Books About Perry Mason

So I have now seen, I believe, the three most comprehensive books on Perry Mason: the wonderful Perry Mason TV Show Book, which was put online in its entirety and which I hungrily devoured many years ago, The Case of the Alliterative Attorney, which I have owned for several years, and The Perry Mason Book, the Kindle-only book that I finally decided to buy tonight.

My feelings are mixed. All three books certainly have their high points and valuable information. I have learned new things from all of them and look forward to learning more from them going forward. But I have to say I prefer the first two books over the latter. I can't fully put my finger on it, but the TV Show Book and the Alliterative Attorney somehow come across more classy and professional. I appreciate the immense work that was put into all of them, including the Kindle book, but I'm afraid I have the sneaking suspicion that it is a Kindle-only book not just because of its length, but because of its language. I have read many books about TV shows, and I have never seen this kind of crude and vulgar language, dirty cracks, and harsh swearing in any other such book. Normally I find such remarks blanked out or omitted entirely. The Amazon reviews for the book were mostly glowing, that I saw, and none mentioned that problem. Many Perry fans are among older generations. Surely I am not the only fan turned off by this element.

I have to admit too, that I kind of got the impression from the Kindle book that the author is not a fan of Hamilton or his actor, which of course is his right, but it makes me a little sad. In my perusing, the mentions I found of both seemed to always be negative. Unflattering stories and slants on stories seemed to be the order of the day whenever they were mentioned, instead of tempering it with also telling nice things too. To be fair, a couple of not totally negative remarks were quoted, but considering the overall tone, it felt like too little, too late.

One criticism I did find on Amazon was that the episode info seemed to be more focused on where they filmed or the cars or interesting camera angles rather than info on the guest-stars. I found this to be mostly true, which was disappointing. I far prefer to learn about the people and characters who brought the episodes together rather than unusual camera shots. One thing I really enjoyed about Alliterative Attorney was that some guest-stars were interviewed, such as one of my favorites, H.M. Wynant. There are interviews in the Kindle book too, including Lee Miller, which is definitely a plus for it. I look forward to reading all parts of that interview, which seem to be sprinkled throughout the book. Apparently Karl Held was also interviewed, so I will find that intriguing. Love or hate David, his actor was still a regular for a short time and no doubt has some interesting stories to tell.

Another thing I realized is that I can't seem to find pictures in the Kindle book. Maybe I just haven't looked well enough yet, but there really may not be any pictures other than the cover if the book is unofficial. I'm not certain whether it is. Of course, lack of pictures alone doesn't necessarily make for a bad book, but I definitely get excited when there are pictures.

At $4.99 for the amount of work the book entailed, I certainly can't call it a wasted purchase (especially with a gift card as payment!). The author worked very hard, and I do enjoy what info it has provided so far. I like that it discusses all incarnations of Perry Mason (or almost all; I'm not sure it covers the HBO series). I look forward to studying these sections more. Still, I far prefer the other two books.

What do you think? Do you have a favorite among the three? Do you like the Kindle book better than I do so far? I will make another post if my feelings on the book change any.