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davidabrams's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was my third Philo Vance mystery and it will be far from my last. The murder is mysterious (including the missing body itself) and the setting is murky (a poorly-lit pool on an estate), but the detection and unraveling of the crime is fabulous. Yes, the action is stilted, clumsily moving from the estate to Philo Vance's apartment, like the characters are actors walking across the stage to a different set; and most of the "detecting" is psychological. But that worked for Nero Wolfe, and that works just as well here with man-about-town Philo Vance, who must use all his brainmatter to solve: a) where the party guest who dived into the pool vanished to, and b) was he eaten by a dragon or a large fish? The answer is clever--and cleverly spooled out in a surprising denouement. Dashin' good, as Philo might say.
paul_cornelius's review against another edition
2.0
Ordinarily, a mystery from the late 1920s or early 1930s provides an opportunity for thick atmosphere and setting. There wasn't much of that here, alas. At least not to my taste. It's not that the murders themselves are without a clever storyline. But everything is so centered on such a few locales that I found little room for any sense of the exotic estate house to filter through. Not only that, but the characters were colorless and had little detail. I still have no idea what anybody looks like. Not even Philo Vance himself. Last, the murders are a tad bit overcomplicated, and even though Vance explains at the end why tedious lengths were spent describing fish and the history of dragons, that did not make the suffering of reading through all those pages satisfying in retrospect. Probably my last Philo Vance novel.
eudaemonics's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
While I tip my hat to Mr. Van Dine for penning a fun and challenging mystery that proved to be quite an enjoyable puzzle for my first Philo Vance mystery, I do deduct some points for finding his detective the titular Philo Vance obnoxious and rather insufferable. While detectives in fiction are pretty well-known for these traits, I simply thought that Vance's portrayal was too grating for me to sit through much of the time. It was hard to tell when Vance was his own character and when Vance was acting as a mouthpiece for Van Dine-- I mean, Willard H. Wright's interest in fish and aquariums in this novel. I found him so aggravating to read that it really knocked my review down .25 points.
That said, if you can get past Vance's demeanor or heaven forbid you somehow find him tolerable, the mystery itself and the setup was very intriguing and it's refreshing to see a Golden Age mystery set somewhere besides the UK. I also managed to work out the who and why, but not the how before the end of the book, so it was a very fairplay mystery if you're looking for something to sink your teeth into.
That said, if you can get past Vance's demeanor or heaven forbid you somehow find him tolerable, the mystery itself and the setup was very intriguing and it's refreshing to see a Golden Age mystery set somewhere besides the UK. I also managed to work out the who and why, but not the how before the end of the book, so it was a very fairplay mystery if you're looking for something to sink your teeth into.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Incest
the Stamm family is mentioned to be incestuous and heavily inbred, it's mentioned briefly near the beginning of the book.bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
4.0
The Dragon Murder Case has an opening murder that is sure to intrigue the impossible crime lovers out there. Sanford Montagu, a handsome actor, and a host of others make up a weekend party at the estate of Rudolph Stamm. The Stamm property is known for its dragon pool--the center of various legends, some coming down from the Algonquin and Lenape Indians. It is said that a mysterious water monster (sometimes referred to as dragon) lives in the pool. Matilda Stamm, Rudolph's mother, has a fervent belief in the dragon and claims that it protects her family from those who wish it harm.
When Montagu and the others in the group (Bernice Stamm, Rudolph's sister; Mr. Leland, friend of the household; Alex Greeff, a stock-broker with dealings with Stamm; Kirwin Tatum, a dissipated hanger-on pining for Miss Stamm; Mrs. "Teeny" McAdam, a lady with designs--perhaps on Stamm; and Miss Ruby Steele, a former actress who may still be playing a part)...well, as I say, when the group decides to go for an evening swim, Montagu is the first to change into his suit and head to the pool. He strikes an athletic pose on the diving board, makes a graceful swan dive into the water....and never surfaces. The men (minus their host who had been drinking steadily all evening and was left in the house a sodden state) make diving searches to no avail. Montagu has simply disappeared.
Mrs. Stamm insists that the dragon got him--that Montagu was threatening the family's well-being by his attentions to Bernice. And when his body is later found exactly where she predicted it would be left by the monster and it has three long gashes on the chest which look remarkably like talon marks...well, what's a respectable police detective like Sergeant Heath to do? Bring in Philo Vance, of course. Vance uses his knowledge of mythological lore, creatures of the deep, and his insights into human psychology to bring a rational conclusion to a very bizarre case.
Admittedly, Philo Vance can be a bit trying at times. He seems to know everything about everything--in this case everything about Native American mythology to rare species of tropical fish. But his books do tend to offer up very good examples of early crime fiction. Dragon has a slightly weird feel to it with all the mythology and dragon talk, but the mystery's solution is very logical and must have been quite a puzzle for folks reading it for the first time in the 1930s. It is enjoyable to read an early impossible crime and especially an early American example. Most of the well-known (to the general public) Golden Age crime fiction novelists are British or (in the case of John Dickson Carr) use England as their setting, so it is good to see vintage American detective novels in reprints as well.
