Erle Stanley Gardner wrote 155 mystery novels in is lifetime. They were published in over 30 languages, selling nearly 325 million copies worldwide. At the peak of his popularity, he sold 26,000 books a day.

Gardner graduated from Paly in 1909. He attended Paly for three years – he was expelled from his previous high school, Oroyule Union High School, in Oroville, Ca. After his Paly graduation, Gardner quickly dropped out of college and went to work as a clerk in a Santa Ana law office, where he learned enough law to be admitted to the California bar in 1911 at the age of 21.

He worked as a lawyer in a boom town near Los Angeles, defending the rights of Chinese immigrants who faced extreme discrimination from local white citizens. He championed their cause and earned the name “t’ai chong tze” or “the big lawyer” in Chinese.

During the 20s, he worked as a salesman and as a lawyer, but began writing pulp fiction to earn extra cash. According to Gardner, however, his first stories were rejected by publishers.

“My stories were terrible,” Gardner said. “I didn’t know how to plot. I had no natural aptitude as a writer.”

Yet he persisted, and eventually began selling stories on a regular basis to a number of pulp magazines, including Black Mask.

In 1933, when he was 43, he wrote The Case of the Velvet Claws, the first book in his widley acclaimed and successful Perry Mason series. After its publication, he retired from his law practice and began to write full time, until his death in 1970. These novels were later adapted for the silver screen, television and the radio.