The Benson Murder Case
A Philo Vance Mystery, Book 1
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Narrated by:
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John Rayburn
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By:
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S. S. Van Dine
About this listen
It gives us considerable pleasure to be able to offer to the public the “inside” record of those of former District Attorney Markham’s criminal cases in which Mr. Philo Vance figured so effectively. The true inwardness of these famous cases has never before been revealed by S. S. Van Dine, Mr. Vance’s lawyer and almost constant companion, being the only person who possessed a complete record of the facts and has only recently been permitted to make them public.
After inspecting Mr. Van Dine’s voluminous notes, we decided to publish The Benson Murder Case as the first of the series — not because it was the most interesting and startling, nor yet the most complicated and dramatic from the fictional point of view, but because, coming first chronologically, it explains how Mr. Philo Vance happened to become involved in criminal matters, and also because it possesses certain features that reveal very clearly Mr. Vance’s unique analytic methods of crime detection. If you will refer to the municipal statistics of the City of New York, you will find that the number of unsolved major crimes during the four years that John F.-X. Markham was District Attorney was far smaller than under any of his predecessors’ administrations. Markham projected the District Attorney’s office into all manner of criminal investigations; and, as a result, many abstruse crimes on which the Police had hopelessly gone aground were eventually disposed of. But although he was personally credited with the many important indictments and subsequent convictions that he secured, the truth is that he was only an instrument in many of his most famous cases. The man who actually solved them and supplied the evidence for their prosecution was in no way connected with the city’s administration, and never once came into the public eye.
I am not permitted to divulge the man’s name, and, for that reason, I have chosen, arbitrarily, to refer to him throughout these ex-officio reports as Philo Vance. We now hear the story told by author S. S. Van Dine as though Vance were a real person.
©1926 S. S. Van Dine (P)2022 John D. RayburnListeners also enjoyed...
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- Perry Mason Series, Book 1
- By: Erle Stanley Gardner
- Narrated by: Alexander Cendese
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Married Eva Griffin has been caught with a prominent congressman, and is ready to pay the editor of a sleazy tabloid hush money to protect the politician. But first Perry Mason tracks down the publisher of the blackmailing tabloid and discovers a shocking secret, which eventually leads to Mason being accused of murder. This is the first Perry Mason mystery and our introduction to secretary Della Street, detective Paul Drake, and the great lawyer himself.
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Enter Perry Mason
- By David S. Mathew on 04-10-17
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The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, Volume 1
- By: Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 20 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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First appearing in print in 1890, the character of Sherlock Holmes has now become synonymous worldwide with the concept of a super sleuth. His creator, Conan Doyle, imbued his detective hero with intellectual power, acute observational abilities, a penchant for deductive reasoning and a highly educated use of forensic skills. Indeed, Doyle created the first fictional private detective who used what we now recognize as modern scientific investigative techniques.
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mouth watering
- By David on 03-30-10
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Meet the Tiger
- A Simon “The Saint” Templar Novel
- By: Leslie Charteris
- Narrated by: John Rayburn
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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The fiction world of today needs a “Saint” more than it ever did. For years now that scene has been dominated by the “anti-heroes"—those grim gray operators in a sunless sub-culture where global issues are worked out with totally unemotional pragmatism, those hapless uninspired puppets manipulated and expended by ruthlessly dedicated little brothers of Big Brother. It made morbidly fascinating narrative, but it never gave anyone a lift until it climaxed in the hyper-gadgeted parodies of 007 extravaganzas.
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droning
- By Kindle Customer on 04-27-24
By: Leslie Charteris
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The Last Sherlock Holmes Story
- By: Michael Dibdin
- Narrated by: Robert Glenister
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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In the late seventies an extraordinary document came to light which for fifty years had been held on deposit by the bankers of the deceased John Herbert Watson MD - better known to devotees of Conan Doyle as Dr Watson. A continuous narrative in the doctor’s own hand, the story opens in the East End of London in 1888. Three women have been savagely murdered by Jack the Ripper.
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Keeps you guessing, even after its finished!
- By Benja on 03-28-13
By: Michael Dibdin
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Dust and Shadow
- An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson
- By: Lyndsay Faye
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Breathless and painstakingly researched, this is a stunning debut mystery in which Sherlock Holmes unmasks Jack the Ripper. Lyndsay Faye perfectly captures all the color and syntax of Conan Doyle’s distinctive nineteenth-century London.
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Excellent!
- By Wadie on 01-07-11
By: Lyndsay Faye
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Piccadilly Jim
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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He was a gossip columnist’s dream. Piccadilly Jim’s life was a collage of broken promises and drunken brawls. And his straight-laced Victorian aunt was not amused. So, she decided to reform him. Unfortunately, her reform project started at a time when Jim had fallen in love and had already decided to reform himself. Thus, life became complicated. Jim pretends to be himself - a beautiful display of Wodehousean logic; hilarious indeed!
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Glad to Finally Have Frederick Davidson’s Version
- By John on 11-09-22
By: P. G. Wodehouse
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Pietr the Latvian
- Inspector Maigret, Book 1
- By: Georges Simenon, David Bellos - translator
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 3 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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The first audiobook which appeared in Georges Simenon's famous Maigret series, in a gripping new translation by David Bellos.Inevitably Maigret was a hostile presence in the Majestic. He constituted a kind of foreign body that the hotel's atmosphere could not assimilate. Not that he looked like a cartoon policeman. He didn't have a moustache and he didn't wear heavy boots. His clothes were well cut and made of fairly light worsted. He shaved every day and looked after his hands. But his frame was proletarian. He was a big, bony man.
