Philip Trent

This is a whodunit that neatly fits into the history of detective fiction. It features artist Philip Trent as he unexpectedly becomes an amateur detective. Some of his carefully collected information often proved erroneous. It begins when a wealthy American plutocrat, Bigsbee Manderson, uses his finances in an attempt to establish rules controlling society. When Manderson is found murdered on the grounds of his country house in England, Trent is hired as a reporter by a press association to investigate and file reports. The investigating officer from Scotland Yard, Inspector Murch, is an old acquaintance of Trent, and this gives the "new" detective contacts resulting in clues of both significant and spurious nature. The unusual aspect of this story, first published in 1913, is that although Trent winds up with the correct solution, he was so worn down he declared it would be his last case. It was twenty-three years later before author Bentley wrote another Trent story and began it with a recap of what happened in the "last case." Along the way, Trent becomes romantically interested in the character referred to in this book's subtitle as "the Lady in Black." Was she the widow of the murdered man? It's probably better for us to let you hear the whole story, beginning now.

Trent's Last Case, published when Conan Doyle and Chesterton were both at the pinnacle of their respective literary careers, was the first detective story to use finger-printing as a means of detecting the criminal. Dedicated to his friend G. K. Chesterton, E. C. Bentley, a journalist first with the Daily News and then with The Daily Telegraph, intended the book to be a gentle parody of the detective genre, only for it to be quickly hailed as a classic. Sigsbee Manderson was an unpopular millionaire - so when his body was discovered in the grounds of his mansion, not many people were heart-broken by his death. His widow, butler, business assistant and personal assistant become immediate suspects. Trent, who write for The Record, is summoned by his editor, with an eye for a good story, to investigate. Through many twists and red-herrings, and one of the most amazing literary double twists in the final minutes, the listener is kept enthralled and guessing to the end.