The Gracie Allen Murder Case: Difference between revisions

{{infobox Book book| <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->

| name = The Gracie Allen Murder Case

| translator title_orig =

| image = [[Image:SSVanDine TheGracieAllenMurderCase.jpg|200px|First edition book front cover]]

| author = [[S. S. Van Dine]]

| cover_artist illustrator =

| country = [[United States]]

| language = [[English language|English]]

| genre series = [[Philo Vance]]
| genre = [[Mystery novel|Mystery]], [[Detective novel|Detective Novel]], [[Comedy]]

| publisher = [[Charles Scribner's Sons|Charles Scribner's]]

| release_date = [[1938 in literature|1938]]

| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]]hardback & [[Paperback]]paperback)

| pages = 227 pp

| preceded_by followed_by = [[The KidnapWinter Murder Case]]

'''''The Gracie Allen Murder Case''''' (1938) (also published as ''The Scent of Murder'') is the eleventh of twelve detective novels by [[S. S. Van Dine]] featuring his famous fictional detective of the 1920s and 1930s, [[Philo Vance]]. It also features [[Gracie Allen|the zany half]] of the [[George Burns]] & [[Gracieand Allen]] comedy team. It is in manysome ways ana experimental[[roman novelà clef]], including not just Burns &and Allen but also such characters as Gracie's mother and brother. ([[George Burns]], after all, has described the couple's act as, "All I had to do was ask, 'Gracie, how's your brother?' and she talked for 38 years.") That gave the book an unusual feel, as did the comic tone of much of Gracie's dialogue. This tone suddenly shifts in a later chapter to one character's philosophically anguished speculations, and then back again to Gracie.

==Literary significance &and criticism==

For some readers the whole thing works oddly wonderfully, and shows [[S. S. Van Dine]]'s skill at combining his traditional approach with some unusual forms. Other readers found this book both disconcerting and disappointing. It did not enjoy anything near the commercial success of Van Dine's earlier novels (or his prime character, when Philo Vance himself was developed into a classic radio show), and most critics considered it a failure.

Crime novelist and critic [[Julian Symons]] wrote, "The decline in the last six Vance books is so steep that the critic who called the ninth of them one more stitch in his literary shroud was not overstating the case."<ref>Symons, Julian, ''Bloody Murder'', London: Faber and Faber 1972, with revisions in Penguin Books 1974, {{ISBN |0 -14 -003794 -2}}</ref>

The novel was adapted into a [[1939 in film|1939]] film starring Gracie Allen (who received billing above [[Warren William]]'s portrayal of Philo Vance) which was fairly faithful to the novel. The action stops in the first third when Gracie sings a song that at first seems to be her attempt to sing the first lines of a number of popular songs, each to the tune of another -- aanother—a [[novelty song]]. The film focuses more on her humor than the murder plot, and Philo Vance, whom Gracie keeps calling "Fido"(!) in the film, is relegated to a decidedly secondary role.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070614083109/http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300251.txt The text of the novel is available from Project Gutenberg, Australia]

[[Category:1938 American novels]]

[[Category:1938American novels adapted into films]]