The Gracie Allen Murder Case: A Philo Vance Story

by S.S. Van Dine

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1883402093
• ISBN13: 9781883402099
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Otto Penzler Books
• Length: 227 Pages
• Weight: 2.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.2" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

The Cuckoo in Philo's Nest

This is the eleventh of the twelve books written by S.S. Van Dine featuring the rich, effete, snobbish and oh, so sophisticated New York detective, Philo Vance. "S.S. Van Dine" was the pen name adopted by Willard Huntington Wright, who withheld his true identity from the general public for several years. Wright was, himself, a fairly effete and sophisticated New Yorker of literary pretensions who had hobnobbed with the major names in book and magazine publishing in his day, including even the cantankerous H. L. Mencken. In 1925, while recuperating from an illness (some say from excessive use of alcohol and drugs), Wright hit on the notion that mysteries weren't selling very well in America because American mystery writers were simply not very good. He set out immediately to rectify that fault. He wrote three novelettes, essentially long outlines of the novels to come. He took them to his friend Maxwell Perkins, chief editor at Charles Scribner's Sons, and the greatest of all American editors. It was he who fashioned literary landmarks out of the near-random pages submitted by Thomas Wolfe. He soothed the fevered egos and tortured souls of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Perkins, in short, knew a good thing when he saw it. He saw it in those three novelettes and he laid down his company's money to have them expanded into books. The first book of the series was "The Benson Murder Case," published in 1926. The second was "The 'Canary' Murder Case," published a year later and the third was "The Greene Murder Case," a year after that, but all three were effectively written together. Eventually, there were nine more books: The Bishop Murder Case (1929) The Scarab Murder Case (1930) The Kennel Murder Case (1933) The Dragon Murder Case (1934) The Casino Murder Case (1934) The Garden Murder Case (1935) The Kidnap Murder Case (1936) The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1938) The Winter Murder Case (a not-quite-polished draft published after the author's death in April 1939.) These books were enormously popular, so popular, in fact, that it has been asserted that they alone were responsible for the survival of Charles Scribner's Sons during the lean years of the Great Depression. Not only were their sales impressive, they quickly spun off cheaply-priced reprint editions--the hard-cover equivalents of our present-day mass market paperbacks. They inspired popular radio shows and even more profitable movies. They were also clearly templates for the Ellery Queen and the Nero Wolfe detective series. Other major writers wrote books which were plainly intended as "anti-Philo Vance" works, the most obvious being Dashiell Hammett with "The Thin Man." The writerly affectation of naming consecutive books in a series in some systematic way, as with letters of the alphabet or numbers or days of the week, is not a new thing. Note that the first ten books and the twelfth all take the form, "The ------ Murder Case" with a six-letter word to differentiate th

book vs. movie

Although I haven't seen the movie, I have read the book several times. George Burns did, indeed, appear in the book, and as a main character. What I have read regarding the movie is that the storyline was changed almost out of recognition from that in the book, though it retained the title. I rated the book very highly because it is one that I take pleasure in reading again and again when I am in the mood for pure entertainment. I can hear George and Gracie's delivery of the lines in my mind, and it makes the story so much more enjoyable. However, I think that a familiarity with the characters of George and Gracie is essential to the enjoyment of the book.

Gracie Allen and Philo Vance

The Gracie Allen Murder Case was S.S. Van Dine's foray in writing a novel that would eventually become a screen play staring George Burns and Gracie Allen. Of all of Van Dine's books, I least liked this one. Though I do like the comedy of Burns and Allen, it did not translate well in this book, which may be one reason it was never made into a movie. However, this does not suggest that you not read this book, it is a good mystery with Philo Vance at his cynical and erudite best.

A Comedy of a Mystery

If you've ever seen George Burns and Gracie Allen you'll love this book. Philo Vance is at his best, but Gracie and George steal the show. The mystery is a good one with a great twist ending and well worth the read.