Editing Philo Vance (section)

==Publication==
Van Dine's first three mystery novels were unusual for mystery fiction because he planned them as a trilogy, but plotted and wrote them in short form, more or less at the same time. After they were accepted as a group by famed editor [[Maxwell Perkins]], Van Dine expanded them into full-length novels. All 12 book titles are in the form "The X Murder Case," where "X" is always a six-letter word (except for ''[[The Gracie Allen Murder Case]]'', which was originally just "Gracie").

Although Van Dine was one of the most educated and cosmopolitan detective writers of his time, in his essays he dismissed the idea of the mystery story as serious literature. He insisted that a detective novel should be mainly an intellectual puzzle that follows strict rules and does not wander too far afield from its central theme. He followed his own prescriptions, and some critics feel that formulaic approach made the Vance novels stilted and caused them to become dated in a relatively few years.

All of the cases, except ''[[The Winter Murder Case]]'', are mostly set in the [[Manhattan]] borough of New York City. On a few occasions, Vance and Van Dine (usually accompanied by Markham and Heath) briefly travel to [[the Bronx]], [[Westchester County]], and [[New Jersey]] in the course of their investigations. In ''The Greene Murder Case'' Vance tells, after his arrival back in New York, that he traveled by train to [[New Orleans]] to gather information relevant to the case.

Vance's last case, ''The Winter Murder Case'', is markedly different from the previous 11 cases in that the locale is away from New York (the [[Berkshire Mountains]] of western Massachusetts), and Vance and Van Dine are surrounded by an almost completely different cast of characters (only Markham makes a brief appearance at the very beginning). Wright had just finished writing this case when he died suddenly in New York on April 11, 1939.

===Novels===
#''[[The Benson Murder Case]]'' (1926)
#''[[The Canary Murder Case]]'' (1927)
#''[[The Greene Murder Case]]'' (1928)
#''[[The Bishop Murder Case]]'' (1929)
#''[[The Scarab Murder Case]]'' (1930)
#''[[The Kennel Murder Case]]'' (1933)
#''[[The Dragon Murder Case]]'' (1933)
#''[[The Casino Murder Case]]'' (1934)
#''[[The Garden Murder Case]]'' (1935)
#''[[The Kidnap Murder Case]]'' (1936)
#''[[The Gracie Allen Murder Case]]'' (1938)
#''[[The Winter Murder Case]]'' (1939)