S. S. Van Dine *

a.k.a. Willard Huntington Wright

Author Code: ASVD

Educated at St. Vincent College, Pomona College and Harvard University, Van Dine also studied art in Munich and Paris. On his return, he joined the Los Angeles Times as literary and art critic. From 1912 to 1914, he was the editor of The Smart Set magazine. Van Dine continued to work as a critic and journalist until 1923, when he developed a heart condition which confined him to bed for two years. During this time he immersed himself in research of crime and detection. He began writing a trilogy of detective novels in which he introduced the detective, Philo Vance, an upper-class intellectual who proved to be an immediate success with the public. At this time he adopted the "Van Dine" pseudonym which was taken from the abbreviation of "steamship" (S.S.) and an old family name, Van Dyne. The first novel, The Benson Murder Case appeared in 1926 and was followed by The "Canary" Murder Case in 1927 and The Greene Murder Case in 1928. Van Dine became extremely wealthy from his novels which included The Bishop Murder Case (1928), The Scarab Murder Case (1929), The Kennel Murder Case (1932), The Dragon Murder Case (1933), The Casino Murder Case (1934), The Kidnap Murder Case (1936), The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1938) and The Winter Murder Case (1939). Obviously, Van Dine was more imaginative in his plot construction than in his selection of titles. During the 1930's, Van Dine wrote numerous short stories for Warner Bros. in Hollywood, which were subsequently made into short films. His other works included Modern Painting (1915) and The Future of Painting (1923).