The Scarab Murder Case
by S. S. Van Dine
Philo Vance was involved in the Scarab murder case by an apparent coincidence, but John F.-H. Markham — the New York District Attorney — would sooner or later receive his services. But it is problematic that even Vance, with his subtle analytical mind and extraordinary ability for the intricacies of human psychology, could have solved this strange and astonishing murder had he not been the first observer on stage; for in the end, he was able to put his finger on the offender only during the top-to-toe tournaments of the crevices that met his eye during his first examination. These twists, which were very misleading from a materialistic point of view, eventually gave him the key to his killer mentality and thus allowed him to solve one of the most complex and incredible crime problems in the history of modern police. The brutal and fantastic murder of this former philanthropist and philanthropist Benjamin H. Kyle became known almost instantly as the scarab murder case due to the fact that it took place in a private museum of a famous Egyptologist and focused on a rare blue scarab beetle found next to the victim's dismembered body. This ancient and valuable seal, inscribed with the names of one of the first pharaohs (whose mummy was not found at the time, by the way), formed the basis on which Vance uncovered the astonishing structure of evidence. The scarab, from the point of view of the police, was random evidence, clearly pointing to its owner; however, this easy and reasonable explanation did not appeal to Vance.
