Erle Stanley Gardner Short Story Collections books in order

Q: "How many books are in the Erle Stanley Gardner Short Story Collections series?"

"There are eleven books in the Erle Stanley Gardner Short Story Collections series, published between 1947 and 2006."

Q: "What is the first book in the Erle Stanley Gardner Short Story Collections series?"

"The first book in the Erle Stanley Gardner Short Story Collections series is Two Clues: The Clue of the Runaway Blonde / Clue's Don't Count \u0026 The Clue of the Hungry Horse, published in 1947."

Q: "Who are Paul Pry and Sidney Zoom, and how do they relate to Gardner's better-known characters?"

"Paul Pry is a trickster-style character from Gardner's pulp fiction days who uses clever schemes to expose criminals. Sidney Zoom is a crime-fighting vigilante with a trained police dog. Both characters predated Perry Mason and represent Gardner's earlier pulp magazine work from the 1920s and 1930s. The collections were published posthumously to document this early period of his career."

Reading order

#	Title	Published	Author	Buy on Amazon
1	Two Clues: The Clue of the Runaway Blonde / Clue’s Don’t Count & The Clue of the Hungry Horse	1947	Erle Stanley Gardner	Buy
2	The Amazing Adventures of Lester Leith	1980	Erle Stanley Gardner	Buy
3	The Human Zero	1981	Erle Stanley Gardner	Buy
4	Whispering Sands	1981	Erle Stanley Gardner	Buy
5	Pay Dirt and Other Whispering Sands Stories of Gold Fever and the Western Desert	1983	Erle Stanley Gardner	Buy
6	The Adventures Of Paul Pry, Volume 2	1990	Erle Stanley Gardner	Buy
7	The Blonde in Lower Six Plus 3 Short Novels	1990	Erle Stanley Gardner	Buy
8	The Adventures Of Paul Pry	1991	Erle Stanley Gardner	Buy
9	Honest Money and Other Short Novels	1991	Erle Stanley Gardner	Buy
10	The Danger Zone and Other Stories	2004	Erle Stanley Gardner	Buy
11	The Casebook of Sidney Zoom	2006	Erle Stanley Gardner	Buy

Erle Stanley Gardner’s short story collections draw primarily from his prolific output for pulp magazines in the 1920s and 1930s, before Perry Mason dominated his career. Works like The Adventures of Paul Pry (1991) and The Casebook of Sidney Zoom (2006) collect characters Gardner created during his pulp era, showcasing the variety of detective and crime figures he worked with before settling on Mason as his central creation.

Other collections, including The Amazing Adventures of Lester Leith (1980) and Whispering Sands (1981), gather additional pulp-era material. These are primarily of interest to readers who want to understand Gardner’s full career arc or who are drawn to the pulp fiction tradition that shaped American crime writing.

Two Clues (1947) collects two novellas and is one of the few short fiction compilations published during Gardner’s lifetime. Most of the other collections were assembled posthumously from archive material. They offer an essential supplement to the Mason novels for dedicated Gardner readers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books are in the Erle Stanley Gardner Short Story Collections series?

There are eleven books in the Erle Stanley Gardner Short Story Collections series, published between 1947 and 2006.

What is the first book in the Erle Stanley Gardner Short Story Collections series?

The first book in the Erle Stanley Gardner Short Story Collections series is Two Clues: The Clue of the Runaway Blonde / Clue’s Don’t Count & The Clue of the Hungry Horse, published in 1947.

Who are Paul Pry and Sidney Zoom, and how do they relate to Gardner's better-known characters?

Paul Pry is a trickster-style character from Gardner’s pulp fiction days who uses clever schemes to expose criminals. Sidney Zoom is a crime-fighting vigilante with a trained police dog. Both characters predated Perry Mason and represent Gardner’s earlier pulp magazine work from the 1920s and 1930s. The collections were published posthumously to document this early period of his career.

Reading order#

Frequently Asked Questions

Reading order