Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) was a prolific American author best known for his Perry Mason series of detective novels, which sold twenty thousand copies a day at their peak popularity in the mid-1950s. He also wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces, as well as a series of nonfiction travel books, mostly on Mexico. There have been six motion pictures based on his books and the hugely popular Perry Mason television series starring Raymond Burr, which aired for nine years.
