Lester Leith was one of the legion of series characters Erle Stanley Gardner employed in the pulps before (and even after) Perry Mason came on the scene. Among the others were Ed Jenkins the Phantom Crook, Paul Pry, Sidney Zoom, Paul Wennick, the Patent Leather Kid, Ken Corning, Bob Zane, Senor Lobo and The Man in the Silver Mask. ESG was a busy guy.
One internet source says Lester Leith alone appeared in 67 stories between 1929 and 1943. I know of only five that have been reprinted, in the 1980 collection The Adventures of Lester Leith. "The Crimson Mask", from 1931, was not among them.
I think you'll agree Lester is an engaging character, far more fun the stodgy Mason. Here's hoping some enterprising publisher will someday bring us the complete adventures of Lester Leith.
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7 comments:
One question i wished to ask some weeks ago. Which is the older detective fiction magazine? There is a lot out there!
I could be wrong, Deka, but I think the first detective pulp may have been Street & Smith's Detective Story, which began in 1915.
Damn, he could write!
Neat!
Could be, thanks Evan ^^.
Can you tell me the name of the artist who created this cover?
I just got a copy of "Detective Fiction Weekley" July 13, 1935 with a story by Erle Stanley Gardner in it called" The Man in the Silver Mask". How many other stories are there in this series? I probably will scan the issue in if you're interested in a copy Evan. There are only two issues of the mag listed in www.isfdb.org so not sure how to track this character.
Fred
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