The Greene Murder Case. A Philo Vance Story
Author: S. S. Van Dine, [PSEUD Willard Huntington Wright (1888-1939)]
Year: 1928
Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons
Place: New York
Description:
388+[2 ad] pages with frontispiece and figures. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's black cloth with Art-Deco style printing in cream lettering to spine and cover with "Scribner's seal" appearing at the bottom of the copyright page and same year is listed to title and copyright page in original jacket. (Firsts, volume 14, Number 9 page 29) First edition, first state. with matching dates on title and copyright pages.
The Greene Murder Case is a 1928 mystery novel by S S Van Dine. It focuses on the murders, one by one, of members of the wealthy and contentious Greene family. This is the third in the series of Philo Vance whodunits and the first of the Vance books not inspired by a real-life crime.
Philo Vance takes a hand when, one evening, a daughter of the Greene family is shot to death and another one is wounded. The family comprises two sons and three daughters (the youngest, Ada, is adopted) under the rule of their mother, a bedridden invalid who spends her days feeling sorry for herself and cursing her ungrateful children. The family is required to live in the Greene mansion under the terms of their father's will. The German cook seems strangely attached to the adopted daughter; other hangers-on include the mother's physician, who is courting Sibella Greene, and the enigmatic butler. Later, the two Greene brothers and the mother are killed and the only family left are the two surviving daughters, jaunty modern Sibella and shy Ada, against whom two murder attempts have been made. The murders are complicated by sets of mysterious footprints appearing in the snow, which seem to have been made in an impossible way and by the suggestion that the paralyzed mother has been seen walking in the halls. Philo Vance reduces the facts of the case to just under a hundred paragraphs, sets them in order, and solves the case.
The Green Murder Case (1929) starred William Powell as Philo Vance.
Condition:
Small bump to back board, slight stain to title head edge and frontispiece. Jacket spine ends chipped with creases and tears, edge wear with tears, corners chipped, hinges rubbed else better than very good in very good.
