1929. Around 1925 Willard Huntington Wright, critic and writer, underwent a long illness. As part of his convalescence he wrote The Benson Murder Case, in which he created the character of Philo Vance, a master sleuth. So that the book would not be compared to his other works he adopted the pseudonym S.S. Van Dine. By the time The Canary Murder Case, the second in the series was published, Van Dine had become a best seller. He wrote a total of six Philo Vance novels. This Philo Vance story begins: Of all the criminal cases in which Philo Vance participated as an unofficial investigator, the most sinister, the most bizarre, the seemingly most incomprehensible, and certainly the most terrifying, was the one that followed the famous Greene murders. The orgy of horror at the old Green mansion had been brought to its astounding close in December; and after the Christmas holidays Vance had gone to Switzerland for the winter sports. Returning to New York at the end of February he had thrown himself into some literary work he had long had in mind-the uniform translation of the principal fragments of Menander found in the Egyptian papyri during the early years of the present century; and for over a month he had devoted himself sedulously to this thankless task. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.

範達因(S.S.Van Dine)，美國推理小說之父，《菲洛·萬斯探案集》是他惟一的代錶作，也是古典推理小說的集大成之作。他將推理小說中的理性成分演繹到極至，這個成就“前無古人，後無來者”。範達因所撰寫的《推理小說二十條守則》是推理小說史上最全麵、最完整、最嚴謹的寫作戒律，同時也被奎恩等後來者奉為指導其畢生寫作的“聖經”。