Maxima Library

Mason buys the diary of a drowned woman at an auction, and after a murder he finds himself confronted by a hypnotized gorilla.

Perry Mason orders a double serving of trouble the night he and Della Street dine at an intimate restaurant after a hard day at law. In the middle of their steaks a waitress flees the premises in terror, leaving the puzzled proprietor holding her mink coat. Why a humble working girl abandons such a pricey wrap is only the first question in a cop-killer case that traps Mason's client with both an impossible story and the murder weapon, makes Perry himself a prime suspect, and blazes a gunpowder trail that leads straight to the heart of the police department itself.

A badly frightened woman pounded on the door of the cabin where Perry Mason was vacationing. The woman said, 'I'm in trouble, in terrible trouble. I have to talk with you... everything depends on it.' Those words launch Mason on a bewildering murder case in which the resources of an entire community are leveled against him... and a massive weight of circumstantial evidence points to his client. But Mason acts quickly, deftly needling an angry woman into a startling admission. In the end he stakes his reputation on a brilliant coup that results in another smashing success for the famous lawyer and his associates, Paul Drake and Della Street

One dollar bill paid to Perry Mason for services about-to-be-rendered. One husband with an invalid wife. One nurse accused of robbery by the husband. One husband accused of murderous intent--by the nurse. One glamorous mistress with some glamorous gems. One planeload of irate relatives. One flying trip to New Orleans. One charge of vagrancy--against Perry Mason. Plus two dramatic courtroom scenes climaxed by one of the most spectacular grandstand plays of Mason's distinguished career--add up to Grade-A mystery fare...

Perry Mason is dining peacefully at the Golden Goose cafe when he receives a mysterious phone call. The frantic woman on the other end of the line is desperate to retain Mason's services, but suddenly vanishes during their cryptic phone conversation.

She pulled herself out of the water into a canoe, tried to do something with her sopping wet evening gown, and gasped, "I don't know who you are ... but you'd better paddle like hell!" Flashlights appeared on the shore. Someone shouted, "There she is!" But Perry Mason was doing as directed for a change - paddling into the night with a strange girl, towards the hottest water he had ever been in. By morning Mason was in all the papers - wanted for robbery. By afternoon he had a second client - in jail. Then, swiftly, murder arrived, and Mason was precipitated into the tensest battle of his career.

Owen is the organizer of the Montgomery clan, running the family’s construction business with an iron fist—and an even less flexible spreadsheet. And though his brothers bust on his compulsive list-making, the Inn BoonsBoro is about to open right on schedule. The only thing Owen didn’t plan for was Avery McTavish... Avery’s popular pizza place is right across the street from the inn, giving her a first-hand look at its amazing renovation—and a newfound appreciation for Owen. Since he was her first boyfriend when they were kids, Owen has never been far from Avery’s thoughts. But the attraction she’s feeling for him now is far from innocent. As Avery and Owen cautiously take their relationship to another level, the opening of the inn gives the whole town of Boonsboro a reason to celebrate. But Owen’s hard work has only begun. Getting Avery to let down her guard is going to take longer than he expected—and so will getting her to realize that her first boyfriend is going to be her last…

Perry Mason knew it was murder. But when the police got there it looked like suicide — except for the tall man in the tan-colored topcoat… and a most interesting fingerprint on the gun. Mason was after a hit-and-run driver and he set a trap. Into the trap walked a girl with innocent blue eyes and wheat-colored hair. Then, within twenty-four hours, Mason realized that someone was after him, and that he was holding a great big bag. At first Della Street and Paul Drake ribbed him about the girl, but it wasn’t funny when the police started building up a case not against the murderer, but against Perry Mason himself. The D.A. was licking his chops. But Mason had other ideas. With a few breaks he could rip the D.A.’s case wide open — he hoped!

«What prominent lawyer received the mitten in front of his office building last night? Who was the mysterious blonde spitfire who swung one from the hip and left him groggy…?» That gossip columnist knew that Perry Mason was the lawyer. But Mason himself didn’t know who the girl was… and he wanted to. She had climbed down the fire escape from the Garvin Mining, Exploration and Development Company — right into Mason’s office on the floor below. After a story which neither believed, she ran away. And the next day Ed Garvin came to see the lawyer. Garvin said he didn’t know the girl. He was just crazy about his new bride… but he did want Mason to find out whether or not he had two wives. He, himself, didn’t quite know. Perry Mason takes the case that soon involves murder and reaches a climax in one of the most brilliant courtroom scenes of Mason’s career.

