The Gentlemen detectives were not uncommon in the 1920s and 1930s, but few were as

gentlemanly as Vylovans.

The foppish sleuth sprang from the pages of mystery novels, first to films in a successful

series and later to radio. Vance was created by Willard Huntington Wright, writing under the pen name of S.S. Van Dyne.

Wright wrote 12 Thylovance novels between 1926 and 1939.

In the first novel, The Benson Murder case, Wright described

Vance as an aristocrat by birth and instinct and unusually good-looking.

Vance fenced, he played polo, and he bred show dogs. He was a gormand and a

bon Vivant who spoke several languages, dressed to the nines, and usually wore a monocle. In other words, Sam Spade, he wasn't. Most of the novels were

set in and around New York City, with Vance frequently working alongside District Attorney

Markham and Sergeant Heath of the Police Department.

The Vance novels were praised by critics.

The London Sphere called 1927's The Canary Murder Case a cathedral amongst detective stories.

Humorist and a Christmas story writer Jean Shepard called the Vance novel some of his earliest literary inspirations.

However, Vance's arrogance rubbed some earliest literary essay The simple art of murder as well as in his Philip Marlow novels and poet Ogden Nash famously observed

Fylo Vance needs a kick in the pants. Criticisms aside, the character remained popular with readers and would soon be popular with film and radio audiences.

Hollywood came calling just a few years after the first novel was published. William Powell, who was still a few years after the first novel was published.

William Powell, who was still a few years away from The Thin Man,

starred as Vylovans in four films between 1929 and 1933,

including the Kennel Murder case which is regarded as the best of the series.

Other actors to take on the role include Warren William, Paul Lucas,

and Basil Rathbone, nearly a decade before he starred in his first Sherlock Holmes film.

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