The Case of the Velvet Claws

Perry Mason Series, Book 1

De: Erle Stanley Gardner

Narrado por: Alexander Cendese

Criminal lawyer and bestselling mystery author Erle Stanley Gardner wrote nearly 150 novels that have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Now, the American Bar Association is bringing back his most famous and enduring novels - featuring criminal defense lawyer and sleuth Perry Mason - in striking trade paperback editions.

Married Eva Griffin has been caught with a prominent congressman, and is ready to pay the editor of a sleazy tabloid hush money to protect the politician. But first Perry Mason tracks down the publisher of the blackmailing tabloid and discovers a shocking secret, which eventually leads to Mason being accused of murder.

This is the first Perry Mason mystery and our introduction to secretary Della Street, detective Paul Drake, and the great lawyer himself.

©1945, 2011 Erle Stanley Gardner (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Great Story

For a story set in L.A., everyone sounds like they are from New York except those specifically from Georgia. Still, the performance was great, just funny to someone from the West Coast. I would still listen because the voice actor did a good job.
As usual, the Perry Mason series is interesting with twists and turns. It made it hard to complete chores around the house because of how interested I was in the story.

Decent, but Dated

I wanted to try out a Perry Mason book after seeing the latest HBO series, and remembering the old TV series as well as the old movie serials with Warren William. Each film version portray Mason so differently I wanted to go back to the original story. It was a bit disappointing. The story was alright, but the reader's voice work (and story) emphasized the sexism of the day. The women sounded weak, predatory, or clingy. Even Della Street sounds clingy and whiny. Mason sounds like a thug... The writing style was as if Gardner was afraid people would forget the main characters' names, always using the full name each time through most of the book. Probably wouldn't read another.

Horrible Narration but Good Story

What did you love best about The Case of the Velvet Claws?

Classic whodunit.

Any additional comments?

Cendese is the single worst narrator I've heard. I've listened to several Perry Mason's now.
His choice of voices are normal, Kentucky Colonel, bad Jimmy Stewart impersonation, mob muscle thug, breathless airhead female and a couple of others. All except "normal" are extreme and usually the voice does not go with the character. The judge might get the mobster voice, and Paul Drake usually gets the high pitched breathless voice. He totally misses the subtle voice changes for different characters used by other narrators.

That said, I've listened to several and keep listening. I just accept that Perry Mason in general is formula, campy and anything but deep literature, and try to ignore the narration. Cendese also improved (some) as the series progressed.

Bottom line. The stories are fun and worth listening too, just accept crappy narration as part of the package.

Fun Book

I see why the Earl Stanley Garner books were so popular. They hold up well over time. Good read and listening for someone doing a lot of driving.

Fabulous narration of a "dated" writing style

Most people know Perry Mason via the television show starring Raymond Burr. This is NOT that Perry Mason. I find the writing style dated - very film noir, reminiscent of Dash Hammett. Which means: short choppy sentence structure, and dialogue that by modern standards is utterly cheesy. If you can get past that however, it is well worth the read/listen. The narrator here gets the "film noir" vibe and it comes through in his reading, and it made the very dated writing style seem less so.