The Case of the Sulky Girl, by Erle Stanley Gardner

Growing up, I was a fan of the Perry Mason television series starring Raymond Burr. As much as I enjoyed the series, it never occurred to me to read any of the Perry Mason books written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Having recently watched some of the films from the 1930s starring Warren William, I decided to give the books a try.

I read the first book in the Perry Mason series, The Case of the Velvet Claws the last week of March and upon finishing it, I immediately began reading the second book,The Case of The Sulky Girl. Unlike in the first book, we actually see Mason doing his thing in the courtroom in this one.

Being a fan of the genre, it wasn't difficult for me to spot the killer. Of course, I'll provide no spoilers.

These books are not great works of literature. Erle Stanley Gardner was no Fyodor Dostoevsky;The Case of The Sulky Girl isn't Crime and Punishment, but it is entertaining, never the less. I'll be reading more in the series as time goes by.

The March, 2025 Reading List

 

Of the ten books read in the month of March, all but one fall into the crime/mystery/detective story genre. In February, only five of the ten books read that month fit into the same category. It would appear that my reading selections are heading in that direction.

Three of the books on the list are by Ed McBain from his "87th Precinct" series. I first learned of Ed McBain from my reading the work of Haruki Murakami. A character in one of Murakami's novels mentions reading something by McBain. I did a search of McBain and learned he wrote 55 books in the "87th Precinct" series. The three for this month are The Con Man,Killer's Choice and Killer's Payoff.

I had never heard of Scottish crime fiction novelist Denzil Meyrick until I read of his death recently. Going to the Wikipedia article on him, I learned of his DCI Jim Daley series, of which Whisky From Small Glasses is the first of eleven in the series.
I enjoyed the novel and I'm sure to go on to more. However, there are two reasons why I can't give this book five stars. The stories take place in Scotland, so naturally Meyrick gives most of the characters in the book Scottish accents. Yes, it gives an authenticity to the plot, but it makes it very difficult for me to follow along at times.
Also, without giving away anything, it became obvious to me who the killer was long before Meyrick let it be known in the story. Maybe I'm just too familiar with the crime fiction genre.
The Last Witness is the second in the same series. I'm really enjoying my discovery of Denzil Meyrick's DCI Daley series. The stories are exciting, suspenseful, and oddly enough, humorous at times.

Being a big fan of Donna Leon's novels (set in Venice) when I learned of a series, also set in Venice, by Philip Gwynne Jones, I thought I should look into them. I gave this first book in the series, The Venetian Game, only three stars.....I liked it but it doesn't compare to Donna Leon's writing. I'll eventually get around to finishing Jones' series, but all in good time.

Speaking of Donna Leon, I read two in her Commissario Guido Brunetti series. One of my favorite crime/detective series.

Although I grew up watching the Perry Mason tv series starring Raymond Burr, I never thought of reading Erle Stanley Gardner's books until recently when I watched some of the Perry Mason films from the 1930s starring Warren William. I must say, the Perry Mason character in the first book, The Case of the Velvet Claws isn't at all like the character as portrayed by either William or Burr.I'm giving this book three stars....an interesting read. I'll go to more in the Perry Mason series.

Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work by Johann Nikolaus Forkel was a disappointment and the less said, the better.

The complete list:
The Con Man        by Ed McBain
Whisky from Small Glasses    by Denzil Meyrick
The Venetian Game       by Philip Gwynne Jones
Killer's Choice      by Ed McBain
Killer's Payoff       by Ed McBain
Unto Us a Son Is Given   by Donna Leon
Trace Elements        by Donna Leon
The Last Witness   by Denzil Meyrick
Johann Sebastian Bach:His Life, Art, and Work   by Johann Nikolaus Forkel
The Case of the Velvet Claws    by Erle Stanley Gardner

Reading List For February, 2025

 

Although there's still several hours left in February, it's unlikely that I'll finish another book today so I'll go ahead and post the list of books I read in February, 2025.

Fevor by Toby Lloyd was recommended by someone on the Commentary Magazine podcast - I think it might have been Seth, I can't remember exactly. I enjoyed the book, although I only rate it three stars out of five. I felt the story fell apart at the end.

Very Good, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse was mildly amusing. Eleven short stories featuring Jeeves and Bertie Wooster; not all the stories are up to par but a good read. Three stars.

I have two books this month by Donna Leon. I enjoy everything I read written by her.

Quest For Fire by J.H. Rosny was published in 1911. It's very different than the 1981 film. I was expecting the book to be better than the film (which I really enjoyed, by the way) but the book seems to be more Tarzanesque. Is there such a word? I can only give the book 2 stars - which translates to "it was OK".

Originally published in 1995, many of the cultural references in the late Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted:World Science as a Candle in the Dark ( such as the "crop circles" hoaxes from the 1980s ) are a bit dated. However, the main theme - that people need to be encouraged to learn critical and skeptical thinking - is relevant today. Still, I only gave it two stars on Goodreads.

I remember that as a child of the late 1950s, we were told that America was named for Amerigo Vespucci, but little else was mentioned of him. I recently saw an American TV personality go on a rant about how America was named for "some Italian white guy". I wanted to get a reasonably unbiased history of Vespucci, so I read his biography - written in 1907 by Frederick Ober. I was sure that being written when it was, it wouldn't contain "woke" propaganda. For anyone interested in history, this book is a must read.

I first learned of Ed McBain from reading Haruki Murakami. A character in one of Murakami's novels mentions reading something by McBain. I did a search of McBain and learned he wrote 55 books in the "87th precinct" series. I've read three in the series and find them entertaining. The books are like the "film noir" movie genre of the 40s and 50s.

Now, for the list:

Fervor                    by Toby Lloyd
Very Good, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse
Earthly Remains   by Donna Leon
Cop Hater             by Ed McBain
The Mugger          by Ed McBain
Quest for Fire       by J. H. Rosny
Amerigo Vespucci   by Frederick A Ober
The Demon-Haunted World:Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan
The Temptation of Forgiveness   by Donna Leon
The Pusher   by Ed McBain

Reading List For January, 2025

It's now the end of the month, so it's time again for the list of books read during the month. With twelve books read in January, this is most read in any one month since April of 2021 when the monthly count was 15.

This month, I'll be listing the books differently; normally I'd list the books in the order read. This time they'll be grouped by writer.

There were five written by Donna Leon, three by P.G. Wodenhouse, two by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and one each by Haruki Murakami and Larry Denninger.

I'm giving each book by Leon, Wodenhouse and Murakami five stars. Larry Denninger's book receives three stars. Sadly, Toshikazu Kawaguchi's two books are only getting two stars each. These two are part of a five book series - much of what's written doesn't hold up after five books.

The list:

Beastly Things
The Golden Egg
By Its Cover
Falling in Love
The Waters of Eternal Youth   by Donna Leon 

A Damsel in Distress
Right Ho, Jeeves
The Code of the Woosters   by P.G. Wodehouse 

 
Before We Say Goodbye
Before We Forget Kindness   by Toshikazu Kawaguchi 

 
End of the World and Hard-boiled Wonderland   by Haruki Murakami

 
Songs for Clara   by Larry Denninger