Philo Vance

A Golden Age mystery featuring one of America's most popular detectives of page and screen, "the perfect sleuth for the Jazz Age" (CrimeReads). New York in the 1920s is the world's most glamorous city, gleaming skyscrapers reaching for the heavens, and the hot notes of the jazz bands rising even higher. Drinking it like the finest French champagne is Philo Vance, an expert in art with the deepest pockets, the brainiest brains, and the most gloriously ludicrous pretentions in the history of crime fiction. When a scheming young stockbroker is murdered-in a delicious locked-room scenario based on a real case of the day-Vance steps in to solve the puzzle not merely because he is bored and seeking new entertainment, but because honor compels him to point out the myriad ways in which the police are getting it wrong. The cops of course are profoundly grateful, like all members of the lower orders when their mistakes are pointed out. Peter Wimsey would be appalled, but the reader will be delighted. Philo Vance (here in his first outing) is the sleuth you love to hate. Praise for the Philo Vance series "With his highbrow manner and his parade of encyclopedic learning, Philo Vance is not only a detective; he is a god out of the machine." -The New York Times "The Philo Vance novels were well-crafted puzzlers that captivated readers . . . the works of S.S. Van Dine serve to transport the reader back to a long-gone era of society and style of writing." -Mystery Scene "Outrageous cleverness . . . among the finest fruits of the Golden Age." -Bloody Murder

This early work by S. S. Van Dine was originally published in 1927 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The "Canary" Murder Case' is one of Van Dine's novels of crime and mystery. S. S. Van Dine was born Willard Huntington Wright in Charlottesville, Virginia in 1888. He attended St. Vincent College, Pomona College and Harvard University, but failed to graduate, leaving to cultivate contacts he had made in the literary world. At the age of twenty-one, Wright began his professional writing career as literary editor of the Los Angeles Times. In 1926, Wright published his first S. S. Van Dine novel, The Benson Murder Case. Wright went on to write eleven more mysteries. The first few books about his upper-class amateur sleuth, Philo Vance, were so popular that Wright became wealthy for the first time in his life. His later books declined in popularity as the reading public's tastes in mystery fiction changed, but during the late twenties and early thirties his work was very successful.

Let us begin by promising that no actual birds are harmed in this story. The Canary of the title is Margaret Odell, once a showgirl in the Ziegfeld Follies, more recently an occasional nightclub singer and professional good time. When she is murdered, there are any number of suspects, all of the male variety. The police, of course, are baffled-it was ever thus-but happily, Philo Vance is on the scene, ready to apply his brilliance, his erudition, his astonishingly nuanced grasp of human nature to the solving of the crime. British crime writer and critic Julian Symons once noted that "It is difficult to grasp the extent of Van Dine's success," but a success he surely was: Canary stayed on bestseller lists for months and was filmed with William Powell and Louise Brooks. Will you cozy up to Philo Vance? Unlikely. But you'll have a dandy time.

Members of the Greene family keep dying while the pool of possible perpetrators keeps shrinking. Philo Vance-the independently wealthy, staggeringly brilliant, not remotely modest (and did we mention handsome?) amateur sleuth-uses his detective skills to unravel the murders, though sadly not before most of the Greene family has been bumped off. But that's Our Philo: The Sleuth You Love to Hate.

Philo Vance unravels rhymes in a deadly key. After solving the Greene murders, Philo Vance has taken a well-earned holiday in Switzerland. Returning to New York City he finds his old chum, District Attorney Anthony Markham, up against a bizarre series of murders inspired by children's nursery rhymes. The first murder, involving a beautiful young woman and a private archery range, was apparently based on "Who Killed Cock Robin?"; it is followed by more hideous deaths referencing "Mother Goose." But Philo Vance is not a man to be fobbed off with points to juvenilia. Markham and his colleagues may be worried that a certain Mr. H. Dumpty is riding for a great fall, but Philo Vance suspects a connection to a rather more sophisticated writer.

