Murder on the Penthouse Roof Garden
Review of the Felony & Mayhem Kindle eBook edition (December 14, 2020) of the Scribner’s hardcover original (1935).

“But that isn’t fair to Mr. Van Dine. Where would you be without him, Mr. Vance?”
“I admit I’d be unknown and unsung,” returned Vance. “But I’d be a happier man – an obscure, but free, spirit. And I’d never have unconsciously provided the inspiration for Ogden Nash’s poetic masterpiece.”*
* Vance was referring to Nash’s famous couplet: “Philo Vance Needs a kick in the pance.”

Even though The Garden Murder Case has the usual Van Dine tropes of the 'apparently innocent witness who is in fact the real culprit' and 'who will escape standard criminal justice by some method of circumstance', you still have to smile when you see that the writer is self-effacing enough to include the Ogden Nash couplet in his text, albeit as a footnote.

The case does have an intriguing start. Philo Vance and his 'Watson' Van Dine attend a penthouse gathering where the host runs an off-track betting emporium for his family and friends. One relative is in desperate straits and makes a huge bet on their anticipated winner of the day's big race. They then adjourn to the rooftop garden to avoid being studied by the other guests. After the race is run and the winner proves to be another horse, a shot rings out and the reckless bettor is found dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot from a nearby revolver. Everyone except Vance says it is suicide. Vance of course knows that it is murder.

See front cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/TheGardenMurderCase.jpg
The front cover of the original Scribner’s first edition (1935). Image sourced from Wikipedia.

We then go through the standard machinations where various red herrings and other apparent suspects are paraded before us. Vance eventually does the standard 'gather all the suspects together in a reenactment' trick to draw out the real culprit. It has a shocking twist for a first-time reader, but if you've read several Vances in a row as I now have, the finale requires the now expected Unsatisfactory Ending Alert™.

Trivia and Links
See movie poster at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/The-Garden-Murder-Case_poster.jpg
The Garden Murder Case was adapted as the same-titled film The Garden Murder Case (1936) directed by Edwin L. Marin and starring Edward Lowe as Philo Vance. You can see the original trailer on YouTube here.

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

A horse race parlor, set up by a rich socialite, is thrown into chaos when a man seemingly shoots himself after losing a large sum of money on a race. Philo Vance, looking closer, sees a heinous murder and sets out to investigate. One of the less-annoying Philo Vance volumes. ( )