Search Results: S.S. Van Dine from I Cannot Live Without Books

The Benson Murder Case (American Mystery Classics) by S.S. Van Dine
All of Manhattan high society is abuzz after playboy stockbroker Alvin Benson is discovered dead in a locked room in his brownstone mansion, slumped over in an easy chair with a bullet in his head. Ballistics experts, detectives, and the NYPD's top brass can't solve the crime, but luckily they don't have to: New York's leading flaneur and art connoisseur, Philo Vance, is on the case, and he's got precisely the far-flung and esoteric knowledge needed to interpret the clues and determine whodunnit.
By carefully examining the crime scene and reconstructing the deadly shooting, Vance determines a number of things about the murderer, including his or her height -- and this is only the first of many deductive feats that he will pull off before the investigation comes to a close.
The first novel in one of the most influential detective series of the early twentieth century, The Benson Murder Case features a brain sleuth, a puzzling plot, and… Read More

The Gracie Allen Murder Case (Philo Vance Series, Book #11) by S.S. Van Dine
Gracie Allen breaks the Philo Phormula in a number of ways. First is its title: this is the only book in the series to modify "Murder Case" with more than one word, much less with the name of a character. And then there's that character: Gracie Allen was a very real, much-loved comedienne in the 1930s, famous for her double act with George Burns, and in fact, the plot revolves around her.
Gracie's centrality is no accident: Van Dine wrote the story as a vehicle for Allen, and actually created the novel only after the film had come out. So do all these departures pay off? We'd be lying if we said that Gracie hits every single mark, but Van Dine does a surprisingly entertaining job of translating Ms. Allen's delicious Ditzy Blonde persona to the page, and she makes a charming foil for Phil's evergreen erudition.