The Case of the Howling Dog – Erle Stanley Gardner

When a man visits Perry Mason to help with both a will and a howling dog, it turns in to a murder trial, with a wife accused of murdering her husband, who had run off with the original man’s wife.  Perry skirts the line of legality while trying to determine what actually happened but uses the results to try and get vindication for his client.

Erle Stanley Gardner’s The Case of the Howling Dog, originally published in 1934, is just the fourth entry in his Perry Mason series.  Being that early, the characters of Perry Mason, Della Street, and Paul Drake are a little rougher around the edges than they would eventually become.  This case, though heavily modified, was featured as the 23rd episode of season two in the Raymond Burr version of the show.  With the HBO version of the show cancelled, there’s no push to continue to re-publish these old novels, so they will continue to become hard to come across, but when I do, I’ll be sure to add them to my collection.