The Kennel Murder Case is a bit of a misnomer. A dog is involved, actually 2, but they are the loose ends that need to be tied up. The case could be called- Death of Chinese Pottery Collector that pissed off his entire family and all he came in contact.
This is a locked room mystery, or in this case, bolted from the inside. The victim appears to have died from suicide. But once the door is broken down and the body is examined - Murder is revealed.
Without giving away any spoilers, the reason this is fine example of the Philo Vance stories is the crazy twists, turns, and characters that fill the mystery. Just when you think it couldn't get stranger, it does. And then you wonder - how the heck is this going to be solved. This is certainly a good one, and funnily Markham's quip near the end, enlightens Vance how the whole thing played out.
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.