The Canary Murder Case

infobox Book |
name = The Canary Murder Case
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = An early edition cover
author = S. S. Van Dine
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Philo Vance
genre = Mystery novels
publisher = Scribner's
release_date = 1927
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 343 pp
isbn = NA
preceded_by = The Benson Murder Case
followed_by = The Greene Murder Case

"The Canary Murder Case" (1927) is a murder mystery novel which deals with the murders of a sexy nightclub singer known as "the Canary," and eventually, that of her boyfriend, solved by Philo Vance. S. S. Van Dine's classic whodunnit, second in the Philo Vance series, is said by Howard Haycraft to have broken "all modern publishing records for detective fiction." [Symons, Julian. (1974) "Bloody Murder" (second, revised edition), London: Penguin. ISBN 0-140037-94-2] .

Plot summary

The beautiful Margaret Odell, famous Broadway beauty and ex-Follies girl known as "The Canary", is found murdered in her apartment. She has a number of men in her life, ranging from high society to gangsters, and more than one man visited her apartment on the night she dies. It is Philo Vance's characteristic erudition that leads him to a key clue that allows him to penetrate a very clever alibi and reveal the killer. "The strangeness, the daring, the seeming impenetrability of the crime marked it as one of the most singular and astonishing cases in New York's police annals; and had it not been for Philo Vance's participation in its solution, I firmly believe it would have remained one of the great unsolved mysteries of this country." [Van Dine, S. S. (1927). "The Canary Murder Case", New York: Scribner's.]

Literary significance & criticism

"It is difficult now to grasp the extent of Van Dine's success in America, and to a much lesser extent in Britain. ... Van Dine's second book was on the American best-seller lists for months ... It was said that he had lifted the detective story on to the plane of a fine art, and by his own account he was the favourite crime writer of two Presidents." [Symons, Julian. (1974) "Bloody Murder" (second, revised edition), London: Penguin. ISBN 0-140037-94-2] .

Some contemporary reviews:"A model of everything a detective story should be -- a monument, a cathedral amongst detective stories." Arnold Palmer in the "London Sphere". "Not only a rattling good yarn that holds you to the end -- it's an education in itself. ... Belongs to the aristocracy of detective fiction." Harry Hansen in the "New York World". "One of the most ingenious and thrilling tales of crime that I have seen. Philo Vance is an original and fascinating person." William Lyon Phelps. [Quoted on page i of Van Dine, S. S. (1927). "The Canary Murder Case", (1943) first paperback edition New York: Pocket.]

"The Canary Murder Mystery" today is primarily of interest as a classic puzzle mystery with an interesting mechanical solution. "It should be said that the best of the Van Dine stories are models of construction. Utterly remote from real life, they remain fascinating by strict adherence to the rules of their own dotty logic, and through their creator's self-absorbed immersion in his own work." [Symons, Julian. (1974) "Bloody Murder" (second, revised edition), London: Penguin. ISBN 0-140037-94-2] .

Author and radio raconteur Jean Shepherd cited "The Canary Murder Case" as his earliest literary inspriration. One detailed discussion was during his February 1, 1968 broadcast on WOR.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

The first film in the series of Philo Vance films adapted from the novels was "The Canary Murder Case" (1929), starring William Powell as Philo Vance and Louise Brooks as the Canary. This film became notorious as the film where Brooks -- having left for Europe to make two films for director G. W. Pabst -- refused to return to the U.S. to dub her dialogue for the sound version. Paramount Pictures then terminated Brooks, and hired actress Margaret Livingston to dub the dialogue for Brooks instead.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019745/ "The Canary Murder Case" at the Internet Movie Database]
* [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200351.txt Text of "The Canary Murder Case" from Gutenberg Australia]