Erle Stanley Gardner was "the World's Greatest Author" in his time, his novels outsold the combined totals of his rivals. Gardner wrote the "Perry Mason" novels from 1933 to 1970, and other works. Gardner, and others, formed "The Court of Last Resort" in the 1940s to investigate the wrongfully convicted. The background of the stories tell of the era. Gardner never put dates in his novels, but the monetary figures date these stories.