
The Benson Murder Case
The Philo Vance Series, Book 1
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $17.16
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Stefan Rudnicki
-
By:
-
S. S. Van Dine
About this listen
“Crimes possess all the basic factors of a work of art—approach, conception, technique, imagination, attack, method, and organization.”
The Benson Murder Case introduces S. S. Van Dine’s brilliant and iconic detective to the world in one of the most popular detective novels of the twentieth century, inspired by the real-life murder of a famous bridge player.
Alvin Benson is found slumped over an easy chair in a room locked from the inside with a bullet in his head, and Wall Street and the high society of Manhattan are set ablaze with the news of the playboy stockbroker’s death. But when NYPD’s top detectives and ballistics experts can’t solve the mystery, it falls to Philo Vance, an art connoisseur and amateur sleuth, to find the killer. Vance’s intellectual and artistic background helps him uncover a series of odd clues, starting with a missing toupee and false teeth, and soon he is delving deep into the case. In a Holmesian display of deduction, Vance also uses a recreation of the crime scene to determine several details about the killer—even down to their height. But he will have to uncover more than these small but vital details in order to find the real killer, deconstruct their alibi, and prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they in fact killed Alvin Benson.
Originally published in 1926.
Public Domain (P)2023 Blackstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
-
Murder at the Dolphin Hotel: A Gripping Cozy Historical Mystery
- A Miss Underhay Mystery, Book 1
- By: Helena Dixon
- Narrated by: Alex Tregear
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
June 1933. Independent, young Kitty Underhay has been left in charge of her family’s hotel, The Dolphin, on the tranquil English coast. But when several rooms are broken into and searched, including Kitty’s own, she quickly realizes that something out of the ordinary is afoot at the hotel. Soon, rumors are flying in the cozy town that someone is on the hunt for a stolen ruby. A ruby that Kitty’s mother may well have possessed when she herself went missing during the Great War.
-
-
Very Good Start
- By Dylan on 04-06-20
By: Helena Dixon
-
Murder at Everham Hall
- A Marius Quin Mystery, Book 1
- By: Benedict Brown
- Narrated by: George Blagden
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
December 1927. Mystery-writer Marius Quin has one previous bestseller, endless looming mortgage payments, and no idea how to write his next book. When his childhood friend Lady Isabella Montague invites him to an intimate New Year’s Eve party hosted by a narcissistic actor, Marius seizes upon the distraction. With his perpetually glum Basset hound along for the ride, he navigates the snowy lanes to the opulent estate of Everham Hall. As the celebrations begin, fireworks light up the sky, champagne corks pop, and then the host is murdered…
-
-
Great new series!
- By Sallyk575 on 07-02-24
By: Benedict Brown
-
Murder at the Spring Ball
- A 1920s Mystery (Lord Edgington Investigates..., Book 1)
- By: Benedict Brown
- Narrated by: George Blagden
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1925. After years shut away from the world, former detective Lord Edgington of Cranley Hall plans a grand ball to celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday. But when someone starts bumping off members of his scheming family, the old man enlists his teenage grandson to help find the killer, before one of them is next.
-
-
Not that great
- By Julie on 01-23-22
By: Benedict Brown
-
The Case of the Canterfell Codicil
- The Anty Boisjoly Mysteries, Book 1
- By: PJ Fitzsimmons
- Narrated by: Tim Bruce
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There’s a literary niche for all tastes including those who think that either Agatha Christie wasn’t funny enough or that PG Wodehouse didn’t feature anywhere near as many baffling murders as he could have. The Case of the Canterfell Codicil is a classic, cozy, locked-room mystery written in the style of an homage to PG Wodehouse.
