"The Case of the Glamorous Ghost" by Erle Stanley Gardner

Friends, I think I have a new comfort author.

So, a few months ago, my 17-yr-old mentioned he would like to see some episodes of Perry Mason (1957-66), as I've mentioned now and then how much I liked that show when I was a kid watching reruns in the summer on cable at my grandparents' house.  Not long after, I found a couple seasons on DVD and bought them.  He tried some eps and liked them, so it was a win :-)

Not long after, my mom and I were looking for something to watch together in the evenings when she is staying with me.  I mentioned I had just gotten some Perry Mason DVDs, and she thought that sounded great.  So, we have been watching them 3 or 4 evenings a week when she stays with us.  And that has been an absolute blast!  I had forgotten how much I adore Paul Drake (William Hopper), Perry's on-call detective pal.  And I love Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and Della Street (Barbara Hale) too.

Well, then I was at a used bookstore with my mom and some of her friends this spring, and I stumbled on a big hardcover collection of seven complete Perry Mason novels by Erle Stanley Gardner, some of the books that inspired the TV show.  And I bought it, remembering that my grandpa used to read Perry Mason books once in a while and figuring maybe they would be enough like the show I would enjoy them.

Y'all.  Oh, y'all.  They are so much like the show.  I mean, I can hear and see the actors and actresses from the show on every page.  Perry Mason might be a little more impulsive than his TV counterpart in the two I've read so far, and Della might be a bit more sarcastic than her TV self.  Paul Drake is also somewhat more lackadaisical, though they clearly took a lot of details from the books for his portrayal on the show.  Right down to having a special, secret knock he uses to let Perry Mason know it's him before he enters, just in case there's a client or a policeman he maybe shouldn't encounter just yet.  A very specific knocking pattern that I glommed onto while watching the show before the age of 11, as I vividly remember mimicking it when on an overnight outing with my mom.  I've used that knock many times ever since.  I may have forgotten for a while how much I love Paul Drake, but not how much I love the way he knocks on doors!

The main difference between the books and the show thus far are that there's some mild cussing in them, and a bit more innuendo.  (Actually, the show gets pretty suggestive for something that aired on network TV in the 1950s and '60s -- but like all good '50s and '60s shows, it's all in the suggesting and implying, no overt hanky panky shown or explicitly talked about.)  (Though I watched a season 5 episode the other day where they did talk about a guy dealing with a lot of lawsuits that involved paternity tests, which I betcha raised some eyebrows pretty high even in the early 1960s when that one would have aired.)

Anyway, The Case of the Glamorous Ghost is about a girl who is picked up by the police because she's running around a public park at night, wearing a thin negligee and a clear raincoat.  She appears to have amnesia.  Perry Mason gets hired to defend her, just in case it turns out she's in any kind of serious trouble.  Which, of course, she is.  Jewel smuggling and clandestine trips to Las Vegas and elopement and murder all come out in the open by the end of it.  

And it's all so... cozy, somehow.  Like a mug of hot chocolate with a little kick of chili powder in it that just warms you up all the way through.  Or like hanging out with friends you have known three-quarters of your life.  Comfortable.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for discussion of unmarried couples going away for weekends and sharing hotel rooms, some mild cussing, and violent murder.