In 1922, English anthropologist Howard Carter discovered the long-hidden tomb of King Tutankhamun, and the world went Egypt-crazy. Just a few years later, New York is not immune to the craze, and even Philo Vance, that eminent scholar-sleuth, has some sympathy for the fad-though of course he knows lots more about the topic than Carter ever did. When a wealthy Egyptologist is murdered, with mysterious inscriptions and artifacts dotted round, it's only natural that John FS Markham calls Philo for help. After all, Markham is merely the New York District Attorney, whereas Philo Vance is ... well, Philo Vance.

Given all the rich people getting bumped off in Philo Vance's Manhattan, it's amazing there are enough left to support the symphony. Latest up: Arthur Coe, found dead in his own locked bedroom. Suicide? The ever-perceptive Philo doesn't buy that theory for a second. The presence in Coe's house of a strange, prize-winning terrier only adds to the mystery, although Philo's fabulously in-depth knowledge of dogs does not in fact solve the crime; his fabulously in-depth knowledge of the murder of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria in 1898 proves much more useful. Like most of the Philo Vance novels, Kennel was made into a movie, directed this time by Michael Curtiz, who a few years later would turn his hand to a little number known as Casablanca. At least one critic has called the film a "masterpiece," and though we make no similar claim for the book, GoodMysteries.com, dedicated to the art of the classic whodunit, calls Kennel "one of the best locked-room setups ever written."

A whodunit that "presents a good puzzle, and that, according to Mr. Vance and his tens of thousands of readers, is what murder mystery books are for" (The New York Times). No question, The Dragon Murder Case showcases Our Philo at his most supremely irritating. The book is set at a Manhattan mansion complete with picturesque pool. Into that pool dives Sanford Montague, never to be seen again. Fools rush to blame the supernatural, noting that the "Dragon Pool," is supposedly home to a monster known to the Lenape Indians. Philo's not so sure: He is (of course) an expert on both dragons and the Lenape Indians, with a sort of sideline expertise in pools and fish. It is tempting to agree with Ogden Nash, that "Philo Vance needs a kick in the pance": and by the time you reach the end of Dragon, you will almost certainly want to point your boot at his posterior. But you will have had a swell time getting there, and we've got a crisp greenback that says you'll be chuckling too hard to aim.

Bet on this Golden Age mystery from the author of The Dragon Murder Case. The "tremendous popularity" of the Philo Vance series stems in part from author S. S. Van Dine's preference for ripping his plots from the headlines of the day (The New York Times). By the early '30s, when Casino came around, those headlines included some creepy chemical discoveries and scandalous doings at secret Manhattan gambling dens, where rich folks knocked back cocktails and played roulette, snickering at both the Depression and the Volsted Act. Philo, of course, is no stranger to cocktails or to snickering, and he knows more about creepy chemicals than the management at Dow. This comes in handy when the owners of a secret Manhattan gambling den are poisoned, perhaps by some new and creepy chemical. As deliciously, irritatingly erudite as ever, Philo is in his element here, solving what one reviewer called an "uncommonly subtle" crime.

A horse race turns into a murder case... Aristocratic detective Philo Vance has gotten an anonymous invitation to a New York rooftop garden, where a group of wealthy friends gather to listen to the horse races. But on the night Vance attends, a guest dies of a gunshot wound after losing a load of money on a bet. Vance doesn't think it was suicide, though, and when two other people in the household are targeted, he has to take the lead in this Golden Age mystery featuring the classic character…

Recently returned from a refreshing sojourn in Egypt and on his way out the door to enjoy a dog show, Philo Vance is stopped in his tracks by a visit from the New York district attorney. Notorious gambler and ne'er-do-well Kaspar Kenting has been kidnapped from his uptown home, and the culprits are demanding that the fifty-thousand-dollar ransom be left inside a hollow tree at midnight. But things don't go well, and the sophisticated and aristocratic detective is about to pick up a pistol and get down in the muck with some very unpleasant characters in this witty, suspenseful Golden Age mystery classic.

