Resumen
Resumen de El caso del asesinato del Canario
Para quién es
For readers who love puzzles with fair clues, old New York, and detectives with strong opinions. It also suits anyone curious about how the golden age mystery took shape.
De qué trata este libro
The Canary Murder Case is a detective novel by S. S. Van Dine, the pen name of the American art critic Willard Huntington Wright. It appeared in 1927 and was the second book about Philo Vance, a wealthy amateur who solves crimes by thinking about people. The first novel had made the name known. This one made it a habit of the age, and it sold in great numbers in its day.
The case is set in New York in the Roaring Twenties. A Broadway star, Margaret Odell, known to every theatre fan as the Canary, is found strangled in her apartment. The police find a dead woman, a puzzle and a long list of men who had reason to know her. You get a clever puzzle, a city of nightclubs and money, and a detective who talks like a professor. Let us start with the woman at the centre of the case.
En este resumen
- 1A Broadway star is found deadFree
- 2Vance joins the official investigation
- 3The suspects and their secrets
- 4Vance prefers minds to fingerprints
- 5What the story is really about
- 6How the tale is told
Idea clave 1 de 6
A Broadway star is found dead
The story opens with the death of Margaret Odell. She is a dancer and performer on the New York stage, and the public calls her the Canary. She lives in her own apartment on the West Side, and she has made a comfortable life out of her fame and her friendships. Then she is found strangled, and the news runs through the theatre district at once.
The tale is told by a lawyer who goes by the name S. S. Van Dine, the same name as the author. He is the close friend and legal adviser of Philo Vance. He is not a detective himself. He is the witness who follows Vance from room to room and writes down what is said. This device lets the reader stand beside the great man and hear his reasoning in his own words.
The crime is hard to read from the start. The apartment seems to have been closed against any outsider, and that makes the case look impossible. A woman who was loved, envied and perhaps feared has left behind a room full of questions. Was the killer a stranger, a thief, or someone she let in?
The book spends its early pages setting out this puzzle with care. Nothing is rushed. We learn where things stood, who was seen, and who has reason to be nervous. The real work, though, is about to pass to the men who will take charge of the case.
The police arrive with their usual methods. Beside them stands a man who works in a very different way.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Who’s who
- Philo Vance
- Philo Vance is a wealthy amateur detective whose friendship with Markham brings his psychological methods into the investigation.
- John F.-X. Markham
- John F.-X. Markham is New York County's district attorney, who relies on his friend Vance while seeking provable evidence.
- Sergeant Ernest Heath
- Sergeant Ernest Heath is a homicide policeman whose trust in facts and witnesses contrasts with Vance's psychological theories.
- S. S. Van Dine
- S. S. Van Dine is Vance's loyal lawyer friend, who narrates the investigation and observes the detective's methods.
- Margaret Odell
- Margaret Odell is the Broadway performer called the Canary, whose admirers become central to the investigation of her death.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 86,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h 45 min
- Listening time9 h 35 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 12 other languages
Questions about El caso del asesinato del Canario
What is The Canary Murder Case about?
It is a detective novel about the strangling of Margaret Odell, a Broadway performer nicknamed the Canary, in her New York apartment. Philo Vance helps the District Attorney sort through suspects and false trails.
Who is Philo Vance?
Philo Vance is the amateur detective of S. S. Van Dine's novels. He is a wealthy, educated New Yorker and art lover who solves crimes by studying the psychology of the people involved.
Who is S. S. Van Dine?
S. S. Van Dine is both the author's pen name and the name of the narrator, Vance's lawyer friend. The real author was the art critic Willard Huntington Wright.
When was The Canary Murder Case written and is it a true story?
It was published in 1927 and is fiction. It was the second Philo Vance novel, set in the New York of its own time, with its theatre world and nightlife.
Is The Canary Murder Case hard to read?
The plot is clear. Readers who enjoy golden age mysteries usually find the tone part of the fun.