The Bishop Murder Case - Literary Significance & Criticism

Literary Significance & Criticism

Modern interest in this book stems at least partly from its role as a precursor of other books with a similar design, such that the underlying circumstances of a series of murders appear to be related to an external source such as, in this instance, Mother Goose stories. Many other later Golden Age mystery novels are constructed around a formal scheme. Agatha Christie used this motif in Ten Little Indians and a number of other novels constructed around the basis of a nursery rhyme (Hickory Dickory Dock, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, etc.) or another linking device like the alphabet (The A.B.C. Murders).

"Philo Vance is more pedantic than ever and talks absolute rot except for passages quoted from encyclopedias about modern physics and math. A young scientist is 'framed' for a series of apparently meaningless killings and the solution is pulled out of a hat after Vance has finished lecturing."

"The murderer in this story has an uncommon sense of humor and of sportsmanship. In a non-stop trail of successive murders, a note is discovered at each scene. Each note contains a nursery rhyme with a false clue and is signed "The Bishop." Philo Vance finally puts a stop to the fun, which had included a generous sprinkling of archery, chess and astronomy, mixed with poison and bloodshed."