Erle Stanley Gardner

Born in Malden, Massachusetts, in 1889, Erle Stanley Gardner became a lawyer before making his name as a writer. That legal background shaped his fiction from the start and gave his cases, cross-examinations, and courtroom twists a feeling of real experience.

He is most closely linked with Perry Mason, the defense attorney who became one of crime fiction's most famous characters. Gardner wrote prolifically, producing many novels and stories as well as work under pseudonyms, and his books reached a huge audience in the United States and beyond.

Gardner's interests went well beyond fiction. Sources also connect him with efforts to investigate possible wrongful convictions through the Court of Last Resort, adding another layer to a career that mixed entertainment with a serious interest in justice. He died in 1970.