All Formats & Editions

When a scheming American capitalist is found dead in the garden of his English country house, two immediate matters confound amateur detective Philip Trent: why is the dead man not wearing his false teeth and why is his young widow seemingly relieved at his death? The newly widowed... Read Full Overview

Written in reaction to what Bentley perceived as the sterility and artificiality of the detective fiction of his day, Trent's Last Case features Philip Trent, an all-too-human detective who not only falls in love with the chief suspect but reaches a brilliant conclusion that... Read Full Overview

"One of the few genuine classics of detective fiction." -- The New York Times. Written in reaction to what Bentley perceived as the sterility and artificiality of the detective fiction of his day -- particularly stories that featured infallible detectives of the Holmesian... Read Full Overview

Between what matters and what seems to matter, how should the world we know judge wisely? When the scheming, indomitable brain of Sigsbee Manderson was scattered by a shot from an unknown hand, that world lost nothing worth a single tear; it gained something memorable in a harsh... Read Full Overview

In "Trent's Last Case," E. C. Bentley crafts a masterful detective novel that deftly subverts the conventions of the genre. This richly layered narrative features Philip Trent, a skilled amateur sleuth who is drawn into a complex murder investigation surrounding a wealthy client... Read Full Overview

Trent's Last Case (1913) is a detective novel by E.C. Bentley. Adapted three times for the cinema-including a 1952 feature film starring Michael Wilding, Orson Welles, and Margaret Lockwood-Trent's Last Case, which was titled The Woman in Black in the U.S., earned... Read Full Overview

Masterwork of the genre features detective Philip Trent in a case involving the murder of an American financier. "One of the few genuine classics of detective fiction."--"The New York Times."

Written in reaction to what Bentley perceived as the sterility and artificiality of the detective fiction of his day, Trent's Last Case features Philip Trent, an all-too-human detective who not only falls in love with the chief suspect but reaches a brilliant conclusion that... Read Full Overview

Masterwork of the genre features detective Philip Trent in a case involving the murder of an American financier. "One of the few genuine classics of detective fiction."--"The New York Times."

Written in reaction against the solemnity of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Trent's Last Case, with its ingeniously twisting plot and cheerfully self-mocking hero, is the first classic of the golden age of English detective fiction.
A powerful and ruthless American capitalist... Read Full Overview

E. C. Bentley's "Trent's Last Case" is a seminal work in the detective fiction genre, masterfully intertwining elements of mystery, wit, and social critique. Bentley employs a stylish and articulate narrative, pioneering a tone that balances both the absurd and the profound... Read Full Overview

Masterwork of the genre features detective Philip Trent in a case involving the murder of an American financier. "One of the few genuine classics of detective fiction."--"The New York Times."

This anthology is a thorough introduction to classic literature for those who have not yet experienced these literary masterworks. For those who have known and loved these works in the past, this is an invitation to reunite with old friends in a fresh new format. From Shakespeare's... Read Full Overview

It is a detective novel written by E. C. Bentley and first published in 1913. Its central character, the artist and amateur detective Philip Trent, reappeared subsequently in the novel Trent's Own Case (1936) and the short-story collection Trent Intervenes (1938)