-
-
Relaxing old fashioned mystery
- By Laurie S on 11-01-22
By: PJ Fitzsimmons
-
Murder in E Minor
- A Nero Wolfe Mystery
- By: Robert Goldsborough
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since disgraced associate Orrie Cather’s suicide, armchair detective Nero Wolfe has relished retirement in his Manhattan brownstone on West 35th Street. Two years after Cather’s death, only a visit from Maria Radovich - and the urging of Wolfe’s prize assistant, Archie Goodwin - could draw the eccentric and reclusive genius back into business. Maria’s uncle, New York Symphony Orchestra conductor Milan Stevens, formerly known as Milos Stefanovic, spent his youth alongside Wolfe as a fellow freedom fighter in the mountains of Montenegro.
-
-
Murder in E Minor
- By Danny Harr on 08-31-22
-
Murder at Little Minton
- By: Karen Baugh Menuhin, Zoe Markham
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Miss Busby helped Major Heathcliff Lennox solve a series of murders at Bloxford in the Cotswolds. Now, she finds herself drawn into a new murder, but this time, it's just her, and she must rely on her sharp mind and sharper wits to catch a Cotswolds killer, along with a handsome police inspector and a reporter who's keen to make her mark.
-
-
I Really Tried
- By Stephanie Lannan on 09-21-23
By: Karen Baugh Menuhin, and others
-
Murder at the Dolphin Hotel: A Gripping Cozy Historical Mystery
- A Miss Underhay Mystery, Book 1
- By: Helena Dixon
- Narrated by: Alex Tregear
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
June 1933. Independent, young Kitty Underhay has been left in charge of her family’s hotel, The Dolphin, on the tranquil English coast. But when several rooms are broken into and searched, including Kitty’s own, she quickly realizes that something out of the ordinary is afoot at the hotel. Soon, rumors are flying in the cozy town that someone is on the hunt for a stolen ruby. A ruby that Kitty’s mother may well have possessed when she herself went missing during the Great War.
-
-
Very Good Start
- By Dylan on 04-06-20
By: Helena Dixon
-
Murder at Everham Hall
- A Marius Quin Mystery, Book 1
- By: Benedict Brown
- Narrated by: George Blagden
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
December 1927. Mystery-writer Marius Quin has one previous bestseller, endless looming mortgage payments, and no idea how to write his next book. When his childhood friend Lady Isabella Montague invites him to an intimate New Year’s Eve party hosted by a narcissistic actor, Marius seizes upon the distraction. With his perpetually glum Basset hound along for the ride, he navigates the snowy lanes to the opulent estate of Everham Hall. As the celebrations begin, fireworks light up the sky, champagne corks pop, and then the host is murdered…
-
-
Great new series!
- By Sallyk575 on 07-02-24
By: Benedict Brown
-
Murder at the Spring Ball
- A 1920s Mystery (Lord Edgington Investigates..., Book 1)
- By: Benedict Brown
- Narrated by: George Blagden
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
England, 1925. After years shut away from the world, former detective Lord Edgington of Cranley Hall plans a grand ball to celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday. But when someone starts bumping off members of his scheming family, the old man enlists his teenage grandson to help find the killer, before one of them is next.
-
-
Not that great
- By Julie on 01-23-22
By: Benedict Brown
-
The Case of the Canterfell Codicil
- The Anty Boisjoly Mysteries, Book 1
- By: PJ Fitzsimmons
- Narrated by: Tim Bruce
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
There’s a literary niche for all tastes including those who think that either Agatha Christie wasn’t funny enough or that PG Wodehouse didn’t feature anywhere near as many baffling murders as he could have. The Case of the Canterfell Codicil is a classic, cozy, locked-room mystery written in the style of an homage to PG Wodehouse.
-
-
Relaxing old fashioned mystery
- By Laurie S on 11-01-22
By: PJ Fitzsimmons
-
Murder in E Minor
- A Nero Wolfe Mystery
- By: Robert Goldsborough
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 5 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ever since disgraced associate Orrie Cather’s suicide, armchair detective Nero Wolfe has relished retirement in his Manhattan brownstone on West 35th Street. Two years after Cather’s death, only a visit from Maria Radovich - and the urging of Wolfe’s prize assistant, Archie Goodwin - could draw the eccentric and reclusive genius back into business. Maria’s uncle, New York Symphony Orchestra conductor Milan Stevens, formerly known as Milos Stefanovic, spent his youth alongside Wolfe as a fellow freedom fighter in the mountains of Montenegro.