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Long live Maigret
- By Adeliese Baumann on 11-19-14
By: Georges Simenon, and others
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The Lost Stories of Sherlock Holmes by Dr John Watson
- By: Tony Reynolds
- Narrated by: Simon Shepherd
- Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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The recent death of one of the descendants of Dr. Watson has brought to light his personal papers. These include a number of stories that Dr. Watson suppressed at the time for various reasons. As all involved are long dead, the inheritor has agreed to the publication of a set of eight of the most interesting adventures.
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Easy listening stories. Just what I was looking for.
- By MusiqueMusic on 12-16-24
By: Tony Reynolds
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A Beautiful Blue Death
- Charles Lenox Mysteries Series #1
- By: Charles Finch
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Charles Lenox, Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes nothing more than to relax in his private study with a cup of tea, a roaring fire and a good book. But when his lifelong friend Lady Jane asks for his help, Lenox cannot resist the chance to unravel a mystery. Prudence Smith, one of Jane's former servants, is dead of an apparent suicide. But Lenox suspects something far more sinister: murder, by a rare and deadly poison.
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I like cozy
- By Sheryl on 05-21-12
By: Charles Finch
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The Dracula Tape
- The New Dracula, Book 1
- By: Fred Saberhagen
- Narrated by: Robin Bloodworth
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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The never-before-told story behind the legend of Count Dracula! The story of the Count’s greatest love, Mina Harker, and the bloodthirsty vampire hunters whose cruel pursuit drove the master of the night to actions ever more ruthless. The Count Dracula sets the record straight.…
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FINALLY!
- By Amanda Pike on 03-03-13
By: Fred Saberhagen
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Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance
- By: Gyles Brandreth
- Narrated by: Bill Wallis
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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London, 1889. Oscar Wilde, celebrated poet, wit, playwright, and raconteur is the literary sensation of his age. All Europe lies at his feet. Yet when he chances across the naked corpse of sixteen-year-old Billy Wood, posed by candlelight in a dark stifling attic room, he cannot ignore the brutal murder. With the help of fellow author Arthur Conan Doyle he sets out to solve the crime - but it is Wilde's unparalleled access to all degrees of late Victorian life, from society drawing rooms to the underclass, that will prove the decisive factor in their investigation....
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needs glue
- By connie on 11-13-11
By: Gyles Brandreth
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The Cater Street Hangman
- By: Anne Perry
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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When a maid in the upper class Ellison household is strangled, Inspector Pitt is called in to investigate. He finds a world ruled by strict manners and social customs, where the inhabitants of the Ellison's neighborhood appear to be more outraged by the thought of scandal than they are by murder. Inspector Pitt finds a most unlikely ally in Charlotte, the Ellison's spirited daughter. But as the murders continue, Charlotte and Pitt find themselves drawn together by more than the investigation.
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I really like this book but it's not for everone
- By Ancient Warrior on 03-14-11
By: Anne Perry
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An American Tragedy
- By: Theodore Dreiser
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 34 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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An American Tragedy is the story of Clyde Griffiths, who spends his life in the desperate pursuit of success. On a deeper, more profound level, it is the masterful portrayal of the society whose values both shape Clyde's ambitions and seal his fate; it is an unsurpassed depiction of the harsh realities of American life and of the dark side of the American dream.
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Funny in Perspective
- By Michael on 11-23-14
By: Theodore Dreiser
What listeners say about The Benson Murder Case
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Annette M Molina
- 08-07-24
standard golden age read by a frog
pretty standard golden age, famous-sleuth-with-idiosyncrasies fare. the narrator sounds like he’s fighting a cold and not winning though so i had to return early - just listening stressed me out too much.
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- Stardust
- 10-08-24
Good Story
The reader/narrator is rather terrible, especially at the beginning. He almost disregards the punctuation; running together the end of one sentence with the beginning of the next. Likewise commas and other punctuation which the author has deliberately placed there for good reasons. I had to slow down the reading to .85 to remove some of the irritation of listening.
The reader is a past news reader, perhaps this has something in it by way of explanation. Still, any good audio editor would have caught and corrected this.
I will avoid any further titles read by the reader.
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- Thanks
- 11-16-23
Classic mystery
Golden era movie mystery at it’s finest, narrator tried but forgot to tell a story, he was reading the book and got a little lost.
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- Deborah Ruef
- 03-28-22
Narrator difficult to understand
The story after a while was well developed and interesting. However the narrator was very difficult to understand. There were several places that were repeated and one place where the narrator even says on the recording when he started over that he was speaking in the wrong voice. Some editing would’ve been nice. I know the narrator has been around for years, I just feel that his voice was strained.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Ann D. Bagchi
- 01-28-24
Story is good, reading is not
Me. Rayburn was a great broadcaster but his reading lacks inflection and there are at least two places where he makes audible errors and corrects himself. This recording should be edited.
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- Charles B.
- 06-30-22
The narrator for this book is horrid
I am sorry, but the narrator for this book is horrid. Their voice is a deep bass, but it always sounds like they are out of breath as they speak. Which makes it hard to understand at times what is being read. I am about 3 hrs into this book and already just want to skip this and see if I can't find a kindle version of this book just to know what is going on.
I wanted to know the original source material for thr Philo Vance movies and radio shows. It appears it won't be this book by a long shot with this narrator.
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2 people found this helpful