Perry Mason 120: Best O' The Sixties

Note: By the time the 1960s rolled around, Erle Stanley Gardner was no longer merely writing Perry Mason novels - he was presiding over a booming entertainment empire. The TV show needed scripts approved, the Cool & Lam books demanded their share of attention, and the “fiction factory” he’d built chugged along like a well-oiled if overworked locomotive. In this carnival of deadlines, banquets, fan clubs, and civic obligations, Gardner kept producing the Mason books with the efficiency of a man who normalized feeling sleep deprived. But that kind of relentless success has a cost: the bag of tricks and repetitions that begins to fray with overuse. But below are well worth reading.

Perry Mason in the Sixties: The Ones That Didn’t Limp

The Case of the Stepdaughter’s Secret (1963)
Set in the 1963 Los Angeles heat, this longer and bleaker late‑career entry opens when three estranged members of the Bancroft family separately approach Perry Mason after a blackmail note surfaces. Wealthy patriarch Harlow panics that his criminal past is exposed; daughter Rosena is being watched and manipulated; and wife Phyllis pays blackmailers in a futile attempt to maintain control. Mason counters with elaborate tactics that work, though the family remains fractured. The prose is sparse, the logic cool, and the emotional temperature low, yet a sharp reveal and Gardner’s stripped‑down style make the novel succeed despite its emotional austerity.

The Case of the Queenly Contestant (1967)
Mason advises poised buyer Ellen Adair, who fears her long‑hidden past will be exposed: a teenage pageant win, a vanished Hollywood trip, and, in the phrase of the day, an illegitimate child. Seeking private‑counsel guidance, she withholds key facts, prompting Mason to unravel a tangle involving a duplicitous lawyer, a vanished tycoon, blackmail, and a murdered nurse. While Mason, Della, and Drake feel flatter than in earlier novels and the supporting cast leans on stock types, the plot is tighter than many Sixties entries. It also explores evolving attitudes toward single mothers with more empathy than we would expect from a man born in the late Victorian era and raised in a rural area.

The Case of the Waylaid Wolf (1960)
This sturdier entry opens with Loring Lamont luring stenographer Arlene Ferris to a cabin, where his advances escalate toward attempted date rape. She escapes and consults Mason, determined to press charges despite the threat to her reputation. When Lamont is later found stabbed, police turn to her as the obvious suspect. Gardner explores witness misidentification, physical doubles, and the tension of Mason trusting a client whose honesty sometimes clouds the facts. As the 100th Perry Mason novel, it has more moral bite than expected, a sharper edge, and a justice‑minded energy that makes it one of the more vigorous books of the decade.

The Case of the Worried Waitress (1966)
A troubled waitress seeks Mason’s help after learning her miserly aunt hoards cash and fakes blindness. Before Mason can intervene, Kit is accused of robbery and assault, and corporate feuds complicate matters. The anxious young client is one of Gardner’s more fully human creations, her mix of fear, loyalty, and vulnerability giving the novel warmth Gardner usually did not do. While the mystery is simpler and less mechanical than Gardner’s trick-heavy designs, the mix of diners, boarding houses, and small‑time operators delivers a “working‑class Los Angeles” texture reminiscent of the early Cool and Lam novels. Emotion outweighs puzzle, but the book holds together through sincerity and momentum.

The Case of the Ice‑Cold Hands (1962)
One of the stronger, more atmospheric early‑Sixties entries, this 1962 novel reworks familiar Mason components - an unmissed victim, evasive client, and layers of deception - but remains pleasant, brisk reading. The racetrack betting milieu gives the story a vivid sense of place, benefiting from Gardner’s longstanding fondness for specialized subcultures. Gamblers, touts, and shady operators stand out more sharply than the interchangeable models and heiresses and earnest young suitors who populated some Sixties stories. Though not intricate, the plot is tight and the environment well textured, making this a highlight of the decade.

The Case of the Shapely Shadow (1960)
Secretary Janice Wainwright brings Mason a briefcase of cash tied to her boss’s blackmail mess. After Mason counts it, Janice leaves with the money and vanishes, followed soon by the boss himself being found killed. Janice is charged with murder, and Mason’s courtroom maneuvers unravel a layered puzzle featuring impersonation, doubles, and a mysterious look‑alike whose “shadow” becomes the book’s thematic spine. Unlike many sagging Sixties entries, this one moves briskly, its clues, testimony, and red herrings coming neatly into place. Stylish, twist‑heavy, and energized, it is one of the decade’s strongest 

The Case of the Duplicate Daughter (1960)
This fast, teasing cat‑and‑mouse mystery begins when Carter Gilman disappears, leaving behind blood, cash, and a note for Mason. Imposters, threats, fake identities, and blackmail follow, culminating in a discovered body and a puzzle revolving around a possibly duplicated daughter. The melodramatic identity ambiguity is handled with Gardner’s usual speed and clarity, and the pacing is more energetic than many Sixties entries, avoiding the mid‑book becalmed feeling. The clients have enough emotional weight to raise the stakes, and the tangled identities generate real heat. Mason lacks his usual near‑omniscient smoothness – refreshingly - needing maneuver, improvisation, and deduction to win. Some of the identity complications rely on coincidence, but the overall construction remains lively and engaging.