The Bishop murder case

by S. S. Van Dine

"The Bishop murder case" by S. S. Van Dine is a mystery novel published in 1929. Detective Philo Vance investigates a series of murders in a wealthy New York neighborhood, each accompanied by cryptic notes signed "The Bishop" and containing verses from Mother Goose nursery rhymes. As victims fall according to the rhymes' dark patterns, Vance must decode the killer's twisted game before more lives are claimed. Believed to be the first nursery-rhyme mystery, it established a popular template for Golden Age detective fiction.