The Garden Murder Case: A Philo Vance Story

Author: S. S. Van Dine, [PSEUD Willard Huntington Wright (1888-1939)] inscribed by the author

Year: 1935

Publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons

Place: New York

Description:

332+[viii ad] pages. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's gilt-stamped black cloth in original jacket. Inscription to front end paper. (firsts Volume 14, number 9 page 31) First edition.

Garden marked the return to the original design for the dust wrappers, without any graphics added to the standard index card layout. Here the card is in gold and the front and back panels, and the front and spine of the book's cover are also stamped in gold.

Floyd, the son of Professor Garden, invites his socialite friends to the rooftop garden of his father's New York penthouse to listen to the outcome of horse races. Detective Philo Vance receives an anonymous telephone message inviting him to one of Floyd's gatherings. On that particular night, Floyd's best friend has placed an enormous bet on a horse named Equanimity. Once it is announced that Equanimity has lost the race, a gunshot is heard and Floyd's friend is found dead of a gunshot wound. Though initially thought to be a suicide, Detective Vance deems the death a murder. The night proves to be even more eventful, due to the attempted poisoning of Floyd's mother's nurse and the subsequent murder of his mother. Ultimately, Detective Vance is able to solve the murders. He lures the murderer into revealing himself and gathers photographic evidence of him trying to push the detective off of the garden balcony.

 Condition:

Inscribed on front end paper "To / Harry P. Burton / With sincerest regards / S.S. Van Dine.". Irregular darkening to lower outer blank margins of front end end matter, gently bumped corners. Jacket edgewear, heaviest to flap folds, fold corners, and head and foot of spine panel, unclipped else better than very good in like jacket.