49 Years Ago...

My grandmother played cards, sewed, gardened and read books.  She taught me solitaire and embroidery, let me pick her daffodils and gave me murder mysteries.  My first crime-busters were Perry Mason and James Bond.  Were they odd or perfect choices for a 12 year old girl? Both oddly perfect and perfectly odd, I think.  Though I loved the Perry Mason TV series, the books were excruciatingly boring, as was anything else written by Erle Stanley Gardner (and he wrote A LOT of things). On the other hand, I loved James Bond.  What 12 year old girl wouldn't? Fittingly, Erle Stanley Gardner's books have faded into obscurity though the TV series holds up well.  James Bond became a global franchise, but when I was 12 he was an entirely private and somewhat wicked pleasure...