The plot
opens with
the
sensational
murder of
Alvin
Benson, a
well-known
Wall Street
broker and
man-about-town,
and the
entire book
is devoted,
without a
single
irrelevant
side issue,
to the
startling
solution of
the criminal
problem
involved.
New York's
District
Attorney and
the best men
from the
Homicide
Bureau work
indefatigably
on the case;
but the
final
solution is
achieved by
Philo Vance,
an intimate
friend of
the District
Attorney's,
and the
central
character of
the book.
Philo Vance
is a
brilliant,
debonair,
and cultured
young
gentleman,
whose
astonishing
methods of
crime
detection
are based on
the solid
foundation
of learning
and
psychological
analysis;
and his
deductive
approach to
criminal
problems,
coupled with
his vivid
and magnetic
personality.,
constitutes
an entirely
new and, we
believe,
better type
of
detective-mystery
fiction. The
drama is
tense
throughout;
and each
succeeding
chapter
marks a
forward step
in the
working out
of an
absorbing
and
thrilling
problem.
Philo Vance,
the
psycho-sleuth,
is invited
to aid his
friend
Markham, the
district
attorney,
and Sergeant
Heath of the
Homicide
Bureau in
their
efforts to
discover the
murderer of
the Canary,
a noted
Broadway
blonde who
is found
strangled in
her
apartment on
West 71st
Street. The
only
entrance to
the
apartment is
thru the
main hall
past the
telephone
operator's
booth. Thus
the number
of suspects
is narrowed
down to four
men known to
have been
enamored of
the Canary.
It is one of
the best of
the recent
detective
stories,
compact,
swift, and
well
articulated,
with
sufficient
exciting
detail and
enough
variety of
complication
to exercise
the
ingenuity of
the reader
continuously.
From the
moment of
its
beginning
with the
discovery of
the murder
to the final
revelation
of her
destroyer
the pace of
the story
never flags.
The victims
of this
criminal
tragedy are
the members
of an old
wealthy New
York family
living in an
ancient
walled-in
mansion near
the East
River. A
pall of
tragic
horror
suddenly
descends on
the
household;
and such
terrible
consequences
ensue that
the Greene
murder case
immediately
becomes one
of the
greatest
sensations
in American
police
annals. The
gloomy
Greene
mansion is
the scene of
a double
tragedy. The
eldest
sister is
shot and
killed, the
youngest, a
sister by
adoption, is
wounded by
an unknown
intruder.
While Philo
Vance and
his friend
Markham, the
district
attorney,
are at work
on the case
the two
Greene
brothers are
killed. This
leaves alive
in the
sinister
household
the mother,
who is a
helpless
invalid,
Sibella the
daughter,
and Ada the
adopted
sister. It
is Philo
Vance,
debonair
psycho-sleuth
and intimate
friend of
the district
attorney,
who
eventually
solves the
problem by
the unique
psychological
methods of
deduction.
Joseph C.
Robin,
champion
archer, is
mysteriously
pierced
through the
heart by an
arrow. The
body is
discovered
on the
archery
range
alongside
the home of
Professor
Bertrand
Dillard on
75th Street,
near
Riverside
Drive. The
Police
Department
and the
district
attorney's
office are
immediately
notified;
and there
follows a
criminal
investigation
fraught with
the tensest
drama and
the most
baffling
horrors.
There are
more murders
and in each
case the
facetious
murderer
calls
himself the
Bishop. It
is his
pleasant
habit after
each murder
to suggest a
false clue
in a little
nursery
rhyme,
which,
considering
the
circumstances
of the
crimes,
gives the
case a
particularly
mystifying
and fiendish
appearance.
Benjamin H.
Kyle,
philanthropist
and art
patron, is
found
murdered in
a famous
private
museum in
Gramercy
Park. He has
been struck
over the
head with a
statue of
Sekhmet, the
Egyptian
goddess of
vengeance,
and is lying
in a pool of
blood, his
arms
outstretched
toward a
life-size
statue of
Anubis, the
god of the
dead. The
principal
clew [clue]
to the
murder is a
small
lapis-lazuli
scarab of
Intef V, a
Pharaoh of
the
Seventeenth
Dynasty. The
crime proves
to be one of
the most
amazing and
diabolical
in modern
police
history. The
investigation
is headed by
John F. X.
