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S. S. Van Dine (1888–1939)

Author of The Canary Murder Case

55+ Works 2,341 Members 83 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

Image credit: Library of Congress

Series

Works by S. S. Van Dine

The Canary Murder Case (1927) 351 copies
The Benson Murder Case (1926) 332 copies
The Bishop Murder Case (1928) 275 copies
The Greene Murder Case (1927) 248 copies
The Dragon Murder Case (1933) 141 copies
The Kennel Murder Case (1933) 123 copies
The Scarab Murder Case (1930) 118 copies
The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1938) 104 copies
The Winter Murder Case (1939) 104 copies
The Kidnap Murder Case (1936) 97 copies
The Casino Murder Case (1934) 95 copies
The Garden Murder Case (1935) 84 copies
The World's Great Detective Stories (1927) — Editor — 31 copies
Europe After 8:15 (1914) — Co-author — 14 copies
A Philo Vance Weekend (2017) 7 copies
The creative will (2009) 7 copies
The Man of Promise (1916) 6 copies
Philo Vance 4 copies
The President's Mystery Story (1935) — Author — 3 copies
Misinforming a nation (2012) 2 copies
L'enigma dell'alfiere (2012) 1 copy

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Reviews

Poisoned by H2H2O*?
Review of the Felony & Mayhem Kindle eBook edition (March 7, 2020) of the Scribner’s hardcover original (1934).

“Oh, it’s far worse than that,” Vance interjected. “What I was tryin’ to say is that this case is a crime within a crime: we are supposed to commit the final horror. The ultimate chord in this macabre symphony is to be our conviction of an innocent person. The entire technique is based on a colossal deception. We are supposed to follow the specious and apparent truth—and it will not be the truth at all, but the worst and most diabolical lie of the whole subtle business.”


It is unfortunate that the Philo Vance novels become increasingly self-parodies in the long run. I'm finishing out this binge read as they are still reasonably entertaining even though very predictable. It is also wild to read them with the knowledge of present day forensics and CSI style crime investigations. Philo Vance picks up objects at crime scenes, often even pocketing them, with hardly a care and with no objection by the criminal authorities. Everyone in the books smokes constantly, cigarettes for Vance and mostly cigars for District Attorney Markham and Sergeant Heath. This is even at the crime scenes.

Anyway, The Casino Murder Case is par for the course, with the usual misdirection from the obvious suspect. There is a subplot of the possible use of heavy water as a poison, which is also a distraction from the real method of poisoning. Vance pontificates about methods of betting along with the science of heavy water extraction. In the end we have the now standard Unsatisfactory Ending Alert™ where the criminal meets an end which doesn't satisfy standard criminal justice.

See the front cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/36/TheCasinoMurderCase.jpg
The front cover of the original Scribner’s first edition (1934). Image sourced from Wikipedia.

There is some confusion about the chronology of the Philo Vance books, with The Casino Murder Case assigned the No. 7 in the canon. Some editions say that is No. 8 though, as can be seen on the cover of this Felony & Mayhem edition from 2020.

Footnote
* This is the formula given in the book for heavy water. It is now commonly given as D2O. Heavy water was a recent discovery in the early 1930s and its possible toxic effects were unknown.

Trivia and Links
See film poster at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/51/The_Casino_Murder_Case_film.jpg
The Casino Murder Case was adapted as the same-titled film The Casino Murder Case (1935) directed by Edwin L. Marin and starring Paul Lukas as Philo Vance. You can see the original trailer for the film on YouTube here. Both the trailer and a clip from the film give the impression that it is played mostly as a comedy.

Willard Huntington Wright aka S.S. Van Dine is also the author of the Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories.
… (more)
 
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alanteder | 2 other reviews | Mar 18, 2024 |
The Disappearing Diver
Review of the Arni Books Kindle eBook edition (August 10, 2023) of the Scribner’s hardcover original (1933).

Of all the cases I have thus far recorded none was as exciting, as weird, as apparently unrelated to all rational thinking, as the dragon murder. Here was a crime that seemed to transcend all the ordinary scientific knowledge of man and to carry the police and investigators into an obfuscous* and unreal realm of demonology and folklore - a realm fraught with dim racial memories of legendary terrors.


The opening premise here was actually pretty fantastic. At an evening party a man dives into a swimming pool and doesn't resurface. Others jump in to look for him but he has disappeared. The rather histrionic matron of the household insists that a legendary flying dragon has scooped up the body and flown away with it. The police are completely baffled of course and only amateur sleuth Philo Vance can untangle the myth from the reality.

Eventually a real world explanation is arrived at, even though it seems ridiculously improbable. To postpone the unravelling we have the now typical S.S. Van Dine delaying tactic of providing long lists of dragon myths throughout history and then a further detailed listing of the scientific names of tropical fish. Philo Vance is of course an expert in all of those areas.

The final reveal has the least likely suspect revealed as the culprit with a deus ex machina method of serving the course of justice. I can't even label these with an Unsatisfactory Ending Alert™ as the S.S. Van Dine formula is now so predictable that you always know what you are going to get.

See cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/20/TheDragonMurderCase.jpg
The front cover of the original Scribner’s first edition (1933). Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Footnote
* This appears to be an invented adjective form of the verb obfuscate: to make obscure, to confuse.

Trivia and Links
See film poster at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fc/The_Dragon_Murder_Case-Poster.jpg
The Dragon Murder Case was adapted as the same-titled film The Dragon Murder Case (1934) directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and starring Warren William as Philo Vance. You can see the opening credits and opening scenes on YouTube here.

