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    The Bishop Murder Case
    The Bishop Murder Case
    The Bishop Murder Case
    Ebook359 pages7 hours

    The Bishop Murder Case

    By S. S. Van Dine

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Philo Vance unravels rhymes in a deadly key. “Without question one of Van Dine’s finest achievements. . . his construction of plot is really quite superb” (Tipping My Fedora).

    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 this “classic detective novel . . . a splendid example of the form . . . the game [is] played full out and to splendid effect” (Mystery File).

    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
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateApr 25, 2019
    ISBN9781631941924
    The Bishop Murder Case
    Author

    S. S. Van Dine

    S. S. Van Dine was the pseudonym of Willard Huntington Wright (1888 - 1939), a US art critic and prolific author. After a long illness, he started writing detective fiction under a pseudonym, creating the wildly popular detective Philo Vance whose obscure cultural references and knowledge of aesthetic arts helped him solve many complicated puzzle plots.

    Read more from S. S. Van Dine

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    Reviews for The Bishop Murder Case

    3.5/5

    46 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      A tale from the “Golden Age” of mystery writing. A case where the murderer uses nursery rhymes to tell his tale.It’s the 1920s and Philo Vance has been called in ,as an un-official investigator, by New York D.A. Johb F. –X Markham. Vance is a well read, aristocratic man, who may appear to be disinterested or unconcerned, but in actuality is observing everything around him.In this case the suspects are from the scientific world — astronomy, mathematics, physics and the game of chess — men of great intelligence and logic ability. The strange bit is the tie to Mother Goose. What do nursery rhymes have to do with the case?J.C. Robin is the first victim found dead, on a private archery range, with an arrow through him. Robin is a well-liked man with no enemies. His middle name is Cochrane, which has led to his friend nicknaming him Cock Robin. The last person to have seen Robin alive was his friend, Raymond Sperling. Sperling is sparrow in German.“Who killed Cock Robin”I, said the sparrow,With my little bow and arrow,I killed Cock Robin.”When a typewritten note appears a little while later, referring to the murdered man and the nursery rhyme and is signed THE BISHOP,it is apparent the death was intentional murder.Then John E. Sprig is found dead from a bullet to his head. This time a note was sent to a local paper and it referred to another rhyme. This cinched it that the cases were related.Vance questions every ne connected with the case and finds all are not forthcoming with information. It takes excessive analysis and poking into corner to find who and why.
    • 4/5
      Definitely a puzzle mystery, and a rather gruesome one at that!
    • 3/5
      This was made into a movie, which I saw before reading this. I was not happy with whodunit because it seemed to me that the author strongly suggested / said that it was not possible for this person to have dunit.Philo Vance is very rich, smart and knowledgeable. In fact, the book has footnotes! It also has a list of characters and tracks the date and time of the events.He has a very close friend who spends most of his time with Vance and is therefore able to record how the mystery is solved even though he rarely if ever speaks. What he does is tell the reader things like, "... and it marked the beginning of the last phase of our investigation---a phase fraught with such sinister, soul-stirring tragedy and unspeakable horror, with such wanton cruelty and monstrous humor, that even now, years later, as I set down this reportorial record of it, I find it difficult to believe that the events were not, after all, a mere grotesque dream of fabulous wickedness."
    • 3/5
      Very good mystery in the Sherlock Holmes style - Philo Vance is a wealthy, erudite American version of Holmes complete with Van Dine as his Watson. I was sure I knew the culprit until being confounded at the very end. I like the fact that there was no "cheating" - no clues hidden from the reader.
    • 3/5
      Philo Vance mystery #4 but the first available to me in the Nova Scotia library system. Published in 1928. I know Vance is supposed to be a ‘dandy’ but the book seemed to me to be a vehicle for Van Dine to show off his knowledge of mathematics. Mystery was okay, time & setting (NYC) were delightful.
    • 3/5
      After so many years these mysteries, featuring amateur detective Philo Vance remain popular and in print. They are even in print in Japan. As one Amazon reviewed characterized Phio Vance he is "as an infuriating snob, but he is no worse in this respect than Dorothy L. Sayer's Peter Wimsey". A fun read. It is also fun to imagine living in such swank quarters with a butler and always being right.

    Book preview

    The Bishop Murder Case - S. S. Van Dine

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