Trent's Last Case

📖 The Scoop

The all-too-human detective Philip Trent, foil to his contemporary Sherlock Holmes, takes on a murder case in this classic of the whodunit genre.

When an American millionaire is found dead on his estate in the English countryside, Philip Trent is sent by a London newspaper to investigate the mystifying case. What caused the victim to rise in the middle of the night and leave the house without dressing and without his false teeth? Who did he meet and why? Filled with odd twists and turns, the case is further complicated by its unwitting, all-too-human detective, Trent, who constantly draws the wrong conclusions from found evidence--and falls in love with one of the primary suspects.

Written in reaction to the artificiality of the infallible Holmesian detective character, Trent's Last Case stands the test of time as one of the first major satires of the detective fiction genre, and as the first truly modern mystery. Brilliantly conceived and charmingly written, this 1913 classic continues to thrill, amuse, and satisfy a legacy of mystery fans with its labyrinth-like plot of clues, misdirection, and self-awareness. E. C. Bentley's masterpiece remains as fresh and imaginative today as it was when it was first published.

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Genre: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General (fancy, right?)