Trent's Last Case

by E. C. Bentley, Mint Editions (Contribution by)

Overview

Written in 1913 in reaction to the Sherlock Holmes stories, Trent's Last Case was startlingly original when it first appeared. It is the first classic of the golden age of English detective fiction. It is the tale of a powerful and ruthless American capitalist found dead in the garden of his English country home. His young widow is relieved at his death, though Wall Street panics. A journalist and amateur detective, Philip Trent, arrives to find there is more to the case than solving a puzzle. He must accept his own fallibility in detection and romance. In the careful plotting and well worked-out characterization of Trent's Last Case we see the prototype of the modern detective novel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781513276670
Publisher:	Mint Editions
Publication date:	02/23/2021
Series:	Mint Editions (Crime, Thrillers and Detective Work)
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

E.C. Bentley (1875-1956) was an English novelist. The son of a civil servant and international rugby player, Bentley was raised in London and attended the prestigious St Paul’s School before attending Merton College, Oxford. In his professional career as a journalist, he worked for several newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph and The Outlook. In his first published book of poems, Biography for Beginners (1905), he invented the clerihew, a form of rhyming light verse consisting of four lines satirizing the biography of its subject. Popularized by Bentley, the form would be used by numerous writers, including G.K. Chesterton and W.H. Auden. In addition to two subsequent collections of poetry—More Biography (1929) and Baseless Biography (1939)—Bentley published the successful detective novel Trent’s Last Case (1913). The novel, which has been adapted three times for the cinema, earned the acclaim of such writers as Dorothy L. Sayers, and was followed by a sequel and a collection of short stories involving its main character. Bentley served for a number of years as president of the Detection Club, a society of British mystery writers that included Sayers, Chesterton, Agatha Christie, and Hugh Walpole, among others. Recognized as a central figure for twentieth century detective fiction, Bentley has inspired generations of writers and readers.

What People are Saying About This

Jon L. Breen

One of the first important modern detective novels was E.C. Bentley's Trent's Last Case, often cited as the precursor of the Golden Age. The impact of the world war may have delayed Bentley's influence from being fully felt before the next decade.

Editorial Reviews

Bentley's 1912 mystery masterpiece, Trent's Last Case, which introduced Philip Trent, a fallible, human detective with reconizable emotions, was astounding for its time and still stands up well today.

Encyclopedia Mysteriosa

It is the one detective story of the present century which I am certain will go down to posterity as a classic. It is a masterpiece.”

Dorothy L. Sayers

The finest detective story of modern times.”

G. K. Chesterton

One of the seminal novels of the mystery genre.”

New York Times

One of the three best detective stories ever written.”

Agatha Christie