My Connection to Erle Stanley Gardner

To be perfectly honest, I really didn't know much about the author Erle Stanley Gardner until I moved to Oxnard, CA many years ago. There I learned that he set some of his mysteries there and that he practiced law in Ventura.

I participated in two Erle Stanley Gardner days--one was held in a Ventura  park where people sold all sorts of things, and another mystery writer and myself sold books. 

The biggie Erle Stanley Gardner celebration was in Temecula. That's where I learned so much about the author and the fact that after he quite his law practice he moved to Temecula and made his home on a large ranch. His secretaries (he had 4), , his doctor and others lived in cabins on the property.

The Temecula Valley museum has a permanent exhibit all about Erle Stanley Gardner with loads of photographs. 

On the day of this big celebration, I had the opportunity to meet 3 of his secretaries.

At one point that weekend, I did a workshop on writing. In face over a period of 3 or 4 years, I gave several workshops on mystery writing.

I also went on a ghost tour at night in Ventura, and we visited Erle Stanley Gardner's law office and the old Ventura Courthouse where Gardner served as a lawyer over many cases. According to what people have written about him, his cases became fodder for his mysteries.

And as for the ghost tours, no we didn't see any ghosts, though wandering around in the courthouse in the semi-dark is a rather unsettling experience. The tour guide gave us many a chilling story about attempted jail escapes, a suicide and other spooky tales.

And why am I writing about this? Because, as I said in my last post, the author, Erle Stanley Gardner plays an important part in my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery.

Marilyn