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Lädt ... The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1938)von S. S. Van Dine
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Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. In this S.S. Van Dine mystery, Philo Vance is assisted by Gracie Allen and her sweetheart George Burns, who both work in a perfume factory. Vance meets Gracie early on, but it isn’t until a kitchen helper is found dead at the Domdaniel Café that Gracie becomes involved. It seems the victim is named Philip Allen. Vance’s original case is to locate the escaped criminal, Benny Pellinzi aka Benny the Buzzard, who has threatened to kill District Attorney F.-X. Markham. Domdaniel Café is Benny’s old hangout and where his girlfriend, Dixie Del Marr, sings. It also is a place of activity of many other shady dealings. Vance figures he can get better results than the police as he doesn’t have to deal with protocol. But the murder puts a kink in things. Thought Gracie is a bit of a ditz, she does find some of the more important key clues. Seems perfume does play a part. Written in 1938, it is an enjoyable read of an enjoyable era. Zeige 4 von 4 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
Gehört zur ReihePhilo Vance (11)
Gracie Allen breaks the Philo Phormula in a number of ways. First is its title: this is the only book in the series to modify "Murder Case" with more than one word, much less with the name of a character. And then there's that character: Gracie Allen was a very real, much-loved comedienne in the 1930s, famous for her double act with George Burns, and in fact the plot revolves around her. Gracie's centrality is no accident: Van Dine wrote the story as a vehicle for Allen, and actually created thenovel only after the film had come out. So do all these departures pay off? We'd be lying if we said thatGracie hits every single mark, but Van Dine does a surprisingly entertaining job of translating Ms. Allen's delicious Ditzy Blonde persona to the page, and she makes a charming foil for Philo's evergreen erudition. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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Review of the Felony & Mayhem Kindle eBook edition (July 18, 2021) of the Scribner’s hardcover original (1938).
The Latin phrases and the classical or historical references were everywhere in The Gracie Allen Murder Case, so there was much to keep you busy with Google translate and Wikipedia search. Otherwise, the gimmick here was the celebrity cameo of having the comic duo of Burns and Allen appear as fictional characters. And no, Gracie Allen does not get murdered unlike the usual title character in the Vance mysteries.
But Burns and Allen do not play themselves. They are instead workers in a perfume factory, with Burns as the main perfumier and Allen as a worker. The subplot of perfume ingredients has some tie-in to the main mystery of a murder at a shady nightclub. The Gracie Allen character does play a version of herself though as she describes various zany antics while acting as an assistant detective to an amused and charmed Philo Vance. In the performances of the radio and later TV comic duo, Burns would play the straight man who would prompt Allen to describe comic misadventures.
The celebrity casting leads one to suspect that it was done in preparation for the film roles, although Burns did not appear in the movie. Grace Allen actually had top billing over the actor playing Philo Vance.
See cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9d/SSVanDine_TheGracieAllenMurderCas...
The front cover of the original Scribner’s first edition (1938). Image sourced from Wikipedia.
The final reveal results in the now standard Unsatisfactory Ending Alert™ for the later Vance novels, so celebrity casting cannot save every venture.
Footnotes
* "de lunatic inquirendo": Latin lunatic inquiry.
** Eumœus or Eumaeus was the swineherd of Odysseus in Homer's The Odyssey, who did live in a hut.
Trivia and Links
See film poster at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5a/The_Gracie_Allen_Murder_Case_post...
The Gracie Allen Murder Case was adapted as the same-titled film The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939) directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Warren William as Philo Vance and Gracie Allen herself as Gracie Allen. I could not find a posting of a trailer or of the film at YouTube.
The Gracie Allen 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. ( )