The Case of the Velvet Claws is the first Perry Mason novel in the cannon published in 1933. As is the usual case with a Mason adventure, a young woman named Eva Griffin comes to Perry's office want his help in keeping the name of her previous evening date from making the papers. As Perry soon learns, she is married to a very dangerous man and her date was a US Senator who is seeking re-election. Eva turns out be Eva Belter who is a chronic liar and generally a very unpleasant client. Della Street constantly advises Perry to drop her as a client and especially so when she confesses to murdering her husband.

The Case of the Sunbather's Diary published in 1955 still has Perry looking for phone booths whenever he needs to contact Della Street or Paul Drake. When a woman calls them to advise them she has been robbed of everything- her car, RV, and all her clothes so she cannot even come into their office. Della drives out to get her as her and Perry are intrigued how this robbery could have taken place. Arlene Duvall has been robbed of everything but spends money like water which the police thinks come from her father's unsolved robbery of a bank. She asks Perry to clear her father's name but when some of the missing bills come into Perry's possession and a former colleague of her father's turns up dead, Arlene faces a murder trial.

The Case of the Demure Defendant, published in 1956 involves Perry's client, Nadine Farr, who admits during drugged psychiatric treatment to having murdered her benefactor. As the death had been ruled a suicide but now Prosecutor Hamilton Burger has a confession, he moves quickly to get a conviction. However as usual Perry pulls some tricks out his legal bag and wins his client an acquittal. In this novel the animosity between Burger and Mason is particularly acidic and personal.

The latter two novels are a good examples why I find Perry Mason novels so entertaining. Complicated plots with many interesting characters mean one should read them in one or two sittings or you may get lost. The first novel entitled "Velvet Claws" was a weak effort. ( )

My memories of Perry Mason stem from the television show, not the books. And those memories are pretty dim, so it was with a sort of newness I started this omnibus.

The Perry Mason of the books is gruff and very tricksy. He knows the technicalities of the law, and all the loopholes and employs them to get his clients off. It seemed to me that a lot of what Mason did was borderline unethical. And in these three particular books The Case of the Velvet Claws, The Case of the Sunbather's Diary, and The Case of the Demure Defendant, it's always some dame who wants saving.

Then there's the devoted and loyal Della Street, who takes the measure of these dames and gives Mason her opinion. In The Case of the Velvet Claws, she told him in no uncertain terms that his client was up to no good with a startling vehemence. Turns out, the client was almost as tricksy as the lawyer.

And Paul Drake, he does most of the heavy lifting with his detective agency, finding all manner of information about clients, police, and people related to the case.

The Perry Mason books are formulaic; client comes in with a problem, Mason, Street and Drake investigate, Mason fights with the police and the DA, then during the trial there's a courtroom scene in which Mason uses his tricksy knowledge and lets the air right out of DA Hamilton Burger's pompous sails.

Only one Perry Mason mystery was written without a courtroom scene, and that was the first book, The Case of the Velvet Claws.

I can't say that I enjoyed these books, and I definitely won't be reading more. But getting a historical taste of the genre was fascinating. ( )