Trent's Last Case
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| 1917 4th edition Nelson cover | |
| Author | E. C. Bentley; |
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| Country | U.K. |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Mystery, detective fiction |
| Publisher | Nelson (1st edition) |
| Released | 1913 (1st edition) |
| Media Type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 375 pp (Hardcover 1st edition) |
| ISBN | ASIN B0008977GS (Hardcover edition), ISBN 0-89968-165-4 (2006 Hardcover reprint) |
| Followed by | 'Trent's Own Case' |
Trent's Last Case is a detective novel (1913) by E. C. Bentley;
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
[edit] Explanation of the novel's title
The first mystery Philip Trent tries to solve does not go well, so he declares it to be his last.
[edit] Plot summary
Trent's Last Case is actually the first novel in which gentleman sleuth Philip Trent appears. The novel is a whodunit whose unique place in the history of detective fiction is due to the fact that it is at the same time the first major send-up of that very genre: Not only does Trent fall in love with one of the primary suspects — usually considered a no-no — he also, after painstakingly collecting all the evidence, draws all the wrong conclusions. Convinced that he has tracked down the murderer of a business tycoon who was shot in his mansion, he is told by the real perpetrator over dinner what mistakes in the logical deduction of the solution of the crime he has made. On hearing what really happened, Trent vows that he will never again attempt to dabble in crime detection.
[edit] Characters in "Trent's Last Case"
- Philip Trent
[edit] Major themes
[edit] Allusions/references from other works
- The novel is read by detective Paul Artisan in Bad Twin
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
- a 1920 silent movie based on the book and directed by Richard Garrick;
- a 1929 silent movie adapted to the screen from the book by W. Scott Darling and Beulah Marie Dix and directed by Howard Hawks; and
- a 1952 film based on the book and directed by Herbert Wilcox. The 1952 film starred Michael Wilding as Trent and Orson Welles as Manderson.
[edit] Release details
- 1913, UK, Nelson (ISBN NA), Pub date 1913, Hardback (1st edition)
- 1917, UK, Nelson (ISBN NA), Pub date 1917, Hardcover (4th edition)
- 2005, USA, Kessinger Publishing, ISBN 1-84637-709-9, Pub date 31 October 2005, Paperback
[edit] Sources, references, external links, quotations
- Trent's Last Case, available freely at Project Gutenberg
- Trent's Last Case (1920) at the Internet Movie Database
- Trent's Last Case (1929) at the Internet Movie Database
- Trent's Last Case (1952) at the Internet Movie Database
