2nd in the Philo Vance mystery series set in September, 1927. Vance, an independently wealthy college educated, amateur detective, uses his deductive skills and psychological knowledge to help his New York City District Attorney friend to unravel the murder of a well know New York City actress known as the "Canary" who was found strangled in her apartment. His methods are unconventional and go against the more rigid police investigative methods and lawyer legal requirements
S. S. Van Dine is the pseudonym used by American art critic Willard Huntington Wright (October 15, 1888 – April 11, 1939) when he wrote detective novels. Wright was an important figure in avant-garde cultural circles in pre-WWI New York, and under the pseudonym (which he originally used to conceal his identity) he created the once immensely popular fictional detective Philo Vance, a sleuth and aesthete who first appeared in books in the 1920s, then in movies and on the radio.