Mystery and Crime Van Dine, S.S.: Vance 01 - The Benson Murder Case. v1. 22 May 07

HarryT · 05-22-2007, 01:00 PM

The first in a series of detective stories by "S.S. Van Dine", the pen name of Willard Huntington Wright, an American author and script writer. The series features the amateur investigator "Philo Vance", and are all detective stories of the "old school", complete with plans of the murder scene, solving of clues, questioning of witnesses, and so forth. An excellent read.

I'm planning to do the entire series, but it may take me a while. I'm going to do them as separate books, rather than anthologies, simply because preparing each book takes a great deal of work - they have lots of diagrams, footnotes, and so forth. I'll label them with the position in the series, as in this case "Vance 01 - The Benson Murder Case". (All the books are called "The <something> Murder Case").

This first book in the series, "The Benson Murder Case", sees Philo Vance investigating the murder of Alvin Benson, found dead in an armchair in his living room with a single bullet wound to the head.

Enjoy!

Edit: 23rd May 07

For some reason, in the original book most of the chapter titles didn't show up in the table of contents. Re-did the titles and now OK. Uploaded v2.

dhbailey · 05-22-2007, 04:36 PM

I've read the Gracie Allen Murder Case, where Gracie Allen is a character (luckily not the murder victim!) and it is a great read. I've got all these ready to go as I read my way through what's on my reader already.

JSWolf · 05-22-2007, 07:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhbailey

I've read the Gracie Allen Murder Case, where Gracie Allen is a character (luckily not the murder victim!) and it is a great read. I've got all these ready to go as I read my way through what's on my reader already.

That sounds quite good actually. Is it a free book? Do you have it for posting here if it is?

Jon

dhbailey · 05-22-2007, 08:44 PM

It's available for download from PG Australia along with 11 others. I have it downloaded on my computer, although I believe these are still copyrighted in the U.S. I read it in a dead-tree version about 5 years ago. At least PG doesn't have them, and I believe they were written in the later 1930s, which would make them copyrighted still in the U.S.

When I said "ready to go" all I'm doing with the PG books is running them through a free application I downloaded from the bbeb group at yahoogroups, which strips out all the extraneous hard returns but leaves the paragraphs as they are, making the book flow very nicely on the reader. I'm not formatting them or anything or making tables of contents or any of the other fancy stuff that the fine folks uploading these books do because I don't have the time.

HarryT · 05-23-2007, 05:20 AM

There's something strange about the titles in this book - they aren't showing up in the TOC. I'll re-do them tonight and upload a v2.

HarryT · 05-23-2007, 12:41 PM

I've now uploaded a new version which corrects the problem. The only issue was with the TOC page. If you're not bothered about that, no need to re-download!

KlondikeGeoff · 05-23-2007, 09:14 PM

Hey, Harry, I'm confused. First of all, I read these many, many years ago and thought them among the best detective stories of the time.

However, when I searched PG and found them, there were dire warnings that these were only be be downloaded in Australia, and not in any other country.

Has this changed?

HarryT · 05-24-2007, 02:32 AM

Not at all. It's like half the other stuff in this forum - you have to decide for yourself whether it's out of copyright in your country or not. All the books in this forum are out of copyright somewhere, but not necessarily where you happen to live.

However, in the case of an obscure author such as Mr "Van Dine", that almost nobody today has ever heard of, the chances of anyone caring whether you download it in the "wrong" country are so small that, in practical terms, it's not worth worrying about.

In the case of better known stuff, where the US copyright holder is more likely to pursue people who upload to servers in the wrong country, we do now have an alternate server in Europe we can upload the books to, and just have a download link from here. These books really don't fall into that category, however!

Yes, you are absolutely correct. Technically speaking, if you live in the US, you shouldn't download this. It's for you to decide as an individual whether or not that matters to you.

Chuck · 08-18-2007, 12:28 PM

Thanks. I have some of these in print. I want to read them but my books are old and I worry about damaging them. I'd rather read them electonically.

