tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9206295108056025483.post1603111870702434956..comments2023-09-28T03:59:52.434-07:00Comments on The Corpse Steps Out: Top Ten List for Perry MasonJeffrey Markshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08422459407138331707noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9206295108056025483.post-48542786941629584342020-10-27T12:24:08.219-07:002020-10-27T12:24:08.219-07:00I don't read Perry Mason to find out about Gar...I don't read Perry Mason to find out about Gardner or to be edified about the salubriousness of the natural world, legitimate as those interests or points of view may be. I want a puzzling story with mounting dramatic pressure concluded plausibly yet surprisingly. It is very hard to do. Although an awkward and not stylistically distinguished writer (every book uses the phrase "get down to brass tacks," has clumsy dialogue, and is cliché-ridden), Gardner reliably delivers the puzzling story and manages to sustain the tension. He lacks the genius required to pull of the astonishing and believable resolution. What frustrates is seeing how by going over the manuscript, adding here and there, fleshing out earlier scenes so that later ones would fall into place, and extending the end by a few pages, a good story might be even better.franzgeistwormhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10242632132061798151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9206295108056025483.post-84801541051379068302020-05-19T15:27:45.350-07:002020-05-19T15:27:45.350-07:00Wow, I've never thought of doing a bottom 5 li...Wow, I've never thought of doing a bottom 5 list, but let me think about that. Typically books in the latter half of his canon are considerd inferior to the earlier half. More time to write, fewer distractions (like TV and radio) and some changes to PM to better reflect the TV character. Jeffrey Markshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08422459407138331707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9206295108056025483.post-91207947986308518592020-05-19T15:25:41.735-07:002020-05-19T15:25:41.735-07:00I found Mosquito intereting because it was more pe...I found Mosquito intereting because it was more personal to Gardner than many of the later books. He had a very strong opinion on the health effects of nature and living in the wild, and that showed through here. It marked it as unique in that respect. Jeffrey Markshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08422459407138331707noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9206295108056025483.post-55285048580766459602020-05-19T15:19:01.339-07:002020-05-19T15:19:01.339-07:00Your views on TCOT Stuttering Bishop? Also your s...Your views on TCOT Stuttering Bishop? Also your selections for the bottom of the Perry Mason books.C Bishophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07056535958018731214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9206295108056025483.post-57192339765932042162019-11-09T14:34:08.938-08:002019-11-09T14:34:08.938-08:00I finished "The Case of the Careless Kitten.&...I finished "The Case of the Careless Kitten." At least this tale doesn't depend for its resolution on Paul Drake's coming up with information no reader would be able to deduce. And the kitten—not really "careless," just natural—does provide a valuable clue, though many other equally valuable clues appear as well. Cavils: the solution gets snarled with an elaborate, superfluous, and unlikely tale of dopplegangers; the same events could have been more plausibly explained. The murderer is less compelling than the person who assisted in the scheme. Gardner needed to revise and to fix some of the heavy-handed repeating of obvious points. The peroration about citizen's rights that the write-up above extols seems hypocritical (and it is not germane to the murder story) since Mason monkeys with evidence in a way should get him disbarred. Finally, the reprint badly confuses the reader because some lines are typeset twice (Chapter 23); that's not ESG's fault, of course. Still, all in all, a good performance that might have been improved if the author had taken more pains with the shape and details of the plot or had let me edit it (as would have been a neat trick since I wasn't born when the book appeared.)franzgeistwormhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14570435327745988044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9206295108056025483.post-40174463724962251242019-11-08T10:28:36.864-08:002019-11-08T10:28:36.864-08:00I agree and disagree. "Candle" is better...I agree and disagree. "Candle" is better than most, but the end has one twist too many. That spoils it. I'm reading "Kitten" now so cannot say. Where I part company is on "Drowsy Mosquito." There's too much effort at being "literary," descriptions of landscape, etc. The solution is strained beyond belief. That Mason and Della Street are imperilled is a red herring; one read this series for the ingenuity of the plot, not for suspense, à la Eric Ambler. What Paul Drake is asked to do is absurd, yet he does it. franzgeistwormhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14570435327745988044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9206295108056025483.post-38808333247850493532018-11-30T06:48:56.576-08:002018-11-30T06:48:56.576-08:00Almost all books of Perry Mason read my father. Ac...Almost all books of Perry Mason read my father. Actually I became impressed by his experience, I have read 7 books of Perry Mason. These are completely different and helpful to dissection of human character. My best regards to Sir Gardner. <br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06276585470179893932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9206295108056025483.post-79332111981635212812014-07-19T14:52:08.591-07:002014-07-19T14:52:08.591-07:00I agree, a top 5 list for Cool and Lam would be gr...I agree, a top 5 list for Cool and Lam would be great. I remember enjoying those when I was younger and I would like to reread a few.TracyKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08303342674824383688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9206295108056025483.post-38889258031723442482014-07-17T09:09:45.750-07:002014-07-17T09:09:45.750-07:00I second the motion! Love me some Cool & Lam.I second the motion! Love me some Cool & Lam.Naomi Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08005429772070247806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9206295108056025483.post-4992907969299202532014-07-17T08:47:30.016-07:002014-07-17T08:47:30.016-07:00Yes, please, do post a list of your favorite Cool ...Yes, please, do post a list of your favorite Cool and Lam novels!J. Kingston Piercehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17073921191624535912noreply@blogger.com