Willard Huntington Wright was born on October 15^th 1888 in Charottesville. Virginia, about 100km west of Richmond and about 150km south-west of Washington DC.

His achievements at 3 different colleges, including Harvard College, were not good, so he could not graduate from any of the three colleges, after which he studied art in Munich and Paris. After returning to the U.S., he worked as a literary and art critic for the Los Angeles Times, where he acquired a good reputation in the course of time.

Until 1926, the highly respected art and literary critic published some popular books and also wrote several short stories. Wright always told happily that he had been tied to his bed in the early 1920’s by a serious heart condition for almost two years. His doctor had forbidden him demanding literature, which is why he had read over 2000 crime novels in that time. These urged him to write a mystery novel himself.

In 1926 he published the novel The Benson Murder Case about the very wealthy amateur detective Philo Vance, a novel that was based on a real and unsolved murder. The book was published under the pseudonym S.S. Van Dine, where Van Dine was also acting as a friend of the amateur detective. Much like Dr. Watson, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Archie Goodwin, who tells the stories of Nero Wolfe, Van Dine also speaks about the adventures of his friend Philo Vance.

In 1992, John Loughery published the biography Alias: ?S.S. Van Dine in which he stated that Wright had no way how to deal with a serious heart condition. Rather, he had been addicted to drugs and alcohol and was still unemployed, like a large part of the population at that time. Loughery did not want to deny Wright’s knowledge of crime fiction that had eventually led Wright to earn his money.

Crime fiction in those days suffered from a very bad reputation and SS Van Dine had the intention to improve that reputation with his rich and elegant amateur detective. To achieve this goal, Willard Huntington Wright created the 20 rules for writing detective novels that his fellow writers should adhere to.

According to him, a thriller-writer should deprive his readers from no proof. Another rule pointed out that the investigator must give up aids such as magic or clairvoyance. Yet another rule said that the detective could not be the murderer. And even love stories had to seek the approval of the author of detective novels.

Many of these rules have been followed by other writers, but the rule with the love stories had already been refuted by Dorothy L. Sayers and Mary Roberts Rinehart- Nevertheless, Willard Huntington Wright contribute to this field, which has also positively affected critics reviews. Along with Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers Willard Huntington, Wright is a co-founder of the Golden Age of detective fiction.

The created amateur detective Philo Vance was very far from reality. He was very rich, smoking expensive cigarettes, lived in a luxurious house and gave himself up entirely to his pleasure. In reality, people were poor during the Great Depression. The life that Philo Vance led contributes to the success of the books, because it helped people escape reality, at least temporarily.

The novels of the amateur detective Philo Vance were so successful and the film rights so lucrative that they made Willard Huntington Wright into a very wealthy man, and he, like his protagonist, lived in an expensive penthouse and gladly spent money. Philo Vance was undoubtedly the most famous detective of his time and this popularity did not change until years later with the publication of Philip Marlowe.

Novels by S.S. Van Dine about Amateur Detective Philo Vance

The Benson Murder Case

The Canary Murder Case

The Greene Murder Case

The Bishop Murder Case

The Scarab Murder Case

The Kennel Murder Case

The Dragon Murder Case

The Casino Murder Case

The Garden Murder Case

The Kidnap Murder Case

The Gracie Allen Murder Case

The Winter Murder Case