S. S. Van Dine 
The Scarab Murder Case 

Philo Vance was drawn into the Scarab murder case by sheer coincidence, although there is little doubt that John F.–X. Markham—New York’s District Attorney—would sooner or later have enlisted his services. But it is problematic if even Vance, with his fine analytic mind and his remarkable flair for the subtleties of human psychology, could have solved that bizarre and astounding murder if he had not been the first observer on the scene; for, in the end, he was able to put his finger on the guilty person only because of the topsy–turvy clews that had met his eye during his initial inspection.