Philo Vance’s last case in the 12 book series by S.S. Van Dine.

District Attorney John F-X. Markham has an offer for Philo Vance — “a brief vacation in ideal surroundings — winter, sports, pleasing company and a veritable mansion in which to relax.” In truth, it is a request by Carrington Rexton, owner of Rexton estate.
Seems the estate is full with many of son Richard’s friends. The influx of guests is due to a celebration of Richard’s return from Europe. Carrington is a big collector of fine gems stones and a nice selection of emeralds is the center piece of the collection. He isn’t comfortable or trusting with the strangers.

Vance’s detection expertise is shortly put to work.

Murder — two bodies, an international jewel their an invalided girl, a girl who ice skates like a dream, a variety of characters makes for a fascinating read. Set in 1939, it is being back in time.

A preface gives the reader the background of S.S. Van Dine. There is also a postface, “Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories” written by Van Dine. Another fun read…and informative. ( )

The Final Philo
Review of the Arni Books Kindle eBook edition (August 10, 2023) of the Scribner’s hardcover original (1939).

The girl, in a simple white skating costume, seemed unreal in the light of the moon and stars. She was going through one difficult skating figure after another with serious repetition, as if trying to perfect their intricacies. Vance suddenly became attentive.
“My word!” he whispered. “Magnificent skating!”
He stood fascinated by the girl’s proficiency as she executed various school figures and complicated free routines.
The phonograph ran down and, as the girl completed an involved jump and spiral spin, Vance approached her with a cheerful greeting. At first she was startled; then she smiled shyly.

This became the final Philo Vance novel by S.S. Van Dine aka Willard Huntington Wright (1888-1939) who passed away in the year that it was published. The Winter Murder Case was apparently designed as a screen treatment for a planned film to feature Norwegian champion ice skater Sonje Henie, who had a post-Olympics career as a screen actress. The plot therefore involves a woman with a talent for ice skating. It was published as a short length novella with Wright's "Twenty Rules For Writing Detective Stories" added as an addendum to bump up the book length.

See cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b9/TheWinterMurderCase.jpg
The front cover of the original Scribner’s first edition (1939). Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Amateur sleuth Vance is called out to the Berkshires country estate of Carrington Rexon who is concerned that his emerald jewel collection will be burgled. Ella Gunthar is the companion to Rexon's invalid daughter and spends her spare time ice skating on a nearby rink on the estate. As Vance is in residence a murder and the theft of the emeralds occurs. Vance solves the case while relying on Ella's skating as a distraction for the house guests.

This was a very light and short read which didn't allow Philo Vance to do his usual taunting of District Attorney Markham (who is also a guest at the estate) or NYC homicide detective sergeant Heath (who does not appear at all, since the locale is out of his jurisdiction). So it was not as insufferable as some of the other late Vances and it also didn't have the disappointment of an Unsatisfactory Ending Alert.

Trivia and Links
Unlike almost all of the other Philo Vance books and although originally planned as a movie, The Winter Murder Case was not adapted into a film version. There is a listing of all the film adaptations under the Wikipedia entry for the fictional Philo Vance character here. The later films are not based on any of the books.

The Winter Murder Case is in the public domain and can be read or sourced online at various sites such as Faded Page.

Willard Huntington Wright aka S.S. Van Dine is also the author of the Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories. ( )

El detective Philo Vance es invitado a la fiesta que celebra en su finca rural el propietario de una fabulosa colección de diamantes, y tendrá que resolver el misterio de dos crímenes y robo de los diamantes.

Título original, The Winter Murder Case. Traducción J. Mallorqui.
Editorial Molino, 1961. Barcelona. Impreso en España. A.G. Ponsa Hospitalet Barcelona. ( )