Introducing Philo VancePlayboy stockbroker, Alvin Benson, is found in his brownstone mansion with a bullet through his head.First on the scene is Philo Vance, amateur detective, taken to the crime scene by his friend, the District Attorney, Markham.Vance is at once intrigued by the absence of Alvin's toupee and his false teeth rather than the more obvious clue of a ladies' handbag near the corpse.These strange clues set him in pursuit of the murderer as he confronts suspects and uncovers a whole bunch of secrets in his search for the truth.A classic mix of the golden age school of crime writing with puzzle-solving and a psychological approach to murder at the same time.