This book involves a murder by poisoning and it is up that connoisseur of the arts, amateur detective, Philo Vance to solve. Several red herrings are thrown into the plot, but true to Philo Vance's flair for solving the complex, the murderer gets his just rewards.

Not as good as some of the other Philo Vance but well worth the read.

i really enjoyed this book. it explained things well and gave me some neat ideas. after reading this book, i bought an unfinished shelf and painted it, following an idea in the book. it turned out great and i'm really happy with it.

You don't have to be an artist--satisfy your creative urges with this book. It isn't necessary to paint portraits or landscapes. Simple gometric shapes or "coloring book" figures (ladybug, tulip, heart) are easy and fun. Ordinary furniture or small wooden objects (treasure chest, stepstool) become charming parts of your own home, or special gifts. Make a mistake? Choose the wrong color? Paint over it! Have fun and get started!

This is one of the last three mysteries of S.S. Van Dine. It is the mystery of the kidnaping of playboy Kaspar Kenting - who did it, and what are the family secrets involved in his kidnaping. It may be one of the last but it still shows the elaborate plotting of the earlier Philo Vance mysteries, though instead of endless deduction by Vance there are many more action scenes.

Philo of Alexandria is often seen as a link between the Platonists on the one hand and the early Christian Fathers on the other. Indeed, he occupies an intellectual and chronological position that justifies such an assessment.

This volume in the Loeb series contains "On the Creation" and "Allegorical Interpretation," two works in which Philo (1) sets forth his cosmogony as a blend of Genesis and Plato's Timaeus, (2) establishes the principles of his allegorical method in a treatment of Genesis. So, the volume contains examples of Philo's "literal" and "allegorical" approaches to the Septuagint.

As with all the Loeb volumes, this one has the Greek and an English translation on facing pages. Philonic scholars regard both the text and the translation as "standards." I only wish that some otherwise unoccupied classicist would undertake a new English translation of Philo: The Colson-Whitaker effort is starting to show its age.

This is an anthology of the works of Philo of Alexandria, thankfully translated in a clear, modern style, and well-annotated. The introduction helps familiarize the reader with Philo, a Hellenized, possibly Pharasaic, Jew, who is also a Platonist. Major themes are explored: Theory of Creation, Mysticism and Significance. The body of the book contains two complete treatises: "The Contemplative Life", which concerns a monastic Jewish sect at Lake Mareotis, and "The Giants", which concerns what was apparently something of an obsession among intertestamental Jews, the single verse of Genesis (6:2) in which the sons of God mate with human women. These treatises are both short, and produce, in a sense, a justification for the approach of the rest of the book. Philo's style is both rhapsodic and digressive, so that any alleged topic can veer off in a number of marginally related directions. The bulk of the book, over 200 pages, is devoted to selections from all of Philo's treatises, titled by the translator, generally a paragraph in length, but sometimes running to a couple of pages. These are grouped according to 13 topics: I. Autobiographical, II. Scriptural Exegesis, III. Divine Mind, IV. Cosmogony, V. Souls, Angels and Daemons, VI. Divine Transcendence, VII. Knowledge and Prophecy, VIII.Worship, IX. Mysticism, X. Providence, Theodicy and Miracles, XI. Ethical Theory, XII. Moses and the Law, XIII.Universalism and Particularism. The only complaint I have is that due to editorial laziness, informative headers are not present in the selections section to inform the reader exactly which topic any given page falls under. Other than that, this is very good.

This double book has it all-instructions and the materials to make projects. The very beautiful book has several Victorian projects to make using the Christmas "scraps" which are included in the second half of the book. The projects are somewhat disappointing, however, the reproduction paper pictures called "scraps" make up for the lack in originality of the projects. The rather lackluster projects were the springboard for my own ideas with which to use the paper "scraps" of Father Christmas, Victorian angels, flowers, etc. Overall, the paper pictures were the stronger of the two halves of the book, but well made up for any weakness in the project suggestions. Gorgeous pictures. Well worth the money.