Perry Mason novelette «The Case of the Crimson Kiss» (published in 1948), with four other short stories.

Platinum blonde, Veronica Dale, is arrested on a charge of vagrancy, yet she has a hotel reservation in her name. Addison, head of a department store, booked the room for her and is now being blackmailed. Perry Mason can’t decide who is hiding what and then comes murder and one of Mason’s toughest trial scenes.

Perry Mason and Della Street are writing love letters this time—to a girl they've never seen. In fact they don't even know her name. But they've seen a letter she wrote to a Lonely Hearts Magazine. According to her she's both attractive and an heiress, an heiress who's tired of people who love her for her money ... According to Perry Mason, she's lying. And there's something phony about the Lonely Hearts business—including Mr. Robert Caddo who runs it. But there's nothing phony about the beautiful corpse that almost puts Perry behind bars for life

In order to help her seriously ill boyfriend, gorgeous Sally Madison sets out to separate wealthy Harrington Faulkner from some of his money by offering him a cure for his ailing exotic fish, but her plan goes awry when the fish mysteriously vanish and Faulkner turns up dead.

When Perry Mason receives two mysterious checks from Lola Allred, a woman he's never heard of, he smells trouble. A visit from Lola's husband reveals that she has run away with her daughter's boyfriend--a key witness in an ongoing lawsuit. The mystery deepens when the bank finds that one of the checks is forged. Yet when homicide finally does rear its head, even the unexpected victim isn't as surprised as Perry Mason.

It all begins with the fan-dancer's "costume" — what there is of it. When Perry Mason stumbles upon the barely there accessories of an exotic performer, he sets out to do a good turn by returning the lost glad rags. But the attorney's discreet good deed brings more than one delectable dancer — and more than a little trouble — waltzing into his office.

Perry Mason novelette «The Case of the Crying Swallow» (published in 1947), with three other short stories.

A classified ad finds Perry Mason's client drawn into a murder plot, and only the sleuthing attorney can save her.

A shot… A splash… A shout… and Perry Mason finds himself treading the deepest water of his career. This time, he nearly goes wider… Things were tense aboard Parker Benton’s yacht. About the only thing the group had in common was the bad weather and a highly controversial business proposition.

When beautiful blonde Diana Regis appears at Perry Mason's office with a nasty black eye, the lawyer agrees to investigate. What does he find? A spoiled young man whining about a diamond theft, a rich old man looking for a missing grandson, a pretty young woman desperate for a driver's license--and a rain-soaked corpse. Only Perry Mason, with the quick-thinking help of Della Street and Paul Drake, can crack the case of the black-eyed blonde.

Arthur Bickler was mad. The truck marked Skinner Hills Karakul Company was responsible for the accident. What’s more, the driver unceremoniously had snatched away his notebook in which he had written down the license number of the truck. He certainly thought he was entitled to $750 damages. Jackson thought he might get $500. Perry Mason compromised for $2000… He smelled more than sheep in them that hills… The first person Perry Mason ferreted out was Daphne Milfield, obviously a blonde bomber in spire of the swollen eyes. Then there was suave Harry Van Nuys — a bit too solicitous about his friend’s wife. And Carol Burbank, a streamlined beauty who knew she had brains — and used them. From then on it’s a matter of ships and shoes and candlewax — and for a time Della Street, Paul Drake, and Perry Mason wished they had left their clothes on the hickory limb and not gone near the water…

The receptionist told Perry Mason there were two men waiting in the outer office; one of them looked like a prosperous banker, the other a tramp. One wanted to see him about some corporation law, and the other had a damage claim. So Mason said, «I’ll see the tramp. Tell the banker I can’t be bothered with corporation law.» But it turned out it was the tramp who wanted to see him about corporation law. And that, in turn, merged into the story of one of the famous Lost Mines of the desert region of Southern California; of a sinewy little desert prospector and his partner, who had struck it rich, «housed-up» and, losing his health, had forsaken the big red-tiled mansion in the fashionable district of San Roberto to spread his sleeping bag out in the cactus garden at the far corner of the grounds. And finally there was the mysterious drowsy mosquito — was it a harbinger of death?

