Written in 1912 as a light-hearted reaction against the solemnity of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Trent’s Last Case, with its ingeniously twisting plot and cheerfully self-mocking hero, is the first classic of the golden age of English detective fiction.
When a powerful and ruthless American millionaire is found murdered in his English country garden, Philip Trent—English painter, poetry lover, and amateur detective—delves into the crime. He successively uncovers three different, plausible solutions to the murder, and in the process, comes face to face with his own fallibility, in detection and in romance.
Edmund Clerihew Bentley (1875–1956) was a journalist, novelist, and author of light verse. He wrote first for the Daily News and then for the Daily Telegraph, where he was leader writer and then chief literary critic. Bentley earned a minor place in literary history by his invention of the light-verse form known as the clerihew, and is also known for his contribution to detective fiction. Trent’s Last Case was intended as a satire of detective stories, but was quickly hailed as a classic of the genre.
Frederick Davidson (1932–2005), also known as David Case, was one of the most prolific readers in the audiobook industry, recording more than eight hundred audiobooks in his lifetime, including over two hundred for Blackstone Audio. Born in London, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and performed for many years in radio plays for the British Broadcasting Company before coming to America in 1976. He received AudioFile’s Golden Voice Award and numerous Earphones Awards and was nominated for a Grammy for his readings.