One thing that I personally love about this (and which I had forgotten about) is Dr. Doremus. He makes few appearances, but when he does it is amusing. I am a Star Trek fan as well as Golden Age detective novel enthusiast and the good doctor reminds me of Dr. McCoy. He tosses off "I'm a doctor, not a..." lines like a true ancestor of the Enterprise's chief medical officer (see examples in quotes below). He pulls off the crusty "country" doctor in a way that several more recent novels have tried and failed.
If you like detectives with esoteric knowledge, if you like impossible crimes, if you like examples of American vintage mysteries...then The Dragon Murder Case may be for you.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
When Montagu and the others in the group (Bernice Stamm, Rudolph's sister; Mr. Leland, friend of the household; Alex Greeff, a stock-broker with dealings with Stamm; Kirwin Tatum, a dissipated hanger-on pining for Miss Stamm; Mrs. "Teeny" McAdam, a lady with designs--perhaps on Stamm; and Miss Ruby Steele, a former actress who may still be playing a part)...well, as I say, when the group decides to go for an evening swim, Montagu is the first to change into his suit and head to the pool. He strikes an athletic pose on the diving board, makes a graceful swan dive into the water....and never surfaces. The men (minus their host who had been drinking steadily all evening and was left in the house a sodden state) make diving searches to no avail. Montagu has simply disappeared.
Mrs. Stamm insists that the dragon got him--that Montagu was threatening the family's well-being by his attentions to Bernice. And when his body is later found exactly where she predicted it would be left by the monster and it has three long gashes on the chest which look remarkably like talon marks...well, what's a respectable police detective like Sergeant Heath to do? Bring in Philo Vance, of course. Vance uses his knowledge of mythological lore, creatures of the deep, and his insights into human psychology to bring a rational conclusion to a very bizarre case.
Admittedly, Philo Vance can be a bit trying at times. He seems to know everything about everything--in this case everything about Native American mythology to rare species of tropical fish. But his books do tend to offer up very good examples of early crime fiction. Dragon has a slightly weird feel to it with all the mythology and dragon talk, but the mystery's solution is very logical and must have been quite a puzzle for folks reading it for the first time in the 1930s. It is enjoyable to read an early impossible crime and especially an early American example. Most of the well-known (to the general public) Golden Age crime fiction novelists are British or (in the case of John Dickson Carr) use England as their setting, so it is good to see vintage American detective novels in reprints as well.
One thing that I personally love about this (and which I had forgotten about) is Dr. Doremus. He makes few appearances, but when he does it is amusing. I am a Star Trek fan as well as Golden Age detective novel enthusiast and the good doctor reminds me of Dr. McCoy. He tosses off "I'm a doctor, not a..." lines like a true ancestor of the Enterprise's chief medical officer (see examples in quotes below). He pulls off the crusty "country" doctor in a way that several more recent novels have tried and failed.
If you like detectives with esoteric knowledge, if you like impossible crimes, if you like examples of American vintage mysteries...then The Dragon Murder Case may be for you.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
thatonenerdygirl's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
lilirose's review against another edition
1.0
Il giallo è uno dei miei generi preferiti, in particolare quello classico, quindi questo romanzo sulla carta aveva tutti i presupposti per piacermi: sulla carta, appunto.
Eppure sui mistery sono di facile contentatura, non mi aspetto mai capolavori (sono cresciuta con Poirot e Sherlock Holmes, so che sono inarrivabili), ma solo di passare qualche ora piacevole; però ecco, non cerco la perfezione ma nemmeno un romanzo dove niente funziona come si deve: Philo Vance non ha carisma, è solo un insieme di vezzi e saccenza; sugli altri personaggi stendiamo un velo pietoso, sono poco più che comparse senza il minimo approfondimento psicologico; la trama poi non coinvolge, non c'è mai tensione ed anche la risoluzione del mistero è banale la grande rivelazione dopo 3 giorni di investigazioni e quasi 200 pagine è che l'assassino per uccidere la vittima in fondo ad un lago ha usato un costume da sub: ma che altra spiegazione poteva mai esserci, come fa a non essere la prima cosa a cui tutti pensano? Bah .
Perfino lo stile non va, è inutilmente ridondante e sfocia più volte nel ridicolo.
Ho letto in giro che i primi romanzi della serie sono decisamente più belli e che questo settimo segna l'inizio della "fase calante" dell'autore: stando così le cose potrei riprovare a dare una chance a Philo Vance, ma basandomi su quest'unico libro sono basita dal successo che ha avuto.
Eppure sui mistery sono di facile contentatura, non mi aspetto mai capolavori (sono cresciuta con Poirot e Sherlock Holmes, so che sono inarrivabili), ma solo di passare qualche ora piacevole; però ecco, non cerco la perfezione ma nemmeno un romanzo dove niente funziona come si deve: Philo Vance non ha carisma, è solo un insieme di vezzi e saccenza; sugli altri personaggi stendiamo un velo pietoso, sono poco più che comparse senza il minimo approfondimento psicologico; la trama poi non coinvolge, non c'è mai tensione ed anche la risoluzione del mistero è banale
Perfino lo stile non va, è inutilmente ridondante e sfocia più volte nel ridicolo.
Ho letto in giro che i primi romanzi della serie sono decisamente più belli e che questo settimo segna l'inizio della "fase calante" dell'autore: stando così le cose potrei riprovare a dare una chance a Philo Vance, ma basandomi su quest'unico libro sono basita dal successo che ha avuto.
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