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Erle Stanley Gardner
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Court of Last Resort, The MP3 CD – MP3 Audio, June 10, 2017

by Erle Stanley Gardner (Author), Mel Foster (Reader)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 141 ratings
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The creator of Perry Mason’s Edgar Award–winning account of miscarriages of justice, wrongful convictions, legal battles, and landmark reversals.

In 1945, Erle Stanley Gardner, noted attorney and author of the popular Perry Mason mysteries, was contacted by an overwhelmed California public defender who believed his doomed client was innocent. William Marvin Lindley had been convicted of the rape and murder of a young girl along the banks of the Yuba River, and was awaiting execution at San Quentin. After reviewing the case, Gardner agreed to help—it seemed the fate of the “Red-Headed Killer” hinged on the testimony of a colorblind witness.

Gardner’s intervention sparked the Court of Last Resort. The Innocence Project of its day, this ambitious and ultimately successful undertaking was devoted to investigating, reviewing, and reversing wrongful convictions owing to poor legal representation, prosecutorial abuses, biased police activity, bench corruption, unreliable witnesses, and careless forensic-evidence testimony. The crimes: rape, murder, kidnapping, and manslaughter. The prisoners: underprivileged and vulnerable men wrongly convicted and condemned to life sentences or death row with only one hope—the devotion of Erle Stanley Gardner and the Court of Last Resort.

Featuring Gardner’s most damning cases of injustice from across the country, The Court of Last Resort won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. Originating as a monthly column in Argosy magazine, it was produced as a dramatized court TV show for NBC.

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  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    Brilliance Audio
  3. Publication date
    June 10, 2017
  4. Dimensions
    6.75 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1536614491
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1536614497
  7. See all details
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The Amazon Book Review
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) was a prolific American author best known for his Perry Mason novels, which sold twenty thousand copies a day in the mid-1950s. There have been six motion pictures based on his work and the hugely popular Perry Mason television series starring Raymond Burr, which aired for nine years.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Brilliance Audio; Unabridged edition (June 10, 2017)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1536614491
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1536614497
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.75 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 141 ratings

About the author

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Erle Stanley Gardner

Erle Stanley Gardner

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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Erle Stanley Gardner (1889-1970) is a prolific American author best known for his works centered on the lawyer-detective Perry Mason. At the time of his death in March of 1970, in Ventura, California, Gardner was "the most widely read of all American writers" and "the most widely translated author in the world," according to social historian Russell Nye. The first Perry Mason novel, The Case of The Velvet Claws, published in 1933, had sold twenty-eight million copies in its first fifteen years. In the mid-1950s, the Perry Mason novels were selling at the rate of twenty thousand copies a day. There have been six motion pictures based on his work and the hugely popular Perry Mason television series starring Raymond Burr, which aired for nine years and 271 episodes.

As author William F. Nolan notes, "Gardner, more than any other writer, popularized the law profession for a mass-market audience, melding fact and fiction to achieve a unique blend; no one ever handled courtroom drama better than he did."

Richard Senate further sums up the significance of Gardner?s contribution: "Although the character of Perry Mason is not unique as a 'lawyer-sleuth,' he is the first to come to anyone's mind when it comes to sheer brilliance in solving courtroom-detective cases by rather unconventional means. Besides 'Tarzan,' 'Sherlock Holmes,' 'Superman' ? 'Perry Mason' qualifies as an American icon of popular culture in the twentieth century."

Gardner's writing has touched a lot of people including a number of high profile figures. Brian Kelleher and Diana Merrill say in their 1987 book, The Perry Mason TV Show Book that Harry S. Truman was a fan and that it is rumored that when Einstein died, a Perry Mason book was at his bedside. They further describe that when Raymond Burr met Pope John XXIII, the actor reported that the pontiff "seemed to know all about Perry Mason." Federal judge Sonya Sotomayor frequently mentions how Perry Mason was one of her earliest influences.

Starting with his first book, Gardner had a very definite vision of the shape the Perry Mason character would take:

"I want to make my hero a fighter," he wrote to his publisher, "not by having him be ruthless to women and underlings, but by creating a character who, with infinite patience jockeys his enemies into a position where he can deliver one good knockout punch."

