{"id":19048,"date":"2023-12-12T20:05:58","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T01:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=19048"},"modified":"2023-12-12T20:05:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T01:05:58","slug":"the-case-of-the-terrified-typist-by-erle-stanley-gardner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=19048","title":{"rendered":"‘The Case of the Terrified Typist,’ by Erle Stanley Gardner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Like every child of the 50s,<\/strong> I know Perry Mason in the form of Raymond Burr on TV. (I hated the show when my mother watched it, but now I find it quite delightful in reruns.) And I\u2019ve read a couple of PM short stories over the years. But I\u2019d never read a Perry Mason novel before. Critics indicate that Erle Stanley Gardner, the author, was not big on characterization, which usually means a book won\u2019t be my kind of thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I got a deal on The Case of the Terrified Typist<\/a><\/em> and I tried it anyway. And you know what? I now know why the Perry Mason series was so popular. Gardner knew how to spin a tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trial attorney Perry Mason has a big document that needs retyping, and his secretary Della Street is having trouble finding a competent typist. She calls an agency, but they can\u2019t promise much. Then a woman shows up in their office and, asked if she\u2019s the typist, she says yes. She turns out to be a whiz at it, and gets a lot of work done very quickly, very accurately. Then she disappears as mysteriously as she appeared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Perry and Della learn that the police are in the building, looking for a woman who robbed a diamond import business, they do a search and find a clump of chewing gun attached to the bottom of the typist\u2019s desk. Inside that clump are valuable diamonds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the neat hook that opens The Case of the Terrified Typist<\/em>. As the story proceeds, Perry will be hired to represent one of the diamond company\u2019s employees against charges of murdering a diamond smuggler. Surprisingly, Hamilton Burger, the district attorney, chooses to bring murder charges without a body being found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole story was complex, but it was also lively and suspenseful. I had a good time reading it. It made few demands and entertained me thoroughly. I just might read more Perry Mason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like every child of the 50s, I know Perry Mason in the form of Raymond Burr on TV. (I hated the show when my mother watched it, but now I find it quite delightful in reruns.) And I\u2019ve read a couple of PM short stories over the years. But I\u2019d never read a Perry Mason … Continue reading ‘The Case of the Terrified Typist,’ by Erle Stanley Gardner<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,15],"tags":[4988,4989,4990],"class_list":["post-19048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-reviews","tag-erle-stanley-gardner","tag-perry-mason","tag-the-case-of-the-terrified-typist"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19048"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19049,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19048\/revisions\/19049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}