The Philo Vance Megapack. S.S. Van Dine

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СКАЧАТЬ the Stars—And Beyond! The Second Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

      Once Upon a Future: The Third Borgo Press Book of Science Fiction Stories

      Whodunit?—The First Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories

      More Whodunits—The Second Borgo Press Book of Crime and Mystery Stories

      X is for Xmas: Christmas Mysteries

      THE BENSON MURDER CASE (Part 1)

      “Mr. Mason,” he said, “I wish to thank you for my life.”

      “Sir,” said Mason, “I had no interest in your life. The adjustment of your problem was the only thing of interest to me.”

      —Randolph Mason: Corrector of Destinies

      INTRODUCTORY

      If you will refer to the municipal statistics of the City of New York, you will find that the number of unsolved major crimes during the four years that John F.-X. Markham was district attorney, was far smaller than under any of his predecessors’ administrations. Markham projected the district attorney’s office into all manner of criminal investigations; and, as a result, many abstruse crimes on which the police had hopelessly gone aground were eventually disposed of.

      But although he was personally credited with the many important indictments and subsequent convictions that he secured, the truth is that he was only an instrument in many of his most famous cases. The man who actually solved them and supplied the evidence for their prosecution was in no way connected with the city’s administration and never once came into the public eye.

      At that time I happened to be both legal advisor and personal friend of this other man, and it was thus that the strange and amazing facts of the situation became known to me. But not until recently have I been at liberty to make them public. Even now I am not permitted to divulge the man’s name, and for that reason I have chosen, arbitrarily, to refer to him throughout these ex officio reports as Philo Vance.

      It is, of course, possible that some of his acquaintances may, through my revelations, be able to guess his identity; and if such should prove the case, I beg of them to guard that knowledge; for though he has now gone to Italy to live and has given me permission to record the exploits of which he was the unique central character, he has very emphatically imposed his anonymity upon me; and I should not like to feel that, through any lack of discretion or delicacy, I have been the cause of his secret becoming generally known.

      The present chronicle has to do with Vance’s solution of the notorious Benson murder which, due to the unexpectedness of the crime, the prominence of the persons involved, and the startling evidence adduced, was invested with an interest rarely surpassed in the annals of New York’s criminal history.

      This sensational case was the first of many in which Vance figured as a kind of amicus curiae in Markham’s investigations.

      —S. S. VAN DINE

      New York

      CHARACTERS OF THE BOOK

      PHILO VANCE

      JOHN F.-X. MARKHAM

      District Attorney of New York County

      ALVIN H. BENSON

      Well-known Wall Street broker and man-about-town, who was mysteriously murdered in his home

      MAJOR ANTHONY BENSON

      Brother of the murdered man

      MRS. ANNA PLATZ

      Housekeeper for Alvin Benson

      MURIEL ST. CLAIR

      A young singer

      CAPTAIN PHILIP LEACOCK

      Miss St. Clair’s fiancé

      LEANDER PFYFE

      Intimate friend of Alvin Benson’s

      MRS. PAULA BANNING

      A friend of Leander Pfyfe’s

      ELSIE HOFFMAN

      Secretary of the firm of Benson and Benson

      COLONEL BIGSBY OSTRANDER

      A retired army officer

      WILLIAM H. MORIARTY

      An alderman, Borough of the Bronx

      JACK PRISCO

      Elevator boy at the Chatham Arms

      GEORGE G. STITT

      Of the firm of Stitt and McCoy, Public Accountants

      MAURICE DINWIDDIE

      Assistant District Attorney

      CHIEF INSPECTOR O’BRIEN

      Of the Police Department of New York City

      WILLIAM M. MORAN

      Commanding Officer of the Detective Bureau

      ERNEST HEATH

      Sergeant of the Homicide Bureau

      BURKE

      Detective of the Homicide Bureau

      SNITKIN

      Detective of the Homicide Bureau

      EMERY

      Detective of the Homicide Bureau

      BEN HANLON

      Commanding Officer of Detectives assigned to District Attorney’s office

      PHELPS

      Detective assigned to District Attorney’s office

      TRACY

      Detective assigned to District Attorney’s office

      SPRINGER

      Detective assigned to District Attorney’s office

      HIGGINBOTHAM

      Detective assigned to District Attorney’s office

      CAPTAIN CARL HAGEDORN

      Firearms expert

      DR. DOREMUS

      Medical Examiner

      FRANCIS SWACKER

      Secretary to the District Attorney

      CURRIE

      Vance’s valet

      CHAPTER СКАЧАТЬ