The Scarab Murder Case
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The Scarab Murder Case (1930) is a classic whodunit written by S. S. Van Dine. In this book, detective Philo Vance's murder investigation takes place in a private home that doubles as a museum of Egyptology, and the solution depends in part on Vance's extensive knowledge of Egyptian history and customs, which enable him to sort through suggestions of godly vengeance and reveal the misdirections perpetrated by the real murderer.
Literary significance and criticism
Some reviewers "were disgusted by the author's bland insults to the reader's intelligence -- e.g., the heavy Egyptian statue in the gallery, upended on a piece of a pencil and conveniently toppling onto the intended victim. By that time, they were fed up with the whole bag of tricks, which successive settings did not rejuvenate."<ref name="COFC">Barzun, Jacques and Taylor, Wendell Hertig. A Catalogue of Crime. New York: Harper & Row. 1971, revised and enlarged edition 1989. Template:ISBN</ref>
Film adaptation
The Scarab Murder Case (1936) starred Wilfrid Hyde-White as Vance.
References
External links
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- Text of the novel from Project Gutenberg, Australia
- Reviewed by Mary Reed on the Mystery*File blog