The beloved 1930s comedienne becomes the famed detective's sidekick… During a glamorous night on the town, Gracie Allen finds a dead body, and a cigarette case nearby that belongs to her date for the evening. Detective Philo Vance is on the scene, but questioning Gracie is causing more confusion than enlightenment. To prevent her from creating more chaos, Vance decides to keep her close by as his unofficial sleuthing partner. Now, with the help of the zany star, or in spite of it, he intends to find the real killer...

In this classic 1920s mystery, a wealthy dilettante turned amateur sleuth must determine who wants to kill off one of Manhattan's greatest families. Chester Greene has come to the office of New York District Attorney John Markham in need of help. Someone broke into his family's East Side mansion, shot one of his sisters dead, and left another sister wounded. The police believe it to be the work of a panicked burglar, but Chester doesn't buy it. Fortunately for Chester, the brilliant amateur detective Philo Vance happens to be in Markham's office, and he doesn't agree with the police either. Unfortunately for Vance, the Greene family is mired in secrets. Getting a handle on the case isn't easy when someone keeps killing the suspects. Is there a rotten branch on this family tree? Is there a servant with an axe to grind? Who is behind those footprints in the snow? And can paralytic Mrs. Greene actually walk? It's up to Vance to find the answers and nab the killer before the Greene family sees more red. Praise for The Greene Murder Case"As in every detective story, the appearance of the culprit, unmasked, must be the main surprise which ends an unbroken and increasing train of suspense. The skill with which Mr. Van Dine does this is beautifully complicated and adroit, and without recourse to any unfair trickery or concealment." -The Atlantic

Step back into the glittering world of 1920s New York in The Canary Murder Case, the second thrilling installment in S. S. Van Dine's legendary Philo Vance Mystery series. When a glamorous Broadway starlet-known to her adoring public as "The Canary"-is found brutally murdered in her luxurious apartment, the city is scandalized. Behind the velvet curtains and champagne-soaked nights lies a tangled web of jealousy, blackmail, and betrayal. Only the brilliant and enigmatic Philo Vance, the most sophisticated sleuth of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, can unravel the case. With his razor-sharp intellect, unshakable poise, and taste for art and psychology, Vance exposes the secrets hidden among the city's high society and dives deep into a world of shady nightclub owners, desperate lovers, and dangerous ambition. Brimming with classic noir atmosphere, shocking twists, and a puzzle worthy of the great detective himself, The Canary Murder Case is a cornerstone of the Philo Vance mysteries-a must-read for fans of Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, and Ellery Queen. This gripping whodunit cements S. S. Van Dine as one of the towering figures of American crime fiction.

When playboy stockbroker Alvin Benson is found dead in his New York mansion with a bullet through his head, it sends shock waves through the city that never sleeps. Detectives descend - and so does amateur detective Philo Vance, who immediately notices that Benson's toupee and false teeth are missing. With the police always two steps behind, Vance sets off in pursuit of a mysterious killer. Along the way, skeletons fall out of every cupboard he opens in the homes of New York's rich and powerful. Can Vance dodge danger, negotiate the petty politics and catch the killer? 'The Benson Murder Case' is ideal for fans of other amateur sleuths, including Agatha Christie's 'Miss Marple' and 'Poirot' and the wannabe detectives in Richard Osman's 'The Thursday Murder Club'.