Willard Huntington Wright aka S.S. Van Dine is also the author of the Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories.
… (more)
 
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alanteder | 5 other reviews | Mar 16, 2024 |
Who Let the Dog Out?
Review of the Avarang Kindle eBook edition (May 30, 2023) of the Scribner’s hardcover original (1933).

Philo Vance
Needs a kick in the pance.
- Ogden Nash

"And the facts here seem pretty clean-cut. That door was bolted on the inside; there's no other means of entrance or exit to this room; Coe is sitting here with the lethal weapon -."
"Oh, call it a revolver," interrupted Vance. "Silly phrase, 'lethal weapon.'"
Markham snorted.
"Very well... With a revolver in his hand, and a hole in his right temple. There are no signs of a struggle; the windows and shades are down, and the lights burning... How, in Heaven's name, could it have been anything but suicide?"


This would have been a great locked room mystery, but the final explanation is ridiculously complicated and the appropriate fate of the culprit is diminished by a deus ex machina finale. I'm finding increasing diminishing returns in these Philo Vance mysteries even if the banter between the amateur sleuth and the authorities is still entertaining.

This case opens with the body of Arthur Coe apparently dead by suicide inside a locked room of his own house. Then a wounded dog is also located whimpering behind a curtain. Then yet another body is found. The complications pile on one by one. The solution to the mystery of the dog (which did not belong to the household) leads to the final revelation of the identity of the culprit.

An enormous amount of detail about Scottish Terrier dog breeding is provided by Vance in what is now an evident trademark of the novels. The amateur detective is also an expert is whatever subject matter is related to the case, e.g. chess & mathematics, Egyptology and archeology, tropical fish and dragon myths etc.

See book cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/Kennel-murder-case-cover.jpg
Front cover of the original Scribner’s first edition (1933). Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Trivia and Links
See movie poster at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/The-kennel-murder-case-1933.jpg
The Kennel Murder Case was adapted as the same-titled film The Kennel Murder Case (1933) directed by Michael Curtiz and starring William Powell as Philo Vance. You can watch the entire film on YouTube here.

Willard Huntington Wright aka S.S. Van Dine is also the author of the Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories.
… (more)
 
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alanteder | 6 other reviews | Mar 12, 2024 |
Egyptology Mayhem
Review of the Avarang Kindle eBook edition (May 30, 2023) of the Scribner’s hardcover original (1930).

But surely I could have had not the slightest idea or suspicion of what was actually about to befall us. It was far too appalling and too bizarre for the casual imagination. It lifted us out of the ordinary routine of daily experience and dashed us into a frowsty, miasmic atmosphere of things at once incredible and horrifying - things fraught with the seemingly supernatural black magic of a Witches' Sabbat. Only, in this instance it was the mystic and fantastic lore of ancient Egypt - with its confused mythology and its grotesque pantheon of beast-headed gods - that furnished the background.


I'm reading too many of the Philo Vance series (1926-1939) after discovering them during my survey of the Golden Age of Crime writing. I grabbed a package deal from Kindle where they were about $1.33 Cdn each. So now I've got all 12 to deal with. But I've noticed a pattern in the last few which has made them become predictable and which has also led into Unsatisfactory Ending Alert™ territory. Somewhat spoilery summary: The apparently innocent but most obvious on-site suspect is in fact the actual culprit, even if it takes a long time to reveal their modus operandi + the culprit escapes a final confrontation & criminal justice in some way (accidental death, suicide, etc.). I've read two further novels into the series than I have yet reviewed so that I know this is proving to be the rule and not the exception.

The Scarab Murder Case finds amateur sleuth Vance pulled into yet another investigation alongside District Attorney Markham and Homicide Sergeant Heath with his personal 'Watson' & lawyer / assistant S.S. Van Dine in tow to document the proceedings. The wealthy benefactor of various Egyptology expeditions is found dead in a private museum underneath a statue of Sakhmet (aka Sekhmet) with a Scarab amulet beside the body. Was it an accident or murder? Some say it is fate and retribution for disturbing the tombs of the Pharoahs. Others say there is a monetary motive behind the act. Only Philo Vance can separate the false clues from the reality.

There is an enormous amount of Eqyptology trivia from the 1920s period which is communicated throughout this book, often through the helpful footnotes provided by Van Dine. They read with a high degree of authenticity giving the impression of a great deal of research. The overwhelming quantity of factual material is used as a distraction from the motives of the culprit and I've noticed this in the other books as well (physics, mathematics & chess in The Bishop Murder Case, dog breeding in The Kennel Murder Case, tropical fish & dragon legends in The Dragon Murder Case, etc.). Philo Vance is improbably an amateur expert in all of these areas. Still, the banter is entertaining and the explanations are clever.

See cover at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1e/ScarabMurderCase.jpg
Front cover of the original Scribner’s first edition (1930). Image sourced from Wikipedia.

Trivia and Links

The Scarab Murder Case was adapted as the same-titled film The Scarab Murder Case (1936) directed by Michael Hankinson and starring Wilfrid Hyde-White as Philo Vance. The setting of the film is moved to England with the American amateur detective assisting Scotland Yard in a museum murder investigation. The film is considered lost as no prints have been located. There is an archived article from the British Film Institute under the heading of its being one of the BFI’s Most Wanted lost films which you can read here.

Willard Huntington Wright aka S.S. Van Dine is also the author of the Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories.
… (more)
 
Flagged
alanteder | 1 other review | Mar 10, 2024 |

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Works
55
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Rating
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ISBNs
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