The Case of the Velvet Claws by Erle Stanley Gardner

A woman who called herself Eva Griffin came to the law office of Perry Mason looking for help. She had been at a club called the Beechwood Inn with congressman Harrison Burke who was a candidate for the senate. A murder had happened in the club that night, and the police were called. She and Burke had hidden in a private dining room, and a policeman friend helped them to get away without being interviewed.  She knew that a reporter, Frank Locke, who wrote a for gossip paper called Spicy Bits, knew about Harrison Burke being there and was going to publish. Locke did not know that she was the woman who was with Burke. She also knew that Frank Locke was working for the real owner of Spicy Bits, and that this paper made its money from blackmailing people who wanted to keep their names out of the news. She wanted Perry Mason to hush the whole thing up, and was willing to pay a lot of money to keep her name out of it.

Mason went to Locke and found out the huge price that would be required to keep it hushed up. Mason, with the help of private investigator Paul Drake,  found out the owner of Spicy Bits was a man named George C. Belter.  Mason went to Belter's home, and threatened to expose him as the owner of Spicy Bits if the story about Harrison Burke is published. On his way out of the house, he met Belter's wife who was the woman who gave her name as Eva Griffin.

Then George Belter was murdered in his home. Eva Belter called Mason to come to the house before she called the police, and Mason examined the gun which was used.  Mason found that Belter had a nephew named Carl Griffen who was dedicated to loose living, and who would be the heir to the Belter wealth. Eva Belter was left very little money.  Further investigation revealed even more blackmail schemes, and forgeries, and other complications until Mason worked the whole thing out. It should be noted that all along that Mason's secretary Della Street believed that Eva Belter was a dishonest woman who was manipulating everyone in her life including Mason. Eva Belter did accuse Perry Mason of the murder of George Belter. Even then, Mason continued in his belief that his first duty was to the client who hired him.

This book does not have a courtroom scene.

This book was published in 1933, and was the first Perry Mason mystery. It is available as an e-book. The Perry Mason novels were extremely popular. There were six movies based on them, and the Perry Mason TV show was on the air for nine years and had 271 episodes.