05-22-2007, 01:00 PM	#1
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Van Dine, S.S.: Vance 01 - The Benson Murder Case. v1. 22 May 07 The first in a series of detective stories by "S.S. Van Dine", the pen name of Willard Huntington Wright, an American author and script writer. The series features the amateur investigator "Philo Vance", and are all detective stories of the "old school", complete with plans of the murder scene, solving of clues, questioning of witnesses, and so forth. An excellent read. I'm planning to do the entire series, but it may take me a while. I'm going to do them as separate books, rather than anthologies, simply because preparing each book takes a great deal of work - they have lots of diagrams, footnotes, and so forth. I'll label them with the position in the series, as in this case "Vance 01 - The Benson Murder Case". (All the books are called "The <something> Murder Case"). This first book in the series, "The Benson Murder Case", sees Philo Vance investigating the murder of Alvin Benson, found dead in an armchair in his living room with a single bullet wound to the head. Enjoy! Edit: 23rd May 07 For some reason, in the original book most of the chapter titles didn't show up in the table of contents. Re-did the titles and now OK. Uploaded v2.

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05-22-2007, 04:36 PM	#2
dhbailey Guru Posts: 604 Karma: 733 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: HP iPAQ211 / PRS 500, 700 and 505	I've read the Gracie Allen Murder Case, where Gracie Allen is a character (luckily not the murder victim!) and it is a great read. I've got all these ready to go as I read my way through what's on my reader already.

05-22-2007, 08:44 PM	#4
dhbailey Guru Posts: 604 Karma: 733 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: HP iPAQ211 / PRS 500, 700 and 505	It's available for download from PG Australia along with 11 others. I have it downloaded on my computer, although I believe these are still copyrighted in the U.S. I read it in a dead-tree version about 5 years ago. At least PG doesn't have them, and I believe they were written in the later 1930s, which would make them copyrighted still in the U.S. When I said "ready to go" all I'm doing with the PG books is running them through a free application I downloaded from the bbeb group at yahoogroups, which strips out all the extraneous hard returns but leaves the paragraphs as they are, making the book flow very nicely on the reader. I'm not formatting them or anything or making tables of contents or any of the other fancy stuff that the fine folks uploading these books do because I don't have the time.

05-23-2007, 05:20 AM	#5
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	There's something strange about the titles in this book - they aren't showing up in the TOC. I'll re-do them tonight and upload a v2.

05-23-2007, 12:41 PM	#6
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I've now uploaded a new version which corrects the problem. The only issue was with the TOC page. If you're not bothered about that, no need to re-download!

05-23-2007, 09:14 PM	#7
KlondikeGeoff Wombat Aficionado Posts: 481 Karma: 733 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Arizona Device: Fire, Kindle1, Sony PRS-500 Reader, Rocket 1100 eBook	Hey, Harry, I'm confused. First of all, I read these many, many years ago and thought them among the best detective stories of the time. However, when I searched PG and found them, there were dire warnings that these were only be be downloaded in Australia, and not in any other country. Has this changed?

05-24-2007, 02:32 AM	#8
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Not at all. It's like half the other stuff in this forum - you have to decide for yourself whether it's out of copyright in your country or not. All the books in this forum are out of copyright somewhere, but not necessarily where you happen to live. However, in the case of an obscure author such as Mr "Van Dine", that almost nobody today has ever heard of, the chances of anyone caring whether you download it in the "wrong" country are so small that, in practical terms, it's not worth worrying about. In the case of better known stuff, where the US copyright holder is more likely to pursue people who upload to servers in the wrong country, we do now have an alternate server in Europe we can upload the books to, and just have a download link from here. These books really don't fall into that category, however! Yes, you are absolutely correct. Technically speaking, if you live in the US, you shouldn't download this. It's for you to decide as an individual whether or not that matters to you.

08-18-2007, 12:28 PM	#9
Chuck Nameless Being	Thanks. I have some of these in print. I want to read them but my books are old and I worry about damaging them. I'd rather read them electonically.