Rediscovery of an old favourite

My wife has recently re-discovered fascination for an old favourite of mine - Erle Stanley Gardner's wonder lawyer Perry Mason, and his sidekicks Della Street and Paul Drake. Her enthusiasm has rubbed off on me, and recently we bought a lot of these books and compete with each other to read them first.

I was always a big fan of Perry Mason, not only for the involved detective stories that come together beautifully in the end, but for the explosive courtroom scenes which usually see Mason steal a march over his detractors - most notably Hamilton Burger, the district attorney- through some spectacular legal manoeuveres.

Perry Mason is a detective in the Sherlock Holmes mould - always proactive, bustling about (if not in person then through the Drake Detective Agency), and not averse to bending the letter of the law, if only to uphold its spirit. He is extremely ethical, and tremendously far sighted. Almost in all cases, he finds himself battling not only on his clients' behalf, but also on his own, since his investigations lead him against the state police machinery.

The thing I like a lot about the Mason books is that you could have read them before, yet they manage to hold your interest on a re-read, probably because the cases are so involved that you would forget most of the nuances and the actual culprit in some time (it took me only 12 months). Additionally, the foreword for each book has the author stress on some new aspect of forensic science or legal developments which are baked into the story. However, the best part is that the books remain page-turners, easy to read and able to build interest right till the last page.

Here's wishing posterity to the legacy of Perry Mason!