The Bishop Murder Case

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


image_caption = First edition book front
author = S. S. Van Dine
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Philo Vance
genre = Mystery, Novel
publisher = Scribners Press
release_date = 1928
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn = NA
preceded_by = The Greene Murder Case
followed_by = The Scarab Murder Case

"The Bishop Murder Case" (1928), was S. S. Van Dine's fourth mystery novel. In this book, Philo Vance, Van Dine's popular detective character, solves a mystery built around a nursery rhyme. "The Bishop Murder Case" seems to be not only the first nursery-rhyme mystery book, but the first of any sort of mystery novel constructed around a formal scheme.

Plot summary

The story involves a series of murders taking place in a wealthy neighborhood of New York. The first murder, of a Mr. Christopher Robbin who is found pierced by an arrow, is accompanied by an anonymous note with an extract from the nursery rhyme Who Killed Cock Robin. This crime takes place at the home of an elderly physicist with a beautiful young ward and a private archery range. District Attorney Markham finds the circumstances so unusual that he asks his friend Philo Vance to advise upon the psychological aspects of the crime. Further murders connected with the family and neighbours of the physicist are accompanied with similar extracts from Mother Goose, such as the case of Johnny Sprigg, "who was shot through the middle of his wig, wig, wig." Midway through the book, an elderly woman confesses to the crimes, but this possibility is discounted by the police for physical reasons and by Philo Vance for psychological ones. The kidnapping and confinement of a little Miss Moffatt is luckily discovered by Vance and the police before the child suffocates in the closet in which she has been locked. Vance finally realizes the significance of a reference to the plays of Henrik Ibsen by one of the characters and arranges a spectacular finale in which the criminal is poisoned by a glass of liqueur which that person prepared for another suspect.

Trivia

Some elements from the plot were referenced in the giallo-comeback movie Sleepless alias Non ho sonno by Dario Argento which featured killings referencing to a nursery rhyme and the murder of a hunchbacked dwarf who used to spend time with children (since they did not ostracize him like 'normal' adults did).

Characters in "The Bishop Murder Case"

*Philo Vance – private investigator
*S.S. Van Dine – narrator
*John F.X.Markham – U.S. Attorney
*Ernest Heath – PD Sergeant
*Adolph Drukker – writer, scientist
*Mrs. Drukker – Drukker's mother
*Grete Menzel – Drukkers' cook
*Bertrand Dillard – famous physics scientist
*Bella Dillard – professor Dillard's niece
*Sigurd Arnesson – University professor, professor Dillard's adopted son
*Pyne – Dillards' butler
*Mrs. Beedle – Dillards' cook
*John Pardee – professional chess player
*J.C.Robin – sport champion
*Raymond Sperling – engineer
*John E. Sprigg – Columbia University student

Literary significance & criticism

Modern interest in this book stems at least partly from its role as a precursor of other books with a similar design. Many other Golden Age mystery novels are constructed around a formal scheme: for example Ellery Queen and Ngaio Marsh where the chapter headings especially convey a fascinating sense of pure geometry. Even Agatha Christie used this approach in "Ten Little Indians".

"Philo Vance is more pedantic than ever and talks absolute rot except for passages quoted from encyclopedias about modern physics and math. A young scientist is "framed" for a series of apparently meaningless killings and the solution is pulled out of a hat after Vance has finished lecturing."Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. "A Catalogue of Crime". New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. ISBN 0-06-015796-8]

"The murderer in this story has an uncommon sense of humor and of sportsmanship. In a non-stop trail of successive murders, a note is discovered at each scene. Each note contains a nursery rhyme with a false clue and is signed, "The Bishop". Philo Vance finally puts a stop to the fun, which had included a generous sprinkling of archery, chess and astronomy, mixed with poison and bloodshed."Roseman, Mill "et al". "Detectionary". New York: Overlook Press, 1971. ISBN 0-87951-041-2]

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

A film starring Basil Rathbone was made of The Bishop Murder Case in 1930. The film was an early "talkie" and shows interesting effects because it was made so early after sound technology had been added to film; for example, it lacks a music soundtrack.Ref|IMDB-comments

Footnotes

# [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020695/usercomments IMDb user comments for The Bishop Murder Case] , from [http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1679475/comments krorie et. al.]

External links

* [http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200241.txt The Bishop Murder Case (A Philo Vance Story)(1928)] , Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook, by Don Lainson
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020695/ The Bishop Murder Case, IMDB Entry]