ERLE STANLEY GARDNER.

Gardner, Erle Stanley, 1889-1970; Authors; Case of the Velvet Claws, The (Book); Mason, Perry (Fictional character)

This article presents a biography of author Erle Stanley Gardner. Born on July 17, 1889, in Malden, Massachusetts, to Charles Walter Gardner, a mining engineer, and Grace Adelma Waugh Gardner. In 1912, he marries Natalie Frances Beatrice Talbert. His first short story, The Police of the House, was published in the June 1921 issue of Breezy Stories. In 1923, he begins his literary career in earnest with the publication of The Shrieking Skeleton, in the December 23 issue of Black Mask. In 1933, his first novel and the first Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws, was published.