-
-
Murder in E Minor
- By Danny Harr on 08-31-22
-
Murder at Little Minton
- By: Karen Baugh Menuhin, Zoe Markham
- Narrated by: Corrie James
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Miss Busby helped Major Heathcliff Lennox solve a series of murders at Bloxford in the Cotswolds. Now, she finds herself drawn into a new murder, but this time, it's just her, and she must rely on her sharp mind and sharper wits to catch a Cotswolds killer, along with a handsome police inspector and a reporter who's keen to make her mark.
-
-
I Really Tried
- By Stephanie Lannan on 09-21-23
By: Karen Baugh Menuhin, and others
-
He Who Whispers
- By: John Dickson Carr
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Miles Hammond is invited to a meeting of the Murder Club in London, he is met instead with just two other guests and is treated to a strange tale of an impossible crime in France years before; the murder of a man on a tower with only one staircase, under watch at the time at which the murder took place. With theories of levitating vampires abounding, the story comes home to Miles when he realises that the librarian he has just hired for his home is none other than Fay Seton, a woman at the heart of this bizarre and unsolved past murder.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By lh on 11-04-23
-
Masked Ball at Broxley Manor
- A Royal Spyness Novella
- By: Rhys Bowen
- Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren
- Length: 1 hr and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the end of her first unsuccessful season out in society, Lady Georgiana has all but given up on attracting a suitable man - until she receives an invitation to a masked Halloween ball at Broxley Manor. Georgie is uncertain why she was invited, until she learns that the royal family intends to marry her off to a foreign prince, one reputed to be mad.
-
-
Fun, light prequel
- By CMMV on 01-01-15
By: Rhys Bowen
-
A Quiet Life in the Country
- A Lady Hardcastle Mystery, Book 1
- By: T E Kinsey
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they've just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life. But it is not long before Lady Hardcastle is forced out of her self-imposed retirement. There's a dead body in the woods, and the police are on the wrong scent. Lady Hardcastle makes some enquiries of her own, and it seems she knows a surprising amount about crime investigation...
-
-
excellent!
- By J.L. on 02-27-17
By: T E Kinsey
-
Murder at Madingley Grange
- By: Caroline Graham
- Narrated by: John Hopkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When a failed entrepreneur is temporarily left in charge of his aunt's huge gothic home, he knows he must be able to make a profit from it somehow. Murder, he decides, is the only way to do it. For Madingley Grange is the perfect venue for a 1930s murder-mystery weekend, and Simon Hannaford – with the reluctant help of his long-suffering sister – soon hatches a plan for money-spinning mayhem. From the conservatory to the claret cellar, the clues are carefully sprinkled. But when the guests arrive, it is obvious that the game won't be going as planned.
-
-
Charming criminal caper
- By Avalon on 10-01-23
By: Caroline Graham
-
The Theft of the Iron Dogs
- By: E. C. R. Lorac
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While hot on the heels of serial coupon-racketeer Gordon Ginner, Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard receives word of an intriguing incident up in Lancashire – the summer cottage of local farmer Giles Hoggett has been broken into, with an assortment of seemingly random items missing which include a complete reel of salmon line, a large sack, and two iron dogs from his fireplace. What first appears as a simple break-in quickly spirals into a mystery of contested land grabs for fishing between farmers, made all the more enticing to MacDonald when a body is then found in the river.
