The Bishop murder case: A Philo Vance story [Unbound]

S. S Van Dine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1984

1929. Around 1925 Willard Huntington Wright, critic and writer, underwent a long illness. As part of his convalescence he wrote The Benson Murder Case, in which he created the character of Philo Vance, a master sleuth. So that the book would not be compared to his other works he adopted the pseudonym S.S. Van Dine. By the time The Canary Murder Case, the second in the series was published, Van Dine had become a best seller. He wrote a total of six Philo Vance novels. This Philo Vance story begins: Of all the criminal cases in which Philo Vance participated as an unofficial investigator, the most sinister, the most bizarre, the seemingly most incomprehensible, and certainly the most terrifying, was the one that followed the famous Greene murders. The orgy of horror at the old Green mansion had been brought to its astounding close in December; and after the Christmas holidays Vance had gone to Switzerland for the winter sports. Returning to New York at the end of February he had thrown himself into some literary work he had long had in mind-the uniform translation of the principal fragments of Menander found in the Egyptian papyri during the early years of the present century; and for over a month he had devoted himself sedulously to this thankless task. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Unbound: 453 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press (1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896215016
• ISBN-13: 978-0896215016
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,982,138 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Van Dine A Master-Juggler, July 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bishop Murder Case (Hardcover)

S. S. Van Dine was one of the leading practitioners of the American detective story, and who inspired Ellery Queen and C. Daly King to write. This book, dealing with a series of murders taking place at secluded houses along Riverside Drive, New York, is similar to Van Dine's earlier "Greene Murder Case," in that the murders are committed to a pattern - in the former book, Grost's handbook on criminology; in "Bishop," according to Mother Goose (the original title was "The Mother Goose Murders," though Van Dine changed them, as he did not want his readers to believe that he was writing for children). Besides being one of the first of the nursery-rhyme murders (c.f. both Agatha Christie and Ellery Queen), the book is also ingenious and bizarre, both in the commission of the murders and the unmasking of the murderer. Some of the scenes, though, owe small ideas to H. C. Bailey, as in the "Little Miss Muffet" murder (c.f. "The Violet Farm," "The Little House," "The Bird in the Cellar," etc.). People have claimed to view Philo Vance as an infuriating snob, but he is no worse in this respect than Dorothy L. Sayer's Peter Wimsey, and a great deal better - Van Dine, for one, did not think of Philo Vance as the ultimate lover. In short, plenty of detection, plenty of atmosphere (despite Van Dine's rules, contained in "The Winter Murder Case"), and a fascinating glimpse of old-fashioned New World.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 5 Stars for Silliness, December 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bishop Murder Case (Hardcover)

"Cozy" mysteries don't get much sillier than this, but it's probably the most entertaining of the Philo Vance novels in spite of the hokum. Ultimately, nearly all of the suspects are killed off, so figuring out whodunit isn't a major...uh, undertaking. But if you enjoy a good old-fashioned mystery, complete with bizarre (and not quite believable) goings-on, you'll probably like this one.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mathematics and Nursery Rhymes = Good Myster, February 22, 2002

By 

Ramona Honan "reviews-by-melva" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The BISHOP MURDER CASE (Paperback)

The Bishop Murder book focuses around a series of murders that are connected to nursery rhymes in the house of a mathematics professor. All of the victims are themselves mathematicians, and Philo Vance is attracted to this case because of mathematics solutions are connected to these nursery rhymes. He solves the equations, thereby producing the murderer.

Philo Vance in his complex explanation of the crime says, "In order to understand these . . . we must consider the stock-in-trade of the mathematician, for all his speculations and computations tend to emphasize the relative insignificance of this planet and the unimportance of human life." This is the focus of the mind and personality of Philo Vance, the human intellect at work solving the crime.