Philo Vance's final cases
These are the final two tales in the complete Leonaur collection of the Philo Vance Murder Cases. Volume six contains the eleventh novel-'The Gracie Allen Murder Case'. Fortunately George Burn's zany companion is not the victim of the crime, but she provides predictable comic relief to the case, making this an unusual and quite experimental Vance story. The twelfth and final story, 'The Winter Murder Case', is in fact a short novel-that once again demonstrates the insight and understanding of one of fiction's great fictional characters. Included in this final volume are S. S. Van Dine's rules for detective story writing, which make this book a must not only for Philo Vance fans but for aspiring authors as well!

Two great murder mysteries from the Big Apple!
This is the fifth-and penultimate-volume of the Philo Vance Murder Cases published by Leonaur. The first story-the ninth in the series-'The Garden Murder Case', takes its name from the New York city rooftop garden where Vance witnesses the crime take place as a gunshot brings sudden death to a distinguished company gathered to enjoy-horse racing! The tenth story, 'The Kidnap Murder Case', reveals the plot in its title. A member of the wealthy Kenting family is kidnapped and soon Vance is engaged in an intrigue of murder involving priceless gemstones. All the Philo Vance novels are available from Leonaur-two per volume-in complementing softcover or hardcover with dust jacket.

Dragons and games of chance and Philo Vance's game of death
In the fourth Leonaur volume of the Philo Vance Murder Cases we find the urbane New Yorker tackling a particularly puzzling crime. In 'The Dragon Murder Case'-the seventh tale-a guest visiting a country house dives into the swimming pool and instead of climbing out again disappears completely. Suspicions are quickly raised concerning the intervention of a vengeful dragon, but Philo Vance is not so sure. He is, as devotees know, an expert in disappearances, criminals, dragons and how to solve a whodunit that would baffle anyone else. In the 'The Casino Murder Case', Vance receives an anonymous letter alerting him to imminent danger to a member of his own family. If he wants information which will assist him in averting the threat he must visit a certain Casino to find it. Predictably, once there the body count starts to rise .Vance once more has a case on his hands and a killer to uncover-and this time the preferred weapon is the poison bottle. This is another satisfying helping of detective fiction by one of its masters-with more to come as Leonaur publishes the complete collection of these classic stories.

The urbane New Yorker sets out on his fifth and sixth cases
This is the third volume of the Leonaur series of Philo Vance Murder Mysteries. In the first novel of this book-the fifth in the series-the title 'The Scarab Murder Case' gives the clue to its subject matter. The crime takes place in a private house which is also a museum of Egyptology. The murderer has deliberately hidden his identity under a smoke screen of ancient Egyptian references-including the introduction of the possibility that the death may actually be due to the vengeance of an angry Nilotic god. Predictably, Philo Vance knows better. From ancient history and hieroglyphics, Vance steps into the world of dog breeding-a subject about which, predictably, he is also an expert-to solve the second story in this volume: 'The Kennel Murder Case'. Two dead brothers, a wounded Scottish Terrier, broken Chinese porcelain and a cast of suspicious characters all combine to provide an entertaining romp of detective fiction from the dependably erudite Philo Vance which will delight both newcomers and acolytes alike.

In the second volume of the Leonaur's complete Philo Vance Murder Cases we join the famous New York detective at the family mansion where the Greene family is definitely not playing 'Happy Families'. In fact the numbers of the Greene family soon begin to be reduced in the most extreme way. Not surprisingly this, the third Vance story is called the 'Greene Murder Case' and more Greenes will die before the case is solved. The fourth story-'The Bishop Murder Case'-draws its inspiration from children's nursery rhymes. First to die is Christopher Robbin, who just like the Cock Robin is found pierced with an arrow. New York District Attorney Markham knows there is just one man qualified to solve a case this complex, but more characters are doomed to die-including one with allusions to 'Mother Goose'-before Philo Vance can solve the case.

The Complete Philo Vance series-two 'Murder Cases' in each Leonaur volume
S. S. Van Dine was reckoned to be the favourite crime fiction writer of two United States Presidents. Certainly, novels about his famous character, the erudite Philo Vance, topped the best seller lists for months and broke all records in their day for sales of detective fiction. In the first story of this first Leonaur volume, 'The Benson Murder Case', we are introduced to the dilettante hero of this riveting detective series. Another 'man about town' has been slain and the man we know as Vance feels he is uniquely qualified to assist the NYPD to seek out the identity of the murderer. To the satisfaction of his many fans he has embarked on a remarkable and entertaining career in the solution of bizarre crimes. In the second story 'The Canary Murder Case', a sexy night-club singer known as the 'Canary' is found murdered in her apartment. She had a number of men in her life, ranging from high society figures to mobsters from the criminal underbelly of New York in the roaring twenties. All have an alibi, but it could be that one of them is a killer. Philo Vance 'Murder Cases' were phenomenally popular in America and many were translated to the movie screen. Leonaur have gathered together all of these classic crime novels into one collection to bring them together for existing fans and new enthusiasts to enjoy anew.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

The Greene Murder Case is a mystery novel by S. S. Van Dine, written in 1928. One by one the Greene family are murdered and Philo Vance seeks to solve the mystery. It is the third in the series of Philo Vance detective novels. The Greens family consists of two sons and three daughters, the youngest is adopted and the German cook is strangely fond of her. The invalid mother, who spends her time complaining about her ungrateful children, rules the household. Also living in the house is the physician and the butler. The grown-up children are all forced to live in the Greene mansion under the terms of their father's Will. One by one they are murdered or suffer murder attempts. This book was a number four best seller in the year it was written and two film adaptations ensued in 1929 and 1937.

When Cock Robin is found dead with an arrow through his chest, New York's DA calls in amateur detective and professional flâneur Philo Vance to solve the case. Vance quickly establishes the reference in the staging of the murder to a nursery rhyme line, a pattern that is soon borne out by a succession of stranger and even more perverse murders. After each murder, the perpetrator sends a note to the press, signed simply 'The Bishop.' Vance must move quickly to stop the Bishop's tyrannous and bloody campaign of death raging through the upper echelons of New York society. Set against the backdrop of Jazz Age Manhattan with a distinctive and erudite detective, this is considered one of the great classic detective stories.

Like The Gracie Allen Murder Case before it, Winter was first written as a screenplay, in this case a vehicle for the figure skater Sonja Henie. However, while Allen's scatterbrained persona made a charming foil for Philo's stuffed-shirt pretensions, Ms. Henie provided no such inspiration. Van Dine did not live long enough to see her outed as a Nazi supporter, but her ice-princess act offered less for Philo to play against. It should be noted that Winter was published posthumously to close out the series, and though it went to press without Van Dine's usual repeated revisions, it is true vintage Philo-utterly distinctive in style and its own very genuine kind of pleasure.

With Chapters Applicable To The Hygienic Care, Rearing, And Treatment Of All Dogs.

With Chapters Applicable To The Hygienic Care, Rearing, And Treatment Of All Dogs.

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.

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

The first case for New York intellectual and dandy Philo Vance. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.