The benson murder case

When playboy stockbroker Alvin Benson is found dead in his New York mansion with a bullet through his head, it sends shock waves through the city that never sleeps.

Detectives descend - and so does amateur detective Philo Vance, who immediately notices that Benson's toupee and false teeth are missing.

With the police always two steps behind, Vance sets off in pursuit of a mysterious killer. Along the way, skeletons fall out of every cupboard he opens in the homes of New York's rich and powerful.

Can Vance dodge danger, negotiate the petty politics and catch the killer?

'The Benson Murder Case' is ideal for fans of other amateur sleuths, including Agatha Christie's 'Miss Marple' and 'Poirot' and the wannabe detectives in Richard Osman's 'The Thursday Murder Club'.

S.S. Van Dine (1888-1939) is the novelist pseudonym of American art critic Willard Huntington Wright.

As an art critic, he was an influential name in pre-First World War New York, using a pseudonym when writing detective novels.

He created the popular fictional amateur detective Philo Vance in the 1920s when he was seriously ill and confined to bed for many months.

His 12 Philo Vance novels made him one of the best-selling US authors in the inter-war years.