The Kennel Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine (1933) #6

 

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Major characters:

Philo Vance, the dilettante detective

John F. X. Markham, District Attorney

Ernest Heath, sergent, Homicide squad

Archer Coe, collector of Chinese ceramics

Brisbane Coe, his brother

Raymond Wrede, friend of the Coes

Hilda Lake, niece of Archer Coe, engaged to Raymond Wrede

Signor Eduardo Grassi, officer in the Milan Museum of Oriental Antiquities

Liang Tsung Wei, the Coe cook

Gamble, the Coe butler

Luke Enright, an importer

Major Julius Higginbottom, dog breeder

Miss MacTavish, a Scottie dog

Doris Delafield, owner of Miss MacTavish

Locale: New York City

Synopsis: District Attorney John F. X. Markham is summoned to the scene of a murder, and as usual, invites his more perceptive friend Philo Vance along. At the residence of Archer Coe, they find he is apparently dead in a locked room - they can see him sprawled through the keyhole. They break in to find he has been shot. The medical examiner arrives, and finds Coe was dead long before he was shot, adding another mystery. 

During the investigation an injured Scottie dog is discovered in the house, and no one recognizes it, or knows how it got in. There is also evidence a valuable Chinese vase has been broken, and an inferior piece substituted in its place. A search is started for Coe's brother, Brisbane Coe, who was in the house when all this happened. Eventually he is found - dead - in a closet in the home. 

The Scottie dog seems to be the key. If they can trace the dog and find its owner, some light can be shed on the murders.

Review:

Despite the title, the book does not have any connection to a kennel, other than a brief visit to one late in the book. This is a locked-room mystery with a pile of loose ends: a victim who was dead before he was shot, a brother also murdered, a mystery dog injured, a broken vase, a missing weapon. 

While delving into the worlds of ancient Chinese ceramics as well as dog breeding, the reader need not be knowledgable of either to enjoy the book. These side topics are minor. The big mystery is why and how is a dead man shot inside a locked room. The rundown of clues is standard police procedure and leads to the solution. 

The book includes the usual S. S. Van Dine lectures and footnotes on obscure topics which may be skipped over. Was he being paid by the word?

See also this review by Bev Hankins on My Reader's Block.