2 out of 5

In the beginning of Gardner’s long series of Perry Mason novels… excepting memorable, easy-to-say character names like Mason’s, Della Street, and Paul Drake, you’d be forgiven for not figuring this as a kick-off for 30+ books, multiple movies, and plenty of seasons of classic (black and white and color AND streaming-era!) television – as it’s an odd read based on a gamble of being invested in the case over the characters, as the latter are pretty thinly defined, or sometimes… rather unpleasant! Now, sure, when pulps were the du jour thing to read, that gamble probably made more sense, but I’ve read my fair share, and Claws still pushes things pretty far by remaining mum on a lot of particulars until late in the read, which is what can make the preceding bits feel clunky, almost suggestive of hot-shot lawyer Mason not really being great at his job. Of course, writing from the future, I’m undoubtedly biased based on familiarity with these characters from TV, and also reading with modern sensibilities that can never fully be dismissed; however, I’d still maintain: we would learn indirectly about Mason – in text form – by the very things that make this maybe a not great read. It’s fun to see that template, but taking the book on its own terms, I’m not so sure.

There’s no court case here; neither is there a Tragg or Burger, though they have their proxies. The velvet claws of the title refer to Mason’s client, Eve, who requests some assistance in keeping her famous (married) boyfriend out of the press, if lil’ ol’ Perry can finagle incriminating trysty evidence from a tabloid. There are definitely some solid twists down the road, and you can tell that that was Gardner’s main fascination in constructing the tale; we’re not yet at the point where his law history comes heavily into play. Prior to that, Perry acts more as a heavy, legit roughin’ some fellas up and getting people to confess just by looking at them menacingly. Della is played pretty emptily, but she’s also not sexualized – a quality that’s nicely consistent for most of the female characters, or at least to a lesser extent than most pulps: dames are included in the plot as needed, and not just to describe their curves, even if their curves might get mentioned alongside their appearance.

A body inevitably turns up, but the stakes just don’t play very strongly, things hinging on some hardly believable testimony from Eve. While the unique interaction that emerges of Eve being unpleasant or hostile to Perry and Perry defending her anyway would, again, become something rather defining – that Perry always stands by his clients – by “traditional” storytelling, Gardner is setting up Perry as a patsy, and we’re supposed to wonder how he’s going to free himself from that. So, yes, the twist to that formula is ultimately now classic, though this being Gardner’s first book, and first Mason novel, there are inevitably rough edges to the presentation, making the 200ish pages a much slower read than I’d desire, and without the consistent cleverness and more reliable / enduring characterizations that would come with time.