Markham,
District
Attorney of
New York,
and Sergeant
Heath of the
Homicide
Bureau. But
it is Philo
Vance who
eventually
solves the
murder by
his unique
psychological
methods of
detection.
Archer Coe,
a collector
of Chinese
ceramics, is
found dead
in his
bedroom, the
only door to
which is
securely
bolted on
the inside.
District
Attorney
John F. X.
Markham and
Sergeant
Heath of the
Homicide
Bureau --
and even the
Medical
Examiner --
regard Coe's
death as
suicide. But
Philo Vance
soon proves
that it is a
sinister and
subtly
concocted
murder. The
circumstances
surrounding
it are so
mysterious
and
contradictory
that, for a
while, it
looks as if
no solution
were
possible.
But in the
end Philo
Vance,
through his
knowledge of
Chinese
ceramics and
Scottish
terriers,
brings the
case to a
conclusion
as
satisfactory
as it is
startling.
The story
moves
swiftly, one
mystery
piling up on
another. For
sheer action
and
suspense,
and for
interesting
characterization,
it is one of
the very
best of Mr.
Van Dine's
Philo Vance
novels.
Sanford
Montague, on
a weekend
house party
at the
century-old
Stamm estate
in Inwood,
dives into a
private
swimming
pool one
night, and
fails to
rise to the
surface. The
tragedy is
reported to
the Homicide
Bureau.
After an
investigation
Sergeant
Heath calls
on District
Attorney
Markham and
Philo Vance
to tell them
of his grave
suspicions.
The swimming
pool --
known as the
Dragon Pool
-- is
drained the
next day
with the
most
astounding
and
blood-chilling
results. The
Dragon Pool,
long
regarded as
the home of
the
Amangemokdom
(the
devil-monster
of the
Lenape
Indians),
more than
lives up to
its sinister
reputation.
In the end
Philo Vance
, with his
knowledge of
dragon lore
and his deep
insight into
human
nature,
clears up
one of the
cleverest
and most
awe-inspiring
murders of
modern
times.
This new Van
Dine murder
case deals
with three
unusual
poisonings.
Philo Vance
is
immediately
called in,
and actually
witnesses
one of the
coups of the
murderer.
District
Attorney
Markham and
Sergeant
Heath of the
Homicide
Bureau both
play an
exciting
part in the
sinister
criminal
investigation.
The locale
shifts
between New
York's
fashionable
gambling
resorts and
the social
life of Park
Avenue. The
"Casino" is
a famous
moder
Canfield's
to which the
elite and
the wealthy
go for
relaxation
and
excitement
-- an
American
Monte Carlo.
Situated in
one of the
famous old
mansions of
Manhattan,
this
fashionable
gambling
club is the
principal
scene of the
most
baffling
murder
mystery that
S.S. Van
Dine has yet
conceived.
An it is in
this
colorful
atmosphere
that Philo
Vance,
cosmopolite,
gourmet and
criminologist,
with his
knowledge of
gambling
systems and
the
intricacies
of the
gambling
table,
brings the
murderer to
justice.
The
background
of this new
Van Dine
murder case
is horse
racing, with
fascinating
details of
the "hay
burners",
book-makers,
pari-mutuel
betting,
jockeys,
handicapping,
and the
history and
gossip of
the race
track.
The garden
in which the
first murder
is committed
is a New
York
skyscraper
roof garden,
and the
crime occurs
during the
running of
one of
America's
great
handicap
races.
Philo Vance,
who is
present at
the time,
"playing the
ponies" with
a group of
sportsmen,
hears the
shot, and is
the first to
discover the
body of the
victim.
He
immediately
reports the
murder to
District
Attorney
Markham and
Sergeant
Heath of the
Homicide
Bureau; and
the exciting
investigation
that follows
reveals one
of the most
amazing and
sensational
crimes of
modern
times.
A second
murder, more
subtle than
the first,
is
perpetrated
as the
investigation
proceeds.
Mr. Van Dine
has never
written a
more
absorbing or
more logical
story of
crime.
It moves
swiftly and
dramatically
to a
dénouement
which leaves
the reader
breathless.
This new Van
Dine
kidnap-murder
case deals
with two of
the most
unusual
crimes in
the whole
recorrd of
Philo
Vance's
criminological
researches.