I thought that this book would be great for children. It has many good fantasy adventures for little kids and I think that you should read it to your kids or just read it on your own time.

This the Disney story about Arial, the little mermaid & all her odd assortment of friends that live with her in the sea. My grand-daughter Britanie, is 4 years old & just loves this book/ tape so much that she wore it out. I love the idea that the cassettes follow the words in the book so the children following the words read aloud, start to recognize words that they hear. I am in the process of trying to purchase her another set. This is only thing she asked me to get again her for Christmas.

The only contribution in this novel is the invention of a new gadget to bolt a door from outside, otherwise, it's worse than the worst of Carr's. The bookish van Dine almost turned a detective fiction into voluble lectures on dog breeding and Chinese ceramics. As to his "dead man walking" theory supported by several references, though a genuine eye opener, the story could well live without it.

Although I've no idea this novel or The Bishop Murder Case came earlier, van Dine's sleuth again employed his ultimate detection technique (see my review on Bishop Case). When one of the only 2 suspects was stabbed, anyone with half a brain knows the bad guy. What a disgrace!

If you have a chance to read the Philo Vance mysteries, do so. They are wonder old thirty-style of mysteries. One of S.S. Van Dine's most famous mysteries in the Philo Vance series is The Kennel Murder Case from which the 1933 movie was made starring William Power as Philo Vance. In the movie, it seems that William Powell is more like his Thin Man character of which he was to star later than the character Philo Vance. Philo Vance is portrayed in all the books by Van Dine as a rather cynical upper-crust sort of fellow, lounging in the era of boot leg liquor and Art Deco.

Van Dine tells the story in the book by portraying himself as a character who is a close friend to Vance. Always being asked to help solve crimes by the New York police, Vance watches Van Dine solve complex and interesting murder cases.

Van Dine always throws in numerous suspects. In the Kennel Murder Case, Hilda Lake is angry that her uncle, Archer Coe, refuses to loan her any more money. Coe's brother, Brisbane (very Art Deco name) hates his brother for unknown reasons. Then there is Doris Delafield who throws him out of her apartment, and (instead of the butler), there is the Chinese cook who knows and resents that Archer is selling Chinese art treasures.

Then Archer Coe is found dead holding a gun in his locked bedroom by the butler. The police first report it as suicide, but then Philo Vance investigates and discovers it was a murder. But who did it, and how did do they in a locked room with no evidence of escape?

There are more red herrings thrown in, more dead bodies. But Philo Vance with his advanced wit and knowledge solves the case.

If you can get hold of these little gems, they are great reading.

I was in search for Philo's theory of the creative process and stumbled across this book. Although it has very little to do with how people create, or even how God created, it reaches deeply into the ideas of interpretation and the creation in Genesis in relation to the first five chapters of John. The act of creation acually becomes lost in the attempt to interpret the meaning of his main passages. If Carmichael had used his study of the Gospel as a post-modern interpretation, his book would have been very fascinating and even enlightening. However, he instead ties unrecognized ideas about the creation account to the way John formulates his account of Jesus' life and ministry. I am not saying that Carmichael's theory is impossible, but rather that the way he went about to persuade his readers is simply not convincing. If John had wanted to tie these two accounts so closely together, it seems that he would have made it more clear. Others may differ in opinion, but to me it seems that one can not bend the evidence to fit one's own interpretation. Although I do have a deep respect for Carmichael and his truly intellectual style, he would need to go more in-depth into his theory and become more convincing. But now for a word about Philo... He actually only touches on this topic but a few times. Carmichael seems to take out of context some of Philo's minor statements about the creation account. I truly love reading Philo and all he has to say about existence from the point of view of a philosopher. If you wish to wade through this book to get more insight into what Philo could have been saying: make sure to read Carmichael's story of creation with an open mind. I enjoyed reading it thinking, "What can I learn from this...What if this was possible..." I recommend this book to the reader prepared to move through Carmichael's thoughts in search for the truth that is there.