Mason (with Della Street and Paul Drake, of course) takes on a super-baffling case involving — among other strange things: A shattering car wreck in which apparently no one was injured… A glamorous widow who should have had a husband but didn’t… An alarm clock that ticked away cheerfully under ground… A bank clerk who boasted brazenly about a $90,000 embezzlement… A girl who was always on hand when Perry Mason wanted her miles away, but was always missing when he needed her most… A client on trial for murder who wouldn’t even talk to Mason… A blood-stained bullet about which there was something very phoney… A photographer who could make a camera do everything but climb a tree… A gold mine without any gold… AND, last but not least — Perry Mason, all but hoist with his own petard.

Hard-luck gumshoe Eli Paxton is hired to find a missing cat—a very important cat, it turns out, because its collar is studded with diamonds worth a small fortune. What starts as a routine search of animal shelters soon becomes a perilous journey through a murky underworld.

Hired to guard a high-priced yearling of «Trojan,» a recently retired classic winner in Lexington, Kentucky, Eli Paxton is only days into the job when the yearling’s young groom goes missing.  Asked by the boy’s parents to investigate his disappearance, Paxton focuses on the Lexington breeding farm.

A dog is missing. Not just any dog. The number one Weimaraner in the country and current Westminster winner. Down-on-his-luck private eye Eli Paxton is hired to find him.

Mason defends Della Street, who is accused of helping a material witness or possible murder suspect vanish from a crime scene.

A dead man in the kitchen, gas fumes permeates the house, a duck seem to be drowning in the fishbowl, but it didn't die. Maybe that fact has something to do with murder?

It started as the case of the disappearing driver. Stephane Olger was hitchhiking to Los Angeles when the accident happened. When it was over she was found unconscious behind the wheel — alone. There was a manslaughter charge against her…

Successful florist Mildreth Faulkner finds that the flower business is no bed of roses when her arch-competitor, Harry Peavis, secretly buys stock in her small, family-owned corporation.

A woman’s wild story about killers from space leads two Chicago detectives into a bizarre case in this mystery by the Edgar Award–winning author.

Uncle Am is kidnapped! Ed Hunter's partner-in-crime was just out on a routine case, a man who'd skipped out on some car payments, when the old fellow vanishes.

The Bloody Moonlight is a fascinating detective/murder mystery featuring the Chicago-based team of Ed Hunter and his Uncle Am. The pair are working for the Ben Starlock Agency in this, the third book in their series.

An engaging pair of detectives at a traveling carnival look to capture a heartless killer in this entry in the Edgar Award–winning series

The Fabulous Clipjoint is the first full-length novel by writer Fredric Brown, who had honed his craft by publishing hundreds of short stories in the pulp magazines of the day. The Fabulous Clipjoint is also the first of seven detective novels featuring the nephew/uncle team of Ed and Am Hunter.

The collection features eight short stories originally published in pulp magazines between 1935 and 1941.

'Pearls are a Nuisance' and two more brilliant short stories, 'Finger Man' and 'The King in Yellow', plus Chandler's essay 'The Simple Art of Murder', make up this volume.

Smart-Aleck Kill is a collection of Chandler's earliest published stories

The collection contains four stories, all about fifty pages long. Each is set in Los Angeles, centered on a tough-guy protagonist, and told by a third-person narrator who describes actions rather than thoughts.

Trouble Is My Business is a short story collection by author Raymond Chandler.

The Simple Art of Murder contains Raymond Chandler's essay on the art detective stories and a collection of eight classic Chandler mysteries.

A collection of four works by the creator of one of the great hard-boiled detectives Philip Marlowe.

A collection of short stories by Raymond Chandler

Collection of Chandler's short stories previously printed in Dime Detective, Black Mask, and The Saturday Evening Post in the 1930s

A collection of stories by Raymond Chandler

A collection of 5 non-Philip Marlowe detective novelettes.

Nightmares and Geezenstacks is a short story collection consisting of 47 horror, science fiction and crime stories by American writer Fredric Brown.

A short story anthology by American writer Fredric Brown

Space on My Hands is a 1951 collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Fredric Brown. It was first published by Shasta Publishers in 1951 in an edition of 5,000 copies. The story "Something Green" is original to this collection.