Kaspar
Kenting, a
playboy and
ne'er-do-well,
disappears
from his
ancestral
home, the
"Purple
House," in
West 86th
Street, with
all
indications
pointing to
kidnapping.
Both
District
Attorney
John F.X.
Markham and
Sergeant
Ernest Heath
of the
Homicide
Bureau
participate,
with Philo
Vance, in
the exciting
investigation.
In "The
Kidnap
Murder Case"
Philo Vance
runs into
the gravest
personal
danger, and
it is
through the
accuracy of
his aim, at
a crucial
moment, that
he saves
Sergeant
Heath's life
as well as
his own. The
locale of
this amazing
crime shifts
from one of
the most
fascinating
residential
landmarks in
mid-town
Manhattan to
a sordid and
obscure
hovel on the
Upper East
Side. The
account
moves with
arresting
swiftness to
a dramatic
climax and
will appeal
even to
those
readers who
heretofore
have not
been
especially
interested
in this type
of fiction.
$20.00
Dustjacket
Only
Gracie Allen
Murder Case
[1938]
-
Philo Vance
#11
- 1st Ed.
Mr. Van
Dine, in
this new
book, puts
Gracie Allen
and George
Burns into a
real Philo
Vance murder
mystery,
with Gracie
helping
Philo in her
own
inimitably
nitwit way
to put the
final finger
on the
killer. The
scene of the
story is New
York. Its
action
ranges from
the hillside
near
Riverdale
where Philo
Vance first
meets Gracie
Allen, to a
nightclub in
the West
Fifties
where
suspicious
characters
gather. The
murder is
peculiarly
diabolic and
is solved
through
Philo
Vance's
knowledge of
rare
perfumes --
and the
invaluable
assistance
given him by
Gracie
Allen, whose
sweetheart,
George
Burns, is
head perfume
smeller in
the
In-O-Scent
Perfume
Company. To
a baffling
puzzle Mr.
Van Dine has
added a
lavish
helping of
the kind of
hilarity for
which Gracie
Allen is
famous, and
the sum
total is a
first-class
Philo Vance
story, with
District
Attorney
Markham and
Sergeant
Heath, plus
more humor
than one
usually
finds in a
shopful of
mysteries.
Canary
Murder Case
-
Philo Vance
#2
- Photoplay
Ed.
The 1929
Paramount
release was
directed by
Malcolm St.
Clair, and
starred
William
Powell and
Louise
Brooks.
A beautiful
showgirl,
name "the
Canary" is a
scheming
nightclub
singer.
Blackmailing
is her game
and with
that she
ends up
dead. But
who killed
"the
Canary". All
the suspects
knew and
were used by
her and
everyone had
a motive to
see her
dead. The
only witness
to the crime
has also
been 'rubbed
out'. Only
one man, the
keen,
fascinating,
debonair
detective
Philo Vance,
would be
able to
figure out
who is the
killer.
$12.00
Dustjacket
Only
Greene
Murder Case
-
Philo Vance
#3
- Photoplay
Ed.
The 1929
Paramount
release was
directed by
Frank
Tuttle, and
starred
William
Powell and
Florence
Eldridge.
The
intricate
plot finds
gentleman
detective
Philo Vance
assisting
his old
friends
District
Attorney
Markham and
Sergeant
Heath in a
case of
multiple and
attempted
murders at
the Greene
Mansion in
New York's
Upper East
Side. It
seems that
someone is
killing
members of
the Greene
family,
ostensibly
for a stake
in the large
inheritance
left by the
long dead
patriarch,
Tobias
Greene,
whose
fortune was
accumulated
(we come to
suspect) by
less than
honorable
means.
$12.00
Dustjacket
Only
Bishop
Murder Case
-
Philo Vance
#4
- Photoplay
Ed.
The 1930 MGM
release was
directed by
Nick Grinde,
and starred
Basil
Rathbone and
Leila Hyarns.
The murders
start with
the body of
Robin. He is
found with a
arrow
through the
heart, but
Vance
deduces that
the body was
placed and
not found
where he was
killed. The
note found
dealing with
the murder
was part of
a nursery
rhyme and
signed by
'Bishop'.
The only
witness may
have been
Mrs. Drukker
and Adolph,
but they are
not talking.
As the
murders
progress,
each one is
accompanied
by a nursery
rhyme. It is
up to Philo
Vance to
unravel the
clues and
unmask the
identity of
the murderer
'Bishop'.
