The Kidnap Murder Case

This new Van Dine kidnap-murder case deals with two of the most unusual crimes in the whole record of Philo Vance’s criminological researches. Kasper Kenting, a playboy and ne’er-do-well, disappears from his ancestral home, the ‘Purple House,’ in West 86th Street, with all the indications pointing to a kidnapping. Both District Attorney John F.-X, Markham and Sergeant Ernest Heath of the Homicide Bureau participate, with Philo Vance, in the exciting investigation. In The Kidnap Murder Case Philo Vance runs into the gravest personal danger, and it is through the accuracy of his aim, at the crucial moment, that he saves Sergeant Heath’s life as well as his own. The locale of this amazing crime shifts from one of the most fascinating residential landmarks in mid-town Manhattan to a sordid and obscure hovel on the upper east side. The account moves with arresting swiftness to a dramatic climax and will appeal even to those readers who heretofore have not been especially interested in this type of fiction.