spurious Spinster (1961)

There’s a name for women in mysteries who don’t get married, and it’s Miss Marple, er, well, you know. This spinster also seems to be a secretary, a favorite defendant type in the canon,  and there’s more intrigue involving a wheelchair-bound mine owner, (bonus question: does every executive in a Mason mystery invest in mines?!?)

July:                The Case of the Bigamous Spouse (1961)

There seem to be a number of Perry Mason books involving best female friends. In this, one of them is accused of killing the other one’s husband. I’m going out on a limb here to predict that either the other friend killed her own husband or he’s bigamous and there’s a third angry woman running around with a .32 in her purse!

August:           The Case of the Daring Divorcee (1964)

I’m going back to Wikipedia for this one: “A purse containing thousands of dollars and a twice-fired gun is left in Mason’s office, but his potential client has disappeared.” Interestingly, this is almost exactly how the first book in this series, The Case of the Curious Bride begins. The machinations of the Gardner’s plot wheel may lead to some fascinating tangents!

I am so looking forward to another deep dive into one of my favorite authors and heroes. Of course, I’ll be sure to rewatch and compare each TV episode to its source. Five’ll get you ten that Perry Mason never improves on the real Perry Mason!

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!