Author Photo: Courtesy of Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
141 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

katrig
5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating And Gripping Read
Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2022
Verified Purchase
The Court of Last Resort was originally published in 1952 and has been updated in this book. It is the first effort in America to put together a team to try to evaluate and possibly reverse wrongfully convicted prisoner’s sentences.
There is a lot of detail, and the court of last resort tells multiple stories where miscarriage of justice was averted by the intervention of a qualified team of experts who give their time free to help and try to save some of the prisoners who are innocent and about to be put to death or are in for life.
It is fascinating how this was done and I was fascinated when I read the different stories in this book by Erle Gardner. It is amassing how a great deal written in this book is still relevant today regarding prosecutions, defences, sentencing, as well as later review of questionable convictions.
A well-researched book and a great read when science was just beginning to be used in court and executions were carried out quickly. How the author explains how a system can change, and how lives are affected by crime.
Very Sad to see not much has changed in today's society and that the scary thing is the same issues exist today that existed in 1952.
I am part of the ARC group for Wildblue Press and BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
3 people found this helpful
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Jonesy
4.0 out of 5 stars This is very detailed.
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2021
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The Court of Last Resort was written many years ago and I hope, but doubt, that our prosecutors and courts are more trustworthy today. There is a lot of detail, which you would expect from an experienced lawyer trying to prove a point, but I found myself skipping much of the minutiae and reading the end results. If you are more detail oriented you will love all of that. It did seem necessary to prove Gardner's decision about which cases to challenge. The accounts are written in a believable style and appeared to me to be dispassionate and sensible.
2 people found this helpful
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Terry Freeman
5.0 out of 5 stars A Good and Necessary Read
Reviewed in the United States on March 28, 2023
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This book details just how easy it is for we’ll meaning people to err and incarcerate their fellow citizens. Mistakes of fact, evidence collection, testimony all contribute to the terrible outcome of an innocent person being convicted. The book also provides compelling commentary on how we as a civilization need to improve our view on crime and punishment. It’s both thoughtful and informative. I highly recommend it.
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earl
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Insigt for the year 2020.
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2020
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Mr. Gardner provided an account of numerous very interesting stories. As a former law enforcement officer/detective/crime scene investigator for over 40 years, and a forensic science consultant and educator for the past 20 years, Earl Stanley Gardener was right on the money with is observations of issues in the criminal justice system. This ranges from overzealous, political intrigue, lack of training for law enforcement and forensic scientists, misinterpretation of circumstantial evidence, prison management and lack of funding for penal issues, and general substance abuse. I thought the writing was clean and flowed throughout the book. The cases were well detail and the narrative fit the theme. I particularly liked his view on the very important role of circumstantial evidence. DNA evidence, fingerprint comparison, firearms examinations, and materials analyses are all circumstantial evidence. The interpretation, analysis, and inferences connected to them are extremely important in arriving at conclusions of the theory of a crime, and subsequent prosecution. He insight was refreshing. I thought it amazing the issues he addressed, the stories he told, the actions that were taken are not a lot different than those today. No much has changed, but good people then and now continue to apply themselves to a sense of safety with justice.
15 people found this helpful
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Rev
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating and still relevant
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2021
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This book details the first effort in this country to put together a team to try to evaluate and possibly reverse wrongfully convicted prisoners' sentences. How it was done is fascinating, and there is a great deal that is still relevant today regarding prosecutions, defenses, and sentencing, as well as later review of questionable convictions. There is at least one and have been other successors to this particular team, and together they unquestionably have made at least modest inroads in wrongful incarcerations, both after the fact and in raising awareness to help prevent some others.
One person found this helpful
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Steve
4.0 out of 5 stars good read but not spectacular
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2017
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received as order. good read but not spectacular.
2 people found this helpful
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Thomas F. Anderson
2.0 out of 5 stars Good law enforcement cooperation but very old data
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2021
Verified Purchase
Very dry. Focuses on very old cases from the 1940's
2 people found this helpful
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Shubunkin 707
5.0 out of 5 stars the Court of Last Resort
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2011
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This is a very informative book. I had to get this copy, since mine had molded. It is very interesting, about those accused of crime, sometimes unjustly. Most time justly. Yet there are cases that, after the fact, this "Court of Last Resort" took it upon themselves to investigate the facts, with their own money, and all of the time they could spare. These are investigators, actual judges, and many [high-priced] attorneys, that wanted only to get to the truth. If guilty, so be it; yet if innocent, to prove it.
Which usually took much time going over court records, finding witnesses, running down [new] clues, etc.This is a factual book.
The book itself was as the seller described. Shipping was in good time.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

JD
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good!
Reviewed in Canada on November 18, 2023
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Very informative!
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Placeholder
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on April 17, 2018
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great and famous book.
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Fredifree
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 12, 2015
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ok
One person found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Dated but Interesting
Reviewed in Canada on February 21, 2021
Verified Purchase
Quite dated but interesting learning Erle Stanley Gardner's background and the amazing work he and friends undertook to free wrongfully convicted people.
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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in India on July 19, 2017
Verified Purchase
Not as exciting as when I read it fifty years ago!
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