Murder cloaked in rhyme and terror grips New York in The Bishop Murder Case, the fourth thrilling entry in S. S. Van Dine's legendary Philo Vance Mystery series. A fiendish killer is on the loose-one who leaves behind cryptic nursery rhymes at the scenes of his crimes. Each victim falls according to a chilling verse, and the press soon dubs him "The Bishop." Enter Philo Vance, the most brilliant and enigmatic sleuth of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. With his razor intellect, mastery of psychology, and disdain for conventional police work, Vance takes on a case unlike any other. As the body count rises and the city trembles, he must untangle a web of symbolism, riddles, and hidden motives before the Bishop claims his final victim. Packed with noir atmosphere, ingenious puzzles, and page-turning suspense, The Bishop Murder Case stands alongside the works of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ellery Queen as one of the cornerstones of classic American detective fiction. A dazzling blend of high society intrigue, literary allusion, and relentless murder mystery, it is a must-read for fans of whodunits, crime thrillers, and pulp-era mysteries. About the author: S. S. Van Dine was the pen name of Willard Huntington Wright (1888–1939), an American art critic, editor, and novelist whose influence on Golden Age detective fiction remains profound. Trained as a literary critic and steeped in art and philosophy, Wright turned to mystery writing during a period of convalescence-and reinvented himself as one of the most sophisticated voices in the genre. In 1926, he introduced the world to Philo Vance, the aristocratic amateur sleuth whose razor intellect, biting wit, and refined tastes set him apart from more conventional detectives. Beginning with The Benson Murder Case, Van Dine's novels quickly became international bestsellers, praised for their intricate plotting, psychological depth, and stylish prose. Beyond the page, Van Dine's influence extended to the silver screen. His Philo Vance mysteries inspired a series of popular Hollywood films in the 1930s, starring actors such as William Powell, Basil Rathbone, and Warren William. Today, his work endures as both an essential part of American crime fiction history and a window into the glittering yet shadowed world of 1920s New York high society.

A sprawling Manhattan mansion becomes the stage for terror in The Greene Murder Case, one of the most chilling installments in S. S. Van Dine's celebrated Philo Vance Mystery series. The wealthy Greene family, bound by money, secrets, and resentment, is struck by a series of shocking murders that transform their home into a fortress of fear. One by one, the heirs fall victim to a cunning and ruthless killer who seems to move invisibly through locked doors and guarded halls. Enter Philo Vance-the urbane, razor-sharp detective of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction-who is called upon to untangle the web of greed, suspicion, and long-buried grudges. With his trademark brilliance, psychological insight, and icy composure, Vance dissects the lies and rivalries of one of New York's most infamous families. Packed with dark atmosphere, ingenious puzzles, and pulse-pounding suspense, The Greene Murder Case cemented Van Dine's reputation alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ellery Queen. This classic 1920s whodunit is a must-read for fans of locked-room mysteries, family inheritance thrillers, and noir detective tales.

A murder in the mountains is the latest case for the Manhattan detective famed for his "highbrow manner and parade of encyclopedic learning" (The New York Times). Wealthy and worldly-wise detective Philo Vance has been asked to keep watch at a house party in the snowy Berkshires of western Massachusetts, where he encounters an assortment of guests ranging from a treasure hunter to a race car driver. The owner of the house doesn't quite trust his son's friends-and is worried about the security of his precious emeralds. Sure enough, a guard is soon killed, the jewels are stolen, and then another guest dies, leaving Vance to make some cold calculations about who turned this gathering from festive to fatal . . . "Mr. Van Dine's amateur detective is the most gentlemanly, and probably the most scholarly snooper in literature." -Chicago Daily Tribune "The best of the American mystery men." -The Globe

In this classic 1920s mystery, a debonair aristocrat turned amateur sleuth searches New York City for a killer drawing inspiration from nursery rhymes. Renaissance dandy Philo Vance has an insatiable hunger for complicated puzzles to solve. He frequently serves as an informal advisor to the police on demanding cases. And once again, New York District Attorney John Markham has quite a case for Vance. The body of Joseph Cochrane Robin was found pierced with an arrow and accompanied by a note signed "The Bishop." Many of the crime scene's details remind Vance of the children's nursery rhyme "Who Killed Cock Robin?" Then more grisly deaths occur, and each seems to reference other characters from Mother Goose. In a case that doesn't follow rhyme or reason, Vance must quickly determine who has Manhattan society whipped into a frenzy before another victim falls like Humpty Dumpty.