# XXIX: Beethoven's "Andante" explained — The Canary Murder Case

> Chapter companion for The Canary Murder Case by S. S. Van Dine.

## What happens

Vance explains his theory that Spotswoode murdered Margaret Odell using a phonograph record as an alibi, and that Tony Skeel was a blackmailing witness who was later killed by Spotswoode. Markham, convinced by the evidence, orders Spotswoode's arrest. The chapter includes a return to the crime scene where Vance finds Skeel's towel used to erase fingerprints and muses on the contradictions in the case.

## Themes in this chapter

### Deception and Manipulation

Spotswoode's elaborate plan using a phonograph record to create an alibi exemplifies calculated deception.

### Psychology of Crime

Vance discusses the universal murderous impulse and the role of courage and fear in preventing homicide.

### Circumstantial Evidence vs. Deduction

Vance contrasts scientific psychological deduction with the law's reliance on physical evidence like the phonograph record.

## Character check-ins

### Philo Vance

Presents his full theory of the crime, including the phonograph record trick and Skeel's blackmail; returns to the apartment to inspect the scene and finds the towel used to wipe fingerprints.

### John F.-X. Markham

Reluctantly accepts Vance's theory and orders a warrant for Spotswoode's arrest; expresses gratitude to Vance.

### Spotswoode

Identified as the murderer of Margaret Odell and Tony Skeel; his alibi using a phonograph record is explained by Vance.

### Tony Skeel

Described as hiding in the closet during the murder, later blackmailing Spotswoode, and ultimately being killed by him.

### Spively

On duty at the switchboard when the party returns to the apartment building.

### Ernest Heath

Ordered by Markham to get a warrant and meet him at the Stuyvesant Club.

## Key lines

> Everyone's a murderer at heart. The person who has never felt a passionate hankering to kill someone is without emotions.

Vance argues that all people harbor murderous impulses, and only fear of consequences prevents them from acting.

_Reflects Vance's cynical philosophy on human nature._

> What a grotesque affair your legal procedure is, Markham! Scientific knowledge—the facts of psychology—mean nothing to you learned Solons. But a phonograph record—ah! There, now, is something convincing, irrefragable, final, what?

Vance mocks the legal system for valuing physical evidence over psychological insight.

_Highlights the tension between deductive reasoning and legal formalism._

> The contradict'ry indications are far too perfect. They fit together too beautifully; they're almost as fine as the forms in a Michelangelo statue. They're too carefully coordinated, d' ye see, to have been merely a haphazard concatenation of circumstances. They signify conscious design.

Vance insists that the very neatness of the evidence against Spotswoode proves it was deliberately arranged.

_Key to Vance's reasoning that Spotswoode's alibi is too perfect._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_canary_murder_case_se/chapters/xxix-beethoven-s-andante
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_canary_murder_case_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_canary_murder_case_se/chapters