Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Court of Last Resort: The True Story of a Team of Crime Experts Who Fought to Save the Wrongfully Convicted | 1952 | Erle Stanley Gardner | Buy |
| 2 | The Hidden Heart of Baja | 1962 | Erle Stanley Gardner | Buy |
| 3 | The Desert is Yours | 1963 | Erle Stanley Gardner | Buy |
| 4 | Hunting the Desert Whale | 1963 | Erle Stanley Gardner | Buy |
| 5 | Drifting Down Delta | 1969 | Erle Stanley Gardner | Buy |
Erle Stanley Gardner’s non-fiction output divides into two distinct categories: legal justice writing and travel writing about Mexico. The Court of Last Resort (1952) is his most important non-fiction work, documenting the organization he co-founded to investigate cases of wrongful conviction. Gardner was genuinely committed to criminal justice reform and used his legal background and public profile to advocate for prisoners he believed had been wrongly sentenced.
The remaining four non-fiction titles, The Hidden Heart of Baja (1962), The Desert is Yours (1963), Hunting the Desert Whale (1963), and Drifting Down Delta (1969), are travel writing about Baja California and Mexico’s desert and river landscapes. Gardner was an avid outdoorsman who made extended expeditions into Baja and wrote about those experiences with evident enthusiasm.
These books represent a side of Gardner rarely discussed alongside his crime fiction, but they reflect his genuine interests outside the courtroom. The Court of Last Resort in particular is worth reading for anyone interested in the history of wrongful conviction advocacy in the United States.