HBO’s Perry Mason Premieres June 21st @HBO @TheMysterious

HBO’s new series Perry Mason premieres on June 21. Set in a gritty 1932 Los Angeles, it focuses on a young Mason (played by Matthew Rhys), earning his living not as an attorney but as a private investigator, and on his relationship with Elias Jonathan (John Lithgow), the lawyer who hires him as a P.I., and friends Paul Drake (Chris Chalk), an L. A. cop. The series introduces us to various other people who shape Mason’s life and career before his emergence as the famed criminal defense attorney so familiar to us as portrayed by Raymond Burr. HBO’s origin story includes a look at Mason’s failed marriage (is that why he never asked Della Street to make it permanent?) and his service during the First World War. The trailer indicates that the show has a very noir feel, from the music, to the costumes, to the dialogue, to the lighting, to the cinematography.

Meanwhile, Penzler Publishers is reissuing some of Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason novels. Now available are The Case of the Careless Kitten, The Case of the Baited Hook, The Case of the Green-Eyed Sister, The Case of the Terrified Typist (the case Perry Mason “lost”), The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom, The Case of the Gilded Lily, and The Case of the Lazy Lover. More here.