S.S. Van Dine, a pseudonym for Willard Huntington Wright (October 15, 1888 – April 11, 1939), was an American art critic and author, best known for his detective novels featuring the fictional character Philo Vance. A polymath and a prominent figure during the 1920s and 1930s in American literary circles, Wright adopted the nom de plume S.S. Van Dine when he ventured into writing detective fiction...