Dorothy B. Hughes Non-Fiction books in order

Erle Stanley Gardner: The Case of the Real Perry Mason is Dorothy B. Hughes's 1978 biography of the creator of Perry Mason — a thorough and warmly observed account of a fellow mystery writer whose career she had tracked closely as a critic for decades. It earned Hughes her second Edgar Award.

Reading order

# Title Published Author Buy on Amazon
1 Erle Stanley Gardner 1978 Dorothy B. Hughes Buy

By the time Dorothy B. Hughes published her biography of Erle Stanley Gardner in 1978, she had been reviewing crime fiction professionally for nearly forty years. Gardner was a natural subject: his Perry Mason novels had dominated American mystery publishing throughout the same decades in which Hughes built her own career, and she had written about his work many times as a critic.

The resulting book — Erle Stanley Gardner: The Case of the Real Perry Mason — earned Hughes her second Edgar Award and came in the same year the Mystery Writers of America named her a Grand Master. It was a fitting pairing of honors, recognizing a writer who had contributed to the crime fiction world both as a novelist and as a thoughtful observer of what her contemporaries were doing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Dorothy B. Hughes Non-Fiction series?

There are one books in the Dorothy B. Hughes Non-Fiction series, published in 1978.

What is the first book in the Dorothy B. Hughes Non-Fiction series?

The first book in the Dorothy B. Hughes Non-Fiction series is Erle Stanley Gardner, published in 1978.

What did Dorothy B. Hughes write about Erle Stanley Gardner?

The biography examines Gardner’s life and the creation of Perry Mason, drawing on Hughes’s long familiarity with his work from four decades as a mystery critic. She had reviewed his books and followed his career since his early rise, giving her an informed and affectionate perspective on how he built his enormously successful franchise. The book appeared in 1978, the same year the Mystery Writers of America named Hughes a Grand Master, and it won her a second Edgar Award.

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