-
-
Well written but Unexciting
- By Geoffrey on 10-23-24
By: E. C. R. Lorac
-
Murder on Black Swan Lane
- By: Andrea Penrose
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Earl of Wrexford possesses a brilliant scientific mind, but boredom and pride lead him to reckless behavior. He does not suffer fools gladly. So when pompous, pious Reverend Josiah Holworthy publicly condemns him for debauchery, Wrexford unsheathes his rapier-sharp wit and strikes back. As their war of words escalates, London's most popular satirical cartoonist, A. J. Quill, skewers them both.
-
-
Tedious
- By Kathi on 10-02-17
By: Andrea Penrose
-
A Ginger Gold Mysteries Bundle: Books 1-3
- By: Lee Strauss
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Klett
- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first three books of the acclaimed Ginger Gold Mystery series by USA Today best-selling author Lee Strauss: Murder on the SS Rosa, Murder at Hartigan House, and Murder at Bray Manor. It's 1923, and young war widow fashionista Ginger Gold makes a cross-Atlantic journey with her companion Haley Higgins to London England to settle her father's estate. When the ship's captain is found dead, Ginger is only too happy to lend her assistance to the handsome Chief Inspector Basil Reed.
-
-
Really enjoyed the stories
- By PRC on 01-11-23
By: Lee Strauss
-
The Josephine Tey Collection: 6 Alan Grant Novels; Brat Farrar; & Miss Pym Disposes
- The Man in the Queue; A Shilling for Candles; The Franchise Affair; To Love and Be Wise; The Daughter of Time; The Singing Sands; Miss Pym Disposes; Brat Farrar
- By: Josephine Tey
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 61 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Josephine Tey Collection includes unabridged recordings of Tey's 8 major novels in one audiobook, including all 6 of the novels in the Inspector Alan Grant series.
-
-
Thank you Audible - best spent credit ever
- By Lynn on 05-14-23
By: Josephine Tey
-
The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 70 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here in one recording is every Sherlock Holmes story ever written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally appearing in serial form, these famous stories are here presented in the order in which they were first published beginning in 1887. Included in this definitive, award-winning collection are four novels and 56 short stories, a total of 60 titles. The 56 short stories are aggregated into five named collections, just as they were originally published in book form.
-
-
More collections like this, please!
- By Myusollo on 07-22-14
-
The Alienist
- By: Caleb Carr
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 20 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The year is 1896, the place, New York City. On a cold March night New York Times reporter John Schuyler Moore is summoned to the East River by his friend and former Harvard classmate Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a psychologist, or "alienist." On the unfinished Williamsburg Bridge, they view the horribly mutilated body of an adolescent boy, a prostitute from one of Manhattan's infamous brothels.
-
-
Outstanding on several levels.
- By lyl on 12-30-12
By: Caleb Carr
-
Murder at the Grand Hotel
- Lady Caroline Murder Mysteries, Book 1
- By: Isabella Bassett
- Narrated by: Sandra Churchill
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Disgraced society “it” girl, Lady Caroline, has been shipped off to the French Riviera to spend remedial time with gout-impaired Uncle Albert. Her crime? An ill-advised scavenger hunt through London, with social-status-ruinous consequences.
-
-
A unique type of Secretary
- By Pinkster on 12-04-24
By: Isabella Bassett
-
Murder at the Vicarage & The Mysterious Affair at Styles
- By: Agatha Christie
- Narrated by: Richard E. Grant, Hugh Fraser
- Length: 14 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Enjoy the first novels that brought the world two of Agatha Christies’ most enduring detectives: Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. The Murder at the Vicarage is the first Miss Marple mystery, one which tests all her powers of observation and deduction. In The Mysterious Affair at Styles, Captain Arthur Hastings, invalided in the Great War, is recuperating as a guest of John Cavendish at Styles Court, the "country-place" of John's autocratic old aunt, Emily Inglethorpe.
-
-
Strange choice for a narrator
- By Krystyn on 10-28-12
By: Agatha Christie
It may turn out differently. Vance may get his theories handed to him on a skewer. But I don't think so. And I don't have the patience to find out. He's just too insufferable. Bought this on sale so I can't return it. What a pity.
Insufferable
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.