The Canary Murder Case

The 'Canary' Murder Case First published in 1927, The Canary Murder Case is the second book in S. S. Van Dine's Philo Vance murder mystery series. It deals with the murder of a sexy nightclub singer known as "the Canary," and eventually, that of her boyfriend. The beautiful Margaret Odell, famous Broadway beauty and ex-Follies girl known as "The Canary", is found murdered in her apartment, and it's anyone's guess as to whodunit. She has a number of men in her life, ranging from high society to gangsters, and more than one man visited her apartment on the night she died. It is Philo Vance's characteristic erudition that leads him to a key clue that allows him to penetrate a very clever alibi and reveal the killer. As the narrator says: "The strangeness, the daring, the seeming impenetrability of the crime marked it as one of the most singular and astonishing cases in New York's police annals; and had it not been for Philo Vance's participation in its solution, I firmly believe it would have remained one of the great unsolved mysteries of this country."