Trent’s Last Case is a detective novel written by E. C. Bentley and first published in 1913. Despite the title, it is in fact the first work in which its central character, the artist and amateur detective Philip Trent, appears: he subsequently reappeared in the novel Trent’s Own Case (1936), and the short-story collection Trent Intervenes (1938). The novel is a whodunit with a place in detective fiction history because it is the first major send-up of that genre. Not only does Trent fall in love with one of the primary suspects – usually considered off-limits – he also, after painstakingly collecting all the evidence, draws all the wrong conclusions.
Appearance List Short stories in The Strand Magazine: “The Inoffensive Captain” (March 1914), “The Clever Cockatoo” (July 1914), “The Ordinary Hair-Pins” (October 1916), “The Sweet Shot” (March 1937), “The Old-Fashioned Apache” (May 1937), “Trent and the Vanishing Lawyer” (August 1937), “Trent and the Bad Dog” (September 1937), “Trent and the Genuine Tabard” (January 1938), “Trent and the Unknown Peer” (February 1938), etc. Collection: Trent Intervenes (1938).
Description Trent’s Last Case is a detective novel written by E. C. Bentley and first published in 1913. Despite the title, it is in fact the first work in which its central character, the artist and amateur detective Philip Trent, appears: he subsequently reappeared in the novel Trent’s Own Case (1936), and the short-story collection Trent Intervenes (1938). The novel is a whodunit with a place in detective fiction history because it is the first major send-up of that genre. Not only does Trent fall in love with one of the primary suspects – usually considered off-limits – he also, after painstakingly collecting all the evidence, draws all the wrong conclusions.
